3rd Annual New Year's Day Hatch!!

[Sumatra503]

I know it's too late, but here are my entries for the New Year's Photo Contest.

Time Square with the Ball dropping. The back is the confetti falling and the front is the rest of the chicken crowd at the square. Since I had no chicks hatch i made little chickens out of baker's clay!

Then Lauretta got tanked and trashed the party!

A close up of the clay chickens.

From the front with the chicken waterer!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Sumatra, you are too much! I'm dying over here.

Very creative! Love the waterer, too.

 

[Sumatra503]

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Why Thank You!!!

My plan is to make little miniature coups for the miniature chickens and sell them as sets. Feeder, waterer, chickens, nest boxes, perch, and removable roof, as well as a little fenced area outside of the coup.

now remember this idea is patented!!!

 

[Sumatra503]

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Meant to say that the Big Egg is dropping instead of Ball.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

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Why Thank You!!!

My plan is to make little miniature coups for the miniature chickens and sell them as sets. Feeder, waterer, chickens, nest boxes, perch, and removable roof, as well as a little fenced area outside of the coup.

now remember this idea is patented!!!

Similar to this? (not to rain on your parade)

 

[tazcat70]

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They are too cute!

 

[9Catsz]

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I have a few questions that this discussion and the incubation hint sheet bring up...First, what difference would it make for doing dry incubation for someone living in Phoenix Az versus the Olympic penninsula or maybe somewhere like Ohio in the summer where I hear it is very humid? Just wondering if people in very dry environments have used dry incubation, or just humid areas.

Also, the directions on one of my incubators (can't recall which) says that for the last 3 days you can turn the temp down 2 or 3 degrees but that it is not necessary. ChookChicks, your cheat sheet part about using egg cartons after removing the turner makes me wonder if my instructions are correct on this. I don't think I ever saw anything anywhere else about turning the heat down the last 3 days, so I'm wondering what all you experienced hatchers think about the heat the last 3 days.

Also, I often see people say to set the temp at 99.5 degrees, period. But for a still air incubator, I thought the temp was suppposed to be a full 2 degrees higher, and that the 99.5 is just for ones with forced air. Maybe it depends on where the thermometers are placed, and if placed right, you can use 99.5 for still air?

I need to go back and read through the old threads on incubation. Ha, that will give me something to do now that the NY hatch is about over, sob. I have gotten quite accustomed to having this fun thread to come read during the cold winter!!!

I was looking at the spreadsheet of hatch percentage results, and I'm surprised that so many of us had about a 50% hatch rate, and many of us had way way less. Only a very few people had hatches over about 80%, it looks like. I'm surprised and expected most to get about 75%, and just a few of us to get none to very few, which would bring the average down. It's true that lots of us were using shipped eggs, so some of those would have been shaken up or xrayed or frozen, so possibly that's why rates were low. I'm pretty sure somewhere there's a link to where to see total participants, hatch rate, etc for a year or 2 ago, so now I'd like to see that info again. I'm curious whether our results this year are right in line w/ other years. It certainly seemed like a LOT of people had horrid luck like spikes in temp, and an appalling number of people seemed to find their incubators unplugged by other people, grrrrrr!!!, especially maddening because preventable, in theory!

Well, I'd best sign off or everybody will be exhausted just reading my one post, HA!!!

Great post with many great questions and observations.....some I was thinking myself. I, too, was surprised at the low hatch rates. I wonder if it would have been a lot better if so many incubator mishaps hadn't happened.

I had my humidity too high and was having a lot of dead in shell chicks. I've just started doing the dry incubation method on ChookChick's page. I only started it halfway through the NYD hatch so it really wasn't a true test, but the Valentines Day hatch will be the true test.

 

[9Catsz]

Quote:
Why Thank You!!!

My plan is to make little miniature coups for the miniature chickens and sell them as sets. Feeder, waterer, chickens, nest boxes, perch, and removable roof, as well as a little fenced area outside of the coup.

now remember this idea is patented!!!

Sumatra -

I love 'em!

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
I have a few questions that this discussion and the incubation hint sheet bring up...First, what difference would it make for doing dry incubation for someone living in Phoenix Az versus the Olympic penninsula or maybe somewhere like Ohio in the summer where I hear it is very humid? Just wondering if people in very dry environments have used dry incubation, or just humid areas.

Also, the directions on one of my incubators (can't recall which) says that for the last 3 days you can turn the temp down 2 or 3 degrees but that it is not necessary. ChookChicks, your cheat sheet part about using egg cartons after removing the turner makes me wonder if my instructions are correct on this. I don't think I ever saw anything anywhere else about turning the heat down the last 3 days, so I'm wondering what all you experienced hatchers think about the heat the last 3 days.

Also, I often see people say to set the temp at 99.5 degrees, period. But for a still air incubator, I thought the temp was suppposed to be a full 2 degrees higher, and that the 99.5 is just for ones with forced air. Maybe it depends on where the thermometers are placed, and if placed right, you can use 99.5 for still air?

I don't vary from 99.5-100 with the thermometers between the eggs on the turners. I also will open the incubator and shuffle the eggs up so they aren't in the same position the whole time if I get around to it, usually around day 10 or so. I think dropping the temp during the last few days would be a problem, especially if you were too low for some reason prior to that. I have lately not upped the humidity until the first pip lately, mostly because of forgetfulness, but also because I don't feel it's necessary until the shell has been breeched. That's in the LGs and Hovabators, not in the Rcom- that doesn't ever get shifted from its humidity setting at all.

Quote:
Great post with many great questions and observations.....some I was thinking myself. I, too, was surprised at the low hatch rates. I wonder if it would have been a lot better if so many incubator mishaps hadn't happened.

I had my humidity too high and was having a lot of dead in shell chicks. I've just started doing the dry incubation method on ChookChick's page. I only started it halfway through the NYD hatch so it really wasn't a true test, but the Valentines Day hatch will be the true test.

I also think that the low hatch rates may be more of what I was experiencing: immature fellows. I have a bunch of pairings that are dudes waaaaaaay too unsure of themselves with older ladies. It proved to be tragically ineffective when the time came to candle. Not many fertiles. Then there was the incubator failure...and the cursed hatch struck nearly all of us this time! Perhaps it was God's way of saving many marriages in short order?!?

 

[Farmerboy16]

HEY 9Catsz!! Here are the chicks that I hatched that you sent me. My sisters love them, so they are in their bedroom.

The big white chick is one of Big Dawg's Light Brahma

My other chicks in my brooder shed outside-

One of Lotsofpaint's OE

And Lotsofpaint's NHs

Big Dawg's Light Brahmas-

I have 3 of the month old chicks with them, 2 are Light Sussex, 1 rumpless blue Araucana, I am sure that they are all roos.

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