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

[WVduckchick]

My hatching issues persist.

Of 30 turkeys gone to lockdown, two hatched unassisted and two hatched with minor assistance after partial zip. I heard no more peeping when I knocked on the incubator, so one by one I broke them out. Two were suspicious when I put them in and were confirmed dead a few days ago. Half a dozen had not fully absorbed the yolk and died before internal pip. A few were wet and gooey and had sticky wet membrane wrapped around their face though they were internally pipped. And the heartbreaking ones...fully developed, yolk absorbed, internally pipped, properly positioned, moist but not wet...half a dozen of these. One I broke out too early and it passed, it was extremely thin and tiny and had not absorbed half of its yolk. But three were trapped with no room to move, and they are still in half shells to finish on their own schedule.

That leaves 7 live poults, none of them are the cross I was working on. I am about to give up on hatching turkeys.

Wow, I'm so sorry. So some were too small, and some too large? One or the other would seem like a humidity issue, but if you ended up with both... Idk... Unless areas of the incubator are very different. Ugh.

You need to.

There is nothing better than fishing the flats, except maybe catching tuna or sailfish out in deep water. If I lived on the flats I would never go hungry, there are so many delicious and wonderful sportfishing things to eat in the sea.

I've been fishing for reds and landed flounder, fishing for sea trout and caught wahoo, catching some small Lane and Mangrove snappers just by pure happenstance, and just plain fishing for sea trout and catching them by the dozens (not a lot of keepers, but a whole lot of fun to reel in over 100 sea trout in a night). I like the fight when catching pompano, though I don't like losing all that tackle, and nothing better than throwing some chicken necks in a crab trap while fishing and hauling in some legal blue crabs to round out dinner.

I hunt, too, but the diversity of salt water fishing is so much more fun.

I'm kinda new to fishing -- basically just like to take the boat out on the lake, drink beer, and cast and reel a lot! lol But I've been hunting for about 7-8 years now. Prefer bow hunting for the challenge, but we have gotten a few new rifles this year, so maybe I'll do a little more hunting with the rifle this fall.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

You need to.

There is nothing better than fishing the flats, except maybe catching tuna or sailfish out in deep water. If I lived on the flats I would never go hungry, there are so many delicious and wonderful sportfishing things to eat in the sea.

I've been fishing for reds and landed flounder, fishing for sea trout and caught wahoo, catching some small Lane and Mangrove snappers just by pure happenstance, and just plain fishing for sea trout and catching them by the dozens (not a lot of keepers, but a whole lot of fun to reel in over 100 sea trout in a night). I like the fight when catching pompano, though I don't like losing all that tackle, and nothing better than throwing some chicken necks in a crab trap while fishing and hauling in some legal blue crabs to round out dinner.

I hunt, too, but the diversity of salt water fishing is so much more fun.

I wouldn't mind trying it...salt water fishing that is. No hunting for me.

I'm kinda new to fishing -- basically just like to take the boat out on the lake, drink beer, and cast and reel a lot! lol But I've been hunting for about 7-8 years now. Prefer bow hunting for the challenge, but we have gotten a few new rifles this year, so maybe I'll do a little more hunting with the rifle this fall.

And that's where the similarities stop...lol Never been hunting, never will. I wouldn't mind learning to shoot though.

 

[MunsterChicks]

I can't even see what's in the pics from candling.  LOL I took the pics with the candling setting on my phone. That's the only reason there's any illumination.
Welcome to the convo! Northerners don't have accents. It's the lack of accent that makes it easy to pick us out.     LOL  No!!  No pork brains!!

They are grown. She just wanted to get rid of the silkies. As a matter of fact chances are one of these is the mother to the one I have as I hatched her from eggs I got from my sister. Mine is in much more pristine condition though.  I understand they have a lot of chickens and bigger range and independence, but I was a little dissapointed to tell you the truth. And apparently they think the nest boxes are beds. I went out twice last night and moved them out. It's the quality and condition that I am a little dissapointed in. I wanted to them to use for my showgirl project next year, but I don't know. The one smaller one has these big thick ugly feet not as bad as the godzilla chicken, but the same concept. The toes/nails on them look awful. One is either missing the tip of a toe or the whole nail. I just am really surprised. No, I don't visit my sister. I love her, but have no desire to go down there so I don't know much about the set up or what she has for her flock. I just know they average around 100 and they are considering cutting way back. I really think they should.

That's right...no accent. Just plain boring northern talk.

LOL exactly, Northerners are just lacking an accent.
Poor little Silkies! Do they get dirty? I also would be worried about them in the cold here.

Up here in the frigid north, missing toes is also quite common with frostbite.  I bought some started pullets late in the winter where they were in a trailer before pickup and have about 40 with missing partial or full digits, they froze in the trailer and blackened and fell off here.  One hen has only a tiny "thumb" and the pad on the bottom of her foot.  She walks with a little limp, but she uses the nest box and roosts like the others.

I'm nervous for the winter here, everyone I know says they're usually OK (meaning the chickens) as long as the temp doesn't get too much below zero. We had a lot of snow here this winter for our area. The problem was we got foot upon foot in a short time, and it sat for months. I hope we don't have another winter like that, the poor chickens would be stuck in their coop all winter

I'm so glad I was born in the south. If you have to cut a hole in the ice to go fishing, it's time to move. Down here an "ice hole" is something totally different

Ice fishing is a blast! We have a portable shanty and a little buddy heater. Stays nice and toasty! It's all for fun though, don't want to be eating pike/pickerel. We throw them all back.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

LOL exactly, Northerners are just lacking an accent.
Poor little Silkies! Do they get dirty? I also would be worried about them in the cold here.
I'm nervous for the winter here, everyone I know says they're usually OK (meaning the chickens) as long as the temp doesn't get too much below zero. We had a lot of snow here this winter for our area. The problem was we got foot upon foot in a short time, and it sat for months. I hope we don't have another winter like that, the poor chickens would be stuck in their coop all winter

Ice fishing is a blast! We have a portable shanty and a little buddy heater. Stays nice and toasty! It's all for fun though, don't want to be eating pike/pickerel. We throw them all back.

Oh they get dirty. Especially after dust bathing...lol My concern this winter is frostbite. I'm going to make sure I have lots of ventilation in the coop, but my two roos have huge combs and wattles. I heard that putting vaseline on them helps keep them from getting frostbite. If that works I'll just have to rooster wrangle em and slick them up. I'm not looking foreward to having them shut in fr days at a time, that's for sure.

 

[WalnutHill]

Wow, I'm so sorry. So some were too small, and some too large? One or the other would seem like a humidity issue, but if you ended up with both... Idk... Unless areas of the incubator are very different. Ugh.

All the eggs were in the same turner in the same tray in my cabinet, no temp variations across a tray (though tray to tray varies about 0.5F for each tray, coolest up top. I start my eggs at the bottom and move them up the stack as the previous batch is removed. The trays have an air gap between the edges and the cabinet walls, so there are no cool spots along the walls, back, or door.

Egg sizes were very inconsistent. My Narris and BBB lay very, very large turkey eggs. The 24 Bourbon Red and Bronze I put in were very small, not any bigger than large chicken eggs. But even a couple of those were sticky.

Air cells were mostly right on track, but a couple of poults were so big that the air cell was just squished to a thin layer above them. I kept humidity way down, from no water added to just sporadic, to keep the air cells on track day 7-21.

The late lockdown (not actually a late lockdown, more accurately an early hatch) may have contributed to some of the membrane issues but again, all eggs had the same conditions throughout.

 

[WVduckchick]

I wouldn't mind trying it...salt water fishing that is. No hunting for me.
And that's where the similarities stop...lol Never been hunting, never will. I wouldn't mind learning to shoot though.

Haha, yea, I could have guessed that Amy! Actually, I've only taken 3 deer ever, all with my bow, and 2 turkeys - one with my bow, one with a 22 magnum. Now that I've hatched a turkey, I'm not sure I could shoot another one though. Which reminds me, if yall don't mind, I'd like WalnutHill's opinion -- well, anyone's really -- on the gender of my turkey. I'm pretty sure she's a she now. 9 weeks old, no strutting, she clucks a lot. Do you think she is definitely a girl?

 

[WalnutHill]

Haha, yea, I could have guessed that Amy! Actually, I've only taken 3 deer ever, all with my bow, and 2 turkeys - one with my bow, one with a 22 magnum. Now that I've hatched a turkey, I'm not sure I could shoot another one though. Which reminds me, if yall don't mind, I'd like WalnutHill's opinion -- well, anyone's really -- on the gender of my turkey. I'm pretty sure she's a she now. 9 weeks old, no strutting, she clucks a lot. Do you think she is definitely a girl?

The feathers run all the way up to the head, that's a girl thing. Shanks look proportionately delicate, that's a girl thing. And the tapered head is a girl head on heritage varieties.

 

[WVduckchick]

The feathers run all the way up to the head, that's a girl thing. Shanks look proportionately delicate, that's a girl thing. And the tapered head is a girl head on heritage varieties.

Oh goodie! Thank you!

 

[WVduckchick]

All the eggs were in the same turner in the same tray in my cabinet, no temp variations across a tray (though tray to tray varies about 0.5F for each tray, coolest up top. I start my eggs at the bottom and move them up the stack as the previous batch is removed. The trays have an air gap between the edges and the cabinet walls, so there are no cool spots along the walls, back, or door.

Egg sizes were very inconsistent. My Narris and BBB lay very, very large turkey eggs. The 24 Bourbon Red and Bronze I put in were very small, not any bigger than large chicken eggs. But even a couple of those were sticky.

Air cells were mostly right on track, but a couple of poults were so big that the air cell was just squished to a thin layer above them. I kept humidity way down, from no water added to just sporadic, to keep the air cells on track day 7-21.

The late lockdown (not actually a late lockdown, more accurately an early hatch) may have contributed to some of the membrane issues but again, all eggs had the same conditions throughout.

Were all the eggs about the same age? I mean, were some of them ones that you had held for several days, even weeks? I remember someone incubating some that were almost a month old, but can't remember who. If you can't figure out the problem, I'm sure I can't! Just trying to think of possibilities.

 

[scflock]

I wouldn't mind learning to shoot though.

Yep, you're a yankee for sure. Down here you can't graduate third grade if you don't know how

I have never fished salt water.

Shocker

You need to.

There is nothing better than fishing the flats, except maybe catching tuna or sailfish out in deep water. If I lived on the flats I would never go hungry, there are so many delicious and wonderful sportfishing things to eat in the sea.

I've been fishing for reds and landed flounder, fishing for sea trout and caught wahoo, catching some small Lane and Mangrove snappers just by pure happenstance, and just plain fishing for sea trout and catching them by the dozens (not a lot of keepers, but a whole lot of fun to reel in over 100 sea trout in a night). I like the fight when catching pompano, though I don't like losing all that tackle, and nothing better than throwing some chicken necks in a crab trap while fishing and hauling in some legal blue crabs to round out dinner.

Oh, and casting my shrimp net and netting up both dinner AND bait in the same throw...can't beat it!

I hunt, too, but the diversity of salt water fishing is so much more fun.

That's what I love, there is just so much diversity. They all fight 10 times harder than freshwater, they all have teeth, and they all taste good.

Oh they get dirty. Especially after dust bathing...lol My concern this winter is frostbite. I'm going to make sure I have lots of ventilation in the coop, but my two roos have huge combs and wattles. I heard that putting vaseline on them helps keep them from getting frostbite. If that works I'll just have to rooster wrangle em and slick them up. I'm not looking foreward to having them shut in fr days at a time, that's for sure.

Nope, not gonna do it...