**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[Wax Myrtle]

for now they are project birds.. once we (Joyous, Kilsharion and myself) get the bugs worked out we should have some nice birds.. it may take a while.. but like I said.. it's a project. I have my first hatch (which are an assortment) growing out now.. so it's going to be interesting to see how this batch looks. 

There is a thread on it if you're interested
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/627962/creole-dorkings/120#post_10934284

Heading over, likely to lurk!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
have fun!

 

[mbmess2003]

Black Rock Broody Stare
Growling while sharing the nest
Fifteen eggs - Oh My!

They got the eggs on Saturday....Icelandics from Deb!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Woke up this morning to the brooder light being burned out in the chick brooder. Three little chicksickles huddled together, could hardly move they were so cold and stiff.

Got a new lamp set up, and they're shivering under it right now.

Good thing I get up early.

Oh, I keep getting scared that's gonna happen to me! Lucky save!!!

Quote:

Quote:

And I have 2 of them in one room and 1 in my bedroom.



Help me understand the carbon dioxide issue.

ok.. first.. bacteria can still thrive in the nooks and crannies.. on the back of the fan blades .. pretty much in and little crevasse that you may have missed. We would have that issue in the commercial bators and hatchers when I worked at the hatchery.. so every so often EVERYTHING needs a good disinfecting


Carbon Dioxide Poisoning.. caused when more oxygen is being used/needed than is coming into the bator.. carbon dioxide builds up which is toxic and can cause death
when you first add eggs they don't need as much oxygen as the chicks do once they start developing.. as time gets closer to hatch and the lungs start to develop they need even more.. at hatch when they start to pip.. they need even more .. so if you have a bator with three eggs in it.. it will need less oxygen than a bator filled to the brim

as the chicks breathe they inhale oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide ... just like you or a cow would.. being in a closed environment eventually the oxygen runs out if there isn't enough fresh air coming in to replenish the oxygen that they are using up. This is why I always tell people that vents must be completely OPEN at hatch.. sure you may have chicks hatch out with them closed.. but you run a much higher risk of carbon dioxide building up and killing them if there isn't enough fresh air exchange. Many times if carbon dioxide is an issue you will have a few chicks hatch out.. then a lot of dead in the shell perfectly healthy looking chicks.. that's because the ones which hatched are using up the oxygen.. and the ones which are working hard at hatching just don't have enough entering through the shell (or the pip if they have gotten that far) to sustain them until they can hatch.

"Dead Air" is also an issue.. it's the lack of airflow AROUND the incubator.. carbon dioxide can build up in the space between the bator and the wall.. so the "fresh air" entering the bator is laden with excess carbon dioxide. They discovered that in the commercial industry.. so incubators and hatchers must have plenty of space between the back and wall in commercial hatcheries. In the home this can be an issue with incubators that are against walls.. in closets or other rooms where there isn't enough air flow in the room itself. It can be remedied by the use of fans if space is too limited around the bator itself (narrow dressers or tables which are just wide enough to hold the bator but is up against the wall is also an example)... The main issue with a fan blowing directly behind or onto a bator is that if there are temp fluctuations in the room it can add to those issues.

One other thing to remember is that at hatch .. when the humidity rises (either by your adding water or chicks hatching) is that humid warm air holds LESS oxygen than humid cool air. So the oxygen level of the air actually goes DOWN as you raise the humidity in a hot bator.. one remedy for this is to drop the temp at hatch by 1 to 1.5 degrees when you raise the humidity. It's one of the things I recommend for hatching pretty much any kind of bird.. but especially waterfowl, parrots and turkeys. If you only have a few eggs in a bator.. it's less of an issue than if the bator is filled to capacity.


Luckily I learned from "the best" .. lol.. my ancestors hatched out birds for as long as the history on them goes back (several hundred years according to the family historian).. and they passed down their tricks and tips through the generations.. plus I also had the honor of having Janice Castleberry give me lots of tips and pointers.. she is also one who stressed to me the importance of "dead air" since she had issues with it back when she first started hatching out ratites


as a note: With emu chicks you can tell if carbon dioxide is building up too much at hatch because the chicks will have red around their eyes!..


edited to fix typos.. that's what I get for typing in the dark.. lol
Thanks for writing this. I just learned A LOT!! BTW mine is up against a wall, and blocked on one side by my dresser, think I'll have to move it

Hi everyone!

I'd like to join in if that's okay with everybody! I set my (chicken - silkie!) eggs last night and went looking for a hatch a long thread and got lucky I guess! This seems pretty epic!

I'm a little nervous since this is my second time incubating and my first attempt was REALLY awful all around and I did not hatch one chick. It was admittedly my own fault and I hope I have learned some lessons! THEN to cheer myself up after my failed incubation I bought three frizzle chicks and they all just turned out to be roosters!! I have terrible luck so far with chickens...

I'm trying to stay positive but I am off to a rough start already with this hatch! I bought some blue & buff silkie eggs from a guy in my area (6 of them, super cheap) and they were really, really dirty! I gently scrubbed with them with warm, damp pieces of gauze ( I work in a vet hospital) and then remembered that the eggs are covered in a protective "bloom" so hopefully I didn't scrub too hard

I just took off the giant pieces of poop/dirt... THEN I accidentally cracked one of my little eggs trying to set up the bars in my (new!) brinsea eco! I put some nail polish on it and crossed my fingers... I ended up using a egg carton with the bottoms cut out because I couldn't get the bars to set properly for me. I think if I had more eggs I wouldn't have such a problem. Hopefully things are smooth sailing from here on out!
Thanks in advance for letting me join the fun!

Here's a pic of one of my three TSC Speckled Sussex pullets I just received while we wait for our eggs to start developing!

Where there is a will there's a way, and you most obviously have the will, LOL! A+ for effort! This time will be the best, you'll see!!

Quote:

Where is Stockton???

Eggs still incubating..... Wait wait wait... Maybe I'll candle at 14 days, thats a week from now.

And waiting, and waiting. I'm feeling like we've done this before! Hmmmm.....

this was today's mail.. only 3 broken




24 Ameracauna
24 Bantam Frizzle X (possibly) Silkie
12 Silkie X
4 Silkie X Ameracauna (one survived shipping)
4 Buff Laced or Gold Laced LF Brahma X Bantam Frizzle Cochin / Silkie
2 green Silkie / Cochin / Brahma
2 mystery eggs
4 older, end of season Sebastopol eggs (probably infertile.. but I can't complain since they were free)
and from another source.. 7 Toulouse eggs

I still have 6+ Mandarin, 6+ Bresse, 20+ Euskal Oiloa, 18 Ancona duck, and 6+ Dorking eggs that should be here eventually (in transit)

Goodness, you got the motherload!!!

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
uhm.. that's not counting what's in all 7 of the other bators.. and what will end up in the new one when the parts arrive... (yeah.. added another bator last week and working on a coolerbator)

I just had ancona ducklings hatch a week or so ago.. plus two goslings (one from Easter).. then two embden goslings hatched between yesterday and today.. plus 9 Euskal Oiloa the other day... colored dorking eggs and 2 EEs ready to hatch in a few days.. crele dokings, buckeyes, muscovy plus an assortment of 10 or 12 purebred birds due to hatch out before the end of the month (still need to candle them).. 3 sebastopols, 9 mandarins, and toulouse due by mid May... (I know I'm forgetting someone...).. oh yeah.. the muscovy / giant pekin mules should hatch out around May 9th.. unless the muscovy blood wins out!.. have a bunch more of those to set too.. just need to decide how many freezer birds I want..

Quote: Indeed! Must see!!

 

[debs_flock]

Black Rock Broody Stare
Growling while sharing the nest
Fifteen eggs - Oh My!

They got the eggs on Saturday....Icelandics from Deb!

Beautiful and determined faces!

 

[dsqard]

gardeningmama I live in Stockton, UT but that picture was taken in the mountains around Big Cottonwood Canyon. Still in Utah but much higher elevation than where my house is.
ETA - sorry I thought you were commenting on the "snow" picture I posted earlier. Yes we did get snow last night at our house. I am pretty sure SCG got some up in Maine over the weekend too. Yeah, it is not quite spring here yet.

 

[cmfarm]

gardeningmama I live in Stockton, UT but that picture was taken in the mountains around Big Cottonwood Canyon. Still in Utah but much higher elevation than where my house is.
ETA - sorry I thought you were commenting on the "snow" picture I posted earlier. Yes we did get snow last night at our house. I am pretty sure SCG got some up in Maine over the weekend too. Yeah, it is not quite spring here yet.

That's funny that yall are still getting snow. I live in Central Texas and it supposed to reach 93 today (although since it is already 4 I doubt it will end up that hot as it is 86 right now).

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

Quote:

And I have 2 of them in one room and 1 in my bedroom.



Help me understand the carbon dioxide issue.

ok.. first.. bacteria can still thrive in the nooks and crannies.. on the back of the fan blades .. pretty much in and little crevasse that you may have missed. We would have that issue in the commercial bators and hatchers when I worked at the hatchery.. so every so often EVERYTHING needs a good disinfecting


Carbon Dioxide Poisoning.. caused when more oxygen is being used/needed than is coming into the bator.. carbon dioxide builds up which is toxic and can cause death
when you first add eggs they don't need as much oxygen as the chicks do once they start developing.. as time gets closer to hatch and the lungs start to develop they need even more.. at hatch when they start to pip.. they need even more .. so if you have a bator with three eggs in it.. it will need less oxygen than a bator filled to the brim

as the chicks breathe they inhale oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide ... just like you or a cow would.. being in a closed environment eventually the oxygen runs out if there isn't enough fresh air coming in to replenish the oxygen that they are using up. This is why I always tell people that vents must be completely OPEN at hatch.. sure you may have chicks hatch out with them closed.. but you run a much higher risk of carbon dioxide building up and killing them if there isn't enough fresh air exchange. Many times if carbon dioxide is an issue you will have a few chicks hatch out.. then a lot of dead in the shell perfectly healthy looking chicks.. that's because the ones which hatched are using up the oxygen.. and the ones which are working hard at hatching just don't have enough entering through the shell (or the pip if they have gotten that far) to sustain them until they can hatch.

"Dead Air" is also an issue.. it's the lack of airflow AROUND the incubator.. carbon dioxide can build up in the space between the bator and the wall.. so the "fresh air" entering the bator is laden with excess carbon dioxide. They discovered that in the commercial industry.. so incubators and hatchers must have plenty of space between the back and wall in commercial hatcheries. In the home this can be an issue with incubators that are against walls.. in closets or other rooms where there isn't enough air flow in the room itself. It can be remedied by the use of fans if space is too limited around the bator itself (narrow dressers or tables which are just wide enough to hold the bator but is up against the wall is also an example)... The main issue with a fan blowing directly behind or onto a bator is that if there are temp fluctuations in the room it can add to those issues.

One other thing to remember is that at hatch .. when the humidity rises (either by your adding water or chicks hatching) is that humid warm air holds LESS oxygen than humid cool air. So the oxygen level of the air actually goes DOWN as you raise the humidity in a hot bator.. one remedy for this is to drop the temp at hatch by 1 to 1.5 degrees when you raise the humidity. It's one of the things I recommend for hatching pretty much any kind of bird.. but especially waterfowl, parrots and turkeys. If you only have a few eggs in a bator.. it's less of an issue than if the bator is filled to capacity.


Luckily I learned from "the best" .. lol.. my ancestors hatched out birds for as long as the history on them goes back (several hundred years according to the family historian).. and they passed down their tricks and tips through the generations.. plus I also had the honor of having Janice Castleberry give me lots of tips and pointers.. she is also one who stressed to me the importance of "dead air" since she had issues with it back when she first started hatching out ratites


as a note: With emu chicks you can tell if carbon dioxide is building up too much at hatch because the chicks will have red around their eyes!..


edited to fix typos.. that's what I get for typing in the dark.. lol
Thanks for writing this. I just learned A LOT!! BTW mine is up against a wall, and blocked on one side by my dresser, think I'll have to move it

Hi everyone!

I'd like to join in if that's okay with everybody! I set my (chicken - silkie!) eggs last night and went looking for a hatch a long thread and got lucky I guess! This seems pretty epic!

I'm a little nervous since this is my second time incubating and my first attempt was REALLY awful all around and I did not hatch one chick. It was admittedly my own fault and I hope I have learned some lessons! THEN to cheer myself up after my failed incubation I bought three frizzle chicks and they all just turned out to be roosters!! I have terrible luck so far with chickens...

I'm trying to stay positive but I am off to a rough start already with this hatch! I bought some blue & buff silkie eggs from a guy in my area (6 of them, super cheap) and they were really, really dirty! I gently scrubbed with them with warm, damp pieces of gauze ( I work in a vet hospital) and then remembered that the eggs are covered in a protective "bloom" so hopefully I didn't scrub too hard

I just took off the giant pieces of poop/dirt... THEN I accidentally cracked one of my little eggs trying to set up the bars in my (new!) brinsea eco! I put some nail polish on it and crossed my fingers... I ended up using a egg carton with the bottoms cut out because I couldn't get the bars to set properly for me. I think if I had more eggs I wouldn't have such a problem. Hopefully things are smooth sailing from here on out!
Thanks in advance for letting me join the fun!

Here's a pic of one of my three TSC Speckled Sussex pullets I just received while we wait for our eggs to start developing!

Where there is a will there's a way, and you most obviously have the will, LOL! A+ for effort! This time will be the best, you'll see!!

Quote:

Where is Stockton???

Eggs still incubating..... Wait wait wait... Maybe I'll candle at 14 days, thats a week from now.

And waiting, and waiting. I'm feeling like we've done this before! Hmmmm.....

this was today's mail.. only 3 broken




24 Ameracauna
24 Bantam Frizzle X (possibly) Silkie
12 Silkie X
4 Silkie X Ameracauna (one survived shipping)
4 Buff Laced or Gold Laced LF Brahma X Bantam Frizzle Cochin / Silkie
2 green Silkie / Cochin / Brahma
2 mystery eggs
4 older, end of season Sebastopol eggs (probably infertile.. but I can't complain since they were free)
and from another source.. 7 Toulouse eggs

I still have 6+ Mandarin, 6+ Bresse, 20+ Euskal Oiloa, 18 Ancona duck, and 6+ Dorking eggs that should be here eventually (in transit)

Quote:
uhm.. that's not counting what's in all 7 of the other bators.. and what will end up in the new one when the parts arrive... (yeah.. added another bator last week and working on a coolerbator)

I just had ancona ducklings hatch a week or so ago.. plus two goslings (one from Easter).. then two embden goslings hatched between yesterday and today.. plus 9 Euskal Oiloa the other day... colored dorking eggs and 2 EEs ready to hatch in a few days.. crele dokings, buckeyes, muscovy plus an assortment of 10 or 12 purebred birds due to hatch out before the end of the month (still need to candle them).. 3 sebastopols, 9 mandarins, and toulouse due by mid May... (I know I'm forgetting someone...).. oh yeah.. the muscovy / giant pekin mules should hatch out around May 9th.. unless the muscovy blood wins out!.. have a bunch more of those to set too.. just need to decide how many freezer birds I want..

Quote: Indeed! Must see!!

not one of mine.. but a pic from the interwebs




these are the goal.. with a little more color saturation.. shorter legs and pretty much heading for the old SOP
Joyous can give ya all the info as to what she has done so far.. these guys are a work in progress.. but i'm confident that sooner or later we'll get to where we want to be!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
lol.. national weather service says it's only 86 right now (I believe I'm just north of you)..
I think it was hotter a few hours ago.. felt like it was anyway