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

[scflock]

Pellet gun reminds me... I have 2 squirrels that have decided that my ducks' feeder belongs to them too. These squirrels are getting very brave and are starting to not even run when I get close. I sprayed one with a water hose one day! I'm tempted to take the pellet gun out there! The ducks don't seem to mind though.

I bought a Gamo pellet rifle for the sole purpose of shooting squirrels out of the garden. They swarm like locusts at my house. I have a pile of them in the woods. The most fun part is shooting them out of the top of the pecan tree. They hang on as long as they can, then it's like Plinko on The Price is Right

 

[scflock]

Thanks for asking, Amy! These babies are so beautiful! They are all passed out from their debut! Here's some questions that are killing me. 12 shipped eggs made it to lockdown, 7 have hatched. The other 5 have no pips, internal or external. Why??? They were all moving at lockdown. 9pm tonight will be the end of day 21. I think the hatch is over. I'll keep the incubator on for a couple more days. But I just have a feeling they are not going to pip. My see through egg is one of those 5. It was just alive a couple days ago! Ugh! Also one of the babies, the first to hatch actually, has a slight deformity on her foot. One foot has five toes and the other foot as 4 toes, 2 toes started to seperate and then came back together into one. Is that a genetic defect? Incubation related? I'm thinking its genetic because the skin color on the feet is pink and not black (they are silkies). Basically if you are trying to breed that would be a bird you would cull from breeding, right? It's doesnt seem to be affecting her in any kind of negative way. She's actually the leader of the pack. The kids are picking out all the names...Chewbaca is on the list...gotta love boys.

Let it run a few more days. My money is on at least one more, maybe 2

 

[sideWing]

What part of the state are you in? Utah has some absolutely stunning country, my parents used to live in Ogden.

I'm hoping I can learn to process my own chickens. No, I could definitely learn to clean and prepare them, I need to learn to kill them. I've never been good at killing things, my dad even had to twist apart my lobster for me when I'd bring them home. Fish can't be flopping when I clean them. I have two 9 week olds that I need to cull for crossbeak. One soon. Will probably steel myself up for it this weekend. I'll be a mess.

It looks like this from most of the valley I live in, only the big buildings are really only in 5 sq miles. Lakes, mountains. It's quite beautiful here. I sure miss the mountains when I go back east.



I like the cone technique and slitting the arteries to let the blood pump out of the meat. I think they call it Levitical (spelling?) style or something like that. It works well for me. I'm walking a few friends through the butcher process in a few weeks. They are not used to processing their own meat. I have been hunting since I was 13 so It's not a problem for me. I can see the pellet gun working pretty well.

 

[RubyNala97]

One more question guys. The last chick that hatched about 4 hours ago and was very sticky (2nd sticky chick of the batch) and I thought he was still wet but when I felt him, he was dry but hard instead of soft & fluffy. Will he fluff up eventually?

 

[sideWing]

One more question guys. The last chick that hatched about 4 hours ago and was very sticky (2nd sticky chick of the batch) and I thought he was still wet but when I felt him, he was dry but hard instead of soft & fluffy. Will he fluff up eventually?

I had one like that on my first hatch. He fluffed up eventually. You can use some warm water to rub the guck out a little and then dry it if you want. I did that to the head eventually because it was bugging me.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

My eggs won't be here until tomorrow. We're leaving (or planning to) around 7am. I specifically had the guy send them to our PO box instead of our house, because I'm convinced that being jammed into the mailbox was the final straw for the last clutch's air cells. We'll be back Monday, but if we leave at a sane time, the post office will be closed (there's a possibility that we'll be leaving late Sunday night and get back around dawn, but since school's out, meaning I don't have to be at work until August, I hope not...).

 

[FridayYet]

Thanks for asking, Amy! These babies are so beautiful! They are all passed out from their debut! Here's some questions that are killing me. 12 shipped eggs made it to lockdown, 7 have hatched. The other 5 have no pips, internal or external. Why??? They were all moving at lockdown. 9pm tonight will be the end of day 21. I think the hatch is over. I'll keep the incubator on for a couple more days. But I just have a feeling they are not going to pip. My see through egg is one of those 5. It was just alive a couple days ago! Ugh! Also one of the babies, the first to hatch actually, has a slight deformity on her foot. One foot has five toes and the other foot as 4 toes, 2 toes started to seperate and then came back together into one. Is that a genetic defect? Incubation related? I'm thinking its genetic because the skin color on the feet is pink and not black (they are silkies). Basically if you are trying to breed that would be a bird you would cull from breeding, right? It's doesnt seem to be affecting her in any kind of negative way. She's actually the leader of the pack. The kids are picking out all the names...Chewbaca is on the list...gotta love boys.

Unfortunately, shipped eggs have a higher tendency to die during lockdown. I'd say your hatch is great so far - you are over 50%!!

But don't give up yet, it's still early. I had one come out a full day later than the 4 others.

 

[scflock]

It looks like this from most of the valley I live in, only the big buildings are really only in 5 sq miles. Lakes, mountains. It's quite beautiful here. I sure miss the mountains when I go back east. I like the cone technique and slitting the arteries to let the blood pump out of the meat. I think they call it Levitical (spelling?) style or something like that. It works well for me. I'm walking a few friends through the butcher process in a few weeks. They are not used to processing their own meat. I have been hunting since I was 13 so It's not a problem for me. I can see the pellet gun working pretty well.

I did everything almost exactly like the cone technique, I just shot them first Amazing view by the way

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks for asking, Amy! These babies are so beautiful! They are all passed out from their debut! Here's some questions that are killing me. 12 shipped eggs made it to lockdown, 7 have hatched. The other 5 have no pips, internal or external. Why??? They were all moving at lockdown. 9pm tonight will be the end of day 21. I think the hatch is over. I'll keep the incubator on for a couple more days. But I just have a feeling they are not going to pip. My see through egg is one of those 5. It was just alive a couple days ago! Ugh! Also one of the babies, the first to hatch actually, has a slight deformity on her foot. One foot has five toes and the other foot as 4 toes, 2 toes started to seperate and then came back together into one. Is that a genetic defect? Incubation related? I'm thinking its genetic because the skin color on the feet is pink and not black (they are silkies). Basically if you are trying to breed that would be a bird you would cull from breeding, right? It's doesnt seem to be affecting her in any kind of negative way. She's actually the leader of the pack. The kids are picking out all the names...Chewbaca is on the list...gotta love boys.

I'd say genetic and I would say that it isn't full silkie if it's not showing the true black skin. I have two out of this last hatch that have 4 toes on one foot and 5 on the other. One of my five toes appears to have a double toenail on the 5th toe, but they are so small it's hard to tell for sure. But, all of mine are crosses and none are pure. Yes, I would cull them from breeding stock to assure that it is not carried down if you are breeding for quality.

One more question guys. The last chick that hatched about 4 hours ago and was very sticky (2nd sticky chick of the batch) and I thought he was still wet but when I felt him, he was dry but hard instead of soft & fluffy. Will he fluff up eventually?

Eventually, but like sidewing said, you can wash them off with warm water to get some of the stickiness off.

 

[FridayYet]

It looks like this from most of the valley I live in, only the big buildings are really only in 5 sq miles. Lakes, mountains. It's quite beautiful here. I sure miss the mountains when I go back east.



I like the cone technique and slitting the arteries to let the blood pump out of the meat. I think they call it Levitical (spelling?) style or something like that. It works well for me. I'm walking a few friends through the butcher process in a few weeks. They are not used to processing their own meat. I have been hunting since I was 13 so It's not a problem for me. I can see the pellet gun working pretty well.

So Beautiful! Remember, I'm from Southern California and meat always came from the supermarket. (LOL) Luckily my dad grew up in Appalachia, and wrung necks for supper. He'd come do it for me, but he's in WA and not coming to visit until October! DH won't do it either.

I think I'll use the cone and a scalpel. The birds are still small and will fit in a 2 liter bottle with the neck cut out. I'm much better with a scalpel than a gun, and my unused arsenal won't help in this case. (.22s and a 9mm, just in case of civil unrest per my dad.) No pellet gun, although I can see how that could work really well.