Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[psue]

Birds and kids.... they both will toss your scheadule out the window

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

My Christmas wish list is for my poor Baby Girl buff to get better. (and I'd like some nice hot panels for goat pens too! But, I'm thinking i'll be buying those today maybe.

Baby Girl is in my prayers. I still can't believe what you're going through, too awful to put into words. Give your injured girls some love from me.

 

[novanod1966]

hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and didnt eat too much!!!

on another note: do any of you call duck hatchers ever help your ducks hatch? i've heard that because of their short neck, short bill, and rounded head that they have trouble hatching (external pipping). if so, how do you keep from shrink wrapping the rest of the hatch?

don

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

eggs needing any assistance are kept in a separate hatcher from the rest of the clutch.

 

[Miss Lydia]

eggs needing any assistance are kept in a separate hatcher from the rest of the clutch.

Okay i'm not hatching any ducks at the moment and not calls if I was but tell us how you know when they need assistance? for my own observation next year. [Oh and i love call ducks just don't have any] YET!!

 

[sherrik9]

eggs needing any assistance are kept in a separate hatcher from the rest of the clutch.

At what point, if any, do you decide not to breed those that have needed help hatching.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

when to judge on helping or not. If 50% of the eggs have made major advancement in hatching i will pull eggs not showing any signs and look them over closely (candling). Often a baby has internally pipped and lost steam to externally pip. I use sterile syringes to pip a small air hole in these so they can breath and recover to try and hatch on their own.

I wrote a piece about helping here: http://www.celticoaks.com/helping-troubleshooting/

Sherri i dont base the need for help in hatching as a reason to not breed the bird. If the bird needs help hatching and is deformed at hatch to a point where they couldn't even exist as a pet without major help they are culled immediately. Those who have any physical defect at hatch should NEVER be used for breeding since you run the risk of passing on bad genes to the off spring, and lets face it thats not responsible breeding practices. Call ducks because of the tiny size just have poor hatch rates, and those who are dedicated to keeping them and breeding to standard know sometimes they may need assistance. We sold off all but 2 of our call ducks, and when I was hatching them I averaged 88% or better on hatch rates, and this included some assistance and close monitoring.

 

[sherrik9]

Thanks. This is helping a lot. I have PQ calls now but I'm thinking of starting over with SQ birds. I'm trying to decide if calls are the breed I need to stay with or if I should find a breed that may be easier. Still in the research phase, this may take me a couple of years to decide. So thanks for continuing to answer my questions.

 

[Marty1876]

I got my flock of 4H mottled Javas in the mail yesteray! They are heavy birds for sure! I also got my APA guide today, and my Javas are pretty good, definately something I can work with. Good squar shapes, correct feet and eye colors, 2 or 3 roos have good comps, and one is a great Java overall, and he will be the full time flock master. The hens are all bright eyes, with excellent colors, and good open rear feathering. I have 10 Javas now.

My sweet Husband, who is still unhappy about his fence failing in one area and allowing attackers in, and building me a real chicken coop with a run under the house, and a from yard. He's even putting on big heavy tires so we can push it around if we want too! Its so cute, he's modify a byc coop design to use the recycled material we've got stored in the barn. The wood used to be a balcony, but now its a hen house and frame! He's making "dang sure" (paraphrased) that NOTHING can get in, not even us I think. LOL

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Very cool Marty, enjoy the new birds and book too. I spend hours reading through it and then start over because I forget the first reason I was looking in it.