Utah!

[RedIII]

Sphinx, I think it's perfectly acceptable to bring those eggs home over Spring Break so that you can keep an eye on them. I'd probably do the same thing, in your position. Otherwise, the anxiety would kill me. I still need to look and see what I have, if anything, to tempt you for a seed trade. Been a busy week.

corvidae, sorry to hear that the last hatch went so poorly for you

I'm hoping that your baby with the mystery bum feature turns out okay. I guess time will tell.

bird-man, I'm glad that your SPR is doing better! And hey, if she does end up with a bald spot, she will be making bald look stylish

Cynthia - Congrats! You're brave to have entered. I shy away from that stuff because I don't like dealing with the hoopla if I win.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Donna--- Does it have anything to do with umbilical cord or it that even a dumb thing to ask? I hope she makes it. I would not want to put her down either if she seemed happy. Sphinx- if you decide you do not want her by Saturday I would be willing to bring her back with me and see how she does. I will be Plan C.

Cynthia, you are a winner! Yay! Let us know what ya get! Was it a contest on BYC or somewhere else? I was laughing, thinking if it were a BYC contest you would win hatching eggs

Birdman, SO glad your baby is healing. After watching her growup on here with the pics, I want to see the happy ending! She is a beauty. My little one that got torn up was starting to get feathers back on the scar. She is the one that got eggbound and had to be put down.....so i did not get to see how it turned out

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

I candled my eggs----I had started with 8, 7 are still looking good And then the 4 that I put in five days later look good so far. So Cynthia, Donna, Sphinx---whoever sees this please tell me---If I put them in at noon on Sat the 17th should I start the lockdown at noon on the 4th? And Lockdown means no turning, no touching, no opening the bator only to add water quick? Anything else I am supposed to do, and does the temp stay the same?

 

[Sphinx]

Lisa, yeah, I'd put them in lockdown at noon on the 4th. Bring the humidity up quite a bit, and then leave them alone. Temp stays the same.


Red, do you still have any of the roosters I gave you? I'm curious to see how they're looking, if they're still around.

For those of you who aren't my friend on facebook: I was out playing with my chicks today and mourning how many roosters there are (I've decided that four of the BLRW and my one lav are all boys), and saw a rat. A HUGE rat- at least 8" in body length. My chicken run abuts my shed, and he was peeking out from under the shed into the chicken run. He's big enough that I think he/she is a significant threat to my babies. I locked the chicks in the coop for the night so he can't get in. Trying to figure out what to do in the morning. I like the idea of shooting him with a bb gun, but that sounds time consuming. A live trap would trap one of the chickens (maybe?). The rat bomb Brad suggested was a great idea, but that project will definitely have to wait til dh gets home.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Thanks Sphinx.

A rat? Gross. I have never seen one around these parts. That is scary! Hope you get him. Could you put the rat trap outside the run where the rat can get to it but not the chickens?

So your lav is a boy!---I still can't figure mine out. Started out so boyish, acting all crazy, I was so sure it was male. Now it just looks more and more like the girl, the only real difference now is the comb is darker pink on the big one, but not red like the one on ksl. Feathers/tails have turned out exactly the same on both at this point. Just not sure at all! You should post a pic if you have time

 

[Cynthia12]

Oooh, Shinx..a rat. They love the eggs. So don't think one of your girls are eating eggs if you see one broken open and eaten. I hope you get that thing soon. When my Baily was broody on her eggs, I would check in on her the last couple of nights with a flashlight. I saw a little mouse run right across in front of her, I thought..get it Baily! She didn't budge of course, she had been sleeping. Haven't seen it since we took down the brood area. Rat..tough one to know how to get it. You are right, you don't want to snag a chicken! Can't poison it, the chickens may get the poison, or eat the rat with the poison in it. Hope DH figures something out for you!

Brad, I love your names for the chicks! Perfect!

Lisa, I don't wait until the same time I set. I just count to day 21, and they are in lockdown in that morning. I even get things ready for the lock down the night before most of the time, and don't even open the bator in the morning of official lockdown, so, I guess I am in lockdown a little early most of the time. In your still air..remember, it will hold that humidity pretty good. I just add a small sponge for extra humidity just in case it's needed. You will want it up around 65/68 in that bator. I don't like going any higher, because they get to wet in their, and some have drowned on me. You can start raising the humidity a couple of days early, get it up to around 60 for a couple of days, then up it more for lockdown.
I can hardly wait to hear how many chicks you get. So fun. And, I am waiting for that first egg! I doubt I'm as excited as you, but I feel like I am! lol..
Oh, I won in the hatch along..not sure yet what it is..going to see if anything was mentioned. ?? They just asked me to go to Laree and give her my address.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Thanks Cynthia!

Hoping it goes well. They were a couple not moving around in there like the others, but the size of the shadow inside had developed to the same size of the others, so I am hoping they were still alive Not too sure what I am looking at so I am bewildered but optimistic!

 

[RedIII]

Sphinx, yes, I still have all three of them. I haven't been able to get out and see them as much lately, but I will try to get a picture for you. I think the one that is mostly red is the alpha of the three. He's very observant of what's around and will sound a warning to the other two if he sees something suspicious. He's also the best one about being handled. I had him on my knee a few weeks ago and was petting his back, and he made this cute little churring noise while looking at me. He seemed relaxed.

Ugh, sorry about the rat. I like rats, but mostly the sanitary, domesticated ones We have three cats at our house, so rodents don't usually last for long around here.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

So much for my eggs!! So sad---went to turn this morning and the plug came out of the outlet during the night, I think my dog knocked it out. His bed is near there....they were at 67 degrees, same as the house.

So sad. Our whole family is so bummed out

 

[corvidae]

That is sad.

Did you by chance plug it back in? Sometimes a couple are hardy enough to survive things like that. Hard to say. I'll have hatching eggs for you when you come to get the incubator, if that help.

I took a couple of pics of the chick that has something hanging out of it's butt. I'm pretty sure it is it's butt, having seen it when it first hatched, but the chick is still up runnung about like everything is fine, so I am not 100% positive. And it's butt looks so dried bloody messy at this point, it is hard to say. Later today, I might try washing it off to see a little more clearly. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd welcome them. At this point I am just kind of doing the wait and see thing. Still not sure if it is a boy or girl because it didn't fluff up very well. Hard to determine the coloration on the head.