The Omega Rocks: The Last & Ultimate Barred Plymouth Rock Flock

[speckledhen]

I heard from the maker/seller of the incubator dividers just now:

Thank you for the update and yes it is odd. We are out of town this weekend visiting family but will be back Monday night. What we can do is rush another package out to make it before next weekend since there is not much else we can do if they lost it. We then can claim the other as lost etc.

 

[1muttsfan]

I had ordered my sister some shampoo bar soap and she let me know the other day it had not been delivered. When I went into track the package, there was a picture of the package on a porch in front of a door. Unfortunately it was not her porch or door. Amazon gave me a immediate refund, and I reordered the bar shampoo.

We don't have a lot of buying options up here where I live. And I don't think we have Tucker feeds in Michigan at all. Our local feeds are kind of disgusting, they look like someone swept them up off the floor and put them in a bag. So I usually get Dumor. I've never had a bad bag yet.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, we are at the mercy of what's in our area, I know. Tucker Milling is in Alabama so I think they're only in the south, unfortunately. The USPS doesn't surprise me. And the delivery drivers for the local Walmart are just as bad. They did leave my package next door and I just happened to think I recognized the porch in their photo.
I have bought the 10 lb bags of game bird starter/grower at TSC, but the only time I got a 50# bag of Dumor because the co-op was closed, it had mold in it. Ladyhawk used to have the same issues with them. It must be a storage issue or something.

 

[speckledhen]

CANDLING REPORT!
Just candled the 15 eggs which are due the 26th.
Here is the breakdown:
All six from Pen #7 are growing perfectly.

All three from Pen #1 are growing perfectly. (those were my extras)

From Pen#3, four eggs were clears, no development not even the start of an air cell, so two of the six from Pen#3 are going strong at this point. None were unclear as to their status so no confusion about any of them. The candler on that incubator I got is actually great!

All in all, there are 11 of the 15 eggs looking great. If those all hatch, it will be a very successful hatch for shipped eggs! Will update later. I usually candle at Day 18 to be sure none are quitters before laying them on their sides to prepare for their hatch.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's great for shipped eggs in my experience.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, it is! Every egg that began development is still developing midway through so can't complain about that at all. This means fertility rate was about 72-73% and I guess we'll find out the hatch rate in about ten days. And all four infertiles were from one pen, but two were okay from that same pen so not too shabby!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Going to be a fun and exciting summer watching them grow up. I can't wait to see what you end up with.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, it is! I'm excited for it. I just need a couple of males to choose from and I'll have to grow them out to a decent age so I can assess temperament. I'll keep all the pullets. I just hope i have more pullets than cockerels!

 

[1muttsfan]

Hope you have better luck than I had last summer - 7 boys and no girls! A friend had better luck with eggs I shared with her. I felt very fortunate that I placed all seven boys in homes.

 

[speckledhen]

Hope you have better luck than I had last summer - 7 boys and no girls! A friend had better luck with eggs I shared with her. I felt very fortunate that I placed all seven boys in homes.

I sure hope so! That was a very bad run of luck, Mary. I hope I get more the luck of the five eggs that produced Atlas. He was by his lonesome with four sisters. I do think I need two males (and am very likely to get more) so I can have a compare and contrast for selecting my breeder. I guess we'll see if Jamie's females are male or female producers soon enough.
I had an idea for a couple of dividers if the others from Ebay don't get here in time. I found some things I've used in quilting, leftover acetate used to cut pattern shapes and some stiff stabilizer sheets that are for putting in quilted purses. For air flow, i just need to punch holes in the pieces. They're stiff enough to make dividers, though not actually rigid, not what I'd want if I had another choice. Those chicks can get pretty rambunctious, as we know. I hate it when the post office screws up. It's inconvenienced both me and the seller.