November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[Tashaf]

Yes.  The fan does seem to wick away the humidity.  I added some plastic tubing & through which I add water daily.  I like to "dry incubate" so I aim for about 30-35% for 18 days, then I triple the water's surface area, add sponges, & whatever other tricks I can think of to get the humidity as high as it can go for days 18-21. (As high as I can get it is about 60-65% humidity.)  Day 18 is the hardest because when I change the humidity, the temp changes on me.  I always plan to be nearby, so I can check the temps every 30-60 min.  If after the hatch you are finding well developed chicks that are getting shrink wrapped inside the shell, it could be low humidity near the end.

If you notice temp fluctuations because the room temp may be varied (near a door, window, or using a styrofoam incubator) I read that several people wrap the whole incubator in a blanket/towel - especially along the seams & viewing windows.  Another thing you could try is adding heat sinks.  (water bottles or cleaned rocks)  Just anything to absorb the heat so that when the incubator gets opened & closed, the temp get back up to normal faster.  I do this when I have a small number of eggs in a large incubator.

I do not have fluctuations in my incubator. I also do a dry incubation which it naturally stays around 30-40 in my stillair incubator. So, I didn't think being at 20-25 humidity would ruin them? And I also bring humidity up to 60 at 18-21 days. The last batch did look shrink wraped.

 

[Faraday40]

I do not have fluctuations in my incubator. I also do a dry incubation which it naturally stays around 30-40 in my stillair incubator. So, I didn't think being at 20-25 humidity would ruin them? And I also bring humidity up to 60 at 18-21 days. The last batch did look shrink wraped.

I think some people do incubate at 20-25% humidity, but I've never tried it that low. If they loooked shrink wrapped inside the shell, then my guess would be they needed more humidity.

My goal is an air cell that's about 1/3 of the egg by hatch day. In my region 35% works well, but I can't just add water & forget. I installed a fan which may be too big, so I'm adding water to my cooler-bater daily. On the plus side, that particular incubator holds the temp perfectly, so I get the highest hatch % when using it.

 

[Faraday40]

Quail Update:The quail gave me 3 eggs this morning. (I only have 3 females, so

)

Because the white female quail had pecking injuries, she was a house quail for about a week. She's been in the garage next to the brown quail's cage for the past week in hopes that I may be able to put them back together. Every few days I try putting them together & she usually gets attacked. Today only the male was going after her, so perhaps we're getting close to my dream of only 1 cage of quail. The male was too amorous for her, so as I was changing the water, she escaped through the cage door in a panic. With the garage door wide open I began to imagine all the different ways I'd be spending my morning chasing a frightened quail around the garage & possibly the yard & neighborhood. What if I never caught her? How do I explain to DD that I let her pet escape? I finished the changing the water & easily found the quail next to a bucket. I slowly bent down & picked her up. No running or even squirming. All that worry for nothing. She seemed happy to go back into her private cage.

BTW- The quail actually have names: The white one is Sunny, the male is Albert, and the other two browns are Sadie & Penelope - but only the kids can tell those 2 apart. I'm just happy the kids tamed them well. Albert still gets his daily house visits. DD made him a room in her doll house. He hangs out with Barbie while DD does her math but he then gets some snuggle time when she does her reading. LOL DD can still allow them to run around & when she calls, they come running to her.

We don't do much with the eggs, but I do hard boil them for the kids' lunches. I know it's the talk of the lunch table, & after visiting, the kids' friends always ask to take one of those tiny eggs (or a blue egg) home. I've been joking that we're saving up for a sandwich, but I doubt we'll ever get that many quail eggs saved up. Plus, our quail do not free range, so their eggs taste more bland than our chicken eggs. IMO

So how are all the other November chicks doing?

 

[NysiaAnera]

Oh, how exciting! Do you have any pictures? I love pictures. I am basically a "pictureholic". Lol

 

[theceltichorse]

[COLOR=333333]Quail Update:The quail gave me 3 eggs this morning.  (I only have 3 females, so  )[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]Because the white female quail had pecking injuries, she was a house quail for about a week.  She's been in the garage next to the brown quail's cage for the past week in hopes that I may be able to put them back together.  Every few days I try putting them together & she usually gets attacked.  Today only the male was going after her, so perhaps we're getting close to my dream of only 1 cage of quail.  The male was too amorous for her, so as I was changing the water, she escaped through the cage door in a panic.  With the garage door wide open I began to imagine all the different ways I'd be spending my morning chasing a frightened quail around the garage & possibly the yard & neighborhood.  What if I never caught her?  How do I explain to DD that I let her pet escape?  I finished the changing the water & easily found the quail next to a bucket.  I slowly bent down & picked her up.  No running or even squirming.  All that worry for nothing. She seemed happy to go back into her private cage.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]BTW- The quail actually have names: The white one is Sunny, the male is Albert, and the other two browns are Sadie & Penelope - but only the kids can tell those 2 apart.  I'm just happy the kids tamed them well.  Albert still gets his daily house visits.  DD made him a room in her doll house.  He hangs out with Barbie while DD does her math but he then gets some snuggle time when she does her reading. LOL  DD can still allow them to run around & when she calls, they come running to her.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]We don't do much with the eggs, but I do hard boil them for the kids' lunches.  I know it's the talk of the lunch table, & after visiting, the kids' friends always ask to take one of those tiny eggs (or a blue egg) home.  I've been joking that we're saving up for a sandwich, but I doubt we'll ever get that many quail eggs saved up.  Plus, our quail do not free range, so their eggs taste more bland than our chicken eggs. IMO[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]So how are all the other November chicks doing?[/COLOR]

My November chicks are HOPEFULLY moving out to the coop today. One of my favorites is absolutely a rooster. He's been crowing now for 2 weeks. Progressively getting stronger and less like a bad case of laryngitis! LOL I don't mind it, but am positive my roommates will be glad to have him outside as he starts his serenade at 5:30am. I'm sad that I'll have to rehome him. Think I have found a place to take him though. My dog trainer is happy to have roosters. Currently has one (no hens). I will give her some hens as well. Just hope he will not be bullied to much by her existing roo...

 

[Faraday40]

I don't have any "fun" pics, but here' are their messy cages. Quail poop A LOT! I hope to build something for them next to the chicken run when the weather gets nicer, but for now a repurposed rabbit cage & an old parakeet cage will have to do. I have a light to keep the water bottles from freezing. (They still freeze when it goes down into the single digits, but at least it doesn't get that cold every night.)



I took a few pics of our roos this morning.
Here's "Mr Dummy-Pants" (black/lav split) and his son "Moose" (lav)
BTW- Be careful when allowing young children to name pets. LOL
Although Moose is bigger, his daddy is still our wonderful flock leader. He does an excellent job of keeping peace in the flock and is great with people too.


Moose is still hormonal but is calming down. (Less hen raping and more dancing. A lot of dancing!) He has begun to call the hens over when he finds treats, but he does this as he's gobbling them down. Still working on those manners! He's 8.5 months and finally beginning to fill out. The bigger breeds take a very long time to mature. Mr Dummy didn't reach his full massive size until 18 months.

We also have a double barred choc cuckoo orp named "Brick". He's small when compared to the other two roos but was too beautiful to get rid of. He's also 8+mo, and a gentleman in every way. The young pullets prefer to follow Brick around. He never lets a female walk outside the run un-escorted and is always on the lookout for hawks.

Here's Brick



The roos work together as an effective security team. So far no fighting / challenges. They are all terrific. We carry them to the garage to sleep at night (to be kind to the neighbors who want to sleep in) and bring them back out in the morning. They go through a patch of crowing & mating when they first get reunited with the hens, but after 10-20 min all is back to normal. The roos wear crow collars. They limit the volume but nothing can eliminate crowing.

 

[theceltichorse]

Got my November babies outside to their coop! Hoping they are all ok... worried mama hen here!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I REALLY need to get mine out there. They're ranging from 12-14 weeks old and still in my screen porch lol

 

[Jessimom]

Got my November babies outside to their coop! Hoping they are all ok... worried mama hen here!

Congratulations!! Great looking coop and your chicks look even better! My NY's babies are all outside now, but I'm in Southern CA. Our temps have been down in the 30's, and they are doing fine. I have a heat plate for them, but they only use it at night.

Here are mine hanging out on an outside perch the other afternoon.




Good luck and let us know how they do!

 

[theceltichorse]

Congratulations!! Great looking coop and your chicks look even better! My NY's babies are all outside now, but I'm in Southern CA. Our temps have been down in the 30's, and they are doing fine. I have a heat plate for them, but they only use it at night. Here are mine hanging out on an outside perch the other afternoon. Good luck and let us know how they do!

All faired well their first night!