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My new ReptiPro 6000 incubator has arrived and is being tested now, yay! It's soooooo pretty.....
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Mar 23, 2013 21:45
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It's gonna be less pretty when your chicken eggs hatch out as basilisks. 
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Mar 23, 2013 21:47
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:It's gonna be less pretty when your chicken eggs hatch out as basilisks. Nah, it's safe provided a rooster didn't lay the eggs
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Mar 23, 2013 22:10
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:It's gonna be less pretty when your chicken eggs hatch out as basilisks. We're safe, I own this booklet: http://www.wonderella.org/publications/books/goblinproofing/index.htm It's every *bit* as amazing as it looks, BTW. Also, I'd swear several of our chickens already ARE basilisks (Bear, I'm looking squarely at you).
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Mar 24, 2013 02:33
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Velvet Sparrow posted:We're safe, I own this booklet: http://www.wonderella.org/publications/books/goblinproofing/index.htm That book looks awesome! So what do you think of the new egg cooker, VS? Do you think it'll be a big improvement to this years hatch rate?
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Mar 24, 2013 02:52
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Bash Ironfist posted:That book looks awesome! I hope so. It already is less glitchy (room temperature and ambient humidity levels be damned, this thing is a sealed unit, yay!), holds temperature beautifully, recovers quickly to correct temp & humidity after the door has been opened and I've gotten some great advice on the best way to use it from BYC. Right now it's sitting on my fireplace hearth running & being tested.  The only real variable left is the high altitude/less O2 available issue, and short of pumping pure O2 into the thing (which can be a fire hazard) there isn't much I can do about that. Later this week I'm going to do the egg exchange with another lady in town (she has Buttercups, Wyandottes and light Brahmas), and on next Saturday the 30th the eggs go in!
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Mar 24, 2013 11:21
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Ooooh! Buttercups and Wyandottes! Pretty!  Out of curiosity, did you put Bloop and Weedcat each in their own runs so you'd have a better idea of who is fathering which chicks?
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Mar 24, 2013 12:12
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A friend sent me to a wonderful comic about roosters because she knows how much disdain I have for the absolute lack of skill my family's roos had at crowing and how ridiculous they were despite being miniature dinosaurs. I think that it belongs here: Here's more, about the Author visiting a friend's place and learning the hard way that roosters don't give a poo poo about your desire to commune with nature by sleeping in a hammock: http://english.bouletcorp.com/2013/03/15/ (there are bad words in it, just a warning)
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Mar 24, 2013 16:44
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One of our chickens is dead. RIP Pickles. You had a good 3 years.  We're pretty sure one of our dogs killed her. This might be the straw that broke the camel's back and we might have to put her down. It feels wrong to put a physically healthy dog down, but she's become more and more dangerous. She's at least 10 or 11 years old. We're not entirely sure since we got her from a shelter. She's always had some issues I think because of abuse from her previous owners. We had a dog trainer work with her who has decades of experience and use to train tigers tell us in all his years he's never met a weirder dog than her because she was insanely smart for a dog but didn't give a poo poo to listen. The past couple of years she's been getting meaner and meaner to the point she lives in the backyard now. My husband wants to build a kennel for her to stay in, but I think it might be more cruel to make her live in a kennel 24/7. Mistakes happen and she could attack something again. We have a 4 month old kid now and I don't know what I would do if she managed to get out and hurt him. I use to think I was just a crappy owner or owning dogs wasn't as great as people made it out to be until we got our second dog and he's sweet and gentle. I still get anxiety about dogs though. I don't like to interact with dogs I don't know 100% and I still get nervous I'm going to be attacked. My husband is going out of town for a week starting tomorrow. He's building a temporary jail for her to stay in until he gets back and we decide what to do. The silver lining is we'll be able to get 4 chicks this year instead of 3 once our new coop and run are built.
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Mar 24, 2013 17:12
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Alterian posted:We have a 4 month old kid now and I don't know what I would do if she managed to get out and hurt him. I use to think I was just a crappy owner or owning dogs wasn't as great as people made it out to be until we got our second dog and he's sweet and gentle. 4-month old kid? Put that drat dog down. It's not worth the chance of your child being hurt or maimed in order to keep some weird-rear end dog! When my brother and I were little kids (like 2 and 3 years old), my parents owned a pair of boxers that they brought from Germany after my dad came home from being stationed there in the Army. One evening my dad went to take the male boxer outside and dog didn't want to go. My dad grabbed the dog's collar and the dog just turned and bit my dad. That earned the dog a one-way trip to the vet's to be put down. My parents weren't going to take a chance with the dog turning on me or my brother. The female boxer was fine...we'd hang all over that dog and she loved us. RIP Pickles....and all the other lovely chickens who have died too young lately. 
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Mar 24, 2013 |
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Mar 24, 2013 17:44
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Ahaha, screaming 'Shut the gently caress UP!' is the most common response to roosters incessantly crowing. Usually in a more pleading tone, though.Inveigle posted:Ooooh! Buttercups and Wyandottes! Pretty! No, Weeds and Bloop are mixing with the girls along with Scott. Scott is so old I'm pretty sure he is taking a pass on mating duties. We can't be entirely sure we won't get freakish Giant Cochin/Bantam crosses, but Weeds is so big that when he tries to mate banty hens he mostly is just sitting on them while they wait patiently for him to get the Hell off, and Bloop is too tiny to reach his ultimate goal on the big girls without just sliding backwards off their backs.  Sorry about your bird, Alterian. While you can't fault a dog for being a dog, if you've had the dog for a long time AND had a trainer work with it and it's still getting meaner, I'd either rehome it with someone who knows what they are getting or take more drastic steps. I think you are right that putting it in a kennel will only make the dog less socialized and aggravate the problem.
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Mar 24, 2013 19:00
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Inveigle posted:4-month old kid? Put that drat dog down. X 2 It's a no-brainer. Velvet Sparrow posted:
This might be the stupidest question I've ever asked, but I've always wondered this (mostly when thinking about space exploration)- so here goes... What if you put a small plant in the incubator? -(tropical foliage that could stand 24 hours of 100+ temps) How many would you need in there to scrub the CO2 and provide a bit of oxygen for such a small space?
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Mar 24, 2013 19:46
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[quote="Velvet Sparrow" post="413741425"] No, Weeds and Bloop are mixing with the girls along with Scott. Scott is so old I'm pretty sure he is taking a pass on mating duties. We can't be entirely sure we won't get freakish Giant Cochin/Bantam crosses, but Weeds is so big that when he tries to mate banty hens he mostly is just sitting on them while they wait patiently for him to get the Hell off, and Bloop is too tiny to reach his ultimate goal on the big girls without just sliding backwards off their backs. I'm laughing, it must be a hilarious comedy show to watch those boys attempting to copulate with a hen not their size! I can just picture the look on the girls' faces... 
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Mar 24, 2013 19:58
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My chicks spent their first night out in their coop, in the bottom of the hay barn. I was worried, since it was very cold last night, but they seem just fine this morning with the heat lamp. They're all ugly teenagers right now, and just too big to keep staying in the basement. Had a bad day last week when their litter got too wet and four of them got smushed. I felt like a pretty awful chicken owner for it. Last year at this point it was consistently in the 70s.
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Mar 24, 2013 20:56
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NPR had an article on backyard chickens and salmonella: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...mpaign=20130324 Surprise, you should wash your hands after handling pets and livestock!
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Mar 24, 2013 21:44
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DarkHorse posted:NPR had an article on backyard chickens and salmonella: Jesus, that article...there isn't a facepalm big enough. Luckily most of the commenters have a freakin' brain in their heads and are posting corrections & common sense to those sweeping generalizations. Bantaras, interesting idea...I honestly don't know how much CO2 the incubating/hatching eggs give off or if there is room enough in a ReptiPro for both the eggs and a plant big enough to handle scrubbing the air. But it's an interesting idea!  The ReptiPro is smaller than it looks in the pictures, and mine was a plastic stinkubator when it first arrived. I've cleaned it inside and out and washed the racks & bottom tray, I'm also leaving it open to air out for the next few days. Each rack will hold at least 16 big honkin' eggs (placed every other row, 4 rows of 4 eggs each), more if you place banty eggs or crowd them in more or stack them. I'm going with fewer eggs the first time to ensure optimum circulation of fresh air. I'll probably have a mix of both in there but leaning towards more standards than bantams--I'm not mailordering any eggs this time around since I want to see how the incubator performs before I invest in shipped eggs. Starting to set aside hatching eggs (and marking who mom is when possible) for myself and the egg trade lady now!
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Mar 24, 2013 22:35
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Welp, Megatron got a nasty wound on her side under the wing. I thought at first Roo did it because thee skin is torn, and I can see the muscle under it. The wound is probably 2 inches long and about half an inch wide, but it looks too "clean" to have been Roo. He doesn't have spurs (never grew them back after he broke them off himself), and his claws are rather blunt, and we did hear the chickens cream a couple hours ago, but we didn't see anything. I think it might've been a hawk that either got her but she got away, or she got stuck somewhere as she fled. I bandaged the wound for now so she won't peck it, but I've never dealt with wounds this big before. Spaghetti had a similar wound but smaller, and I just kept it clean and put neosporin on it every day and it healed well; however, as I did a quick search for chicken first aid, some people suggested to stitch it, others to leave it like that. Mega is not bleeding anymore and I have her in my room right now. I'm gonna rinse her wound again later tonight and apply more neosporin and leave it uncovered for the night, but it's been a few hours since she got the wound, and because she's not bleeding, should still try to close the wound somehow, or leave it like that and keep cleaning it? She looks alert and even ate a bit, and from aall the stuff these chickens have gone through I don't think I need to take her to the vet ER, so I'll wait and see if it heals well. If I see it starts to get infected, then to the vet it is.
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Mar 25, 2013 00:53
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Chido's chickens are the most spoiled chickens in the world. I'm sure Megatron is enjoying her vacation. Princess Roo is gonna get jealous!
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Mar 25, 2013 02:13
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Chido posted:Spaghetti had a similar wound but smaller, and I just kept it clean and put neosporin on it every day and it healed well; however, as I did a quick search for chicken first aid, some people suggested to stitch it, others to leave it like that. Mega is not bleeding anymore and I have her in my room right now. I'm gonna rinse her wound again later tonight and apply more neosporin and leave it uncovered for the night, but it's been a few hours since she got the wound, and because she's not bleeding, should still try to close the wound somehow, or leave it like that and keep cleaning it? Well, from personal experience when I had a nasty fall, keeping a deep wound clean and packed with healing gel does help. If it's cleaned out, pack it with antiseptic and gel, then close up with some surgical strips, i.e.: http://www.drugstore.com/nexcare-steri-strip-skin-closure-adhesive-surgical-tape-strip/qxp13055 then keep checking and washing for signs of infection daily. Not exactly sure how well that tape will work with feathers and such though. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 02:46
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Link to the wound. the muscle seems ok, and I still don't think Roo did it, but could it be possible he ripped her skin open due to his sheer mass? Megatron is pretty small, about 4 pounds at most, and Roo is 10 or so and lately he's been infatuated with Mega a bit too much. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c36/moralgriever/chickens/SDC11876_zps5eb6d5b3.jpg I fear she might try to pull the tape if I leave it uncovered, but right now I closed the wound a bit with tape, applied a lot of neosporin inside the opening, then put a gauze with more neosporin on top and wrapped a bandage around her body to keep it in place. I'll remove everything tomorrow to let it dry, I just want it to be covered for now and get the scabbing start. I hope I'm doing it right. It' also a bit late now, but i found a post in BYC where somebody mentioned EMT gel. I already ordered that and EMT spray along with a big box of vetrap from amazon to keep in my chicken first aid box. Chido fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 02:58
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Chido posted:Link to the wound. the muscle seems ok, and I still don't think Roo did it, but could it be possible he ripped her skin open due to his sheer mass? Megatron is pretty small, about 4 pounds at most, and Roo is 10 or so and lately he's been infatuated with Mega a bit too much. It looks pretty good, I'd keep it clean and a good coating of Neosporin and maybe some A & D ointment on it. Maybe give her some unflavered Pedialyte to drink to boost her electrolytes. Keep her off dirt until it scabs over really well, and away from the other chickens so they don't reopen it. I think letting it dry out would be OK, as long as she lets it be. You might consider plucking the feathers at the edge of the wound if it looks like they might try to grow inside the wound. When one of my hens, Bug got a really nasty wound down to the muscle--about the size of a cigarette pack with no skin to cover it and I couldn't suture it-- I thought for sure it would take all kinds of special treatment, but it healed up just fine with just keeping it clean and coated in a thin film of Neosporin and A & D ointment (mixed), and surprisingly fast! If by any chance you need it, here is an article on cell migration to help heal nasty wounds: http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/cell.htm It does kinda look like a spur wound from a dull spur...
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Mar 25, 2013 07:12
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Velvet Sparrow posted:
Then it could've been Roo with his claws. He doesn't have any spurs at all, but Megatron is on the small side, so it could've been Roo being rough and his weight what caused it. He's not that gentle when mating, he should learn from Weedcat and just sit on them instead of trying to climb on their back  That link is pretty interesting, and i might give it a bit of a try (if I have the stomach for it). Right now her wound is covered and bandaged, and I'm waiting for my BiL to get home with surgical tape. I can pull the skin close enough so the gap gets smaller, and hopefully speed up the process. I so want to clean that dried blood off her feathers but i don't want to hurt her more right now .
Chido fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 07:16
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VS are you going to do any sort of test eggs before chickam this year? Or are you just gonna set everything up and keep your fingers crossed? Looking forward to it as always. 
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Mar 25, 2013 07:16
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I'm trying to picture a Giant Cochin/bantam d'Uccle mix 
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Mar 25, 2013 12:42
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Alterian posted:We're pretty sure one of our dogs killed her. This might be the straw that broke the camel's back and we might have to put her down. It feels wrong to put a physically healthy dog down, but she's become more and more dangerous. She's at least 10 or 11 years old. We're not entirely sure since we got her from a shelter. She's always had some issues I think because of abuse from her previous owners. We had a dog trainer work with her who has decades of experience and use to train tigers tell us in all his years he's never met a weirder dog than her because she was insanely smart for a dog but didn't give a poo poo to listen. The past couple of years she's been getting meaner and meaner to the point she lives in the backyard now. For what it's worth, tons of completely people safe dogs will kill prey animals like chickens. Even "good" dogs. Carnivores will kill prey animals. Even if they'be been trained not to, it sometimes happens, because let's face it, it's fun and self-rewarding. There's a snack, there's a fun chase, and there's lots of fun noises. It's unusual that a dog with a drive to chase and kill say squirrels or chickens would transfer that onto people. Definitely consult with your trainer and your vet, but honestly "smart and not giving a poo poo" is very common especially among primitive type breeds.
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Mar 25, 2013 17:03
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Rodent Mortician posted:For what it's worth, tons of completely people safe dogs will kill prey animals like chickens. Even "good" dogs. Carnivores will kill prey animals. Even if they'be been trained not to, it sometimes happens, because let's face it, it's fun and self-rewarding. There's a snack, there's a fun chase, and there's lots of fun noises. It's unusual that a dog with a drive to chase and kill say squirrels or chickens would transfer that onto people. Yeah, but there is a difference between "dog that will chase and kill prey animals" and "dog that is no longer allowed to live in the house because it keeps getting meaner despite seeking professional help from an experienced trainer". Especially when the person who moved the dog outside is a PI poster and not some random person likely to have used moving the dog outside as a first resort solution to a problem.
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Mar 25, 2013 18:08
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She's in the temporary kennel until my husband gets back from his work trip and we can take her to the vet and talk it over with them. The chicken killing was sort of the last straw like I said. She has started attacking people and drawing blood. Her behavior has been slowly declining over the past 3 years or so. That's one of the reasons she's an outdoor dog now. We're not entirely sure exactly what sort of breed she is since we got her from a shelter. Our best guess is a Pomeranian/beagle but who knows. She's been in the kennel for about a day now and birds have already returned to our bird feeders and our other dog isn't scared to go outside to pee anymore  This is the last I'll say about this issue since it is a chicken thread. I just wanted to let people know that the situation is being dealt with and she'll no longer be allowed to be around other animals.Edit: and incase anyone was worried, she's not allowed in the same room as the baby even the few times she's been in the house due to weather.
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Mar 25, 2013 18:19
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Alterian posted:She has started attacking people and drawing blood. Her behavior has been slowly declining over the past 3 years or so. Ummm... Dangerous and attacking people? Lawsuit waiting to happen if that dog gets loose and escapes. Most people on this thread really wouldn't object if someone chose to put down a cranky rooster or unproductive hen. And even ate them.
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Mar 25, 2013 19:09
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Alterian posted:She has started attacking people and drawing blood. Oh, OK. Yeah, have her put down--sadly, it's time. No time for an egg test run as we're setting eggs this Saturday. I started setting eggs aside yesterday for us and the local lady we're egg trading with--we make the handoff on Wednesday.  I had some test eggs in the old styro incubators (refrigerated eggs that had no chance of developing) and after three days the forced air one started fluctuating like mad so I'm never using those again as incubators--maybe as drying units for already hatching chicks though, before they go into the brooder box. The ReptiPro 6000 is doing great so far but yesterday I tested my hygrometers--one a fancy digital one I've used in the past and one a little basic dial type--BOTH were low! The dial type was low by 5 points but my fancy digital one is low by 22 points! Neither is adjustable and cannot be relied on to keep on reading low, high or accurate, they way they fail it's non-linear. That's unacceptable so we're off to buy a new one today.
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Mar 25, 2013 19:36
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Oh, OK. Yeah, have her put down--sadly, it's time. Try this thing here Combine it with this thing here You will have a nice small Therm/Hydrometer that you can calibrate along with a calibration kit. All for about $25.
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Mar 25, 2013 21:59
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Megatron did a thing... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPirDI8gJVM Chido fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 23:49
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Chido posted:Megatron did a thing... Yay Megatron! But where's the footage of her singing the egg song and making a nest out of pine shavings? That's what I really wanted to see!
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Mar 26, 2013 02:27
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Inveigle posted:Yay Megatron! But where's the footage of her singing the egg song and making a nest out of pine shavings? That's what I really wanted to see! My phone was running out of charge so I didn't record that
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Mar 26, 2013 02:33
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Uh oh. The chicks are almost 4 weeks now. One of them is way lighter in color with much more white to "her" than the others and has a comb twice as big. This is bad I think. I think Henrietta might be a Henry.
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Mar 26, 2013 03:53
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Chido posted:My phone was running out of charge so I didn't record that Try again tomorrow or the next day, please! I want to hear Megatron sing the Egg Song.
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Mar 26, 2013 05:06
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Inveigle posted:Try again tomorrow or the next day, please! I want to hear Megatron sing the Egg Song. I do have one of her before popping out the egg, it's like 10 minutes long and it's just her trying to become one with the shavings. I'm uploading it now. 'll get one of her cackling like a maniac tomorrow or the day after, whenever she decides to lay .Edit: there we go! it's 5 mins long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO8J1RXf3iM Chido fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 06:06
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^^^ It's chicken camo!  Errant Gin Monks posted:Uh oh. The chicks are almost 4 weeks now. One of them is way lighter in color with much more white to "her" than the others and has a comb twice as big. Pictures...? And is it the one in the middle in their 3 week old photo? Chido, that is such a dainty little egg--! We have a new digital hygrometer (thanks anyway Bantaras for the info), it's being calibrated now. The ReptiPro is holding temp beautifully, I figure what we'll do is incubate two racks of eggs and switch the rack positions twice a day or at every turn since the second shelf down runs 1/2 a degree cooler than the top shelf. We'll run at a lower humidity, around 25-40% until day 18, then up it to 50-60% for the final three days--that's what other people at high altitude have been doing and having good luck with hatching. We'll start with around 32 eggs and remove any duds when we candle. I've got a food scale to use to weigh the eggs to make sure they are losing the proper amount of weight as we go, and we'll watch the size of the air cell in the egg to tell us how whings are going. As the eggs begin to pip, they'll be moved to the bottom of the incubator to hatch. We still have to test the cam with this incubator, so if you see Chickam become active for a short time don't freak out. The incubator has a bright blue light inside that may be adequate to stream the hatch, if it isn't we'll use a halogen desk lamp for additional light as we have before. The ReptiPro blue light (pardon the crappy nightime pic) makes it something of a baby chick rave: 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 07:03
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Velvet Sparrow posted:The ReptiPro blue light (pardon the crappy nightime pic) makes it something of a baby chick rave: Now all that's needed are little chicken glow sticks, and maybe these eggs...  (I really wanna see what happens if you slip one of these under a Broody.)
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Mar 26, 2013 07:16
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Vaga42Bond posted:Now all that's needed are little chicken glow sticks, and maybe these eggs... NOTHING. Because nothing deters a true broody hen, she is made of cast iron and could survive the bowels of Hell itself while STILL showing a bunch of chicks good things to eat. Speaking of broodies, Zipper, the Red Star from last year's Chickam, is kinda-sorta-thinkin-about-it broody. She's been sitting in the same nest box (the most popular one) for the last two days and every time I check she's got quite the egg collection going. She doesn't fluff up or growl yet, and I think she's too young to be a reliable mama...but time will tell! I plan on leaving some marked eggs in two of the most popular nest boxes in about two weeks to see if we can get a volunteer mama for Chickam.
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Mar 26, 2013 07:51
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Not that I've been counting or anything but my girls are 4 months and 16 days old. I want an egg!
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Mar 26, 2013 08:12
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