The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Happy Chooks]

Today is set day for Button Quail!​

 

[yinepu]

Oh what a beautiful morning!!!

We woke up to our foster cat Princess' 5 newly born kittens!!!! She did it all by herself and they are so precious!

5!!

She is letting them nurse, but got restless and shifted around so we would pet her when we went in the room where she is.She got up and babies dropped off her and ended up behind her when she turned around so we pet her..then she settled down again.. She was insistently pushy about that yesterday and I thought maybe she was just very uncomfortable. Understandably so! But I hope she stays put with them and ignores us pretty much soon. Should we leave her be, have alone time, today...I want those babies to have her full attention and proper beginning.Any advice from you experienced kitten folks? There are 2 dilute orange and whites, 2 gray and whites, and 2 dark gray with little white hairs over the top...like shimmery icing over the gray. I know the answer to this...but did she make them by herself? They are just her colors...gray, dilute orange, and white...lol

Here they are:

lol. nope she didn't make them by herself. a litter of kittens can have one daddy or several (with different kittens in the same litter having different dads). so did she have 5 or 6?
For today I would leave Mom alone with her babies, just check in every so often and make sure they are ok, otherwise leave her to be the momma cat.
they are adorable! Congrats!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Please keep your number of eggs set coming! Post them in this thread. We'd like to announce the winner of the Guess How Many Eggs Will Be Set Contest and get the Guess How Many Will Hatch Contest going!

If you did not set any eggs, please let us know that as well!​

 

[jinks12333]

Happy Chooks.... yes twenty years!! lol we moved when i was younger and had to get rid of our flock... i still remember hatching from when i was younger but you are correct... exciting and nerve racking!!! haha!!!

 

[onlygirloutof6]

Good! Will set and post my total.

 

[uphilljill]

YAY first ever chick shipment!!!


SERAMA BABIES got to MA and are alive and WELL!!!! OMG OMG OMG baby steps taken! Now to put the big girl shorts on!!! ha ha ha!!

OMG this is HUGE FOR ME HUGE!!!! oh this makes me feel so much better today!!!

yayyyyy

CONGRATS!

 

[Tubbys Lil Farm]

So I have a family emergency and am flying to Colorado in the morning. I put 100 plus eggs into lock down this evening. Candled as I went they are all close to pipping internally already. Not sure how long I will be gone but will most likely miss the hatch. Leaving my kids to watch out for the chicks and also to turn the 388 eggs for Easter. Hopefully they do as they should. This will not be a good trip. Please pray for my family.

Praying from Idaho, safe travels.

 

[CibolaChooks]

So i read allot about the most humane way to cull birds. My conclusion was an axe and decapitation was the quickest and most humane.

Whats everyones thoughts.

Also what do you guys think about starter fluid(ether) in a bag. Squeeze the air out inject starter fluid and tie bag up. Someones trying to say they go to sleep and suffocate while sleeping. I dont think it works like that

 

[LBKS]

So i read allot about the most humane way to cull birds. My conclusion was an axe and decapitation was the quickest and most humane.

Whats everyones thoughts.

Also what do you guys think about starter fluid(ether) in a bag. Squeeze the air out inject starter fluid and tie bag up. Someones trying to say they go to sleep and suffocate while sleeping. I dont think it works like that

The Meat Birds ETC section has a lot of discussion about it. I would say keep in mind the most humane method also depends on the person. As someone with little upper body strength and not the greatest hand-eye coordination, the axe method would not be very humane if I were to perform it. That would be where I would go to ask.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

i am catching up but i thought i will add a comment

sorry if it is too late

the thermostat will turn the heating element on and off and cause temp fluctuations. you need to check each spot for a couple of on-off cycles

Good point Oz.
I have to evaluate readings much differently from a still air to a cabinet. My cabinet fan blows constantly but the heating element (inside the fan) naturally goes on and off. My probe that is instant read will pick up the heat coming off of the fan and rapidly rise to 110 but settles back to 99+ before the heat comes on again. So the eggs are at 99.

I'm changing out one of my cabinet controllers for the STC-1000

I have to comment on this, because I'm hoping someone doesn't make the same mistake I did.

I cracked open an egg that was "clear" at candling on day 10 last time I hatched. I saw no veining, no spot of a baby, nothing. When I broke it open, there was in fact an embryo...a very tiny one, mind you...and I just figured it was an early quitter. WRONG! Since it was the first time I had every cracked open an egg to find an embryo, my curiosity had me looking at it with a magnifying glass...and the heart was beating!!! So PLEASE everyone, be careful what you pull and throw out! I will no longer pull the clears...they will stay in with the rest until hatch day...if after all have hatched I still have "clears", then I will pull them (because, IMO, 21 days of no growth, or hardly any growth, it's not worth the risk to me).

I did something worse. I was staggering incubations and had apparently mismarked the date on an egg. I was on day 26 so took the egg out and opened it to see what was up. There was a live chick just about to pip. Terrible feeling.

So i read allot about the most humane way to cull birds. My conclusion was an axe and decapitation was the quickest and most humane.

Whats everyones thoughts.

Also what do you guys think about starter fluid(ether) in a bag. Squeeze the air out inject starter fluid and tie bag up. Someones trying to say they go to sleep and suffocate while sleeping. I dont think it works like that

Neck.