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

[peecock]

Thanks been exited to try them also got turkeys so lost of eggs to try I'm going to try to git rid of it

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

Different colours of marans. I had to remove a bit of membrane because the first one was malpositioned. Pipped way below the air cell. It can now breath.

Aww! That's so sweet. Marans are awesome birds. I can't wait to get some more.

I've never dealt with coyotes with my chickens, but I have had foxes. The way the foxes were gotten rid of is this: a spotlight was set up by the coop. The person (not putting names) sat in a chair behind it so they wouldn't be seen. When The cat (who thinks she is a chicken) got tense and her haired raised up, person knew the fox was there and shot it. End of story. It worked.
Hope you catch your critter! Btw, guinea eggs I personally think taste better than chicken eggs. I've never had guinea meat, tho.

That sounds like a solid plan.

Thanks been exited to try them also got turkeys so lost of eggs to try I'm going to try to git rid of it

About your predator, are there any signs or anything left? How secure is your run? Is there a spot they could be digging under or leaping over?

 

[peecock]

No it's safe there is pices of them all over the place

 

[BYC910]

Weather today, 95, sunny, humid with scattered showers.

Tasks today: parts run for the day's projects, change the thermostat gasket on my '69 Firebird convertible, fix the air compressor so I can grind on the tractor frame in prep for welding, jack and shim and strap the tractor frame so I can weld it, read an Instructables on how to MIG weld, sandblast the paint off the area to be repaired then clean off the debris, MIG weld the first fracture, then spend an hour grinding my incredibly ugly weld to clean it up a bit.

Tomorrow I will touch up the weld and clamp and bolt and weld a U-channel into place on the left side, then switch to the right side and start the process over again.

Weld spatter is hot. Leather boots, jeans and jacket in 95F is perhaps worse.

Looks like everyone was busy, not much posting going on.

I think if you told us what you can't do it would be a very short list . it's always hot when you weld .If your getting a lot of splatter you are either to hot or to fast slow down and watch the puddle make it swirl watch the edge of the puddle .if your welding vertical use a long to short arc. this might not make sense but do it with your wrist strike your arc quickly move upward making a long arc that doesn't deposit much metal and come back down to the puddle. your wrist movement should be about one half inch. this lets the puddle solidify and not run move just the wrist. you can also run down from top to bottom but the weld is not as strong. 97 here today .here it is mid night and I finished all I could do at 11:30.

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

No it's safe there is pices of them all over the place

That doesn't sound like a coyote or fox.
Here is a link to help you identify what is nabbing your birds. This should make eliminating them easier.

http://www.grit.com/animals/predators-of-chickens.aspx?PageId=2

Maybe a cat? "Cats have been known to kill full-grown chickens; they’ll consume the meaty parts, leaving the rest scattered around. "

Keep us posted!

I think if you told us what you can't do it would be a very short list .

Agreed! I am always impressed at the range and amount of work!

 

[BYC910]

No it's safe there is pices of them all over the place

you are looking in the wrong place are you losing them on the roost or from the run not a coyote dog or fox or hawk unless the run is open with no top and low. possum coon bobcat house cat. it killed 6 birds it must have left some sign somewhere on the ground if not it came in from the top. what kind of wire do you have a possum can get through a chainlink fence I watched one do it after it killed my chicken on the roost and came back for more 20 gage fixed the problem. point the cam at the run. sounds like possum or coon I would be sitting where I could watch the coop gun ready just at dark .varmint must die keep the ground muddy around the coop. I love the track more than the kill.

 

[NTBugtraq]

How much blood did you see, and how bright red? It's not unusual to have a smear or two of blood left in the vessels in the membrane, but it's not bright and will leak only a drop or less.

The head is the best indicator of readiness. Are the eyes open? Head look fully developed and covered with down?

The chick died overnight.



In case you can't make it out, the head is in the top left quarter. It was a mal-position since its head is not under its wing. The chick was in this position when the internal membrane was intact, it's only movement was to open and close its beak, and it's belly moved as it's heart beated (or it breathed).

So to answer your question, as I tried to peel the shell back there was more than a little blood. It was far more than there should have been if it were merely remnants in the membrane.

Unfortunately, I totally failed to consider what the moisture inside the remaining shell was going to do...namely, cement the chick in place. If I'd have considered that last night I might have gone ahead as @WalnutHill suggested...but as @scflock rightly pointed out, I'm not sure why I was giving this guy so long in the first place. I can only say that when I did the float test and saw this one egg moving so much, it seemed like a good opportunity to look into assisting. Sucks that I failed, but it was at least instructional.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[rossfam06]

The chick died overnight. In case you can't make it out, the head is in the top left quarter. It was a mal-position since its head is not under its wing. The chick was in this position when the internal membrane was intact, it's only movement was to open and close its beak, and it's belly moved as it's heart beated (or it breathed). So to answer your question, as I tried to peel the shell back there was more than a little blood. It was far more than there should have been if it were merely remnants in the membrane. Unfortunately, I totally failed to consider what the moisture inside the remaining shell was going to do...namely, cement the chick in place. If I'd have considered that last night I might have gone ahead as @WalnutHill suggested...but as @scflock rightly pointed out, I'm not sure why I was giving this guy so long in the first place. I can only say that when I did the float test and saw this one egg moving so much, it seemed like a good opportunity to look into assisting. Sucks that I failed, but it was at least instructional. Thanks for all the advice.

I'm sorry. I had a SLP chick get cemented in and died overnight as well. It too was malpositioned and never kicked itself out. I feel your pain. Have you eggtopsied yet? Was there still yolk that needed to be absorbed?

 

[rossfam06]

So....day 10 candle is not good....I wonder if I should have left them in the auto turner. I had 5 eggs that looked viable on day 7 candle... I check again today and out of those 5 only 1 looks good!!! I am so angry right now. It better hatch as a hen...or I am going to be p***ed! (Crested cream legbar)

 

[WalnutHill]

I think if you told us what you can't do it would be a very short list . it's always hot when you weld .If your getting a lot of splatter you are either to hot or to fast slow down and watch the puddle make it swirl watch the edge of the puddle .if your welding vertical use a long to short arc. this might not make sense but do it with your wrist strike your arc quickly move upward making a long arc that doesn't deposit much metal and come back down to the puddle. your wrist movement should be about one half inch. this lets the puddle solidify and not run move just the wrist. you can also run down from top to bottom but the weld is not as strong. 97 here today .here it is mid night and I finished all I could do at 11:30.

Thanks for that! Yes, it is a vertical weld, and a stress fractured butt joint on 2mm steel. I left a slightly less than 1mm gap between the two pieces but had no penetration, so I think I was just getting all jumpy and not giving the welder contact time do its job. I got about 90 percent coverage of the fracture but the repair doesn't show through on the back so there is no strength. I'll be working on it again this afternoon, and as per the manual the welder is a bit undersized for the job, I'll drill a series of eight holes in the frame rail, four through the new bar, then bolt and plug weld the 3mm repair stock in place. It will be inside the frame rail so I won't be able to weld around it. I'll also take my time, raise the power, and adjust the wire feed to make a nice puddle.

I do get what you mean...instead of stitching left to right like a zig zag, stitch toward and away, kind of like a sewing machine normally sews.