The 8th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!

[Bantambird]

here's my Esther loving her baby turkeys last summer.

 

[Cynthia12]

An adorable photo Bantam!

 

[maddysmamaw]

The two ducklings out were playing Godzilla and cracked an egg that was zipping. Now that duckling is out but it looks like the yolk sac hadn't fully absorbed. It also has some membrane and shell stuck to it so that it can't move one of it's legs. I don't want to open the incubator because that would lower the humidity too much and exposed the poor thing to even more bacteria.

 

[Glaseria]

How is the incuview doing? I am considering getting one. How do you add water and how does it hold the temp?

I was told to add water unplug the black vent plug right of the main display screen and use an eye dropper to direct to water around the eggs and then it will fall through the mesh into the water reservoirs underneath. That way you don't have to even open it up and jeopardize your heat, humidity or eggs. That being said it makes sense to me but this is the first time I've used this product so we shall see!

Sincerely,
Your Fellow Homesteader,
Glaseria

...

 

[Miss Farmer]

Count me in!

 

[sjturner79]

My son has asked for ducks for years. Of course, I'm the one that takes care of all the critters!

Stupid question of the year: do ducks molt in winter too?

I know nothing about ducks, except they quack. Now if you want to talk bees, I can do that!

And even that's not completely true. Not all breeds of ducks quack. There are huge differences between runners, Muscovies and calls. Our Muscovies didn't noticeably molt, but they made even more mess around the place than the pigs.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

im in the same boat no idea about ducks but do know the difference between a Caucasian and a 3 banded Italian!

 

[Cynthia12]

Count me in!

 

[sunshinered64]

I would love to join the hatch-a-long. We have 11 chicks in our brooding box right now that are 1 week old tomorrow. It was our first time to hatch chicks. Hope we get a better turnout this time around.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Kim - visions of ferrets attacking chickens is going through my head.


That is how I got chickens.......the husband wanted them for eggs. I told him I wasn't shoveling poop and no way on a rooster. Well, they became my hobby and it backfired on him. Then he decided we needed bees, and I take care of them. (Another hobby of mine now). See how this works?lau

That's opposite how it worked out at my house. I started raising chickens, and then the wife got interested, especially in silkies. Now she gets the new coop and run for her silkies, and she picks out the many of the LF chickens that I raise. In all fairness, she does put in her fair share of the work, and we both also like hanging out with the chickens together, so it's all good. 

Funny! I miss my roosters. I lost them n the great bobcat massacre. It's too quiet around my house now. I'm hoping for some nice barnevelders males and females in my hatch!

Well, it's day 17 (I thought it was day 18) on my test hatch and I'm not liking the size of the air cells. :/  They seem too small to me. Last week we had low temps and I didn't adjust the incubator (turned out to be a good thing since the embryos survived the 104 temps for who knows how long before I got home to check on it yesterday) to make up for the lower temps. It also rained, which never helps when the outside temps are low. We'll see how things go. They could still hatch just fine.

They might just hatch late. Keep us posted!

I plugged in the Bator today. IV never used this cabinet before so I want to figure it out and get the temp set. So far I have figured out it tilts the shelves suddenly not slowly. I have found where I'm getting the eggs I'll need to fill it up. I want to use as many of my own eggs as I can get but our weather has been wonky. Has my hens confused. I'm going to get then some kale tomorrow. They get let out everyday but we don't have much green grass yet.

I'm thinking this Bator holds 300 eggs. I'm gonna try my best to fill it up. I have a Hovobator and a Brinsea if I need them. I use the Brinsea for shipped eggs or small batches

Oh my word, I'd be in trouble with a gator that big!

Final count 16 chicks hatched out of 19 and now to clean up the bator to get ready for the HAL

Yay! Nice hatch!