Nutrition and gender, and inducing broodiness

[RachelLeigh]

Lol. Oh that was you, who posted the "best not to fridge first" in the other thread. As soon as I get my new incubator and note almost perfect hatch rates from counter to incubator, I'll start with the fridge first rate stay tuned lol

 

[lazy gardener]

If it works for you, that's great. I'm merely passing along the info I've gleaned from all of my reading. So, yet an other reader who kicks the goads! Continue to do what makes sense to you instead of doing the status quo because someone once said that's the way it should be done. IMO, that's what makes any hobby so much fun. You get to learn a lot, but in the end, it boils down to doing what makes the most sense to you. You own the entire project! I read an other study that might interest you: This study involved collecting eggs for hatch, and storing them upside down. (Pointy end up) The eggs were not turned at all during pre-incubation storage. Hatch rate was comparable to that of eggs that were treated in the normal rate. (stored at ideal temp, and turned 3x/d) The theory was that in the upside down position, the chalazae stabilized the yolk in the middle to keep it from drifting towards the shell.

 

[lazy gardener]

1: I'm starting to collect eggs now, with intention of setting the best eggs next Friday. I'll set all of the Dominique eggs, since they'll be sex-linked. Instant gratification there. I can mark each one with my guess regarding the gender of chick it will produce. I'll set all of the eggs that are "the right shape". There's little chance for me to figure out which one belongs to the SLW... unless I catch her in the act. She should also produce a sex linked chick.
2: They're on day 3 of the extra vitamins.
3: Gave the girls 6 golf balls to play with yesterday, and lined the nest boxes with a good layer of hay. They're showing a definite preference for the nests with balls. No surprises there. I'm leaving all of the eggs produced in the nest until the end of the day, as long as the temp cooperates, and the eggs don't get too muddy.

 

[lazy gardener]

2: Egg count up yesterday. ? if correlated with vitamins.

 

[RachelLeigh]

I swear by horse sweet feed. Sounds crazy but it does have great ingredients for chickens. Last year I noticed when I snuck mine horse feed of my cousins horses that lived here, I got more eggs. Which reminds me, I have some in my trunk and the hens aren't laying. Nows the time to try that out again. I asked some a fb chicken group I'm in if any of them feed chickens horse feed and lots of people do.

 

[lazy gardener]

What's the protein content? Hard to argue with success, isn't it!

 

[lazy gardener]

Day 0 starts at 2:45 PM today.

Nutrition: the flock has been on 22% multi-flock FF for about 5 weeks. They started a daily multi-vitamin supplement 5 days before start of egg collection. They were occasionally supplemented during egg collection with BOSS, wheat and barley sprouts, as well as very small amounts of table scraps. They were given scrambled eggs on 2 occasions. Average daily production prior to vitamin supplementation was 8 eggs/day (out of 15 hens) Average size was 63 gm for the largest egg, and 47.3 for the smallest. During the week of collection, the average production was 9.7 eggs/day. Average size was 68.2 gm for the largest, and 50.1 gm for the smallest. It should be noted that during the last 4 days of collection, there were 1 - 3 blood smeared egg/day, which indicates that the flock was pushed to the current limits of their size capacity.

Gender: All eggs were collected, and dated. Each days egg production was then sorted according to shape. Approximately 50% of them went into the round pile, and 50% into the "pointy" pile. There were several eggs which were removed due to minor cracks. There were 12 eggs which could be identified as Dominique eggs. All of these were kept and marked according to shape. The resulting chicks from EE x Dom should produce sex linked chicks, unless Jack has some surprises in his gene pool. All Dominique eggs were included. Then, the remaining round eggs were sorted to provide a good mix of color, hoping to result in a few eggs from each hen.

Inducing broodiness: I had a good talk with the girls, and suggested that it would be most helpful if they complied with this aspect of this experiment. Yesterday, Jack hopped into the nest boxes, and also invited the girls to participate. They have been provided with 5 golf balls each in the 2 lower and most favored nest boxes. Current weather has been producing frequent mid-day thaws. The girls are not remembering to wipe their feet before entering the nest box, so I was not comfortable leaving eggs in boxes for extended lengths of time. It also appears that one of the RCBL is doing some exploratory egg pecking. If I can identify which one she is, she'll be invited to dinner. I recently put a bale of shavings into the coop, and today, set it at a 45* angle in a corner, then kicked a pile of hay in the resulting inviting dark spot. One of the gals laid an egg there within the hour. Jack and his entourage spent quite a while inspecting the new egg, and singing it's praises. Perhaps this new hidey spot will induce one of the gals to hunker down. I removed that egg, to set in the incubator, and provided 3 others to take it's place.

A total of 30 eggs were set in my home made styrofoam incubator. Bimetal thermostat, 2 x 40W light bulbs, computer fan. New addition: Egg rack cobbled together today to provide extra support to eggs in egg cartons. They are held at about 35 - 40* angle. The eggs will be rotated by turning the cartons 180* and switching their position left to right, as well as turning each egg x 90* in it's carton cell every 24 hours. Even with the fan, the incubator temperature has about 2* variation between warm and cooler spots. (thus the need to switch carton locations so chicks rotate through all temperature zones.) Goal: 99.5 - 100*, 30% humidity days 1 - 18. 99*, 65% humidity days 19 - 21. Eggs will be removed from cartons and laid on their sides on day 14. Eggs will be candled at least day 7, 14, 18.

 

[AmyLittle]

Good luck with your experiment. It sounds like fun I can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've been having fits with temp regulation. Thought I was all set, then tweaked the thermostat a bit. Now, I'm second guessing myself all over the place. Off to a bad start with low temps, now messing with thermometers to calibrate to double check my numbers. If the chicks survive the first 3 days, I think all will be ok. In the coop, most of the girls have laid in the new cave nest under a bale of shavings laid at a 45* angle. They are even covering the eggs with a bit of hay. I took out a bunch of eggs today, but left them with 3. Interestingly, the eggs that I left last night were not frozen. This in spite of the fact that it was at least down to 11 degrees last night.

 

[lazy gardener]

Amazing what 1/2" of air space at the sides and 4" of aluminum foil will do! All seems well since last night, temp wise, and upon candling there was a nice red glow with a focal point in a white egg. Of course it's too early for there to be much sign of life, but tonight, I think I'll candle an unincubated egg just for comparison.

Eggs which were left in the hidey spot Saturday night did not freeze, in spite of night time temps outside that went down to 5 - 11*.