California - Northern

[Chickengirl1304]

I am using therms I picked up. They have served me well so far. And the eggs are hot to the touch with the spikes. I am amazed the eggs are still ok (so far) but now I have to baby the bator for the rest of this hatch. I will not be hatching for a while after so maybe I will replace the wafer just in case. It is 76 in my house pretty stable temps. I am really stressed about hatch though. I have about 14 chicken eggs hatching, 14 duck eggs hatching and a goose egg...all due around the same time. I am most concerned with the goose egg and the chicken eggs (since I am hatching some for a friend). 

Ya same with me stressed. I have 5 out and about one has a messed up leg an I've been in and out of the hospital with contractions way too early and now am on bed rest! Ahhh!!! But ya how old is your incubator?

 

[lawatt]

[re: peeping]
I rarely even hear it (gotten so used to it). If everyone is happy, it's pretty quiet. If the peeping get loud, that means someone has jumped out and is running around the floor and can't get back into their (or any other) box.

one of Frances' chicks, the icelandic/showgirl cross, peeps almost constantly when it isn't snuggled underneath her. i've looked it over, and it seems healthy, certainly lively, eats and drinks with the others just fine -- but man does it complain about life *constantly*. perhaps it gets cold easily, since it has bare areas of skin?

 

[threadgeek]

Quote: grassholes...

The Greek Festival sounds fantastic, I can never get enough good Greek food...

Quote: I think a couple people on here had issues with the thermostat in their Hovabators a month ago. I believe Genesis had a bad batch of them and issued them new thermostats to replace. If your units are newer maybe that is the issue?

 

[zooweemama]

Ya same with me stressed. I have 5 out and about one has a messed up leg an I've been in and out of the hospital with contractions way too early and now am on bed rest! Ahhh!!! But ya how old is your incubator?

I don't know. I got it used. The first couple hatches did not have spikes this bad though.

 

[8machines]

Sorry I'm only here asking questions, we're just busy working on the coop!

I still have 5 RIR girls to sell, they're almost 3 weeks old now. How much should I sell them for? (On Craigslist)

Where do you live? I would take 2 if you are close to Sacramento.

 

[zooweemama]

Could your thermometer be off? I've noticed that if it wont turn down, or up anymore, I can loosen the wing nut a little bit, and it will turn after that. That's so stressful!!

2 of my grocery store eggs have hatched, 4 pipped, and 3 are just chillin'. I think one of the 3 passed a while ago, but I couldn't see into the egg well enough to decide one way or the other. I'll post some pics a little later.

I'm going to pick up another therm tomorrow just to check on temps. I have been rotating and moving eggs this whole time too. And cooling them daily (have to with goose eggs).

 

[Ali707]

My grocery store eggs hatched after my ameraucanas and orpington on day 22.
Here's a picture of the hen at 6 weeks, she is 8 weeks now:




Happy Birthday! I bet those naughty chickens are out getting you a belated birthday gift.

So do you have any idea what she is?

i've got white poly-carb roofing, and it's fabulous -- lets in the light/glow but not the hideous heat in summer, but also allows things to feel lit and cozy in the winter...

Where did you find that?

(Semi blue humor incoming)
It is raining here today! I told mario I was going to make some holes in the bare lawn for this grass we grew from seed inside.
He said grassholes!

When you are done, it will say gracias!

It is raining here, too! I had to run around the yard in my nightgown picking up the tools, wood, etc. that DH left out after working on my quail/brooder pen. I knew that I should have picked it up earlier in the week but he is working on it again this weekend so thought it would be okay to leave the stuff out.

Have fun at the wine festival! We are going to the Oakland Greek Festival this weekend. My DIL is Greek and she asks us to go with them every year. The timing finally works this year! I've been on a strict food intolerance diet for over 3 weeks now and I'm looking forward to the wonderful Greek food that they have there!

Greek Food!!!

And, how do you handle the dust? I have 2 brooders in my spare room along with a coating of dust on everything! I've been thinking about getting an air purifier with a HEPA filter.

Geeze the dust is insane! I moved them out to the garage this last weekend and still haven't finished cleaning my living room!

You could try fermenting too. If you want to try it it helps tons with wasteful chickens. And they like it. And it makes your soy like tofu so it back to an OK product if you are on a budget. I can bring up a pair of buckets and some of my started water if you like for Friday.
S

Have you tried feeding them fermented feed? It is a good way to use the powdery end of the bag crumbles as well as regular crumbles & pellets. I feed all of my chickens both dry and fermented. I know that Shantih feeds her chooks fermented feed, also.

HAH! You beat me, Shantih! Younger, faster fingers, I guess!

I was going to PM you about this. I am following the fermented feed thread too, and have tried to ferment regular chick starter but it isn't producing any bubbles. I have tried several times. I am using a small amount to see if I can even get it to work in a jar. But I am not having any success getting the bubbles. I am using the Bragg's ACV. I will let it sit for up to a week and there is very little activity if any. How do you get yours to work?

This reminded me of the line from fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe.
"I'm older and I have more insurance" I have considered to be in that part of my life.
Twanda!!!!!

I have a lid on my fermented buckets when they are outside. Some pie pans are the right size. Or you could cover it with a cloth.

After reading your post it made me notice the one thing we don't have is gnats or fruit flies...

There are so many people in this thread I would love to meet! You are just soooo far away

My Hovabator is giving me fits. It keeps getting hotter and hotter. I am unable to turn it down anymore. It spiked at 105- I fell out of bed racing towards it this morning. I about died. I was getting 102 spikes and having to actually crack the lid to cool it. But what happens in lockdown? I candled and everyone is ok. Even my goose egg was still showing movement. I honestly have no idea what to do at this point. Hatchdates start this Monday.

Okay, my new Hovabator Genesis 1588 did this at the end of my hatch right before lock down. Spiked up to 104.8. I am not sure if yours is one of the new ones, but I also couldn't get it to cool back down at one point either. The temperature gauge just didn't respond. It started flashing back and forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Then it stuck on Celsius all by itself. I couldn't get it to go back to Fahrenheit, so I googled the conversion of 99.5 F to Celsius and the temperature gauge responded in Celsius mode to allow me move it back down at that point and it stayed there. I had to complete the hatch in Celsius and my Brinsea Spot Check that Ron advised to get. Thank goodness he did, because I was able to confirm the temp in Fahrenheit.

I emailed GQF and they said they had a batch of bators that weren't welded correctly and are sending me out a new thermostat....someday...... I had to follow up with them recently because I haven't gotten anything yet.

I was snooping around on the King site and found a $1.50 off coupon for Freedom feed. Here is the link for anyone interested.
http://king-brand.com/new/index.php...ltry-feed-web-coupon&catid=1:poultry&Itemid=3

Well sure we are!!! Thanks!

 

[MossyoakLane]

Hello,

Yes, they carry freedom. The feed store calls it the natural lay pellet, but the label says Freedom. They also have the Freedom Chick starter but I bought the last 4 bags today. Sorry. The prices were higher today. They Freedom is now 21.99 from $19.99. Darn, will the feed prices ever stabilize? Every time I go to the store there is a price increase. Urg...

I called and they have the 25lb bags.......she said they won't be getting the 50lb bags in for another few weeks but that they would sell me 2 of the 25lb bags for the same price as the 50lb......yay!

Weird...the king website shows they only have 10lb and 50lb bags....hmmm

 

[lawatt]

Where did you find that?

Home Depot, i think -- it's called SunTuf or something like that, corrugated poly-carbonate panels. has worked great as roofing for my coop:

 

[chiqita]

So do you have any idea what she is?

Where did you find that?

Greek Food!!!

Geeze the dust is insane! I moved them out to the garage this last weekend and still haven't finished cleaning my living room!

I was going to PM you about this. I am following the fermented feed thread too, and have tried to ferment regular chick starter but it isn't producing any bubbles. I have tried several times. I am using a small amount to see if I can even get it to work in a jar. But I am not having any success getting the bubbles. I am using the Bragg's ACV. I will let it sit for up to a week and there is very little activity if any. How do you get yours to work?

There are so many people in this thread I would love to meet! You are just soooo far away

Okay, my new Hovabator Genesis 1588 did this at the end of my hatch right before lock down. Spiked up to 104.8. I am not sure if yours is one of the new ones, but I also couldn't get it to cool back down at one point either. The temperature gauge just didn't respond. It started flashing back and forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Then it stuck on Celsius all by itself. I couldn't get it to go back to Fahrenheit, so I googled the conversion of 99.5 F to Celsius and the temperature gauge responded in Celsius mode to allow me move it back down at that point and it stayed there. I had to complete the hatch in Celsius and my Brinsea Spot Check that Ron advised to get. Thank goodness he did, because I was able to confirm the temp in Fahrenheit.

I emailed GQF and they said they had a batch of bators that weren't welded correctly and are sending me out a new thermostat....someday...... I had to follow up with them recently because I haven't gotten anything yet.

Well sure we are!!! Thanks!

if you want to speed it up.... try adding active yeast. Is it warm enough? Mine goes fast, usualy bubbling in hours.