Pips 'n Chicks

04/24/2025

I'm going to go against the norm and tell you: you don't need a fancy, expensive incubator to have a decent hatch.

This was me years ago, on my first ever hatch. Before "Pips 'n Chicks" was a thing. We had rigged up an incubator out of an old fish tank, a computer fan, and a light bulb with a dimmer switch. I think I even covered it in aluminum foil, hoping to trap more heat in. Come hatch day, I spent the next 24 hours glued to the chair, my dog almost as enthralled as I was. It got a 50% hatch rate, on eggs shipped in from Georgia.

I've learned a lot since then. Our next hatch was in a Farm Innovators. Then, a while later, a Little Giant. We made a fridge incubator that I had for a bit. I've hatched in a Kebonnix, and in a Brinsea and still have both. My current main is a GQF Sportsman.

Let's be realistic too: a really expensive incubator can have bad hatch rates. My recent hatch at UWRF in the Sportsman was 20% - I took it across the Midwest, put older eggs in, and let it sit for three weeks to see how it held up. Compare that to my fish tank, where I lovingly woke up at 1 am, at the beep of any of the three temperature alarms, fiddling for hours with the dimmer switch. Putting time, patience, and effort in the right places correlates to your success just as much as the additional dollar spent.

At the end of the day, when you're looking for an incubator, just be honest about what you want out of it and what you're willing to spend: in time, hatch rate, and money. My GQF, when dialed in, can run an entire batch without me having to touch a thing, and has gotten 95% hatch rates with hundreds of eggs. That, in my situation right now, is worth every penny for the peace of mind and ease of use. But for little me - the one enthralled with the process, willing to be up at all hours of the night for these little peeps - that fish tank was everything I needed to spark the love I have for my birds today.

So, enjoy the process. Figure out what works best for your situation. And most of all? Don't be afraid to try something out of the box, learn, and grow as you go ❤🥰

04/20/2025

Happy Easter, from our little pieces of happiness to yours! May your farms be filled with love, new life, and family 🥰 and your houses overflowing with joy and peace. I'm so blessed to be home, surrounded by family and friends, and to be here, to share my journey with you.

Let's help spread the joy- what makes your heart full today? What are you grateful for?

04/15/2025

Dates for the 2025 Virtual Poultry Show!

Entries will be open for two months - and close June 30th. It will look a bit different this year as we have a new platform for photos and judging, so you will be able to see all of the entries and exhibitors in real-time. The link to the virtual show entry page will be released on May 1st.

Judging dates will be between July 7th and July 20th, and announced as our judging lineup is finished. We will also have clinics throughout the entry period to help you learn show prep, photography, etc. as we go, so stay posted!

Who's all excited for this year?

04/14/2025

Squareness!
I think some people confuse this one a bit, especially when looking at the side, but it's a big trait when looking at all livestock, especially hogs. I took a picture at a recent auction that shows a square chest really well.

You'll sometimes hear the term "wide chested", "true to the ground", "narrow at the ground", all of these are to do with squareness. Ideally, you want to trace the leg of the animal from the chest floor all the way to the ground, and be able to form a rectangle. This should also follow through with the toes - they should be straight out, even, widespread, and land that way consistently. Each step the animal takes should stay true to this rectangle. This is true in both the back and the front.

If the pig's hooves are narrow at the ground (like a trapezoid), they place more strain at the side of their shoulder and joints to hold their weight, and sometimes end up swinging their legs outside of the frame to compensate. If their shoulders are too narrow, their leg bows out and places pressure on the inside of the knee and pastern. Both can cause the joints to wear down faster, especially if they have a high weight gain and muscle mass to begin with.

That's one of the reasons why the front view is such a big deal and why showman try to get the animal's head up - it makes it that much more prominent and obvious in the showring when an animal will show off that wide floor, straight steps, and good square frame.

Hope that helps! Any other terms people want me to work on? It's a great way for me to apply what I learn in class to the actual animals around me and really helps with reasons!

04/13/2025

HELP NEEDED - 2025 Virtual Show!

Previously, I've run most of the show myself, but as it keeps growing, I need more hands to make it work this year! I am looking for a handful of people willing to help out, specifically:

-Awards chair. This person will be responsible for picking out awards, ordering awards, and mailing them out after the show. Most of the work will be ordering awards (in May), and then mailing the awards (July/early August).
-Judging Committee. 2-3 people willing to help me plan judges this year. Tasks would be reading through youth applications/interviews, and finding APA/ABA judges and judging dates for the categories. Most of the work would be this May.
-Clinicians! This is a fun one. I'm looking for 3-4 people willing to do a virtual clinic (i.e. YouTube live) on any of the following topics: photographing birds for the show, prepping birds for the show, showmanship, or something show-related. This will be for May/June.
-Artists! Our main fundraiser this year is going to be a "Poorly Drawn Pets" throughout May, and we need artists willing to draw. We will pay per drawing, as many as you would like to do, and skill can vary. Any medium is allowed, must be able to post to Facebook.

If interested, please send me an email at [email protected]! I will take all the help I can get.

04/12/2025

Want to see something pretty cool?
For an engineering final, my lab partner and I are building a heart rate monitor for animals. It'll simply clip to the ear while they're in a halter or chute, and show their heart rhythm on our computers in real time. The goal is to get baseline data on the "normal" and "excited" heart rates in different ages of beef cattle.
I'll post some updates as we go if people want to follow along :) I just get so excited to be able to integrate what we're doing in class to the farm!

04/12/2025

Officially one of the top programs in the US! I could not have asked to be at a better college.

This school has supported my travels, my research, my animals, and my goals, every step of the way.

Very proud to be a Falcon.

With 600+ acres of lab farms, 5+ majors to choose from, and 45+ student organizations, it’s no wonder our Animal Science program is one of the best in the nation! Interested? Click the link below to learn more! https://www.uwrf.edu/programs/animal-science

04/11/2025

I do love my Nattys! Thank you to the person that sent this one in - it helps me so much to do these practices. I couldn't find who sent it in among the messages, but I'd love to give credit :)

One of the things we always hammer home while practicing is the initial impression - and for me, the lamb doesn't do it from that first profile.

I think the body and market capacity is there. There's good depth to her rib that carries from the shoulder forward. When you see that hind view, the feet are square down to the ground, hips are square and the top is flat.

But get to the side profile, and the angles just don't line up right. The pins get up pretty high, with very long legs that throw off the back 1/3. Some of the awkward angles through the hocks could be from the rough cut, but the overall unbalance is deeper than that. Get the lamb into motion, and I have a good feeling she'd struggle to collect herself and either run downhill or bunch that spine.

For me, while she has good market parts to her and is conditioned well, I don't think her structure does her enough justice to carry the frame.

04/10/2025

Rounded out the (very busy) day with a presentation from Dr. Amy Radunz on beef calving and nutrition. I learned more in that hour presentation than I have in some of my classes!

Rounded out the (very busy) day with a presentation from Dr. Amy Radunz on beef calving and nutrition. I learned more in that hour's presentation than I have in some of my classes! tch out for, and implement in the herd.

04/10/2025

PEAK - the exposition for Midwest Poultry

I didn't take too many pictures, but it was a wonderful afternoon in Minneapolis filled with lots of new (and old) poultry technologies, good conversations with the USDA on Avian Influenza management, and even a potential internship in poultry equipment design for this summer! Also, you absolutely cannot beat the swag we got, from hats to posters to food and even an egg timer!

04/09/2025

Goats! The only species I haven't posted yet. They definitely are not my strong suit, so I'm excited to hear what you all have to say on this one (thank you to Kourtney Daniel for sending some photos in for me to practice judging!)

Overall - a very nice brood doe. She's got the depth, got the topline and angles to carry herself well and the potential to throw some freaky wide kids up front. I quite like her shoulder-neck junction, and her capacity - she doesn't get too high up in her pins like I feel some goats do, and has a good, material udder.

However, that being said, my biggest concern is her bone mass. She has thin bones down to the ground - typical for goats, but paired with her big frame and the fact she's already toeing out in the front, I want to beef her up before addressing the muscling through the rump, and would be careful throwing more weight on her with kids.

Great body for show, just want to make sure she can support herself years down the road to keep producing.

04/07/2025

So many users y'all crashed the auctions site... 😬 Seriously.

We hit 10,000+ link clicks on the site sometime today and apparently, the server didn't like that. I have no clue what you guys did to make this afternoon so popular, but I was not expecting that much traffic! I'm working with Replit (our hosting service) and a few other hosting places to make something work short-term and find a more permanent fix.

In the meantime, sit tight! Now's a great time to start taking pictures of your breeding pens if you wanted to list something. The listed auctions and bids should still be current, and no auctions will be ending tonight. You guys can keep checking the status at: https://poultryauction.co/ - I will post again when it is back online!

04/06/2025

Cattle time! Thank you to Maddi Mcclure for sending a whole bunch of photos. Hopefully this guy did well for you. If anyone else has pictures they don't mind me breaking down, send them to [email protected]!

I like the Char type cattle, they tend to be stout and heavy, and this steer is definitely a nice example of that. A good slick shorn prospect too. Nice, level top line, good rib and cover from that back end on forward, without bringing those pins too high. I like the tail head from what I can see and have no doubt he presents a good rear and 3/4 view too.

It's a bit clear that today he's out on pasture and not the show ring, so the looseness through the skin and even that underline/stifle msucling isn't the biggest worry, those can be cleaned up with different feed. My only concern is that front end- he is straight off that shoulder and blade, and may toe out. He's got a lot of weight, just make sure he carries that well all the way through to the ground.

Overall, I think a good practical steer for both the show ring and pasture- looks like an easy keeper and a nice one for a county fair! 😊

Thoughts? Opinions from everyone else? Things I missed or hit well? I'm focusing on reasons lately.

04/05/2025

Top scorer for our team! Texas A&M took top honors, but UWRF held our own despite being down 1/4 of a team. A good way to end out my last time in the poultry judging circuit- and a great experience on the production side of the industry. Now to prep for livestock at NAILE and Royal this fall!

National Collegiate Poultry Judging - US Poultry at Mississippi State, 2025.

04/03/2025

Who all has hatching eggs right now? Any breeds/varieties/species.
We're looking for more sellers on Pips 'n Chicks Auctions! You can list hatching eggs, chicks, live birds, any and all - we have new categories for production birds and fun/mixed too! We have quite a few people following along and asking for birds, but not enough listings yet.
https://pipsnchicksauction.com/

It is completely free for everyone, and easy to do. If you need help or would like graphics made, send us an email at [email protected]. We do go through and vet sellers, so be sure to click "complete profile" in the top corner once you sign up so we can approve you :)

04/01/2025

It's April, but we aren't foolin'!
https://pipsnchicksauction.com/

I listened to all of your suggestions, took the month off, and rebuilt a new auction platform from the ground up that is open TODAY! Check it out


There are so many new features, but the biggest is that there are no more monthly sets- from now on, sellers can list what they have, when they have them, and we will approve lots daily. There also is a new notification system that alerts when the auction reserve is met, reminders for auction close, shipping and tracking numbers, as well as daily updates on new auctions. Further, we built in categories and opened up listings. There are now sections for Show Quality, Purebred & Production, and Fun/Mixed Breeds, all with realtime category reports, archives, and bidder requests, so everyone can see where the market is.

We are waiting on final approval from PayPal (I meet with their officers this week), but we have all of the infrastructure in place to be able to do realtime payouts for sellers. There are a few other updates in the works as we get going too, so if there are features you would like to see, just reach out.


Please, try it out, share it with your breeder friends, and I hope you are all as excited to use it as we are to share it with you 😊🥰

03/31/2025

Getting ready to fly out tomorrow to Alabama and then Mississippi to do some poultry judging! Wish me luck - this is my last time in the USDA poultry circuit, and our team will be competing for the national title against some of the best.

I won't be super active on here, but I have some really big announcements scheduled in the next few days, so stay tuned!!

03/31/2025

A fun weekend of livestock auctions: Mann Valley Farm hosted a show lamb sale on Saturday - one of the Dorset lambs I posted about a while back went for $1,400! Kaylee did an excellent job of presenting her for the sale.

Then today was our Northwestern Show Pig Sale with the Poultry & Swine Club! We sold over 40 head, with consigners coming from across the Midwest, and ran some YQCA meetings for the youth. It was such a fun time, love getting to spend the weekend like this.