The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[ronott1]

A REMINDER for LOCKDOWN…

DO NOT ADD OPEN CONTAINERS OF
WATER THAT chicks can DROWN IN to raise your humidity!
ADD A screen or nylon with rubberband around It so chicks KEEP OUT!
Clean SPONGES/rags are always best! EVEN SHAMWOWS are great!

Sponges can be sterilized in a micro wave. Wet the sponge and squeeze out the excess water. put it into the micro wave for a minute to a minute 20 seconds and the heat will kill the bugs on it!

 

[noahsmom]

4 chicks and 7 pips!! Happy Chicken Mommy!

I hope all is going well for everyone, My eyes have been glued to eggs and chicks all day lol Now have to leave to pick my son up from school and have a meeting with his teachers ugh I will be so anxious to get back home!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

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TIME TO PREPARE FOR CHICKS!

Set up a brooder box. BYC has wonderful Ideas from members!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/homemade-chicken-brooder-designs-pictures
Get out feeder and waterer.
Place wood shavings or other litter in the bottom of the brooder box. DO NOT USE NEWSPAPERS.
Regulate the temperature to around 95-97 degrees F.
Provide water for chicks after they are placed in the brooder box. Dip Beaks, Place marbles or
rocks in the waterer to keep chicks from drowning.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

New Chick Care Links and Info​

DIP THE BEAK OF THE CHICK IN THE WATER BEFORE YOU TURN IT LOOSE in the brooder. A taste of water right away helps them to find more water soon. If your chicks are at all stressed, add about 3 tablespoons of brown or table sugar to each quart of water for extra energy. Most baby bird loss is caused because the bird doesn't start to eat or drink. Never let your bird run out of water. http://odysseyranch.com/Chick Care Tips.html

Homemade Electrolyte Recipe for weak/ill chicks
2 C. Water
2 TBL. Brown Sugar, honey or molasses
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
Mix until all dry ingredients dissolve & Keep refrigerated
You could also use electrolyte drinks Gatorade or Pedialyte, or
3 drops of POLYVISOL (liquid childrens A-B-D vitamins)
Slowly drip along inner edge of lower beak.


How To Raise Baby Chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens

Raising your chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks

Dont forget to have Sav-A-Chick™ Electrolyte and Vitamin Supplement on hand! AND ITS CHEAP at TSC its Balanced electrolytes supplement for newly hatched and adult chickens, ducks, turkeys, and other domestic poultry. Fortified with vitamins A, D3, E, C, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 and B12. Convenient, single-use packets each mix into one gallon of drinking water. Use during hot weather or other stress to support optimal hydration and bird health. JUST IN CASE you have a weak bird! OR You can add sugar to the water in the first couple of days.


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Some causes of EARLY CHICK MORTALITY ~​

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/39604/some-causes-of-early-chick-mortality​

​

 

[tadpole98]

A REMINDER for LOCKDOWN…

DO NOT ADD OPEN CONTAINERS OF
WATER THAT chicks can DROWN IN to raise your humidity!
ADD A screen or nylon with rubberband around It so chicks KEEP OUT!
Clean SPONGES/rags are always best! EVEN SHAMWOWS are great!

Good advice!!

 

[uphilljill]

Turner removed, humidity bumped, brooder ready... COME ON CHICKS!

So DH & I were discussing if we should play some music for the eggs. I suggested Dixie Chicks or Egg-lectric Light Orchestra, he suggested Bach (Bach, Bach, Bach.) Any other recommendations?

 

[tkmac]

12 of 12 quail eggs rocking and rolling in lockdown.   
Lights, camera, paper towels ... Action

 

[wolftracks]

Where do you keep your temps Wolf? I like to keep mine around 97 at lock down, and it was only 95 in one of the bators, so had to adjust mine a bit too this morning. They are old enough now, that you don't have anything to worry about..you probably know that already.

Editing..I think I will go and get some of that Polyvisol. I have so many eggs that are going to hatch...ahem..I hope. I don't want to run across this and not have the right thing on hand. Thanks. )

Wolftracks, can you help me out a bit..... Can you list your suggestions that everyone have available for assisting and chicks health? I am going to post a "Get your brooder Ready" I could use the help on the other end, or anyone can post suggestions too! I just wanted to get the topic rolling so everyone has stuff ready! I made the assist article but I have yet to actually add a materials needed list!

I can try, but I'm a slow typist, so you'll probably get a lot more help from faster fingers. LOL

You have the Polyvisol, which I'll never be without again.
ACV (I'm never without this for anything or anyone in the house. Amazing stuff! Great for pasty butts
Tweezers (rounded tips)
Q-Tips
Paper towels
Band-Aids
A coffee or teacup
Zipties (for marking and also help to hold things together or on like bandages
Vet wrap
B12 with viamin K
I use the hatching baskets sometimes to isolate a chick if I have no other place
A blender or coffee grinder - I use this to make the feed even finer. It helps with pasty butts if the feed is finer in the beginning
Rocks or marbles for waterers.
bricks or wood pieces for raising the feeders and waterers (less mess)

My mind is blank

Crud, someone knocked on the door and asked if I had any eggs.....It's !2:08, I gotta lock down!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I LOVE THIS!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I need some help deciding on turkey

We will process 3 a year, SOOOOO do I buy all toms or both? can toms grow out together? how long until I can process a turkey? like a broad breasted?

You do realize that turkeys are beyond dumber than a rock and won't go into a coop at night of their own accord, right? I do miss mine though, they were sooooo friendly.

Quote: I'd split the difference and lock them down a little late on the 1st batch and a little early on the 2nd batch.

And now for the happy news about my classroom hatch. They are ON TIME... I've got 1 out. It is hopping around like a frog in there.. never seen that before.. lol...

I've also got NINE pips! Every time I check, there's another one pipping. This seems promising. Pictures coming, as long as the kids stay out for recess long enough for me to take them and upload them.

Well, my one fertile egg is going into lockdown today. It looks so lonely in there. I hope it makes it.

I hope it makes it!

And hope you can get it a friend so it doesn't drive you bonkers in the brooder.

OMG you should hear them crow, sounds so deep and bellowing! I will video tape Friday when I don't have kids! also you should see the size of them next to the ancona ducks! OMG I didn't realize how truly large until they are runnin with ducks!

I have you all beat on crowing. I have the BYC record crower...................at 1 DAY old. (his daddy started crowing at 4 days old) Check it out:

I got my first pip for the hatch! My lone little duck egg I had to set has pipped.

So if he goes by normal slow duckling hatching schedule he should be hatching Fri/Sat, right on time.
He will have duckling company when he hatches, I have 3 little ducklings that hatched last week, momma just quit laying as soon as I set those and started collecting for this hatch, lol.

Can't wait to see the little cutie!

They need B vitamins for Wry Neck. Baby vitamins without Iron(iron is bad for them).

Yes, wry neck is nothing more than a vitamin deficiency of vitamin B. You can give Selenium too, which helps them absorb the Vitamin B. Wry neck does not only occur in chicks - I had a pullet get an injury and developed wry neck from it. By the time I figured out what it was, it was too late for her.

If you get Poly-vi-sol, make sure it's the one WITHOUT iron.

A REMINDER for LOCKDOWN…

DO NOT ADD OPEN CONTAINERS OF
WATER THAT chicks can DROWN IN to raise your humidity!
ADD A screen or nylon with rubberband around It so chicks KEEP OUT!
Clean SPONGES/rags are always best! EVEN SHAMWOWS are great!

Adding notes from Ron: Sponges can be sterilized in a micro wave. Wet the sponge and squeeze out the excess water. put it into the micro wave for a minute to a minute 20 seconds and the heat will kill the bugs on it!

Great reminder!

 

[wolftracks]

OK I forget what I was starting with.

Pulled 14 for sure quiters, but I left some iffies and I couldn't see crap through Blue, Green, Lavender or the Wellies and Marans.

What I pulled out was

4 OEGB
4 Silver Pheonix
4 Bamtan Langshuns
1 Mottled Jap
I Big Bird (my momma to the lavender layers)