Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[psue]

Iain, can't wait for the Africans to get in gear. I think my most hissy and fussy and " aggressive " (LOL< non of them are aggressive to us just hissy) gees are the sebbies, but that could be because they are the only ones laying. I don't know if my one year old buffs dewlaps are going to get in gear this year or not. Has anyone gotten eggs from a 1 year old dewlap yet?
Josephine 1yr started laying the day after Napoleon 2yr

I squished Halloween and a chicken in the backseat of a 2 door cavalier, lol.
poor Halloween took up 3/4 of the seat

 

[JulieNKC]

I think Halloween is in love with Minnie, lol. I was standing in the doorway of the coop throwing dry bedding from the coop into the mucky spots in the pen. Halloween was outside, she was inside. He started honking, then after a minute or so started screaming like a little girl. I moved and he ran in there next to her and shut up.

 

[Marty1876]

Quote: Dry hatch is not good for waterfowl. In nature, their mamas get wet, come sit, get wet come sit.....

 

[Iain Utah]

Iain, can't wait for the Africans to get in gear. I think my most hissy and fussy and " aggressive " (LOL< non of them are aggressive to us just hissy) gees are the sebbies, but that could be because they are the only ones laying. I don't know if my one year old buffs dewlaps are going to get in gear this year or not. Has anyone gotten eggs from a 1 year old dewlap yet?

Oh, I thought I'd figured out the whole story with the sebbies bloody wings, but then yesterday I saw something that made me drop everything and intervene. I was walking inside with little DD after school and in the pen the gray sebbie male (who's the one injured one) was dragging the tom turkey around.

He had a hold of that midget white tom, and would not let go. The tom was biting at him, and flapping his wings, and trying to jump, and make a whole lot of noise, but that sebbie would not let go. I noticed that the tom was looking a little plucked too. This is not what I anticipated at all y'all.

I guess I have this weekends project lined up. Trim wing and tail feathers on all midget white turkeys, and make them their own pen. There is only a trio of them, and the hens are good as gold. They love to be petted. Tom is noisy and struts and acts tough, and occasionally tries to jump on us, but there is no doubt (at this point-I've been wrong before) that the sebbie boy is being aggressive toward the Tom. AT least when I'm watching. No birds dare come close to the sebbie laying grounds. The ducks never go near ever for any reason. I think maybe those anconas are the smartest birds in my backyard.

Only my indoor goose has laid eggs (who has been officially living outdoors with Spirit 24/7 for the past 2 days). My other 3 juvenile girls act like they will start any day now, but my five 2yo girls are only now showing any interest in breeding, much less laying. I have noticed my 2 buff girls acting weird today. They will gather stuff around them like they are building a nest, then squat with butt in air, pedaling feet, then get up turn a half circle and repeat. I assume they are getting ready to lay, but they are doing this in the front corner of yard in plain view, not in any of the private nesting places set up. It has made for interesting entertainment today watching them from my office window.

I am still waiting for my youngest African girl and my ducks to start laying, too.

 

[hokankai]

Dry hatch is not good for waterfowl. In nature, their mamas get wet, come sit, get wet come sit.....

It seems to work for this guy... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

I plan on cooling and misting as well (I cool my chicken eggs as well). For me dry is about 35%, but if they are losing weight fast and air cells are getting too large then I'll adjust accordingly. I'll try and hover around 45% and see how we do.

 

[ChristineR]

Thanks for the game bird info. I read somewhere that chukars are mean. Anyone experienced that? I don't want a ton of them, just enough to train my dogs with.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quote: We dry incubate all our ducks and geese and it works very well. (as dry as dry can be here, it sits between 25-37% on average.

 

[trudigale]

We dry incubate all our ducks and geese and it works very well. (as dry as dry can be here, it sits between 25-37% on average.

Is this during incubation or during "lock-down" or both? Do you still spray or mist the eggs during incubation?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

roughly 70% at lockdown. Goose eggs get misted, duck eggs never get misted

 

[trudigale]

roughly 70% at lockdown. Goose eggs get misted, duck eggs never get misted

Do you keep the temperature at 99 even with dry incubation?