November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[dcba flock]

3 babies out one zipping! My friend received the ones I shipped her in less than 24 hours kudos to the USPS for a change they are all doing well maybe I can sleep tonight.... Until the rest are hatching tomorrow NEVER doing a stagger hatch again!!!!!

 

[Mylied]

How did I miss that?? Those are too cute!

 

[angnic22]

Hi folks! I'm setting up a new incubator so might be couple days before I set. Thought I'd share and get opinions/thoughts.

It's a Farm Innovators Pro Series 4250 digital incubator with auto turner. It has humidity reading, day count and included a candler. TSC for about $120, on sale.

I like the design. The heating element is similar to the Little Giant 9300. Digital read is much bigger. The inside is styrofoam but outside has a plastic shell which I really like. (Always afraid I'll poke my fingernails through the styrofoam). Mesh on bottom is metal, not plastic like the LG.

For background, I also have a Brinsea mini advance (love, but small) and a LG 9300 with turner. First hatch with LG was 50%. Humidity & temp control was a bear. I modified with a small computer fan (see pic). Second hatch was 93% and controlling humidity/temp wasn't nearly as bad. It actually went very smooth. Only 2 failed to hatch out of 27. Big changes with one modification. (Found fan at goodwill so was a cheap mod, too!) The fan on the new bator looks identically positioned to what I did. (Funny that's where I chose to attach it.)

Day count reads 23 because I'm going to test with my own hygrometer/thermometer and see how it compares. Once ready, I'll reset the days.

Anyone use FI? Thoughts?

 

[Faraday40]

Quote: They're now considered a dual purpose heritage breed. A long time ago they were bred for size/meat, but people really like them as pets/eye candy. They take a long time to mature, but the eggs are jumbo. Also, they do not stop laying during the winter & are cold hardy. (We get -20'F in Jan-Feb, some nights all the way down to -35'F, so being able to survive the cold is essential.) The English bloodlines (kind we like) are much larger & fluffier than the American orps. They look like balls of feathers running around the yard.

 

[dcba flock]

Babies!!!

 

[Faraday40]

Hi folks! I'm setting up a new incubator so might be couple days before I set. Thought I'd share and get opinions/thoughts.

It's a Farm Innovators Pro Series 4250 digital incubator with auto turner. It has humidity reading, day count and included a candler. TSC for about $120, on sale.

I like the design. The heating element is similar to the Little Giant 9300. Digital read is much bigger. The inside is styrofoam but outside has a plastic shell which I really like. (Always afraid I'll poke my fingernails through the styrofoam). Mesh on bottom is metal, not plastic like the LG.

For background, I also have a Brinsea mini advance (love, but small) and a LG 9300 with turner. First hatch with LG was 50%. Humidity & temp control was a bear. I modified with a small computer fan (see pic). Second hatch was 93% and controlling humidity/temp wasn't nearly as bad. It actually went very smooth. Only 2 failed to hatch out of 27. Big changes with one modification. (Found fan at goodwill so was a cheap mod, too!) The fan on the new bator looks identically positioned to what I did. (Funny that's where I chose to attach it.)

Day count reads 23 because I'm going to test with my own hygrometer/thermometer and see how it compares. Once ready, I'll reset the days.

Anyone use FI? Thoughts?

I like the big window of your new incubator. Not sure about the brand, but it seems to have all the bells & whistles.

My sister gave us her old Hova-bator (still air) from the 1980s. I cleaned it up & thanks to Youtube, installed a computer fan. I get about 70-95% hatch rates. Considering the age & that it was stored in a mousey attic, I'm glad it works! I keep finding more reasons to use a back up incubator &/or hatcher, so I'm grateful to have it.

Our good incubator is the one I built from a cooler. (Thanks to YouTube & BYC ideas.) That ones tends to get the better hatch rates: 88-100%. Only our broody can do better.

 

[yeye5]

Hats off to Miss D, her parents and also that enormous bird!!

I will officially join the Nov hatch along! Last time my silkie hen, Mima, brooded her eggs(plus several adopted eggs from two other hens), I said it had to be the last hatch of the season. Mima has this game she loves to play. It goes something like...human makes definitive statement, hen makes human look silly.
She started laying when the chickens she'd hatched were between 6-7weeks old!
Today is day 6 on 7eggs

Since she officially got on the eggs late afternoon they may hatch Nov 24 or Nov 25. Mima and her husband roo,Muneco are both silkies and this time shes on 7 silkie eggs.
I'll keep the hatch alongers

 

[Faraday40]

Hats off to Miss D, her parents and also that enormous bird!!

I will officially join the Nov hatch along! Last time my silkie hen, Mima, brooded her eggs(plus several adopted eggs from two other hens), I said it had to be the last hatch of the season. Mima has this game she loves to play. It goes something like...human makes definitive statement, hen makes human look silly.
She started laying when the chickens she'd hatched were between 6-7weeks old!
Today is day 6 on 7eggs

Since she officially got on the eggs late afternoon they may hatch Nov 24 or Nov 25. Mima and her husband roo,Muneco are both silkies and this time shes on 7 silkie eggs.
I'll keep the hatch alongers

That sounds like fun. I wish Mima a very successful hatch.

We have 2 bantams in our flock that act like Mima. One is a bantam orp named Cookie, nicknamed "Cookie Monster" when she's broody - which can be about 4-5xs per year. The other is a Sebright named Trouble. I read that Sebrights seldom go broody, but Trouble can't read, so she already hatched 2 clutches this year. Obviously our giant roo cannot fertilize the little bantams, so the broody hens must hatch Orp eggs.

Here's a pic of determined Trouble trying to cover her 3.5 wk old orp chicks. BTW- The male chick in the background is Moose (the big boy I recently posted) as a chick.


Here she was with her chicks at about 5-6 weeks old.

One of DD's summer projects was to train some chickens. Trouble learned how to come fly up when called. (Would not even attempt this with our other birds!)

 

[Faraday40]

Babies!!!

Awwwww!

 

[Cynthia12]

What?!?

That young lady is just adorable too! Very pretty.