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

[SilkieSensation]

I love egg art! I really wish I had the skill and patience required to do it! ALAS, I have neither!

Hmmmmm...wonder if I should give this a try. Not sure if Ayeupchuck paints hers or does them with markers. I suppose either would work.

 

[mrshaggie810]

I had a temp spike to 116F a couple hatches ago & had chicks survive. The spike to 120F the next hatch killed the whole batch though.

I was gone for 12 hours, BUT it was fine when I left so I don't imagine it could have been for TOO long.

 

[karimw]

He HATES cows that get in his field. But then, StarBuck is a mustang.

One of mine is very protective of her space too. I have a crappy video of her on guard duty chasing geese out of the pasture but it probably won't work.

She's so beautiful. Is Starbuck a BLM? I got a BLM Mustang a couple years ago. Only paid $150, but she was an amazing horse! But I eventually had to sell her because she was prone to colic no matter what we did & the vet bills were running me into the poorhouse. But She got a great home! However, before she moved on to her new home, she left me a "souvenir"


We call him The Copper Cobra...Cobra for short. He will be 2 in Oct. Funny thing about the whole ordeal...She colicked in Aug that year & 2 different vets both had their arms inside her up to their shoulder & neither felt the baby (who would have been 9 months gestating already). When I bought Brandi in Apr, I didn't know she was preggars. I had 2 other mares foal that year which brought my horse total up to SEVEN!!! All the babies were boys! I kept the colt in the 1st pic below & now he has turned into a beautiful black stallion!

Very cute babies! You know horses are pretty addictive too. My herd went up to seven pretty quickly in the same way,

 

[Wisher1000]

For blowing out eggs.....

In a nutshell, I make a tiny (1 tack point) hole in the narrow end of the egg, and a larger (about 4 tack point) hole in the top blunt end of the egg. Using a 3 ml syringe filled with air, I put my needle into the small hole, put the egg over a bowl and SLOWLY push the air from the needle into the egg. The pressure pushes the yolk and white out of the egg. I don't scramble it first. If you go too fast you'll pop the egg. After getting all the yolk and white out, rinse with water from syringe, then microwave. I can't remember how many seconds it is, but maybe 10? Until it stops whistling. Don't do more than a few seconds at a time, that can also pop your egg. It'll be crazy hot when you take it out, so let it sit for a bit before picking it up.

I sent some of my BCM eggs to a woman who does pysanky and she asked me to do it a certain way. She even sent me the tools required. Her method only requires one hole.

Take a push pin and make a hole in the exact middle of the large (air cell) end of the egg. Use a small phillips head screwdriver like a drill bit and gently enlarge the hole to the size of the screwdriver. Use a needle or a straightened paperclip to break the yolk and shake it vigorously to scramble the egg. Insert a long needle attached to the pump (I think you could use a syringe, also) deep into the small end and carefully pump air in to force the yolk out through the hole. The pump has a sharp bend just below the needle to keep it from getting all over your hands as it comes out of the egg. Occasionally, you have to clear some thick material (yolk or chalisae) from the hole with your fingers to keep everything flowing. She also had me rinse the inside with vinegar and water instead of just water and dry them in the oven with the hole pointed down and on very low heat.

There is a video, let me see if I can post it.

 

[uphilljill]

Looking for advice from more experienced hatchers: Is this Buff Orpington egg fertile?



We bought chicken hatching eggs this year because we lost our rooster last summer. So I was caught a bit off guard when I saw this when making breakfast last weekend. I haven't seen her fraternizing with our Guineas, but they all free-range so I suppose a cross might be possible. If the eggs look fertile, I'll collect the next 3-4 and stick 'em in the incubator to see what happens. Guins anyone?

 

[Wisher1000]

Jill- I don't think that egg is fertile, it doesn't have the signature "bullseye" in the middle.

 

[uphilljill]

Jill- I don't think that egg is fertile, it doesn't have the signature "bullseye" in the middle.

Ok, thx. I was getting a bit confused by the lighter shade behind it.

Knew crosses were rare, but wishful thinking.

 

[Wisher1000]

Check this out...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

 

[Razadia]

Quote: It worked. She's really pretty.

He's never chased away geese on the rare occasion they've shown up, but cows and other horses he wants nothing to do with. A few years ago a Rott came in our yard through the field and killed all 4 of our project birds. Star chased him down and hurt the dog so bad they had to put him down. The owners called the police on us and tried to have Star taken from us and put down. They found the owners at fault since our loss was greater than their's and they were at fault for our losses for letting their dog run loose.

 

[dsqard]

Jill, after looking at the examples, I think you might have fertile eggs (not an expert here). It does look like a "bulls eye" around the center. You could always pop one of them in the incubator to test it out. There is a thread somewhere on BYC about a chicken/guinea cross hatching. Read it a few years ago.