14 May 2010. Late
I have 2 turkey hens, a Bourbon red and a Blue slate that have been laying for a while now. I noticed that they had both been getting out and couldn’t find their eggs. I clipped the wings on them both, and the red started laying in the coop with the chickens. The slate some how managed to keep getting out. Several days ago, she didn’t come home at night. Saw her the next morning, and then she was gone again. Went for almost 3 days with out seeing her and was worried that some thing would get her in the night. We’ve been having a lot of thunder storms and rain, and she still didn’t come home.
Well, this morning we found her, not far out at the edge of the yard under a wild rose bush. Tried to move her nest and she wasn’t having any part of it. There were 11 turkey eggs and 10 chicken eggs. I moved her into a small run I had built out of PVC piping, and put 9 turkey eggs in it. The rest I brought in the house and put in an incubator. Well, 30 minutes later, she hadn’t gotten on the eggs, so I opened the gate and she went back to her nest. Realizing she would stay there, took 7 eggs and put them under her and brought the other two in the house and placed in the incubator. Going to check on her in a while and try to move the cage over to cover her nest. If I can’t move her to the cage, move the cage to her, right? The eggs I have hatched from her this year (she is only a year old) have produced wonder poults that are active and grow well, so far. So I’m excited about having more, and allowing her to raise them will be special, too.
15 May 2010.
Went to the animal auction on Saturday in Bolivar, and they were selling peafowl eggs again. About 18 of them, some one else bought them and then he sold me 3 for $10. So now I have 3 of them. Plan to put them in with the turkey and goose eggs.
Actually, early morning Sunday, 16 May. Put 2 goose, 2 red turkey and the three peafowl eggs in the incubator. Estimate hatch date is 14 June. Figure the nest should hatch a day or so before that.
Cleaned out the incubator that had the big hatch in it. It was really starting to stink. Moved the eggs to another incubator and then cleaned it, and put the eggs back in it. Plus the above eggs. Think I cleaned it well enough, with a 10% vinegar solution. Been mixing vinegar in the drinking water jars at the rate of about 1 teaspoon to a quart. Just enough, really makes a difference in the smell of the water after a few hours and it shouldn’t hurt them. Figure it is better for them than bleach.
Slate hen is still on her nest, going to be such a good mom, stayed on the eggs through all those storms. And to think I was considering getting rid of her. Think I am going to limit my breeding flock by the toms. And if there are some I want to separate, I’ll do that early in the fall or winter and give them separate living spaces. Actually, I’d like to have a few runs I could alternate the birds in, whether it was just to rotate spaces or to separate flocks. And the turkeys are pretty much all I am concerned with right now. Chickens and geese don’t really matter and not sure if I’ll even get a breeding pair of peafowl. What I need to do is get others to diversify the genetic pool and then design a breeding program for them. Need to think about how to identify individual birds and associate eggs to birds so I can keep track of lineage.
17 May 2010
Found the first baby goose dead about noon. Cause unknown. Collected 23 chicken eggs and one turkey egg tonight from the coop, so I put the turkey egg in with the ones I put in last night. I have started writing hatch dates on the end of the eggs, with a number on one side and an “X” on the other. That helps when I turn them and the dates help me keep track of which ones are supposed to hatch when. Next year need to have a better system figured out. I have 4 incubators, so I should be able to get some kind of a system going.
I put a bunch of turkey and goose eggs in the incubator last Tuesday, so I have some blue chicken eggs I got today that I will put in tomorrow, that should hatch the same time as the others.
In looking at my brooding system, right now I am using large cardboard boxes laid on their sides and fastened together. Worked good last year and seems to be doing of this year. Not sure what the problem was with the goose and why it died. It grew so much faster and made such a mess, I really should separate them from everything else. Works better when you have more than one gosling at a time, too. Not sure what to do about that. It is looking like at least 2 goose eggs failed to hatch. Today is the 16th and they are dated the 13th. Guess that about tells the story.
Finally making the trip to Texas to get things out of storage. They were put there on 12 December, you ready for this? 12-12-96!! And we have been paying on them ever since. Making the trip down Thursday, pick it up Friday morning and plan to be back Saturday about noon. That is the plan. And the inventory list is really helpful in reminding me what is in it. Connie packed it, so I have little idea. The hall hat tree is in it, and the wind up clock should be in a box. There are some garden tools and a skill saw. 2 desks and 1 desk chair. And box after box of boxes. 1.5 cf box, 4.5 cf box, large flat box. You get the idea. Just boxes that are PBO. That stands for “Packed By Owner”. Taking both seats out of the van, and getting a small U-Haul trailer. That should do it!And speaking of trailers. Drew has been looking for a way to build hi own place here. Found a 12-42 trailer on Craig’s list for $500. He went and looked at it yesterday and paid for it. So when I get back from Texas, we are going out to jack the thing up and see if my truck can haul it. This is a 70’s vintage trailer, with 2 axles, and I think we can do it. We’ll see, at least. My truck is a 1985 F-250 with a 7.5 liter engine and 4-speed, 4WD. Geared pretty low, so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be an issue. It has to go about 10 miles is all, and it isn’t too bad, no major hills or difficult places. We’ll park it out front until we can get some trees cut down and moved over to be the starting point of the garage addition.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
More Turkeys
These are the turkeys in their brooder. The one on the top is the newest Slate poult. The one in the middle is one of the older poults, you can see the feather development.
OK, started this once and then made a mistake some where because now I am starting over again. This is our gosling, a few weeks old now. And it is huge! About 4-5 times as big as the chicks. The relation in size is pretty accurate in the picture. And it "talks" to us all the time. Funny.
This is one of the Rhode Island Red chicks. Wanted to show how the wings have grown. They are starting to want to fly out of the pen. Pretty soon they are going to have to go outside in the little pens.
Got up this morning and there were three new turkey poults looking up at me from the incubator. 2 slates and 1 red. This is one of the slates. And they are all healthy and so far none of them have the eye problems the chick had in December.
This is some of the eggs that were left in the incubator. I helped pull some of the shell away from this guy. The last one took over a day to get out. Some people say they can take up to 3 days. Others say they help them out if they take more than a few hours. Still have to be very careful so as not to tear some of the connections between the chick and the egg before they are ready. Also if you look at the egg marked 12 you can see a pip in it, too. The 13 on the goose egg is the day it was due to hatch, not the number of the egg. That number is on the side. The two with the spots are turkey eggs.
When i came home from work tonight, there was another slate poult, so now I have 3 slates and 4 reds. In this picture you can see the goose eggs with the large hole. The two green eggs in the lower right also have holes in them where the chicks are starting to break out.
This is one of the Rhode Island Red chicks. Wanted to show how the wings have grown. They are starting to want to fly out of the pen. Pretty soon they are going to have to go outside in the little pens.
Got up this morning and there were three new turkey poults looking up at me from the incubator. 2 slates and 1 red. This is one of the slates. And they are all healthy and so far none of them have the eye problems the chick had in December.
This is some of the eggs that were left in the incubator. I helped pull some of the shell away from this guy. The last one took over a day to get out. Some people say they can take up to 3 days. Others say they help them out if they take more than a few hours. Still have to be very careful so as not to tear some of the connections between the chick and the egg before they are ready. Also if you look at the egg marked 12 you can see a pip in it, too. The 13 on the goose egg is the day it was due to hatch, not the number of the egg. That number is on the side. The two with the spots are turkey eggs.
When i came home from work tonight, there was another slate poult, so now I have 3 slates and 4 reds. In this picture you can see the goose eggs with the large hole. The two green eggs in the lower right also have holes in them where the chicks are starting to break out.
One of the new Slate poults. Sorry the picture was just a little out of focus. They are still pretty young, so I'll try to get soem better pics soon.
This is all the turkeys in their box. You can see the feathers on the older poult in the middle of the picture. The one in the upper left is the new poult that I just took out of the incubator a few minutes earlier.
This is the incubator after I took the poult and the shell out. I'll have to take a picture of a shell, they look like some one opened them with a can opener or something. Almost perfect circles cutting off the end of the egg. The goose egg in this one I have helped chip a larger hole in. The last goose took over a day to get out of the shell. Some people say to help them a little, some say it can take up to three days for them to get out. Trying to keep the humidity up and I'll help crack the shell some, slowly so as not to injure the chick. If you look you can see holes in the two green eggs in the lower right corner.
This is our gosling! Haven't given it a name yet, and not sure if it is a boy or girl. Too soon to tell. But the picture is an accurate depiction of its size relative to the chickens. It reallyt is 4 or 5 times larger. And they pile on it like an over sized pillow. So funny to watch. You can also see the white leg band I got for the goose, so we can tell it from all the others as they grow. This is the first one we hatched, so I think I am going to keep it, instead of eating it or giving it away. And hopefully I'll soon have a few more to get it confused with.
The Rhode Island Reds are getting big also and starting to want to fly. So I held the wings out to show just how big the wings have gotten. It stayed like that for about 30 seconds or so. They aren't exactly tame, but they tolerate a lot. Should be good layers, and maybe I'll keep one of the roosters. Think I have 2 hens and 2 roos. Time will tell.
This is all the turkeys in their box. You can see the feathers on the older poult in the middle of the picture. The one in the upper left is the new poult that I just took out of the incubator a few minutes earlier.
This is the incubator after I took the poult and the shell out. I'll have to take a picture of a shell, they look like some one opened them with a can opener or something. Almost perfect circles cutting off the end of the egg. The goose egg in this one I have helped chip a larger hole in. The last goose took over a day to get out of the shell. Some people say to help them a little, some say it can take up to three days for them to get out. Trying to keep the humidity up and I'll help crack the shell some, slowly so as not to injure the chick. If you look you can see holes in the two green eggs in the lower right corner.
This is our gosling! Haven't given it a name yet, and not sure if it is a boy or girl. Too soon to tell. But the picture is an accurate depiction of its size relative to the chickens. It reallyt is 4 or 5 times larger. And they pile on it like an over sized pillow. So funny to watch. You can also see the white leg band I got for the goose, so we can tell it from all the others as they grow. This is the first one we hatched, so I think I am going to keep it, instead of eating it or giving it away. And hopefully I'll soon have a few more to get it confused with.
The Rhode Island Reds are getting big also and starting to want to fly. So I held the wings out to show just how big the wings have gotten. It stayed like that for about 30 seconds or so. They aren't exactly tame, but they tolerate a lot. Should be good layers, and maybe I'll keep one of the roosters. Think I have 2 hens and 2 roos. Time will tell.
12 May 2010
Today is the day before hatch day, but I got up and there were 3 turkey poults looking up at me from the incubator. 2 are blue slates and the other one is a red. Tonight after work there was another slate poult. And a goose egg has a large hole in it and two chicken eggs have holes. So I’m expecting several more in the morning.
Moved the goose and the 4 Rhode Island reds out into the living room today. And I out the new turkey poults in with the older ones, so there are 4 reds and 3 slates. The eggs that hatched today were numbered 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Monday, May 10, 2010
This is one of the turkey poults that hatched. We have three of them.
This is the snake we caught. It liked to wrap around my arm and stuff. Gripped pretty tight, too.
This is the goose and the 4 chickens. I have them in a separate pen from the turkeys. They all seem to be doing good. The chicks crawl over the goose and as you can see, the love to lay on it. And it always sits with it's face in the corner or up against the box. Of course, mom does the same thing out in the nest box.
The three turkey poults.
The first two turkeys right after they hatched.
This is the snake we caught. It liked to wrap around my arm and stuff. Gripped pretty tight, too.
This is the goose and the 4 chickens. I have them in a separate pen from the turkeys. They all seem to be doing good. The chicks crawl over the goose and as you can see, the love to lay on it. And it always sits with it's face in the corner or up against the box. Of course, mom does the same thing out in the nest box.
The three turkey poults.
The first two turkeys right after they hatched.
10 May 2010
Candled all of the eggs tonight. Most of them are developing, but a few had to be pulled. Some of them that hatch in June I left in just to be sure. What is the real harm in leaving them in right now?
OK, so I have some that will hatch in 3 days. Moved them into the new incubator with the fan and laid them all out flat or horizontal. Then I have another batch that will hatch right after we get back from Texas. I probably should have counted all the eggs, but didn’t. Think there are 12 chicken, 5 geese and about 9 turkeys in the first hatch.
Went out in the garden last week and did some work. Found this snake under one of the large metal pieces I use to keep the weeds down. Let it go outside the garden. Did a lot of mowing, and moved Drew’s frames for his boat over to another spot. Thinking about building a garage and we need to cut some of the trees down first.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Next Hatch
2 May. 2 turkeys hatched, doing good. Noticed a pip before work, Frances said two hatched while I was gone.
3 May. Remaining turkey hatched. So of 5 geese, 1 hatched. Of 5 Turkeys, I opened 2 good eggs, effectively killing them because I miscalculated their hatch date and the other three hatched. I know the mom was the Red based on the eggs, and looks like the dad was the Spanish Black.
Have Turkey and goose eggs and 12 chicken eggs in the incubator to hatch 13 May.
Another batch is due to hatch 24 May. I just put 24 chicken eggs in to hatch with them. Also put in 4 goose and 9 turkey eggs that will hatch a week after that. Been collecting some, and tonight I found a turkey nest in the chicken area, had 6 turkey eggs, 5 Red and 1 Slate and one chicken egg. Also got another goose egg so I put them all in the incubator. All the chicks seems to be doing good. Need to look at the calendar and figure out which dates I’m taking things to the auction. I’ll probably sell the 4 Rhode Island reds, if Jeanne will let me, and the goose. Hesitant to sell the goose until I get more to hatch out.
Have a lady wants me to mail her day old chicks, which I have never done before. Also not sure about the numbers, she only wants 11 and I think the minimum to send is 25 to keep them themselves warm. Have to do some more checking.
I substitute taught today, so I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow of the babies.
On the Spurs Note: They had their opening game with the Phoenix Suns last night and lost. They had a chance, maybe, but didn’t play championship ball for the whole 48 minutes. They allowed the Suns to put them in a hole to start with. They tied in the 4th and actually took a 3 point lead for a few seconds, but that was it. Game 2 is Wednesday night and hopefully they can pull out a win then. GO SPURS!!!!!
3 May. Remaining turkey hatched. So of 5 geese, 1 hatched. Of 5 Turkeys, I opened 2 good eggs, effectively killing them because I miscalculated their hatch date and the other three hatched. I know the mom was the Red based on the eggs, and looks like the dad was the Spanish Black.
Have Turkey and goose eggs and 12 chicken eggs in the incubator to hatch 13 May.
Another batch is due to hatch 24 May. I just put 24 chicken eggs in to hatch with them. Also put in 4 goose and 9 turkey eggs that will hatch a week after that. Been collecting some, and tonight I found a turkey nest in the chicken area, had 6 turkey eggs, 5 Red and 1 Slate and one chicken egg. Also got another goose egg so I put them all in the incubator. All the chicks seems to be doing good. Need to look at the calendar and figure out which dates I’m taking things to the auction. I’ll probably sell the 4 Rhode Island reds, if Jeanne will let me, and the goose. Hesitant to sell the goose until I get more to hatch out.
Have a lady wants me to mail her day old chicks, which I have never done before. Also not sure about the numbers, she only wants 11 and I think the minimum to send is 25 to keep them themselves warm. Have to do some more checking.
I substitute taught today, so I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow of the babies.
On the Spurs Note: They had their opening game with the Phoenix Suns last night and lost. They had a chance, maybe, but didn’t play championship ball for the whole 48 minutes. They allowed the Suns to put them in a hole to start with. They tied in the 4th and actually took a 3 point lead for a few seconds, but that was it. Game 2 is Wednesday night and hopefully they can pull out a win then. GO SPURS!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)