WK #3

[Sydney65]

R.I.P. Blue. No doubt about it, you were 1 in a million, & turned what was a tic extermination project into a passion.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

R.I.P. Blue. No doubt about it, you were 1 in a million, & turned what was a tic extermination project into a passion.View attachment 2694210

Oh no! I’m so sorry that you lost Blue, you really loved that bird! What happened?

 

[Sydney65]

Oh no! I’m so sorry that you lost Blue, you really loved that bird! What

normal morning, went in, took the girls out to the kennel, called the boys 1 by 1, he didn't come. Looked under the drop boards and there he was. There were a couple of scabs on his head that weren't there last night, so I'm guessing he and Nugget got into it. No other injuries or signs of problems, and he was fine last night.
I was looking at bigger incubators last night and even thought about getting some quail, simply bc they're smaller & sound more acclimated to the kind of attention I tend to give. But yeah..this one hurts. I might put some of his & Bella's eggs in the little Brinsea but no major decisions right now.

 

[My2butterflies]

I’m so sorry about blue He was a beautiful boy.

 

[Sydney65]

Thank you.

I’m so sorry about blue He was a beautiful boy.

 

[Sydney65]

I checked the coop out; no blood, but a lot of Nugget feathers. He's the only lavender, so a sudden influx of his feathers stands out. I had just changed the bedding, so there hadn't been many feathers period.
Today he was challenging PJ. One wld think that stupid,given the size diff,but PJ has never confronted anyone but me, & Nugget is tenacious. This went on until PJ banged on the patio door to be let in the run.
He & the girls were oddly quiet this evening, had already gone in the coop when I went to close the pop door. Nug is timed out in the run alone.
What a kick in the pants it is to have had no aggression w/3 males, 1 female, & then even the ratio only to have this. It's horrible.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I checked the coop out; no blood, but a lot of Nugget feathers. He's the only lavender, so a sudden influx of his feathers stands out. I had just changed the bedding, so there hadn't been many feathers period.
Today he was challenging PJ. One wld think that stupid,given the size diff,but PJ has never confronted anyone but me, & Nugget is tenacious. This went on until PJ banged on the patio door to be let in the run.
He & the girls were oddly quiet this evening, had already gone in the coop when I went to close the pop door. Nug is timed out in the run alone.
What a kick in the pants it is to have had no aggression w/3 males, 1 female, & then even the ratio only to have this. It's horrible.

Oh that’s really hard to hear that you think Nugget may have killed Blue? Is there a size difference between Nugget and PJ because one is a jumbo? Do your boys do all of those marathon chases etc? It may be impractical for you, but so far my flock seems less dangerous to each other when the flock size became larger, going from 8 to 15 to 21… Each jump in size seemed to reduce any one bird getting singled out too much.

 

[Sydney65]

Nugget chased/engaged Blue constantly. PJ wld just glance over like they were nuts, but sometimes he'd step in to divert Nugget. Things had calmed down since I started letting them out separately.
Blue always stayed w/PJ & Rosie, Nugget was the outsider. When the twins were added, it was those 3 together,the twins off together, and then Nugget.Yes, PJ is the jumbo.
With the twins added,when the season kicked in, the Jumbos stayed together.
Naturally the others totally screwed up the ideals, bc the RP Blue ended up w/the Brown Bella & the Lav Nugget ended up w/the gray Mouse. But that's beside the point. Lol.
If this makes sense, I think I see the issue: Blue stayed near the jumbos. Bella stayed near Blue. Mouse would be w/Nugget, but she'd wander off to where her sister was, hence where Blue was. Inside the coop, whenever I went in,the original division remained-3,2,1. Nugget wld dive at Mouse to get her away from the others.

 

[Sydney65]

Coming back over here in my "journal". If I make it invisible then I can't call for help when I need it,but when folks realize it's the chick w/the journal they can ignore it, no offense taken. I write a lot- It helps to be able to go back & look @ advice I've received. - But- I've realized this is supposed to be a site for help, not social media.
I was concerned that I had one already internally pip before lockdown was due, but I see that mixed flock enthusiast had that going on last yr when I was setting my 1st hatch, & I think still having it. So -it happens, good or bad. The 5 of the 10 I started w/are all in lockdown as of last night. All were active,one internally pipped, cld hear grinding in all of them. I expect the one that had IP will be coming through -eventually. i see a pinpoint bulge in the shell & a small crack running from it. All of them are kind of vibrating.
I'm glad I did rereading bc of the humidity factor. The 2 that made it to lockdown last time, I didn't remember that despite using the dry method, I was still supposed to increase humidity at lockdown. My error, 1 hatched,1 didn't. I had it up to 65% last night but it had dropped this am. I put an oddly shaped shot glass w/wider surface but taller so they can't fall in-same as I did last yr. So far it's up to 41%. I don't recall it being an issue last yr but concerned abt it dropping when that shot glass evaporates. Mb it will hold as long as I don't open it. If I remember right, hatching itself increases humidity.
There are 5 more that have been in the other incubator for 4 days now. 2 of them already show signs of life.
I knew my little singleton, as mixed called her, had the odds against her. I just kept telling her & myself that if she cld make it to this hatch she'd have warm bodies & be able to go in the brooder w/the heatplate. I thought it was over when she developed spraddle leg but we were overcoming that. Just a few more days & she'd have had brooder mates. Hard to forgive myself for that. Life is abt always striving to do better, but I'm starting to think that if my path to perfection is strewn with dead birds, maybe I need to get off the trail.
Rosie's own quest for perfection must have made her realize nesting in the field is not a good idea. She has started a new one in the flowerbed nestled under lemon balm. There are only abt 6 in there from what I saw. She makes a sort of content chattering noise when she's laying an egg; that's how I realized it was there. If I move the kennel over it now, it wouldn't be as conspicuous bc the plants are tall,mb she wld accept it. That way if she does decide to hatch them, I can close the door. Have to think on that.

 

[R2elk]

Things that can change over the course of a year is the calibration of the hygrometer. The hygrometer should be calibrated again every year.

The ambient conditions can also change. If you had higher ambient humidity last year, you would have needed to add less water. If the ambient humidity is lower this year, you will need to add more water.

The big one is the calibration.