Our Farm's Silent Spring: No Baby Birds & Here's Why
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2024
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About Gold Shaw Farm: Gold Shaw Farm is more of a farm-in-progress than an honest-to-goodness farm. Our dream is that someday, we can transform our 150+ acre parcel of land into a regenerative and productive homestead and farm.
Maybe it would make sense to think of the incubator the same way a framing carpenter thinks about a nail gun. If it’s malfunctioning, replace it. Yes it’s expensive, but it not allowing you to accomplish goals is more expensive.
I don’t know much about farming, but the incubator seems like a primary tool at a poultry farm.
I can't remember where (monthly farm meeting maybe ?) but I believe Morgan said he was replacing it indeed.
@@ladyteruki Also, do not put in dirty nasty eggs.
@@cherieshook8655 It's not like washing them would be good for the developing embryos. I'm just starting myself, only 2 months in, but from what I've read, a bit of dirt and such doesn't hurt them at all. Washing them can remove protective layers. So just brush the worst bits off and call it a day.
@@jason67823 it is common sense, you do not want poo in the incubator. I did not say wash them. You can use a Mr clean dry sponge to get off stuck on hay or whatnot, but if they have poo on them, they need to be washed, then eaten. It will pollute the incubator.
Just before incubating season, it's always a good idea to to check your equipment out thoroughly. tear it as completely as you can without damaging it, then make sure it's all greased up and cleaned properly, and replace any parts which are showing wear. Those Brinsea incubators are usually pretty good as long as you keep them well maintained. That's something important with any farm tool though. If you make sure that your equipment is well maintained it will last a good long time. Brinsea are among the best incubators in the biz, and everybody form zoos to big corporate hatcheries, to hobbyists who are only hatching out maybe a dozen eggs a year, if that, find them to be very reliable if properly maintained. Any incubator can fail if not maintained well though, and sometimes you just get a lemon no matter how good the company is. I always have a spare incubator around for emergencies. I also have my incubators on an uninterruptable power supply, and have gasoline generator just in case the electricity goes down for a long time. I haven't had to use it yet, but better safe than sorry. I also got the alarm system which Brinsea makes for its equipment. That has saved my... well... not bacon, but definitely my eggs on several occasions when the humidity or temperature went below norms. They will also sound if there's a mechanical failure in the machine, which is a comfortable piece of mind insurance/assurance, especially when you have some particularly special eggs in the machine.
It is very odd that the hatching is so poor this year and seems like right from the beginning when egg laying season started, they just weren't. So sad especially after all the effort you put into making that lovely hatching room. 💖💖
That is a beautiful room. Are the incubator machines still under warranty? Was there an electrical surge problem? Perhaps a surge arrestor would be a good idea for the future.
With regard to the brooder, I would double check the electrical outlets. I purchased a new refrigerator a few years ago (modern fancy one, i.e. lots of electronics) and it didn't work. Lights came on all the "electronics" (lcd's, buttons, etc) seemed to work, but the compressor wouldn't come on and therefore wouldn't cool/freeze. The store I bought it from took it away and delivered another one, same problems. I had an electrician out to check the outlet. He went out to the main panel shut off the power and did some things. When he turned the power back on, I instantly heard the compressor in the refrigerator come on and it has cooled and worked 100% ever since. He said the only thing he did was tighten some of the neutrals. His assessment was that many modern electronics require good common grounds to function correctly. My old 1980's refrigerator obviously didn't have these and worked fine on that loose neutral outlet. I heard you mention the hatchery problem on the farm meeting and remembered my refrigerator dilemma. I know they aren't the same thing, but we have so much sensitive electronics in so many things these days and I know that barn is a new build. Maybe worth a check. Especially for a piece of equipment that has worked for you elsewhere on the farm. Do miss the baby duckling and gosling videos. Keep up the good work!
axsxscds
That is really helpful, thank you!
You ever tried to have chickens hatch out ducks or geese? Silky chickens are some of the best brooders and mothers out there. And since the silkies are more protected, so would the babies. A thought for you.
Idk we had a silkie we tried to mother baby chick's and she like pecked them to death.
They incubate at different temps
Silkies are super broodies! I think you could put an old tire under a silkie and it would try to set it for 21 days. The only worry I'd have would be how many duck eggs she could set. Goose eggs would almost certainly be too big for a silkie to set, since silkies are a bantam breed, and goose eggs are pretty huge compared to chicken eggs. The big issue would be if she could properly heat them all the way through, though there are also problems with putting duck and goose eggs under a chicken due to the rate at which they need to get rid of water. Waterfowl need to loose water more slowly since they have to go a full week longer before hatching. I've also seen cases where broody hens will give up on waterfowl eggs half way into the fourth week. I think they assume that the babies should have hatched by then, and just abandon them. You need to keep an eagle eye on the broody in that last week so that you can get the eggs into an incubator at the first sign that she might have abandoned the nest. One other thing that can be a problem with chickens is that they often don't cover the eggs when they get off the nest for food and water. Waterfowl always cover the eggs when they get off, and that keeps them just a bit warmer for just a bit longer. That also effects the amount of water the egg retains, as well as keeps the developing babies from getting too cold.
I love the way goose mom hisses at you telling you to F off!
Morgan, the one thing that I love about your channel is that there is never a dull or boring moment (or video). Hope Alison is well & doing good. Hugs for Toby Dog & Abby Dog. Have a great day.
Absolutely ❤🥰
It's so weird to be sitting here in June, and watching a new video that still has snow in it ❄️
110 in AZ today, and Vermont is still locked in winter. Amazing.😉
Is this an old video?
@@im_cursed_huh9926 no, it just takes place over maybe 2 months
Yes considering spring was two months ago. It's definitely old.
Also I live in Nova Scotia Canada. We have almost identical weather patterns. And I usually get the same storms just a day or two sooner.
It's currently 26c and gorgeous out lol. So snow definitely isn't on the ground for Morgan
For real it’s hot here and green
Love the sound a hen makes to her chicks even when they haven’t hatched yet
Morgan, regarding your trees - I'd try removing the grasses around the base up to 5 feet around the tree and apply mulch. The tree roots have to compete with the grass for water and nutrients, this may be the reason they are growing slowly.
He wanted to apply a forestry technique (STUN) to an orchard with grazers. People have been telling him to help out those trees for years. He has done some things, but there's a lot to do on a farm!
@@Nphen For sure. I should have posted this on the video where he mentioned he was unsatisfied with the trees' progress from a week ago or whatever
the way that toby just really didnt want to hop over the broken fence... precious.
and the look he flashed you "but....hopping the fence is against the rules?"
While I no longer have my duck who could possibly go blind, she passed away, I do have a blind juvenile call duck. She does something very similar to Bean, where she calls and the other ducks she was raise with call back, she finds her way around, stumbling but fine. Its very cute, if her siblings notice she isn't there, one or two will go looking for her and then, like a seeing eye dog, they will walk her to the flock, bumping her sides to keep her close as they walk. She is fortunate enough to have the pen and run area we had set up for our other duck so she is protected from pointy things and other issues that could cause her problems. We did have to modify the pools as she is a fraction of the size of our previous duck but she manages the new stone stairs well.
As for Bean, since she was raised with other ducks I would recommended either choosing a duck she is friends with and putting them in a safe yard or getting a few new ducks to keep with her. If you are get them grown I would go with ducks that are used to being in a run or pen. If you raise ducklings to be her companions just make sure to have them there as soon as possible so they get used to her condition. Getting a few new ducks could work well as it would bring in fresh genetics. Raise them with Bean, in a safe run, leave the ones she gets along with best in the run and put the rest with the flock. Metzer farms is selling call ducks starting this year, they are a bit pricey but if you wanted to get a few friends for your male, they make great companions and aren't much smaller than Khaki Campbells. Our little mamas, we picked up last year from a local breeder, hatched out 24 ducklings on their own and successfully raised all but four (thanks to our rodent control team we lost those four as they will go after anything small brown and squeaky.)
I don't know, if you think she is safe at pasture with the others leave her where she is happy but me personally, I couldn't do it and the cost of a few new ducks would be more than worth my peace of mind. Anyways, thanks for the video and congrats on the chicken babies. Fingers crossed your incubator issues get resolved and you can get some new babies soon.
Have you thought about having a backup heating system for the incubator? It seems like a lot of wasted effort if hatching failed after about 20 days especially due to device failure.
Your music choices are an added bonus to your already great videos. Thanks Morgan!
The shots you took of the farm and pasture where the animals are just roaming about were perfect! It’s like watching the seasons change w/new life on the farm. Spring has sprung! Beautiful!
That's gut wrenching when that happens, especially as your business revolves around the birds. I'm the opposite - too many ducks that need to go to freezer camp, so no hatchings this year, a rethink and remanage the whole system differently.
Feels like spring has gone by extremely fast, with this new schedule the typical saturday video has shifted to the week and this lovely video to watch makes you kinda feel like you are missing out on the current evolution of the farm.
Just to say I miss those times that's all
Morgan, I love your new design for your watering system. If I could suggest a way to help you have an even flow of water from all pipes, you should add a nozzle to the end of each pipe. That will help restrict the flow from each end and help ensure water flows evenly from each pipe, even if they are not perfectly level. Ideally, you would keep the cross sectional area of the pipe consistent- luckily, if you are splitting a pipe into 4 pipes, you can put on a nozzle at the end of each that is just half the diameter, so a 1 inch pipe split into 4 would need nozzles at the end of each pipe of about 1/2 inch diameter. You may want to pick something a little smaller to account for real world inefficiencies
This is what I was going to suggest. Thank you!
I always learned that you should never put dirty eggs in the incubator, they are bad for the atmosphere. However, you can't wash them because you will then remove the natural protection. The only solution seems to be having clean nesting places, although that can be challenging. In the case where you have 8 clean eggs and 2 dirty eggs, you would be much better off only putting those 8 clean eggs in. Good luck!
Definitely should not put an egg that is as caked as that one was in the incubator. It not only endangers any embryo which might develop, but also endangers all the other ages too. Any dirt that falls off could clog up the works on the incubator as well. A small amount of dirt or straw on the egg probably won't hurt, although it's best if you can avoid dirty eggs altogether. We know what a lot of that stuff smeared on is, and it's not exactly the cleanliest of things around.
Here's were I differ a bit with you. I have hatched washed eggs before, and had a good hatch. I don't recommend it, but in some cases you can get away with it if you clean very carefully with a DAMP cloth. It should not be dripping wet, and you will have to be very gentle. In a case where 90% of the egg is caked with mud and poo though, you might as well feed the egg to the pigs. That one is already so full of bacteria that it won't hatch, and could easily spread bacteria and fungus to all the other eggs in the incubator. All the other eggs he had probably would have been okay if the incubator hadn't broken down, if everything else about their care was correct (especially monitoring the air sack and making adjustments as necessary), and if they didn't get too cold. I noticed that a lot of this was shot when there was still snow on the ground, and unless there was heat in that hen house, the eggs might have developed ice crystals at some point which is deadly for the baby inside, even if it hasn't begun to develop yet. If they haven't started to develop, they can get cold, as long as they don't get so cold that they develop ice crystals. That can be a problem if the birds are dropping eggs on the ground without the insulation of a nest.
He would be well advised to build nesting boxes for his birds. Chickens are fine with open nesting boxes which can be fairly high up, but waterfowl require something very different. For either of them I find that a cloth cover over the door with one corner cut out from the bottom running a short distance up will make them feel comfortable and encourage them to nest rather than dump eggs. When a duck or goose chooses a box, it is helpful if you leave fresh straw just outside of the box each day. When they are getting ready to go out to get food and water, they will pull some of the straw in to cover the eggs to keep them warm for the short time they are off the nest. When they come back in, they will work that straw into the nest. This is important, because over time Waterfowl nests tend to get packed, and body oil will just pack it even more. by making straw available, they will continue to build up the nest, which will allow the eggs to "breath". Otherwise, they may smother. There are a lot of little things like this which will improve the success you'll have.
Again, if it's cold out, you could have a really bad hatch if the eggs end up getting ice crystals in them. If you're going to start when it's still cold out, it's a good idea to heat your hen house, and make sure the duck and goose nesting boxes are off the ground, preferably away from the walls. If you don't have a heated hen house, why not? And also, you might want to collect the eggs for eating and feeding the pigs until the weather warms up a bit.
You are the best and my favourite farmer , you are so kind which is very rare
I remember from past videos you had a lot of trouble with this brooder machine before. I might reccomend getting a new one if its gonna keep giving u trouble every year.
You are so thoughtful of your animals!! ❤
Love the videography you do, along with the drone views, and your pleasing music choices! Thanks!
You allow us to learn every time you vlog. Your narration is so well done. Good luck on your continued learning. You are so good to all your animals.
The Silence Of The Hatchlings, starring Anthony Cockins and Jodie Broodster!
Oh groan!!!
I just love a good pun or play on words. That one put a serious smile on my face which probably will last awhile.
I had a chicken hatch duck eggs once.... momma hen about lost her minds when the ducklings do what ducks do....they took to water....
She ran around the puddle screaming!!! 😂🤣😂😂
Poor mumma 🐔🦆🦆😂🤣
I love watching your channel at lunchtime at my desk. It's such a nice break.
Very surprised about the lack of baby birds. Hopefully the Americana has broken the spell, so to speak. Farm looks so lush and green, the cows must be so much happier. Keep going Morgan, it's all good!🐣🐷🐄🐓👍❤️
Love your videos Morgan! Love the editing and the music and the storytelling of what’s up at the farm. 👍 Have a great day!
Thanks Morgan, for sharing with us.
Just today I saw our baby 🐦 have hatched and now open their mouths for food! So cute. My husband found them a couple weeks ago while mowing. The nest is in our lawn. I put up a flag to help remind and hence protect them. Momma comes and goes much more often now! Fun.🐣🐣🐣🐣🐦
Good luck! I hope your new incubator comes in time to use this year.
I've used silkies as a brooder in the past. The LOOOVE to brood. And that way they earn their keep ;)
Glad you got mama hen to give you some baby chicks❗️Congratulations💖
I love your story telling and camera work!! Your editing is also amazing!! Thank you for all your hard work!!
I love you relationship with your dogs-I’ve watched other farm content and none of them come close!!
Love your channel! Thanks for sharing your farm life.❤
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
An eye opener and excellent push for the environmental movement.
Thank you! Always enjoy,
I'm so relaxed. Thankyou for this video
The weather seems very cold. Your chickens and ducks are very resilient.
I'm very sad and disappointed there's not goslings and ducklings this year. It use to be such an important part of Gold Shaw Farm in the past.
Morgan don't sweat a non hatchable season !! On my grandma's farm some years were like that it's sad when it happens. But she would always drive into hill city and and order up couple dozen or so. And caring for little ordered ones were just as fun!! Plus you get to pick a few chicks out !! Since she had a lot. And I mean allot of chickens. She would get at least three dozens cause that little chick house would be full!! And then she would get some pullits too not sure of spelling lol. We were all spoiled including you and Allison by lasts years grand numbers of survived chicks. Man you did well !! So learn from that year and repeat ..don't fix it if it ain't broke!!! And as always. Love seeing Allison and you in videos together. And hope to see some more baby birds on your beautiful farm soon this summer!!!😊😊
We learned that something in pomegranate increases fertility and hatch rates.
We had better than 90% success rate under the birds the years we were able to get pomegranates donated (instead of going to trash) after Christmas.
Incubator failures are devastating. We had power outages regularly enough that led to my learning how to old school use the wood stove incubation method and not use electric dependent incubators until after snows were a risk for knocking out the electricity....
Meaning we had ducklings, goslings, poults and chicks hatching from Feb through the end of June
Great background music...very Zen
Good luck Morgan with the egg hatching.
For the poly pipe waterer make your splits higher in the pipe. Just below the spigot. Should remove the need to keep everything level.
You might have to order some goose meat chicks from a vendor. You could try turkeys, too.
Let’s go!! Finally some baby birds!
Much love ❤
love the early uploads..i get to watch at tea time here in the uk
Bean is the best! So very cute. Maybe a main character in another book?
Awesome experiment.
Wow, sorry about the unsuccessful hatching! Blessings!
When I had just one mama goose and a gander, she managed to hatch out 7 goslings and 6 of those survived. This year I had multiple mama gooses and they took turns sitting on one clutch of eggs. None of the eggs hatched. I think it is because the eggs got too warm. When one got up for a drink, another would sit on it.
Great video!!
My dog loves the Portland pet food bacon biscuits! Awesome brand😍
Your ideas were great! I think incubators are so cool, it is strange that your incubator wasn't working.
Beautiful mama hen and babies
your 4 way waterer would be better designed with all connection points up high in one spot, and then just hose hanging down to each bucket. then it wouldnt need to be level. make the hose long enough so it will lay on the bottom of the bucket a little, that will make it stay in the buckets better. im sure you could find/make some kind of clip to clip the hose onto the side of the bucket if it gives you trouble.
The cow-drone music was lovely.
Seems like that brooder has caused issues over the years. Probably should next year try investing in a new one and see what its like
Hey friend it's been a long time how have you been doing how is your farm doing do you have Toby your dog still and cats it's been a long time have you been hatching your egg still have a very very good evening and God bless your friend from Whittier
I would not winter the chickens with the gesse again next year. Thats seems to be the biggest difference between last year and this year and the chickens took over the wooden geese nesting tools you have in the hoopcoop so the geese didn't have their clean nesting spots like usual.
Nice Toby, Abby, Mamas, babies, piggies, and extra-nice Morgan.
I did get them thar T-shirts!
I think leaving Bean with the other ducks should probably be okay for now, but maybe later in the season, have some juvenile ducklings that you put in a run with Bean so they can sort of form their own flock with her and stay with her in a protected area.
Hopefully you have better luck hatching since you filmed the conclusion of this vid! And it sounds like you need to get a new incubator (which hopefully has already taken place by the time you posted this). 💜
❤ Another beautiful day at GSF! Morgan, you always match your videos with the appropriate music. Pure joy watching them. Thanx! ❤
You could always try having the Weird Chickens hatch goose eggs, silkies will try to hatch anything.
I'm sorry for your eggs hatching as in no chicks Toby and Abby look great ty for the video Morgan 😂❤
snow white priincess morgan shaw is my dream job
You might want to try muscovy ducks. They are tremendous brooders. I had great luck with one mom last year and this year I have 5 dedicated moms stubbornly sitting on nests out of my 12 female ducks...
When we found some eggs abandoned but close to hatching we would hatch them in our Electric fry pan...towel..low heat..always worked...lol...needs must 😂🤣
That goose looked like it had potential. My famously non-broody Minorca chickens hatched turkeys and muscovy ducks for me this year. 2024 is a bit... special.
Maybe it would be good time to invest in new genes for the breeding flock and buy some goslings/ducklings to raise for sole purpose of diversifying your op? Maybe some layer type geese like Kuban or Chinese, they'd help to boost productivity in following years. Cheers.
you cant be touching their eggs and nest like this, she gave up when she smelled too much human.
@@snakey319 I check up on all of my broody birds, sometimes even on my berserk Guineafowl and none of the birds care or abandon the eggs. All domestic poultry's sense of smell is much weaker than even a human's. They can't "smell you" on their nest or on their hatchlings. It's an urban legend. Or countryside legend, but I never encountered anyone from outside cities who'd say it.
@@similis1134 It's more something ppl tell kids to get the kids to stay away from wildlife than anything else.
Maybe if Morgan were kicking her off the nest, I could see that being the case (her abandoning the nest due to human interference). But with him waiting for her to leave the nest on her own? Not so much.
WhoooHooo some new chicks on the farm....Thanks Morgan......
Old Shoe🇺🇸
The hatching goose requires water in which to dip herself because the moisture then is necessary for the eggs to hatch.
I wonder if one of those sand battery incubators would work. I saw someone doing this in a warmer climate, but maybe your greenhouse would make up the difference. Moist sand in a large terra cotta pot with saran wrap over the top. Keep moist and let the sun charge it with heat. Maybe you could modify yours with a reptile warming rock somehow, but that still involves electricity. I really want to try this method myself, but I haven't hatched anything ever so this is very intimidating... I just wanted to pass the thought on jic it helps someone.
Haha, We are doing the same experiment with our broody goose hen. She has been laying on a nest with no eggs, so we decided to put 5 Welsh Harlequin eggs underneath her. The onyl bad thing is the goose is a brown Chinese geese and are terrible broody hens but great protective mothers. We find out July 5
Adding resistance to all four pipes with valves will make sure that all pipes have water flowing from them. Even if they are not level.
lovely chickens❤
I have been hatching chicks for 2 months here. Next wave will be mid summer. Good luck!
Deb is a beautiful hen!
I just had a small Mallard hatch 8 ducklings lol I feel for you on hatching. I have 2 chickens sitting on eggs. I took the olive eggs and put them in an incubator. It somehow got unplugged. It was down to 69 before I noticed😢
O M G 🎉 a new video 🐔🦆
You should make am mp3 of “release the quacken” that could be used for a ring tone. I’m sure a lot of us would pay for it.
Morgan, I am a recent subscriber and I am watching your video a LOT. I've been looking for a episode when you built the new barn but can't find one. My question is, did you make one? By the way, I'm not a farmer. I'm a retired 77 year old construction worker that just loves your video!
I had a chicken named Turkey hatch duck eggs before. It was successful!
Got to love the cobra chickens
Enjoyed
Thinking back to last year , the duck eggs have you thought of a way to keep the crows away so you can collect more, or restrict area where they could make a nest eg prefer under cover /nesting boxes
Not many chicks this season, but the calves made up for it some. Thank you for the videos Morgan!
Not sure how practical it would be but maybe getting some other ducks like peking ducks giving them a secure enclosure and having bean live with them that way bean is safe and also with ducks
Wishing the best for Bean and her chicks, they are adorable.
I like the music! lol
I see you Doctor Moreau.
Hello my friend . The duck looks so adorable. How long will it take for you to harvest eggs?
The rock is to help hold warmth.
I am sad to hear about your incubator not working properly. Have you checked the voltage in your barn? A voltage drop can cause all sorts of problem, and the longer the run the more the voltage drop. It is just a thought.
When the first goose gave up did you check to see if any of the eggs had started developing?
Favarolles - pronounced Fav a rolls, ALWAYS "plural" whether you have 1 or 20.
Love seeing baby chickens even if it’s just a few
How do the birds know to reject an egg? Can u or have you done a video on checking eggs? What to look and listen for?
Invest in a GQF Sportsman. I had those Brinseas and results weren't good. And no need to fiddle with dividers as the eggs fit upright in the trays. Parts for Sportsmans are simple and easy to replace. I had a 2nd. hand one that must be 50 year's or more old and it has pumped out 1000's of ducklings. Have 3 others, the oldest of which is about 18 year's. I candle all eggs - duck and chicken - when I move them to the hatch tray 3 or 4 day's before due date. Is your incubator room heated ? All incubators work best when located in a room that is near or above 70 F.
I know this video has been out for a bit but this is probably a good opportunity to buy some new goslings so you have new genetics in the flock because I bet a lot of your geese are sweet home Alabama. Also if you want more success in having birds hatch eggs I’d suggest getting some Muscovies since they’re VERY good at incubating eggs/raising babies