Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Lutz Farms]

So tickled. ...recvd 8 baby leghorns (she thinks)today from 1st grade teacher who wanted to relocate them to a far. Praying for hens. Still in search of turkeys.

 

[Lutz Farms]

They are being welcomed by the others in the outdoor run enjoying some sun. Lol

 

[cuties]

Wow Jay, do you really think I could get that much in parts?!
Last time I got a quote, the rebuilt was approximately $1200 . And there is the installation. ...

 

[babylady4]

Jay you must come to the Bash, you and my husband are two peas in a pod.

Cuties, DH said he would buy both off of you for parts for OUR Jeep! I told him NO.

Jim, I should have elaborated about the styro bator. I think they are great, never had an issue with mine. What makes them a bit of a PITA is the thermostat set-up. When I attempt to adjust the temperature, the wing nut holding the entire assembly will turn with the temperature adjustment you think you are making; resulting in no change in the temperature. That was my issue. I did run it for 24 hours at a steady 99 before I put the eggs in. I broke the rules and attempted to adjust the temp after I put the eggs in (I know, bad! Bad!) since I had found that the eggs should be at a temp over 99.5 but under 102, so I was shooting to get it up to 100. I also had the impatient DD chomping at the bit to get the eggs 'going'. Oh well, it is all good.

Good thing I did not tell the DH about your tractor, he would have come and bought that too!

Did the interview thing...... it is a position with Bay Valley Foods. I think it went well but you never really can tell......... this would be something different for me, it is an office job.

Still battling some kind of cold...... hacking up a lung today and trying to ward off getting bronchitis. I can't afford to be sick! I have a run on the 18th!

 

[chikenscratch]

bl4-just where would he keep the tractor????? Hope you feel better so you can run.

We've got thunder & lightning, but no rain so far. I hope we get a good soaking. I've got a bunch of seeds & starts that need it. DH too, he split his hops up so instead of 2 plants we have 11.

Today was cleaning waterers day. It amazes me how nasty they get. I also spent time training Theo today with a very positive result. I only had to correct him a few times. Vicki, how is cookie?

Momma hen is bringing the chicks down daily now. The jubilee is getting darker daily. The chickens are escaping under the fence as the grass is greener on the other side....actually there is grass on the other side. For some reason the grass isn't coming back in the run. Maybe the rain will help?

My knees & hips have been aching for the past 3 days, so much that I left work early today and came home to sleep it off.

I hope you all get the well needed rain and that you enjoy the warm up.

 

[babylady4]

CS, the garage of course! That is where the last one lived until he moved it to his folks!

 

[cuties]

Bnl4 and cs, I hope you both feel better soon.
Bbl4, why on earth would you say no?!
Congrats on the sale Jim.
We are hatching the first light Brahma here. Soooo exciting!
Spring concert tomorrow. Not u til 7pm. I think that is a bIt late to start. My kids have to get up at 5 am. And I try to have them in bed at 7:45. It will be a late one for sure. And 4-h on Thursday. Looks like I will have crabby tired ones by Friday!

 

[Celtic Chick]

CS, the garage of course! That is where the last one lived until he moved it to his folks!

You mean the garage that was so full over the winter that you had to park outside?

No thunder or lightening here yet, but DH saw lightening on his way home from band practice.

Momma hen is bringing the chicks down daily now. The jubilee is getting darker daily. The chickens are escaping under the fence as the grass is greener on the other side....actually there is grass on the other side. For some reason the grass isn't coming back in the run. Maybe the rain will help?

And this suprises you? Oh, you rookie................

Jim, congrats on selling the FarmalL

Bigz, your're making me jealous! Yum! And what a steal on the prices. I wish those Amish were closer.

That's all I got. Sweet dreams, all!

 

[jvls1942]

good evening,, Mel, the temp usually goes down in those styro bators when you put eggs in.
It doesn't hurt anything to let the temp come back up on it's own.. so many people adjust the temp up and then when the eggs warm up, the temp spikes and kills all the eggs..
You should see how much the temp drops in these cabinet models when you open a door..

It is only temporary and doesn't hurt anything.. I only open the door when adding eggs.. but these cabinets have very quick recovery .. it takes only a few minutes ..

One trick with the styro ones.. when you lift the top off, do not tip it .. lift it straight up and set it down in the same position.. then you do not "dump" your heat out ..

I was going to set eggs tonight, but I went and played cards and just got home.. now I am too tired to mess with them,, I will do it in the morning,,

.......jiminwiscenjoyingaspottedcowbeforehittingthehay........

CC you posted while I was typing , I almost missed your post.
yeah, that rain will help in the grassless run,, help make it turn to mud ... weeds will be the first thing to grow in there,, the grass is history ..

 

[Sclark73]

Glad you sold your tractor Jim, hope you can get some other stuff to get your Blazer up and running.
Awesome Melanie your Brahmas are finally hatching, I can't wait to see the photos. My sons favorite bird and has bugging me like crazy to get some again. Besides now wanting Guineas after being at Jims the other day.

Looks like another sleepless night, I'm going on 2 hours and have no idea wth is going on with me. What a day today I had, it's so lengthy I'll save it for a book a different day. Short story, I come home to an EE just hatching so I opened the bator to check and see if any more had hatched while I was gone today and was worried with the temp spikes I had been having with noone here to regulate I had possibly killed some chicks. All were well but this is the EE that hatched, I was astonished as I had never had anything hatch like this before.
Warning Graffic



Is this a genetic defect or can it be caused by a severe temp spike and drop? Out of the 20 eggs set at lockdown 8 hatched, 1 pipped and the rest look dead. I culled it like a good girl, I did wear gloves. For some reason it helps lesson the murderous feeling.

Got a call from my friend who come over lastnight and is taking one of the monster bators. She come over tonight and took all of my mis-matched cockerels from last fall for a friend who has way too many hens(over 50) and only 2 roos so very low fertility on their eggs. She also left me with 5 dozen banty and EE eggs to incubate. I don't have any space atm, so I'm going to have to kick my hind end in gear and get a monster going.

I also got a call from the man who bought all my BYM and EE last week and wants me to set 13 dozen eggs within the next week. I will have to charge by the egg when he drops off, that's a ton of eggs.

I'm going to have to move my bators down in the basement as the addition is heating up too much with the warmer weather now and causing all but 2 of them to go crazy with temps and it's becoming to miserable trying to keep them intact. The steak cooler bator is still holding it's own. The 2 inch thick styrofoam is what the solution was.

So here is some pics of the chickies as I haven't shared in a while of how big they are getting. Sorry for the quality, I was being really lazy and didn't turn the lights on to get better shots.

Current hatch, BLRW, EE and up front the lone SS.

The 2 1/2 week old chicks.

The 4 week old SS chicks. I think this one up close is a cockerel and the other is hopefully pullet.

BLRW, next one is the same bird. Do you think this is a black or blue laced? And as always hoping pullet.


Splash BLRW.

Well that's enough photos for now and I'm actually feeling a bit sleepy now! Have a good one everyone!