Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[mazojoe]

mazo I've been pondering that very same thing for some time. I hate when the chicks start hatching and stumbling around in the bator disrupting the other eggs. Think it might cause some of them to drown. Have been thinking of a rack that would keep the eggs from being turned but not so high as to impede the hatchlings. I know some people use the bottom half of an egg carton but think I'd lay them on their sides no matter what for more of an opportunity to pip and zip.

I think a good idea would be to have a second bator fired up and move the zipped into it. Jim? Others? Now I'm thinin about the tiki eggs

should I just wait and see how many hens I've really got or go ahead and hatch again? Thinking if I hatch again and have enough hens Donny would take the overflow. MLH chicken math kickin in!

Hey mazo you wouldn't happen to know of a guy named Bill Brewer? I met him as a kid while up nort and haven't forgotten him. He was from mazo, have pic of him and I holding a red horse that we caught in the early sixties. Was thinking that maybe it's a good thing that my shoulder and knee hurt. It detracts from the pain in other area's.

Hope your hatch goes well!

not exactly sure who Bill Brewer is, but I will ask my dad, it says (white pages) he lives along the WI River in Mazo,

How about cardboard strips laid in the bottom just inhibit rolling over completely?

 

[jvls1942]

good morning. so many people are up and thinking so early today..

I do lay the eggs on their sides in the hatcher.. I think a little jostling is good for the chick inside .. complete 180* roll overs not so good.. that might disorientate the pipping chick..

I am still out with the jury about chicks drowning in the shell.. I don't quite buy that scenereo.

I do have a separate unit for hatching eggs.. but I also have used the incubator successfully.
many times by accident when I forget to remove eggs on time.. then those eggs hatch while turning and while standing on the pointy end in the egg holders..

 

[Terri O]

Good morning friends~It has to be because of you guys that I have turned the corner on this dam^ cold! I am coughing up a storm still but my head and body actually feel like I could do something today!

So here I am on the puter...

Gotta get the coffee in FIRST!
So NJ--I have heard the same as DrH in hatching in racks or cartons. I also was thinking about doing that just for seeing if it would be easier to ID chicks from a mixed hatch since I probably wont have enough pure eggs for a full load by the weekend. (no sense running a half full bator is there?) Yes there are more reasons than one why we called this "The Foolish Hatch!"

Hey SF--I know of a GREAT drywall mudder...I hear he works real cheap too, and he's near you!

I am feeling sorry for oneof my Modern games. Obviously she is the only girl in there. She just hides when the bys start their chasing and chest bumping! They are going to be tough little birds with that big chick in there with them!

Banties Rule--the only people I know on here that have game birds are MLH and maybe HensandRoos. H&R is right on I94 but MLH is South. You could try them.

My white hen is sticking on the nest! She was so relieved when I gave her some eggs to hatch. Nice "stink eye" when I checked her last night! I wasnt real sure with her because she was just hatched last spring and hasnt had a clutch yet. She picked a good place though--in the pigeon building that locks up tight!
Speaking of locking up...it was raining so hard last night when I wentout I must have forgotten to close the door to the Blue Ams! THey are all over the yard this morning! I sat out in the sun the other day and called them over to me and I think I have picked my pair for the show in July--now I just need to get some nice show pens built so I can make sure their feathers are in tip top shape! It must have been beginner's luck last year that I did so well because I did nothing but bathe them! It is too bad that I will have no older birds to bring this year...maybe I will try anyhow although their combs (at least the males) are damaged from the winter. That is a sad thing because I thought where they were they wouldnt get any damage...geez the ones outside didnt get any! Mr Red and Big Red both have perfect spikey combs! Oh well...

Hey MLH--on your "contest" do you want only pics of HENS or are Roos OK too? I was going to call you yesterday and ask but I was in no shape to take any pics anyhow!
OK--dongs are driving me batty--gotta get them outside!
Have a fantastic day everyone! Terri O

 

[jvls1942]

this is the young peacock with his sparsley feathered fan.. He is proud of it, apparently he never looks back..

 

[Dr HaHa]

Uh Oh we're in deep do do now. Just saw the first robin. Was just out doin chicken chores and saw that Cheeks is almost the same size as Btwo. Btwo is a very small hen but my how fast they grow! Turned off the heat lamp the last couple of days and left it off last night, they were fine. mazo all you can do is give it a try just think it won't be thick enough to hold the eggs. Those newborns can be really rambunctious. That's pretty cool about Bill might have to look up his # and see if it's the same guy. Bettin it is. Thanks! Back to work.

 

[MustLoveHens]

Morning all!

Everyone is fine here. Buzzy is a little better this morning. The warmer weather is agreeing with her!

TO-They want pics of hens not roosters because the stores only sell pullets.

Cind-Was going to start the Foolish Hatch the 11'th but I can't get eggs buy then so I will start the hatch the 1st. I'm going to hatch out some quail so if anyone wants some/them let me know. I'm planning to hatch Bob Whites or Coturnix.

DrH and NJ-When I used turners I took them out of the incubator and just laid the eggs down in their sides. Now I don't have a turner but I do make little cardboard rings I cut out from an empty toilet paper towel "holder" or a paper towel "holder" .( I don't now the technical term for them but the "holders" are the cardboard rolls at the end of the roll of TP or Paper towels.) Anyway, I cut the rings just wide enough to hold the egg so it does not roll- looks like a little pedestal. You can either place the egg on it side or the same way that the egg is set in the turner. Most of the time, the newly hatched chicks just move the eggs around on their little "pedestals"" and don't knock them off the rings. I worry not so much about the jostling like Jim said but the 180* turn if a little chick as internally pipped and gets turned upside down. The rings prevent that 180* turn. Don't know if that helps but it works for me......

Amy-that is an amazing pic of the kiddos!

TO- Go to bed!! Let the fam figure it all out. As long as the critters get feed and water they will be ok for a few days.....Rest Up! That is an order......I hope you feel better soon.

Keedokes-good to see you again!

CC- Hope your head is feeling better! I'm glad your youngsters were spending the night with relatives!!!

SF- Beautiful ducks! Glad your home repairs will be done soon so you can move into your new house! That is exciting news! Did you post pics yet of the new place? Can't wait to see it!

Ok. gotta get going. Aiden has an appointment to get his nails trimmed today...thank goodness!
Later!

 

[Dr HaHa]

Oh TO what's driving you batty! Your supposed to say jiggler from what I heard.

you people are terrible!

Especially you TO! And FT and Bf4 and.......Jim lives a long ways from Sf! Maybe if she foots the gas bill and feeds him well he'll help Sf mud. Jim was rethinking the drowning thing. I would think the air sack would come to the top and the chick would orient itself to it. But still don't like the eggs being turned constantly by a hatchling think then it could drown.

Dang it I'm supposed to be going back to work! Cool idea MLH do you tip the eggs on their pedistals 3 times a day or just leave them? I'm surprised they don't get knocked over. Pretty sure they're called cores that's what the paper mills call them on the paper rolls. Aren't ya glad you got up today? Ya learned somethin.

OK now going back to work.

 

[mazojoe]

Uh Oh we're in deep do do now. Just saw the first robin. Was just out doin chicken chores and saw that Cheeks is almost the same size as Btwo. Btwo is a very small hen but my how fast they grow! Turned off the heat lamp the last couple of days and left it off last night, they were fine. mazo all you can do is give it a try just think it won't be thick enough to hold the eggs. Those newborns can be really rambunctious. That's pretty cool about Bill might have to look up his # and see if it's the same guy. Bettin it is. Thanks! Back to work.

I actually saw Robins all year this year in the marsh along the WI River. My newest a true indicator now is the sound of the Red Wing Black Bird, which I actually heard 2 days ago and my grandmother in Stoughton reported hearing one over the weekend!

 

[Terri O]

Oh TO what's driving you batty! Your supposed to say jiggler from what I heard.

you people are terrible!

Especially you TO! And FT and Bf4 and.......Jim lives a long ways from Sf! Maybe if she foots the gas bill and feeds him well he'll help Sf mud. Jim was rethinking the drowning thing. I would think the air sack would come to the top and the chick would orient itself to it. But still don't like the eggs being turned constantly by a hatchling think then it could drown.

Dang it I'm supposed to be going back to work! Cool idea MLH do you tip the eggs on their pedistals 3 times a day or just leave them? I'm surprised they don't get knocked over. Pretty sure they're called cores that's what the paper mills call them on the paper rolls. Aren't ya glad you got up today? Ya learned somethin.

OK now going back to work.

I was referring to YOU! Silly man......T

 

[kristip]

Well sounds like there are alot of April Fools incubators going in this weekend. Carol and I are putting some eggs in the bator for my first time. I am such a newbie with reading the instructions over and over. Praying it works for the first time and we get some hatches! And I think one of my silkies is thinking about going broody. Now I dont know if my rooster is doing what he is supposed to be doing (although by 6 months of age, you would think he had it figured out with 4 girls in a small coop with him).
It is my black silkie and she has been camping out on the egg and when my kids or I go in to get eggs she is snapping at us. Now when we noticed this, we moved her and eggs into a box but she wanted nothing to do with that. So after half a day ignoring them, we took those eggs, but today my daughter said she was in the "egg laying" corner of the basement pen/coop and looked to not want to move, likes she had an egg under her. So maybe we will put a fertile egg or two under her to see which does better, the new broody or the Hovabator. Inquiring minds want to know. My immature BO that went broody in November managed to hatch 1 of 6 out. But she was also 6 months old when she went broody. This is an older bird who might know better... who knows.
Love them all and looking forward to future chicks!!!!