WOW! They are persistant little babies! What a treat Catscan. SURPRISE! :D
It looks like you had a good hatch Cajun! They are so cute. How many babies do you want? Are you going to hatch more? :D You are a hatchig machine now with your new bator all broken in now.
Gift from DH
It looks like the last chick hatched may have to be culled. I won't make that decision right away but I will keep it in mind. The toes on it's right foot curl under. That chick was stuck in the egg for many hours. I finally had to help it crack the egg a bit but I think the damage had been done. I tried to put it in with the other chicks but it's unsteady gait was making it a target so I put it back in the bator. I left the other chick in with it and will check on them after church. I want to give it every chance within reason.
They do sometime straighten out. Or you could try making one of the "toe boots" for curled toes.
I now have 4 very healthy Red Dorking chicks from the 5 eggs I was about to toss!
I would give it time Cajun. I saw a post about tape wrapping for the toe thing.
Great Catscan! Unbelievable. 5 outa 5?? awesome!!!
I've been wildly busy and missed all the excitement. Congrats, Commander Cajun, you've earned your stars for sure!
=0) Jay
Congratulation on the chicks every one.
Sew the brat is fine, fingers still no happy with typing. Wish the stupid weather would make up it's mind. It would help if I did not keep hurting the fingers. Some one please hide the hammers. LOL
Hammers??? Who do I know near Florida to confiscate those??? hmmmm...
Will you are at it how about confiscating the washing machine. The lid has slammed down on my fingers four time this year alone. Good think I only wash clothes every other week. LOL
ouch. No typing with your fingers in the washing machine, Wren, the eggs'll never hatch!! Is the weather at least treating you better?
Yes and no. It is going to drop down into the 30's the next two nights. Just had 2 days of rain and looks like more Monday.At least no freeze. . Wed am going on a day trip to a great plant nursery over in Tallahassee infact there are 3 nurseries we may try to visit. and also visit the Maccay state gardens. Thursday back to the dentist So I will not be online for a couple of days. But will be back to catch up on all the new babies.
Dang, Lady! I'll follow you to the nurseries but not the dentist!!
I put the chick in an ice cream bucket and put the bucket down in the brooder. It was working fine til I put him a small amount of water in a shallow lid and it decided to swim. I put it back in the bator to dry off and warm up.
Poor little damp fella...
Why do they always head straight for the water?! I've lost them to that before --fell asleep with it's beak in the quail? waterer...the smallest one, barely big enough for a beak to fit in...glad you caught your twirpy in time!
Glad you rescued the little fellow. My DD use to tell the story of how he tried to teach my DGM's chickens how to swim because he wanted a duck. To say she was not happy in a understatement.
Come on Grow, both of my dentists are young and very good looking.
Mine is too, but she and I are both happily married...glad your situation is better, lol.
The local dentist where I used to live was Tom Selleck's cousin. Same last name--same mustache--same looks--but blond.
When My brother was a little younger and had his mustache he looked just like Tom Selleck. He is now single. Any one want him I will box him up and ship him to you. LOL
I am off to bed, good night.
oh, cat, Tom Selleck is the bomb! I don't go all weak kneed over men, most I think should have been drowned at birth, but Him, I DO. You are telling me that a blond Tom Selleck would work on your teeth. I could not handle it.
lol. My Dear One is sufficient maintenance for me, thanks all the same...
Amen Grow!! ;]
My brother can cook, and does housework, and repair around the house. OH he is now single.
Don't get me started on Tom Selleck. There are few actors that I look twice at but he is at the top of my very short list. He just looks better as he ages. I LOVE his westerns. And when you pair him and Sam Elliot in the same film.... be still my heart!!! Of course, I wouldn't trade them both for the one I have. He's da bomb!!! I love him to bits. We will celebrate 30 years together on 6/1 and my heart still skips a beat when I look at him. Now, that's the good life.
Yes you are lucky
Cajun, you are one lucky lady!
Speaking of Tom Selleck, I was acquainted with a woman once who lived in southern California and had run into Tom Selleck twice while standing in lines (at the bank, etc). She said he was extremely friendly and nice, which is not always typical of celeb types.
Quick update on the cripple chick. It seems to be fine this morning. It spent the night in the ice cream bucket in the brooder. This morning only it's inside toe is turning back. It is able to walk well though it ha a bit of a stumbling gait. The others are leaving it alone for the most part and it is doing a good bit of pecking on the others. It is drinking and eating so I will leave it with the others as long as it is doing well. Walking around can only help it. All the others are doing fine.
My friend had 40 eggs in her bator due to hatch the day before mine. Only 4 of her eggs hatched and one of those died. One of the remaining three is crippled. It cannot use it's legs at all. It lays on it's stomach. It eats and when she holds it to the water it drinks. So she has it seperated and is giving it every chance. Hopefully it won't have to be culled.
Another friend has lost 2 loads of eggs due to power outages. He has larger bators so I don't know exactly how many eggs it was but it was way too many to lose. After I heard about it, I began wondering what one could do in the same situation to save the eggs. Any thoughts on the subject?
I think it comes through in his work. He is really just a regular guy. As regular as a wealthy celebrity can be I guess. He and his wife and daughter live on a small ranch and breed and raise their own horses. I think having friends that are "regular Joes" keeps a person in his situation grounded. He is great friends with Joe Beaver who is a retired calf roping legend. He brings his daughter to the NFR every year. If I remember correctly, it was her 10th birthday one year when they were there and "Uncle" Joe gave her the buckle he won that night.
You can make a wrap for the bator to hold the heat in when the power goes off but it wont last forever. WOW I am so sorry for your friends. A generator is always a good thing...hook up the fridg and the bator.
I am glad the little guy is doing better! That is good news. :D
So glad for the update and good news.
I've got a batch due in a week and found the 'bator had spiked to 104 2 mornings back. Never done it before or since and I'm crossing my fingers and just hoping it was a very short term thing. The eggs are all blue so I can't candle well enough to tell anything...
I think the temp in my bator was less than steady. I don't see well and I know it was on the high side more than a few times. Also, the thermometer it came with is not digital. I was thinking of getting one for it. Might be what happened to the smaller eggs of the bantam hens. I would think they would be affected quicker by the higher heat than the larger eggs.
I got one for six something at Wal Mart and it's a huge help. I think you have the same kind I do and I could NEVER read that silly thermometer without holding the lid open for too long anyway...
I would take the thermometer out and close the lid. But by the time I got my glasses out and moved into good enough light, I didn't get a true reading anyhow. LOL Six dollars is not a bad price. I think I can swing that. DH will think it's a good cause if it will save the eggs.
It took me two years, but definitely worth it.
(Of course now I'm worrying about the numbers I'm constantly reading, lol --still that's my own mental issue!!)
I have a pair of glasses that stay by my bators.. AND a flashlight to shine inside to read the temp/rh I can't see anything inside without them. :) When they are pipping, the maglight will make them peep!
The heat will shoot up when it gets too dry..
Yes, the temp/hygrometer at Wally World is the one they are selling on ebay and eggbid for $15. bucks!! Wally World has them for $6. LOL Makes me cringe when I see so many people buying them online for so much $
On warming the eggs when the power goes out...
saw an old article about using a kerosene lantern set-up. There was a funnel/flue over the chimney of the lantern that collected the heat and channelled it into the incubator. So the lantern was to the side of the incubation box, not directly under it. I'd want to experiment with adjusting temps and all that long before a power outage, but it looked pretty do-able and not too high tech. =0)
The other idea is heating stones or something (bottles of hot water?) on the wood stove and using them to move the heat to the incubator.
All the chicks are doing fine. DH has got the chick bug for sure. He bought 5 more big stock chicks. They are a mix of golden comets and are the same age as the chicks we already had so they are doing well together. He also bought a dozen hatching eggs of the same kind. We have 19 chicks now.
Oh dear. Have you tried Calamil lotion? That stops all sorts of itches...