Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[aliciaplus3]

I think my master plan is to start small breeding programs for the breeds I love. Do not tell my husband! I have hinted at it before and he was like you absolutely do not need to be breeding fancy chickens . But when I told him some of the more popular, highly sought after breeds can go for $30 a chick he was a bit more intrigued.

There are tons of 4H kids here, but no reputable breeders. I know some of them breed their own chickens, but a lot of them travel to buy their show chickens, too. The closest quality breeder is nearly 2 hrs away one way, and she is closing up shop after this season.

there are Not any breeders within 5? hours of us. so most of our 4h or FFA kids use hatchery birds for their fair projects. a Very few will hatch their own.

on a similar note we had at least 5 external duck pips this morning when I left! these will be DD's Meat duck prospects. so yeah

 

[hysop]

What is 4H? I see that a lot in these forums.

 

[aliciaplus3]

What is 4H? I see that a lot in these forums.

its a program to help kids learn about animals and have the opportunity to show and sell at our local fair... its also a leadership development program. I am pretty sure that is not the offical tag line just my understanding of the program.

 

[FortCluck]

there are Not any breeders within 5? hours of us. so most of our 4h or FFA kids use hatchery birds for their fair projects. a Very few will hatch their own.

on a similar note we had at least 5 external duck pips this morning when I left! these will be DD's Meat duck prospects. so yeah

So what is she looking for when she picks the meat duck that she is going to use?

 

[Mylied]

Hows everyones cheeps, quacks and boom chickens lpoking today?

I have no idea. Still too early to look.

 

[hysop]

I need to take a pic of an egg I candled. I don’t know if it’s a blood ring that I may have missed or just a normal part of the egg. I’ll look at all the brown eggs and compare. My brown eggs seem to be doing badly. Out of 5, 2 were infertile. Out of three let’s hope one doesn’t have a blood ring.

The hens that laid them are 2 years old and probably lack calcium because their eggs are a lot more fragile than the other ones. Like it doesn’t take much to crack them in the morning versus my white and olive eggs I feel like I gotta beat on the table with force.

 

[two j farm]

I need a few ideas on how to keep chicks separated in the incubator at hatch. I have my own eggs and eggs from my mama. I marked them but I would like to keep them separate from my own to know what hatches out of her eggs. Im using the little giant incubator. Any ideas?

 

[aliciaplus3]

So what is she looking for when she picks the meat duck that she is going to use?

she will grow out 15 ?? or so and when it comes time she will pick out 2 pens of 3 each, they need to be the same gender with the best meat qualities and within a pound of each other weight wise. last year she did well, there was limited competition but still.
these are special because she has fed and housed the parent stock, collected the eggs, incubated them and hatched what she will take to fair.
most of the kids taking birds to our local fair will have ordered them from the hatchery of their choice.
she is also taking geese but those will come from a hatchery as she wants american buffs and we do not have any yet

 

[hysop]

I need a few ideas on how to keep chicks separated in the incubator at hatch. I have my own eggs and eggs from my mama. I marked them but I would like to keep them separate from my own to know what hatches out of her eggs. Im using the little giant incubator. Any ideas?

I’m guessing they’re similar or same breeds?

 

[hysop]

I don’t think it’s a blood ring since I saw movement in all brown eggs. But here are the pictures just to share. One came out blurry so I deleted it.