She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[meganhundley]

You can't smack her, that's my girl!! lol

 

[frmboyinthecity]

Oh gosh no!

I cold smoke salmon just to pick up a little flavor, it can still be refrigerator cool in the middle after smoking.

I cold smoke pork, slice paper thin and vacuum pack then into the freezer. I then heat until done later to make awesome BBQ pork sandwiches. The good part around the bones gets slowly braised until it falls off the bone and makes pulled pork. That's about the only "well done" meat I like besides brisket.

I like my pork chops grilled medium, and turkey, chicken, fish and shrimp until just done.

I like my steaks right about natural temp inside, and just the slightest shell of sear on the outside. I toss a hunk of oak on the grill fire while cooking steaks.

Great BBQ doesn't require sauce. I generally skip it, or just dip once every couple of bites as a palate cleanser.

Walnut, This all sounds amazing.

K, I think I'm going to sit on my hands and just wait from now on, lol. My air cells still look small though, do you think I should cut the humidity back? Right now it's around 65%

From my very limited understanding of hatching, dropping the humidity during lock down isn't going to help grow the air cells that much. That happens prior to lock down, for the most part. The risk of dropping humidity now is that the membrane could dry out too fast and make it difficult for the chicks to get out. But there are others much more experienced than me.

 

[sideWing]

We also get off subject on occasion... lots of occasions... So since I know we have some shooters around here, I thought I'd show off my new targets.
Had to buy new tires for my car yesterday (cha-ching... OUCH!) So we made targets out of them. Supposedly, the lead will collect in the tire, instead of ending up everywhere, plus they make a nice holder for the steel target:

That looks awesome.

I have a Smokey Mountain cabinet smoker (propane) and cold smoke with it all the time...I just use a mix of wet and dry wood chips and no propane. But I am going to build a set-alongside burner box that will duct into one of the side vents on the big cabinet by way of vent pipe. That will allow me better fuel monitoring and smoke control in addition to the cool smoke.

Just be sure that with cold smoking, curing salt is ALWAYS used...

We may need a tutorial page on that Walnut. Sounds just amazing.

No, I'm down to 1 that looks good for the 22nd and 2 that look good for the 24th. They are about a day and half apart. Honestly if any of them hatch, it will be a miracle. Those eggs were just too damaged! How many are you locking down? Hopefully your hatch will go great, maybe just a small delay because of the temp drops.

Well if you're bringing him then I should bring my two older ones so they can play. He's 7, right? Mine are 8 & almost 10.
Maybe they are just a day behind and that's why you don't see any draw down yet. My peafowl eggs had really small air cells, that were a perfect little circle in the fat end and they did great. Just wait and see! I am running this current batch with higher humidity because the woman I bought the eggs from is only 3 hours away and she has the brinsea 20 and is getting good hatches at 45-55%. Maybe you should give that a try next, regardless, just to compare. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this batch, though.

I have development in 10/12! So they are looking good. The shells are really super thick, so I haven't been able to candle that well. I'm not even sure about the air cells but I think they'll be ok. And that sounds perfect for the kids!! How are the chicks doing?
It should be soon!! Good luck. Did you see any draw down on the air cells when you candled?

I have had 3 temp drops. It's fine during the day and it drops when we are not looking. I have a new thermostat coming tonight. Not sure what it has done to my hatch. I think I'm locking down on Sunday.

I really don't know. He's in a brooder right now. I will probably try to feed him until he is strong enough to make it in the tree on his own.
Then shoot him...
Dang cat should have found him before I did. There is nothing blue about this

 

[scflock]

You can't smack her, that's my girl!! lol

Ok, fine, but you can't WV
Ruby, I shot his Mommy, then adopted him. It's a whole "circle of life" thing

 

[scflock]

That looks awesome. We may need a tutorial page on that Walnut. Sounds just amazing. I have had 3 temp drops. It's fine during the day and it drops when we are not looking. I have a new thermostat coming tonight. Not sure what it has done to my hatch. I think I'm locking down on Sunday.

That hurts

 

[WVduckchick]

Ok, fine, but you can't WV
Ruby, I shot his Mommy, then adopted him. It's a whole "circle of life" thing

Wait, did I get smacked and not feel it? :/

 

[meganhundley]

Ok, fine, but you can't WV
Ruby, I shot his Mommy, then adopted him. It's a whole "circle of life" thing

I would never WV, she's awesome!

 

[dan26552]

I really don't know. He's in a brooder right now. I will probably try to feed him until he is strong enough to make it in the tree on his own.
Then shoot him...
Dang cat should have found him before I did. There is nothing blue about this

Sound like a plan, my sister saved a baby squirrel from drowning once, it repaid her by throwing nuts at her whenever she walked under its tree.

 

[meganhundley]

and that's for making WV think I her!

 

[chicapee]

Here are some pics of my slw x plymouth rock... now that it's older, I see no sickle feathers, pointed hackles, and no guard feathers on it's back.

Looks like a fella to me.

I'd make a pit and do a whole hog...and a bunch of wings...and maybe a brisket...and of course some sausage.

On my way!

Ok, been busy this morning. Didn't have time to give you guys the lockdown stats. Amy, go ahead and put the floats in storage until the spring...
The good news is, only 1 clear out of 24. The bad news is air cells are all over the place. I have 16 of the huge, dark Davis eggs that all have developed, but I can't tell to what stage. The air cells are about 2/3 of what I normally expect to see at this point, so I'm afraid I'm going to have a bunch of chicks that develop and never pip. I hope I'm wrong, and always hope for the best, but the air cells are small. Almost completely round and even with the top of the egg, not drawn down. I've incubated at 28-30%, and I refuse to go lower. I may have to try sanding eggs at some point, but it shouldn't be that hard. I may go the totally opposite direction and follow the article Ruby posted. Incubate at 55% and hope that the humid air will pull the moisture out of the egg through osmosis

The lighter, young hen eggs look like the air cells are too large. Good development on the chicks, but I'm hoping they aren't sticky chicks, or get shrink wrapped. This will be a good experiment to see which ones hatch and which ones don't, but I don't think I will get anywhere near 75% of 23. If I were judging by air cells only, I would say 8 or 9. I may be pleasantly surprised, but all I can do now is wait and

There is still time for the draw dawn,

ETA: At 1 point I thought maybe they were married, lol

Soooo... it is officially day 20! Hoping to hear some peeping later today from some internal pippers.

Probably tonight.

We put the fun in dysfunctional!

Back at ya!

Perhaps you should put away your incubator, trade it in for an LG. Seriously, though.... this hatch has got to be better. My last bator hatch had air cells that were too small, so I hatched in egg cartons. Best hatch ever. Prior hatch was a lot of DIS, wet chicks.

You people are incorrigible.



Stinking hawk is back, scoping out my property, just gliding overhead, flashing his wings, inviting his friends to the banquet. Stupid chickens won't stay on the right side of the fence. Babies are tractored. I gotta go pick up GD, so will be gone a good part of the afternoon. Hope to have the new run well underway by the end of the weekend.

I have been seeing one the past 3 evenings when I let my girls out, circling. I sit there with a broom on guard and my dogs are usually the other side of the gate. I never leave them unsupervised. I don't know if it would swoop in with me and the dogs out there.

That looks awesome.

We may need a tutorial page on that Walnut. Sounds just amazing.

I have had 3 temp drops. It's fine during the day and it drops when we are not looking. I have a new thermostat coming tonight. Not sure what it has done to my hatch. I think I'm locking down on Sunday.

Good luck putting the new thermostat in. You will love it.