The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

Are you tired of me yet?? Yaay, I'm caught up.

Now, for some cutsie photos. I had a great hatch of batan, cochin mix chicks. They have great feathering on their legs and toes! Two of the blacks are just teensy.



I had the LF version hatch yesterday.

Cynthia they are so cute! I just love little chicks! I can't wait till I get mine next week.

 

[pickitfarm]

One of our DIL works a a Vet's office and she posted a pic of this adorable puppy this morning and said that some one was driving down the street yesterday and threw this baby out the window and she landed on her head. The person behind the @$@ stopped and picked her up and took her to the Vet to get her checked out and to find her a home.
Well as soon as I saw her I called and told our DIL that we wanted her. We now have her at home with us. She is only 6 weeks old!


She is so sweet!

She is so precious!

 

[Wisher1000]

I had a significant number that made it to 18 days but could not pip. This should help those.

I have had this problem several times in the past with the old styrobators. One hatch, I had nearly fifty fully formed, dead chicks. None even piped. I still have a couple in each batch that do that but not nearly as bad as that one. I know that humidity issues can cause it and I read that there are several other causes as well, but I never pinpointed the exact cause in my case. I would be interested to hear of others that had, and corrected, this issue.

 

[pickitfarm]

i lack discipline.

i used to go to costco for a pack of batteries and come out with a jet ski, new luggage, a carpet shampooer and a case of wine

Darn and I thought I was bad always coming out with yet another book like I was opening a library or something......I concede you are are a Costco junky. LOL.

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: Every time I see oz's post, I get the impression of a poor man's party boat . . . .

 

[chickadoodles]

She is so precious!

Thank you!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I really enjoy hearing stories on people calling trash tossers on their acts.

I have a similar rage for people who dont pick up after their dogs pooping in my yard.

I have a good one.
We lived in a condo when the kids were just toddlers. It was on a short dead end street. The front yard was like a postage stamp. There was a 5'X5' flower bed in front of the porch and a slightly larger patch of grass with a huge Bradford pear right in the center. My kids loved to climb in it.
Frequently there would be dog poop at the base of the tree. Tired of having to clean it up before they could go out to play, I sprinkled that dog repellent all over the postage stamp and especially around the tree. That solved the problem.
Right next door lived the owner of a local Oldsmobile dealership and his girlfriend. Because of the way the street curved, his yard was about 3 times the size of mine. There was a short tie wall separating the yards. I was outside with the kids one evening when he took his dog for a walk. He stopped and we chatted a while. Then he said, "what's that smell?" I told him it was a dog repellent.
He said, "no wonder I can't get him to poop here".

I was in such shock, I couldn't say anything.
I tried to wrap my head around the fact that he was telling me, he had been bringing his dog literally 3 feet from his yard to take a dump at the base of the tree which was virtually the only place my kids had to play outdoors. AND what was wrong with his yard for his dog to take a dump in?

I hear a chirp. already seeing 6 eggs pipping

What do you have hatching?

One of our DIL works a a Vet's office and she posted a pic of this adorable puppy this morning and said that some one was driving down the street yesterday and threw this baby out the window and she landed on her head. The person behind the @$@ stopped and picked her up and took her to the Vet to get her checked out and to find her a home.
Well as soon as I saw her I called and told our DIL that we wanted her. We now have her at home with us. She is only 6 weeks old!


She is so sweet!

Adorable.

My DH is the same way. We try to monitor him, but he sneaks down a different aisle. We should own stock at Lowes.

My kids thought Lowe's and HD were evil cause we never drove by without stopping.
Then they each built a store walking distance away.
When the greeter would ask if I need help, I'd reply "no, I'm sorry to say I know where everything is."
Now most of them know me by name. That's what happens when you go 3 times a day.

Made me almost spit my drink out.

Not some of the wine!

I really need to quit opening up a reply screen and waiting forever to type and send...it's like I'm having delayed reactions to everything you guys are saying

...

I'm in the same boat.

Mine got himself a metal detector for Christmas. I can already see it...DH digging holes all over the yard while the chickens follow him around to see what he digs up.

When we got this house, which was built in 1903, I realized there was another homestead here that predated this house that goes back to the early or mid 1800s. I went right out and got a top of the line metal detector. It didn't take long to realize it's absolutely worthless. After people have lived somewhere for close to 200 years, there's barely a square inch without some kind of metal underground. No matter where I search, it's BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP~~BEEP
I've dug a lot of holes. Axe heads, plow blades, rolls of barb wire, fence posts, you name it. No rings or coins yet. A few cool old bottles has been the best I've found so far.
I was tempted to buy one of those big industrial soil sifters that take a bobcat scoop of dirt.

Up until recently I have had major humidity troubles in my overseas hatches.



My environment is extremely tropical. I hatch eggs just 9 degrees North of the Equator. My egg house is just 100 yards from the ocean and we have onshore winds most of the year.



Humidity is normally 80%. Temps are 72 at night and 84 during the day most of the year.



I was lucky to get a 50% hatch on local eggs and my shipped egg hatch rate was dismal.



To solve the problem I divided my egg house and made a room just 5x10. I put a ceiling in it and sealed the walls.



I then bought a dehumidifier on craigs list and put it in my luggage to the Philippines.



I have the dehumidifier running to keep humidity in my incubator room at 40%


This has had a remarkable effect on my hatch rates. My last 2 hatches are 86% and 85%


We have 200 eggs in the bator and a real possibility of getting 170 chicks


Analou and Bernie sent me some pics but they are blurry in the brooder shots. I will ask them tomorrow to hold a few and take some pics of the 46 chicks in the brooder

Good job. It's like detective work.
I rely on a good gram scale to check humidity. Other good additions for me have been more accurate thermometers, a hatch timer, high/low temp alarms and redundant controllers/heat elements.
After the first failed incubation I replaced the old outlet which looked like it was installed when the house got electricity. I was halfway through the hatch and the plug fell out of the socket.


EDIT-----------------------------------------------------------------------------............................................................
Daughter is in Paksé, Laos, she got 2 messages out with a picture of her plane.
She's leaving in a couple days for the 4000 islands area where she said she'll be out of touch since they don't have phones, wi-fi, or much electricity.

~"Good morning flight, Vientiane to Paksé. 8 people on a 60 person plane. No wonder domestic flights in Laos are so expensive."

~"Seriously saw how the other half lives today. Went to a village where the men take 4 or 5 wives, 72 people live in 1 house, the women work all day and night only getting 2 hours of sleep on average while the men look after the children, only half of whom are clothed and all start smoking water pipes at the age of 2. Makes you appreciate how lucky you are. Also, gave all the babes my bracelets today so I'll have to stock up on some more.. the littlest things give them the biggest smiles"

 

[Highcotton]

A rant

we need to fix our education system

http://www.newsmax.com/scitech/earth-sun-science-poll/2014/02/15/id/553010

Yes we do.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Quote: She is precious! How can anyone do that to a baby anything?!

All of my pets ahve been rescues, the lates being the kitten I have now. Woke up on morning last September, went to let the chickens out. A tiny kitten had taken up residence on our stoop. she had a small injury to her snout, so I guessed somebody way dumping a littler of kittens the previous night. We kept her, got her spayed, and now she is part of our family.

 

[blythspirit]

It's snowing, the dogs are playing, the teenager is sleeping, the chickens are strutting and digging holes in their run, the fishes are nibbling, the parrots are singing, the cats are plotting, I am drinking coffee, the hubby is getting ready for work. It's Saturday and I LOVE IT... The only better day of the week is Sunday when the whole family is home together.

What are you all up to this Saturday? I see so many with new baby chicks coming, I sure wish I could have more too. We have lived in this house for almost ten years now but if we had to move we would definitely move out of the town limits so we could have more birds and a bigger garden and more than 2 beehives. I hope we never have to leave but I am a bloom where I'm planted person so I would make the best of it.