The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[stonykill]

VIABILITY OF SHIPPED HATCHING EGGS...

Question of the day....

Was discussing the poor hatch-rate on shipped over on the SFH thread. Seems that eggs from SOME breeders do better than others and there is not significantly different packaging from one to another. Sometimes even shipped from the same post offices and same routes.....

Anyhow - I had this though and I want to throw it out for discussion:


Could viability possibly be at least partially a nutrition/health of flock issue rather than just shipping variabilities? As in, could the eggs be stronger, heavier, thicker albumen, better anchored, etc., depending variants in nutrition and thus result in a better hatch-rate despite jostling enroute?

YOUR INPUT/THOUGHTS, PLEASE!




(Just another one of those things I'm thinking about

)

no 2 journeys via the PO are the same. Ship them from the same PO to the same buyer and the weather will be different, the amount of time they sit in a hot or frozen truck differs, time in the air, how many times it dropped off of a 6 foot tall conveyor, how far and hard they got thrown at the post office because someone was too lazy to walk to the bin, so they toss them etc. Too much data to come to any reasonable conclusion. I feel like that dweeby smart guy on Numbers now

 

[CoopChick719]

This photo was obviously taken at the back of your house where the dryer exhaust is located. What you have here is a giant lint ball that came out after a Whites load. If you are extremely thrifty and crafty you can probably make something really cute out of it. Giving it eyelashes and/or a pink bow will make it a girl.

This made me burst out laughing!! Shhh....I'm supposed to be working not playing!! Do you mean something like this?



P.S. I collect Noah's Ark stuff.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I miss that show, it helped show math in action.

 

[TipihlowLadies]

Mel - beautiful log!!!



That idea is quite intriguing! Now you've got me pondering again hmmmm

How cold could it get and still stay open? I know they circulate ponds and horse troughs but, of course the water in those is much deeper than it would be in a water trough for a chicken... hmmmm

Have you done this before or seen it done? Photos or website of how to set something like this up?


Mine do that from time to time too. Eat them, then won't touch them.

I always wonder if it's possibly because something changes ... maybe the worms are carrying something that the chickens can tell they shouldn't eat? Maybe at certain times in the worms cycle it puts off some kind of hormone that isn't tasty? I really have no idea but I know I observe that too.....

We use this method with my horse auto watering cups they don't hold water so as long as the water moves through the lines and goes back below frost line it heats up some and pump adds heat as well I used pex pipe even if water freezes in pipe it wont brake. same thing plumbers do to circulate hot water so you have hot water on demand. if I could draw on here I would show you exactly how I did it. It's simple I just used the plumbers system for different purpose.

 

[aaggjg]

Know your birds. Pick them up often. Do an exam. The best place to tell if your bird is too fat is by the vent. The vent area should be soft and pliable. You should be able to softly squish it. If it is firm lumpy feeling, you have fat starting. You should be able to feel bones. There should not be that much fat and tissue covering the bones at the vent area. It is better for a laying chicken to be a little thin. Breeders, brooders, chicks and juveniles should not be thin.

Thanks Delisha! I had no idea that you would be able to feel the fat around the vent. I told her some birds are pre disposed to being Fatties she had EEs & Marans not sure which one died .... I am having the opposite problem as I have had SO MANY BROODY hens that most of mine need to gain some weight! I guess too much BOSS could encourage the bad weight gain? I sprout my BOSS and feed it to the girls .... does that lower the fat content?? I would think so right???

 

[aaggjg]

VIABILITY OF SHIPPED HATCHING EGGS...

Could viability possibly be at least partially a nutrition/health of flock issue rather than just shipping variabilities? As in, could the eggs be stronger, heavier, thicker albumen, better anchored, etc., depending variants in nutrition and thus result in a better hatch-rate despite jostling enroute?

YOUR INPUT/THOUGHTS, PLEASE!




(Just another one of those things I'm thinking about

)

I'm going to agree with Stony ... mainly so I can feel smart like the nerd on numbers too

I have had replacement eggs from the same breeders same flock 3 weeks apart.... and clutch 1-0 hatched , clutch 2-7 hatched... I don't think that the overall health nutrition of the flock would drastically have changed in that amount of time.... So although I do think that overall health of the laying hens contributes to the viability of the eggs, I also think there are so many outside factors here, that it is really hard to determine what the biggest threat to the embryo is? Heat, Cold, shaken, thrown, dropped, left sitting, blah blah blah. Hmmmm I suddenly feel the need to write an equation on the wall which contains Pi or e=mc2 ... Ok I am no match for that numbers guy

 

[TipihlowLadies]

Still

On the moving /circulating water - it seems that it would still have to be heated to some degree. I'm thinking of Lake Michigan with the waves coming in all winter long...never stops moving... but those waves end up freezing solidly enough that you can walk way out on them water...

yes water freezes in air at surface . My goldfish pond freezes solid on top but my filter does not the pump puts off some heat and after seeing where you live you may have to use whirlpool bath type pump that actually heats up to. And if you circ. water below frost line water will warm up like geothermal and use waterers that don't hold water all the time .

 

[stonykill]

I'm going to agree with Stony ... mainly so I can feel smart like the nerd on numbers too

I have had replacement eggs from the same breeders same flock 3 weeks apart.... and clutch 1-0 hatched , clutch 2-7 hatched... I don't think that the overall health nutrition of the flock would drastically have changed in that amount of time.... So although I do think that overall health of the laying hens contributes to the viability of the eggs, I also think there are so many outside factors here, that it is really hard to determine what the biggest threat to the embryo is? Heat, Cold, shaken, thrown, dropped, left sitting, blah blah blah. Hmmmm I suddenly feel the need to write an equation on the wall which contains Pi or e=mc2 ... Ok I am no match for that numbers guy

 

[Bulldogma]

Pssst... there's a new thing up in that place!

This photo was obviously taken at the back of your house where the dryer exhaust is located. What you have here is a giant lint ball that came out after a Whites load. If you are extremely thrifty and crafty you can probably make something really cute out of it. Giving it eyelashes and/or a pink bow will make it a girl.

This is awesome! I love the way you think!

 

[Child of Noah]

This made me burst out laughing!! Shhh....I'm supposed to be working not playing!! Do you mean something like this?




P.S. I collect Noah's Ark stuff.

No pink bow, you have yourself a lovely festive rooster baby lint ball there.

P. S. Me too: seven of each kind of clean animal, and pairs of all others.