The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[lcvedder]

Please count me in! I am going to try to hatch some black/blue/splash copper marans and Olive eggers. And I have a genetics question

If I have a wheaton-like easter egger rooster in the pen with my blue copper marans rooster and a few blue and splash hens- is it safe to say all of the splash chicks would have to be full marans? Also, all of my olive eggers will have beards and muffs right? I just don't want to mix up my chicks and thought I could get around using breed cages.

 

[Junibutt]

I am in for some chicken eggs!

 

[draye]

Please count me in! I am going to try to hatch some black/blue/splash copper marans and Olive eggers. And I have a genetics question

If I have a wheaton-like easter egger rooster in the pen with my blue copper marans rooster and a few blue and splash hens- is it safe to say all of the splash chicks would have to be full marans? Also, all of my olive eggers will have beards and muffs right? I just don't want to mix up my chicks and thought I could get around using breed cages.

Welcome to the hatch a long.

If you have both roosters in the same pen, font count the chicks as full blooded. That Olive Egver will be sneaking around with your hens. Its best to seperate Maranz and Olive Eggers into separate runs/pens.

 

[nate1the1great1]

Since you guys were talking about acreage i have 10 acres and a GIANT barn i think including the chicken pens and hog pen and cow pen its about 200 foot by 100 foot maybe bigger plz dont be jelly but this is why we bought our house

 

[sherriwv]

My hubby won't know what to do if all the eggs I have now or on the way hatch! Now to figure out exactly what type of eggs to hatch for this hatch a long...way to many choices!

 

[mustang01]

Count me in! Lavender Orpingtons.

 

[MontannaC]

I'm in.

 

[ronott1]

Eggs!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I made a thing if anyone wants to go take a look. It was a good idea, I just don't if I'll ever keep up with it. 

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/flock-keeper-book-lets-make-a-thing

[COLOR=008080]I like your idea Raz!  I had wanted to do something like that a while ago, because I love details and neatly organized statistics, but because I am good on computers, I thought of making up info sheets for each chicken on a Word document or something, with their basic name/breed/age etc stats and any other observed notes on them.  The problem is getting that elusive "round tuit"[/COLOR] [COLOR=008080]... and since we have over 50 hens in our laying flocks with new ones coming in each year as pullets and others leaving either by sale or being sent to freezer camp because of age...the task of keeping an up to date catalog of them all is rather daunting![/COLOR] [COLOR=008080] I still would like to give it a try some day though...[/COLOR]

I think someone needs to make a good backyard chicken app! I've looked over and over for a good one and the only one I found kept crashing and deleting everything. I'm back to pen and paper to track of everything but that's so hard to keep everything in order.

 

[CherMoz]

I
I used a large vaccine cooler, because they are really thick and heavy duty. They are also really big, which makes the temperature easier to control than smaller ones. (My first unit used an insulin cooler, which was smaller, and more prone to temperature variations) I have an 8 X 10 glass pane recessed into the lid for viewing. I use a small heat lamp bulb in a spotlight housing for heat, hooked up to a thermostat (the water heater kind) I do circulated air, so I used a small dual computer fan located up at the top of the container so I wasn't blowing air directly on the eggs. In the bottom I have a ceramic heat sink - I have about four 6 X 6 industrial floor tiles taped together in the very bottom. On top of that I have a tray made out of galvanized hardware cloth spanning half the bottom and lined with a terry cloth towel. I have a second piece of hardware cloth dividing the unit into 2 compartments, to make sure no one can get over to the other side when they hatch. On the side without the basket I have a bowl with a sponge which I keep damp to maintain humidity. I have 4 vents at the bottom for air, and 2 on top. During lockdown the bottom vents double as ports for me to inject in more water to adjust the humidity. I also run a digital temperature probe through a bottom port which sits among the eggs for spot temperature measurements. I use a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo to monitor temperature and humidity at a glance. During calibration before each egg run, I set the thermostat about 2" away from the heat lamp housing and adjust it to average 99.5. As the eggs develop and generate heat, I move it closer to the light by 1/4" increments as opposed to changing the setting on the dial, since I can make smaller changes this way. For cat/ferret proofing, I use duct tape. It comes in pretty patterns, and no one can get their claws through it. I covered the entire unit from top to bottom, so they ignore it. Any exposed styrofoam seems to scream "scratch me!!".... I ran the unit non stop from spring until late fall last year, and hatched out pheasants, ducks, and tons of quail in single and staggered mixed batches. I would just bleach between each hatch, re calibrate the temperature, and throw in my next load!

Wow! Sounds really nice!