Good Morning! 2019

[Brebis]

Had a good chuckle this morning with the chickens. It’s pouring rain and I open the door to let them out and Lacy a hen I got from @Killerbunny dashes outside. A few minutes later she’s chasing a leaping object down the lane, I assumed it was a grasshopper but it was a small frog, she had quite a treat when she caught it, wet and all! The others didn’t even put a foot out to see what she had, they weren’t getting wet!

Nice to get a good rain, things were getting dry here....

[Ontario Chick]

see, who says Wyandottes are too snooty, they just know what they want and then go after it

[Killerbunny]

Those girls don't give a hoot about rain. They end up all bedraggled but don't seem to care.

[Brebis]

Lacy is the Brahma cross I got from you KB, the last remaining Wyandotte I got from you was inside! Sadly, I lost over half the flock including the other Wyandotte in June due to a very nasty family of racoons...now dealt with.

[Killerbunny]

Oh I remember her. The ONLY one of that group that doesn't lay olive or green eggs - sorry!

[Brebis]

She’s quite a character, very independent and will wonder off by herself. I’m surprised she has survived but she has!

[kenya]

I know, it sounds weird, but it works! I had tried the bandaid and the vet wrap splint method, neither of which would stay on. Have you ever tried putting Band-Aids or vet wrap on tiny little quail chick legs? It's nearly impossible. After several attempts I gave up. I googled for another solution and found the shot glass physio method. It has to be tall enough that the chick can't pop out when it pushes against the bottom of the glass. I popped the chick in the shot glass, and put it back into the incubator. A couple of 30 minute sessions with a break in between is all it took. It sounds mean, I know, but it's not. The chick just had a nap whenever it got tired, and I made sure it had been drinking water before and after. The results are amazing.
A photo of a section of the hatcher after yesterday's popcorn event:
IMG_20190714_143850.jpg

Ok Jaye I need a picture of this to give me an idea what size to use.

[Jaye]

@kenya , I took a quick picture of the shot glasses we have before work, but forgot to jot down the exact measurements. I will try to remember to take measurements this evening. I also didn't have time to pop in a quail chick for size reference - sorry.
The glass that worked the best is the one on the left in the photo - right height, right diameter and tapered slightly at the base. I put a bit of paper towel in the bottom of the glass for comfort and traction.

[Ontario Chick]

Yes, @windwalkingwolf , we are quite surprised. And a little shell-shocked. I think there are 35 chicks in the brooder now - and six more hatched out overnight. Today is supposed to be official hatch day (day 18). I will do a count of eggs left still unhatched this afternoon. I think I set 63, but will have to check my notes later. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is, but my thinking was that half would be infertile, and given my first experience with our incubator, I figured I'd be lucky to get 25% hatch rate, and half of those would be male, so they would only be with us until they were finished growing out.
Yesterday evening we had to give a little one with spraddle legs some physiotherapy time (leg exercises within the confines of a shot glass). It made a huge difference.

I see new facilities being build in your future

[Jaye]

Yep, DH is working on building a new tractor ATM. He says it will be completed by tomorrow ... good thing too, because those quail babies are fast outgrowing the brooder.