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

[mrshaggie810]

I don't get it. Are my posts not showing up? I didn't get added to the digest either. :/ Was I not supposed to candle? I'm new to all this, and am excited...I thought a few others might share my excitement.

those dorkings are gorgeous! I'm not familiar with that breed. The temps in the bator have been jumping around today...they are in the safe range, but it's rather annoying, and makes me nervous to go to bed. The ducks are in the big puddle again, and we got about 12 dozen seeds started today.

 

[wolftracks]

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

I wouldn't worry about the insurance company. They like to come out and make sure you aren't doing anything with the property that will increase its risk. For example, if you have one of the breeds of dog on their dangerous breeds list, they could drop you. Or if you added a sliding glass door, that will up your premium. New buildings may increase the amount of your premium if you want them covered on your policy. So if you want your coop(s) covered, they will see them and add to your premium; if not, you can elect not to have them covered. As long as they don't pose a risk to the property that IS being covered (example, shared roof and you use heat lamps in the coop that could potentially set the whole house on fire), you can elect to have them not covered and it won't change a thing.

Also, you can appeal anything. I recently had an insurance inspector come out and the next thing I knew I got a letter saying my premium was increasing because the sq. ft of the house was higher than I had stated. I showed them the property tax records indicating the sq. footage I am paying taxes on, told them that is the figure I had used, and my agent sent it into the higher ups and my appeal was successful on the grounds that if the county assesses property taxes on the lower number, it is likely to be accurate since the county wants to collect all the property taxes it can. They also tried to add on an addition for my "sliding glass door". I pointed out it is a French door. Told them I can take pictures of it opening or they can come out and walk through it if they want to. They took off the addendum for that too.

Last resort - you can always change insurance companies.

What about building some hoop coops to separate out your species at breeding time? I recently built one and plan to build a second, thinking to put turkeys in one and ducks in another during breeding season. They go together fast, are sturdy, don't cost that much to build, and look good (IMHO).

Getting hit with another wind storm. It's getting bad. Although the Marans pen was not a hoop coop it had started out as one and just not finished. My little hoop coops, held like champs. Hoping I'm not jinxing myself by saying that this evening. 45 mph can do a lot of damage. Glad we don't get worse ones that often.

 

[debs_flock]

I don't get it. Are my posts not showing up? I didn't get added to the digest either. :/ Was I not supposed to candle? I'm new to all this, and am excited...I thought a few others might share my excitement.

I see you!

I'm not there very often either

It's probably just hard for Ron to decide how to summarize things.

So what was the result of your candling?

 

[Arielle]

Ode to a Broody

Here I set upon a nest
no time to rest or have a fest
the 20 eggs
become 40 legs!
I'm set to do my best.

DS says "Good!"

 

[Arielle]

There was a duck
who had a funny cluck.
and then he started to peck
at my neck
and then he got the pluck!!

 

[ronott1]

I don't get it. Are my posts not showing up? I didn't get added to the digest either. :/ Was I not supposed to candle? I'm new to all this, and am excited...I thought a few others might share my excitement.

those dorkings are gorgeous! I'm not familiar with that breed. The temps in the bator have been jumping around today...they are in the safe range, but it's rather annoying, and makes me nervous to go to bed. The ducks are in the big puddle again, and we got about 12 dozen seeds started today.

I have added you to the digest!

I am working with a breeder in Guinda California-she is improving SG Dorkings and they are amazing. Single comb though. I love Crele chickens-I have Crele Penedesencas growing out--they are 8 weeks old and very cute little crazy things.....

 

[Razadia]

I don't get it. Are my posts not showing up? I didn't get added to the digest either. :/ Was I not supposed to candle? I'm new to all this, and am excited...I thought a few others might share my excitement.

those dorkings are gorgeous! I'm not familiar with that breed. The temps in the bator have been jumping around today...they are in the safe range, but it's rather annoying, and makes me nervous to go to bed. The ducks are in the big puddle again, and we got about 12 dozen seeds started today.

Welcome! I don't post very often, even though I'm on here daily. I think I've post more in the past few days than I have in a while.

I wouldn't worry about the bator temp too much if it's staying in the safe range. Chances are it's because of room temps changing. It happens to me too.

We just planted our garden the other day. I think dad is more excited about it than I am!

We planted several types of beans and peas, three colors of watermelon, straight neck squash, cantaloupe, and a few bell pepper and tomato plants. Potatoes got plants weeks ago.

 

[Arielle]

I don't get it. Are my posts not showing up? I didn't get added to the digest either. :/ Was I not supposed to candle? I'm new to all this, and am excited...I thought a few others might share my excitement.

those dorkings are gorgeous! I'm not familiar with that breed. The temps in the bator have been jumping around today...they are in the safe range, but it's rather annoying, and makes me nervous to go to bed. The ducks are in the big puddle again, and we got about 12 dozen seeds started today.

YOu are here!! ANd we love sharing excitement!! I candled last night--every egg. My temps have beenjumping today too, what's up with THAT. I had to open the top to cool them down.

12 dozen seeds -- in starter pots?? I went right for the cool soil and will save the starter pots for the tomatos etc. WHat did you plant?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hey what ever happened to getting you an avy pic?

 

[wolftracks]

There was a duck
who had a funny cluck.
and then he started to peck
at my neck
and then he got the pluck!!