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

[SilkieSensation]

so I was egg bombed by HappyChooks, she sent me some turkey and some cochin mysteries that all came as a mystery, aka HENN Nabbed!

I saw her mention that

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Here's something funny for everyone. I went out to get some pics of my American Games and I noticed that my horse was acting nuts. Not so unusual, but sometimes he has a reason. I looked up after taking a few pics and there she was. The earless cow that lives with one neighbor and belongs to my best friend.

She was rescued from the Stockyard. She was born during an auction a few years ago.

The standoff


The Earless One herself

Awwww you have a horse? Wow That's cool!

what up with noears neighbor?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: Oh My GAWD! you guys are bad!

BAD? Like making someone join in a Turkey hatchathon by sending them turkey eggs in an egg bomb???

Snuck up and bit you, didn't it??

I getcha! lol so its the same as HENN nabbed!! you silly woman you! I adore you!

 

[yinepu]

Quote: Oh My GAWD! you guys are bad!

BAD? Like making someone join in a Turkey hatchathon by sending them turkey eggs in an egg bomb???

Snuck up and bit you, didn't it??

I getcha! lol so its the same as HENN nabbed!! you silly woman you! I adore you!

nope.. I was "henn nabbed" through an email.. didn't get any eggs tossed my way!

 

[HEChicken]

I'm not Yinepu, but I usually can't see much on Scovies until day 7-10.

Thank you!!!

with a VERY good light I can see the barest beginning of the heart on day 4 on "early" muscovys
by day 6 it's more visible
I never toss one before day 10 though.. just because in every hatch there seems to be a "late bloomer".. or my light is in need of fresh batteries

yup.. day 7 to 10 is average.. but if your light isn't very good it's best to hold off on tossing them for a few more days

since I am always needing more bator room especially with shipped eggs.. I try to make sure my light has good fresh batteries so I can toss the infertiles/scrambled eggs sooner

Great - thank you both of you. Mine are on day 4 so I won't even worry about candling for another week. I wouldn't worry at all except

I stacked

and I want to clear out any that aren't developing to make more room for those that are.

I can always count on you to be on top of things, Heather!! I have been watching these carefully, and even with an elevated humidity (and you know I don't do humidity!!) I have had the evaporation go far to quickly on these. It was a very long heat spike, and I suspect the porosity of the shell changed during those many hours at that temperature. I couldn't keep them from diminishing beyond even what one would expect in a really dry hatch, so most of these eggs are nearly at the half-way mark. They are also a day late, and I could see beak shadows, so I felt like it was time to intervene. The beaks are central in the void, not near the shell, so I doubt they'd ever have made it over to pip. One didn't make it and was already gone.

It's an anomaly I'm not sure how to handle so I'm taking it one step at a time...I just hope I don't end up with a clutch of special chicks. I really can't give them extra help beyond the hatch. If they've been cooked mentally I'll be forced to cull.

I am following this with great interest - all part of that learning experience. I hope some of them do make it for you but without special needs (so with you on that one). Keep us posted!

 

[Razadia]

Quote: She's made her way over to her owner's house.

I still have no idea how she got in my field.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Raz its one of those "can we keep her dad please can we keep her" lol

 

[superchemicalgirl]

She's made her way over to her owner's house.

I still have no idea how she got in my field.

And what happened to the ears?

 

[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 tried to post last night and it kept saying I needed to type a message. It was long too!!! So frustrating so I'll try again.

I think I have my solution here. When I pulled the Sportsman apart, I did something I never do. I always have the vents open. Always. Both were closed, which means the last 3 hatches where I got just some chicks and the last 2 where I got zip, there was no air. I killed them. Every bator is almost 12" away from any wall or even more. I took that things apart and washed it in bleach and then Oxine and then I sprayed Oxine all over. I have used both in the LGs as well. So now i have another question. If I saw movement in the Sportsman and then transfered into the LGs, did that mean they had had sufficient time to suffocate while in the Sportsman and just not have enough air, even after I transfered them? I have both vents open again, but I have zero out of this last hatch, so I'm pulling them. So glad I haven't bought eggs lately, to kill off like I have from my own flock, but devistated that I didn't have any hatch and that thise vents were closed.

 

[Razadia]

Quote: If I remember right she was born that way. She definitely doesn't hear that well, but aside from that she's one happy cow.