The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Happy Chooks]

If you set eggs on the 9th, Tomorrow is Lockdown!

​

Since I cheated and set a day early, I'll be locking down today. My kids think I was a nice mommy buying them a big carton of strawberries at the store yesterday. They don't know I wanted the container to hatch in.

Now I gotta empty it out.

 

[Time-Out]

Quote:
That is spring!

 

[tadpole98]

Very tiring day today and its only 10!! Out to the goats around 7, pheobe had triplets. one though was underdeveloped, had died awhile back it appears. (wont go into details..) the doeling is fine, but the buckling was down to 89* F!!! they are supposed to be 102* F.....
Finally just got him up to temp and are going to try to put him back with momma. She rejected one last year so we dont know how this will go.

So far everybody has had triplets, but only one triplet has made it. Ughh... you know, buckley is a very good buck. this is only his first year at it and triplets every time! One died only because the cold. born during a snowstorm.


We are about to lose another hen today, i think its cocci. this will be my third in 4 days. Shes all hunched over and wont move. this is the hen that usually hates me, but cant get away from me when i go to pick her up. *sigh*

 

[tadpole98]

If you set eggs on the 9th, Tomorrow is Lockdown!

​

Since I cheated and set a day early, I'll be locking down today. My kids think I was a nice mommy buying them a big carton of strawberries at the store yesterday. They don't know I wanted the container to hatch in.

Now I gotta empty it out.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! thank you for reminding me!! I would have forgotten, totally. everything seems to happen most when i dont want it too..


but i tossed 4 eggs yesterday. Two were duds and 2 had died. i think one died on the 7th day and the other on the 15th.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
That is spring!

Where I'm from, that is NOT spring!

We are about to lose another hen today, i think its cocci. this will be my third in 4 days. Shes all hunched over and wont move. this is the hen that usually hates me, but cant get away from me when i go to pick her up. *sigh*

Did you get some Corid for her? You will likely have to force her to drink by dribbling the Corid/water solution on her beak.

 

[Pele]

Ok, I speak as a heavily tatooed lady who has multiple peircings....... MOTHER OF GOD!!!!!!!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Contest #8
2013 Easter Hatch-a-long



"Flapper Contest!"

Post your best Fowl Flapping in action!
All fowl flappers accepted, NO Staging photos, birds must be on their feet!
No more than 3 entries per contestant!
Our BYC Judges will choose 10 finalists, and then YOU vote for your favorites!

3 entries per contestant

ENTRY DEADLINE
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 Midnight PST
Voting will BEGIN Friday, March 29th,2013
And will CLOSE Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 Midnight PST

1st PRIZE
Hatching Eggs!
Donated by ChooksChick
6+ Chocolate/Mauve Ameraucana project eggs
You can see pics and info on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746646/chocolate-mauve-ameraucana-color-project-beakhouse/0_100


2nd PRIZE
Hatching Eggs!
Donated by ChooksChick
6+ Chocolate Orpington


3rd PRIZE
Hatching Eggs!
Donated by ChooksChick
10+ Blue/Black/Splash Mottled Bantam Cochins


The deadline for entries is March 27th, 2013 Midnight PST.



Enter Here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/752768/2013-easter-hatch-a-long-contest-8-flapper-contest/0_50​

 

[Time-Out]

Hatch Day - 4


Here's something hatch-related.

Why are eggs the shape they are?


First of all, what is the shape of a chicken egg? It's not round or spherical, like some reptile eggs. It's not oval either. It's an asymmetrical mix of oval and tapered, with one end bigger than the other — yup, chicken eggs are an 'asymmetric tapered oval'.

The ovoid shape gives an egg its incredible strength. You can see this amazing power first-hand with a simple experiment.
First, remove any rings on your fingers and slip on a rubber glove. Then wrap your fingers around an egg and squeeze really, really hard while trying to apply equal pressure to all sides of the egg. If this demonstration is done correctly, even Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't crack it. Why? Because of something the egg has in common with famous works of architecture like the Pantheon in Rome, Italy. This monument has survived for nearly 2,000 years because it's shaped like a three-dimensional arch, a domed, egg-like shape that's one of the strongest architectural designs in the world. When an object is placed on top of it, no single point in the dome supports the entire weight; instead, the object's heaviness is carried down along the curved walls to the dome's wide base. This, of course, works best when you apply similar pressure to all sides of the dome. If your egg breaks, it's most likely because one of your fingers applied greater pressure to the shell than the others. 


If eggs were rectangular little boxes, they would be very strong on the corners, but very weak in the middle of the straight walls. (They would also be extremely uncomfortable for the chicken to lay.) Sharp edges can act as stress concentrators. It is at these points that structures are most likely to fail. It’s why you can usually rip a piece of paper in half fairly cleanly. Once you have a small tear in it, the stress will be concentrated at the tip of the tear, and the tear will propagate forward. It’s the same reason why a small crack in your car windscreen can easily turn into a larger crack - the stress is concentrated at the ends of the cracks.
Round things such as eggs obviously don’t have sharp points to them and therefore it is much harder to get a crack formed in the first place. Also, the shape ensures the shell is strong in compression (squashing) but weaker in tension (stretching). External forces are likely to squash it, whereas internal forces (the chick trying to get out) will stretch it, and it breaks more easily.The strongest shape of all is a ball, or sphere. But if you were to push or gently nudge a spherical egg, it would roll away downhill, never to be seen again.

So, one reason that eggs have an asymmetric tapered oval shape is that if you nudge them, they'll come back to you. They'll sweep out a circle around the pointed end, and come to a stop with the pointed end facing uphill. In fact, the eggs of birds that have their nests on cliffs are more oval than the eggs of birds that nest on the ground. This means the 'more-oval' eggs of these cliff-nesting birds will roll in a very tight little circle, and be less likely to roll out of the nest — and off the cliff.

Another reason for eggs to be egg-shaped is that they fit together quite snugly in the nest, with only small air spaces between them. This means the eggs radiate their heat onto each other, and keep each other warm. And of course, you can fit more eggs into the nest.

Yet another reason that eggs are tapered is so that they can get pushed out of the hen. It sounds intuitively wrong and extremely uncomfortable, but eggs are laid with the blunt end coming out first, followed by the tapered end. In fact, the physics of pushing-an-egg-out tells us that eggs have to come out blunt end first.
It can be explained with an example. If you've eaten cherries, you'll have come across the pip or stone inside the cherry. That pip is tapered on each end. Think how easy it is to squeeze a tapered cherry pip between your fingers, and squirt it a metre or two. At the other extreme of things, think how hard it would be to squirt rectangular dice anywhere, if you just squeeze them between your fingers. It would be impossible.
Getting back to the chicken egg, the end of the chicken egg that tapers to a point has the ideal shape for the muscles of the hen's vagina to push on - and out. The hen's vagina has the basic shape of a tube. As the muscles squeeze upon the egg, they find more surface area to act on at the tapered end - as compared to the blunt end. And so the tapered end retreats from the contracting muscles, pushing the egg (blunt end first) into the outside world.

 

[ronott1]

Somewhere, somewhen, I read someone's how-to for staggered hatching with a single bator/hatcher. I can't find it! :wail: Does anybody remember what I'm talking about, or know of a similar posting, or is willing to retype all that for me? :dimples:

I read a post from someone that does staggered hatching in a cabinet incubator. Wait until you see a pip and then raise the humidity. After the hatch, let the humidity go back down. The increase in humidity for the hatch does not hurt the incubating eggs.

Let us know how it works for you!

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Hatch Day - 4


Here's something hatch-related.

Why are eggs the shape they are?

Yet another reason that eggs are tapered is so that they can get pushed out of the hen. It sounds intuitively wrong and extremely uncomfortable, but eggs are laid with the blunt end coming out first, followed by the tapered end. In fact, the physics of pushing-an-egg-out tells us that eggs have to come out blunt end first.
It can be explained with an example. If you've eaten cherries, you'll have come across the pip or stone inside the cherry. That pip is tapered on each end. Think how easy it is to squeeze a tapered cherry pip between your fingers, and squirt it a metre or two. At the other extreme of things, think how hard it would be to squirt rectangular dice anywhere, if you just squeeze them between your fingers. It would be impossible.
Getting back to the chicken egg, the end of the chicken egg that tapers to a point has the ideal shape for the muscles of the hen's vagina to push on - and out. The hen's vagina has the basic shape of a tube. As the muscles squeeze upon the egg, they find more surface area to act on at the tapered end - as compared to the blunt end. And so the tapered end retreats from the contracting muscles, pushing the egg (blunt end first) into the outside world.

Wow! I always though that Eggs came out pointy end first, since it would be easier for the small end to push out first, slowly opening up the cloaca to let the large end of the egg out. But now that you wrote this, I can totally see how it would have to be pushed out large end first!!!

You learn something every day! LOL. Great Egg facts!

Thanks Time-Out!!