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

[Wax Myrtle]

Oh, poop, just realized it IS on day 17 and should be "locked down" tomorrow. I stuck it in the turner... Will leave it there for another several hours to fully warm back up before I give it back to Supergirl (the PR my oldest son claimed/named) Hoping the few hours vertical in the turner doesn't add even more stress to a fully chilled egg. But I figure it's better than being rejected by the broody for being cold. And I won't remove the turner the duck eggs have been in, just to try and save one chick that may or may not still be alive.

I'm working on getting a better broody place than the one I have. She's in an upsidedown Rubbermaid tub with a door cut out, placed on top of a plastic soda crate. Problem is a very, very determined RIR who insists on laying in this box, and has even gotten herself stuck trying to force herself through the side of the cage I had had set up as the broody's yard. And my drop-on pen is full of broilers. DH is out as I type, with one errand being grabbing materials for me to make another drop-on pen.

 

[chicken pickin]

whats a drop on pen?

 

[Wax Myrtle]

whats a drop on pen?

Just a wire box with no bottom. I guess I should've said tractor, but it's much less fancy than a tractor.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm working on getting a better broody place than the one I have. She's in an upsidedown Rubbermaid tub with a door cut out, placed on top of a plastic soda crate. Problem is a very, very determined RIR who insists on laying in this box, and has even gotten herself stuck trying to force herself through the side of the cage I had had set up as the broody's yard. And my drop-on pen is full of broilers. DH is out as I type, with one errand being grabbing materials for me to make another drop-on pen.

I've made a few of these:


Cheap and secure. In or out of the coop. Top and front access. Privacy shield. Great neigborhood! Must see!

 

[Wax Myrtle]

SCG, that's very similar to what I build, but mine are a bit larger.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

SCG, that's very similar to what I build, but mine are a bit larger.

I have larger versions as well, that's the coop one.

My next size up is this:


And the biggest is a 4x4.



Posting pictures in case anyone is interested in building them.

 

[wildriverswolf90]

caught Duck the turkey dust bathing

 

[dsqard]

BTW anyone looking at the pictures that SCG posted and thinking of making them, they are relatively easy to make. I was able to "whip up" two of the smaller broody boxes in an afternoon with leftovers from other projects. She really helped by posting additonal pictures too.

 

[gryeyes]

Well, we all know how clever and wonderful SCG is, don't we?

:yiipchick Yay! For SCG!

 

[wolftracks]

I didn't get my Marans pen done to where I know it should be, but they didn't sleep on the patio, pooping on everything last night. My Lt Sussex has been in with them since I lost my roo, and she's having a fix because she isn't in there with them. I hatched 2 of her chicks out a couple of months ago (she didn't lay for a while when they first got here and stopped right after the roo died) but she's got to wait for them to grow out, so she'll be used in teh purple egg project for a while, unless I find another roo as nice as the one I lost.

Ok, woke up to my baby bunnies dead. Momma used there box as a litter box. It was nasty! She's usually a really good momma.

BUT! I went to sleep with 2 eggs pipped and it was all I could do to not help, but I decided, I've lost so many and even helping wasn't working, so I went to bed. This morning there was noise coming out of the bator and when I checked, one hadn't progress, but was really mad and the other was about half way through zipping and stuck. I went to pull them out and another was half zipped and stuck. These are huge chicks. I dry hatched and they still seemed to big to hatch. Then I realized the same ting was going on with all the one's that pipped and died. I wonder if the fact that the vents were closed had anything to do with it. Just a thought. So I have 3 fat noisy chicks in the bator and not feeling like a total failure today. I have a Game project and one of those hatched out and it's the first from that project. Can't wait to see what it is and what it looks like feathered out. One is a Lt Sussex/FBCM (the hussy let that Frenchie sweet talk her!) and the other is FBCM. So I thinnk it might be to late for any more and I lost all the others that tried, but I have chickies!!!

I still have a couple of hatches that had been in there with the vents closed, so if I even get one a hatch, I'll feel better. Now..................What to do with the 120 plus eggs that I haven't set during all of this???

Oh and I'm missing 3 Game hens and was missing one of my SPPRs and a FBCM last night. I found the SPPR and the FBCM. They are both on hidden nests, so I'm going to just let them hatch some eggs out for me. The Games???? I rarely find their nests. I just round out about the time the aren't here till when they would be back with chicks. Sometimes you;ll see them out eating, but lots of times you don't. I could really use their broody abilities right now. I was hoping someone would go broody,so I could set some eggs under them. Looks like I might sneak some into the 2 hard to reach nests that the FBCM and SPPR are on. If they aren't gonna lay, they need to help out.