South Carolina

[WestKnollAmy]

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I am sure there will be jobs down in Charleston for the big airplane building place (Leer?) But there are jobs to be had here in SC. My DH finds them through temp agencies but he doesn't aspire much higher than that. He is happy doing the job he has been doing for 35 years. I bet your hubby could find a nice job here, it just takes some looking.
And yes, the humidity is very rough right now and I was born and raised only 20 miles from where I live now so you would think I would be used to it. NOT!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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And to our SC thread!

Sorry I am slack about responding to this. I am playing catch up.
Finished the other brooder pen (I ought to call it a crib since that is what it looks like) and am resting before taking it down to the barn and installing chicks!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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Sorry, the gray roo is already gone. He was snatched up by a friend this morning. When I want to move something it doesn't usually last very long here.
I also sold my JG blue roo with a black JG hen, a Golden Cuckoo Marans roo with a sister hen and a few Cochins.

 

[Joycats]

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Careful - hatching is MORE addictive than chickens!!

Have fun, I love those tiny babies.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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I can think of thousands of things you could do here to keep you busy to well after all the eggs hatch!

I check my hatchers (I have 2 going right now) as I pass them back and forth to the bathroom (I do take those occasional breaks, though I don't understand why since I am sweating out all I am drinking!) and get to check progress. Especially if there is some loud screaming going on. It is good for their lungs to get going but sometimes one gets stuck between cartons and pitches a fit so I have to help them out. Others just scream for the joy of it. Those enjoy being picked up and cuddled against the neck a bit, icky wet they may be but I love them.

 

[emptynester]

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I can think of thousands of things you could do here to keep you busy to well after all the eggs hatch!

I check my hatchers (I have 2 going right now) as I pass them back and forth to the bathroom (I do take those occasional breaks, though I don't understand why since I am sweating out all I am drinking!) and get to check progress. Especially if there is some loud screaming going on. It is good for their lungs to get going but sometimes one gets stuck between cartons and pitches a fit so I have to help them out. Others just scream for the joy of it. Those enjoy being picked up and cuddled against the neck a bit, icky wet they may be but I love them.

That's what I should do ! Come hang out at your house and pick out a pair of your mille fleur cochins- ( the last pair pictured that are for sale) and get ideas for more stuff I "Need" and ways to house them!! ooooo didn't I see something something about working for eggs??!!! LOL After all, apparently my $10 incubator works!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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Woo hoo! Now... calm down. It can take 48 hours from the pip to hatch. Usually doesn't but it might. I've given up on candling until day 18. If it has something in it (most of the egg looks dark), I put it in lockdown. If it looks clear inside, out it goes. I found hatching way too stressful when I was candling all the time! Good luck with your babies!

I used to wait to candle on day 18 and still do sometimes but every once and a while I need to make room in the brooder and will go through and sort out eggs that aren't developing and make room for a lot more when they are only a week along. Like today, my friend brought over 14 dz and asked if I had room to incubate them.

One of the 'bators is hers so I will set her eggs in her 'bator that only holds about 40 but I have to wait until the last of her eggs finish hatching today.
I have 2 dz still due to arrive in the mail for me (should have been here today!) and those are priority in my big Sportsman but I will go through tonight or tomorrow and start candling again to see what I can move around. My chart on the wall looks like some graffiti war since I use colors on my trays and use that color marker to keep up with the chart. Whew! It does get exhausting.

Yup, you are going to have loads of fun, Susanne! The best advice I can give is not to limit yourself to one color on a hatching tray. If I could do it again I would color code both ends of the trays different colors because half of red tray usually has eggs due to hatch at a different time than the other half of red tray. Purple tray may have 3 different hatching days so each line of eggs should probably be color coded.
Ugh, it can get extremely addictive and I way over think this stuff.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
I can think of thousands of things you could do here to keep you busy to well after all the eggs hatch!

I check my hatchers (I have 2 going right now) as I pass them back and forth to the bathroom (I do take those occasional breaks, though I don't understand why since I am sweating out all I am drinking!) and get to check progress. Especially if there is some loud screaming going on. It is good for their lungs to get going but sometimes one gets stuck between cartons and pitches a fit so I have to help them out. Others just scream for the joy of it. Those enjoy being picked up and cuddled against the neck a bit, icky wet they may be but I love them.

That's what I should do ! Come hang out at your house and pick out a pair of your mille fleur cochins- ( the last pair pictured that are for sale) and get ideas for more stuff I "Need" and ways to house them!! ooooo didn't I see something something about working for eggs??!!! LOL After all, apparently my $10 incubator works!

Oh, gosh yes, come on and get some MFC breeding pairs or trios before they are gone. I know they do not look like much on the website but when I hatch from pairs like that I get lovely MFCs. However, I don't show as many photos of them because I am not ready to part with my closer to perfect beauties. However, working with what I have for sale gives some awesome results.
And yes, work for eggs or chickens! LOL There is always tons of work.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Here is another brooder done.
This one is not as wide, as you all know the difficulty I had getting the last one in the coop.

We did put plexiglass on the end instead of plywood so they are protected from storms that blow in but still have plenty of light. I also added roosting boards instead of building an A frame roost since they may like more room in the middle.
I still have the two top doors to open up.
Oh and don't adjust those dials folks, the boards are that warped. I painted them but left them out too long before using them and they bowed and twisted a bit. Oh well, chicks don't care.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

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Woo hoo! Now... calm down. It can take 48 hours from the pip to hatch. Usually doesn't but it might. I've given up on candling until day 18. If it has something in it (most of the egg looks dark), I put it in lockdown. If it looks clear inside, out it goes. I found hatching way too stressful when I was candling all the time! Good luck with your babies!

I used to wait to candle on day 18 and still do sometimes but every once and a while I need to make room in the brooder and will go through and sort out eggs that aren't developing and make room for a lot more when they are only a week along. Like today, my friend brought over 14 dz and asked if I had room to incubate them.

One of the 'bators is hers so I will set her eggs in her 'bator that only holds about 40 but I have to wait until the last of her eggs finish hatching today.
I have 2 dz still due to arrive in the mail for me (should have been here today!) and those are priority in my big Sportsman but I will go through tonight or tomorrow and start candling again to see what I can move around. My chart on the wall looks like some graffiti war since I use colors on my trays and use that color marker to keep up with the chart. Whew! It does get exhausting.

Yup, you are going to have loads of fun, Susanne! The best advice I can give is not to limit yourself to one color on a hatching tray. If I could do it again I would color code both ends of the trays different colors because half of red tray usually has eggs due to hatch at a different time than the other half of red tray. Purple tray may have 3 different hatching days so each line of eggs should probably be color coded.
Ugh, it can get extremely addictive and I way over think this stuff.

I think what I'm going to try is to set eggs on Saturday (whatever I collect and want to hatch during the week). Every Saturday I'll set a new tray and on week 4, I'll move the first set to the hatcher and fill that tray with the week's eggs. That's my plan anyway!