NY chicken lover!!!!

[PoultryPlot]

I'm confused as to the first breed you list. Are you selling Ameruacanas or Araucanas? They are not the same breed. Or is it a mix of the two breeds?

Sorry about that, I have both, as well as Easter Eggers (not bred for quality, but for egg color.)

 

[stonykill]

I'm not Rancher either, but I break up bread treats for the entertainment value of watching them run around it and each other to get to the piece that someone missed cuz it fell behind them. I usually throw out several pieces at a time so several run at it at the same time. It's cheap entertainment, what can I say?

better than tv!

 

[java girl 2]

better than tv!

for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stonykill]

I was told by Don Schrider of the ALBC that if you use two thermometers to take the average of the two and go with that. He also said to follow the manufacturers instruction as closely as possible.

I have the Gen. 1588 and I think that different areas of the incubator are not exact to the temp. I believe this because some of my hatches start early and finish late. This last hatch started on the 23rd (Feb) and finished on the 25th. To be honest the last egg was one that was put in a day after all the rest. The 21st day would have been on fri the 24th. My point being I don't care when they hatch as long as they do. I've learned to be patient and give those last eggs a fighting chance of a day at least. I wait the three days the first chick has before it needs food and water and only after that do I open the incubator and snatch the chicks. I close it back up and leave it to finish.

I do not believe that opening the incubator causes "shrink wrap" The science is just not there. I have had broody hens with shrink wrapped chicks. There are in fact holes in the bottom of my incubator and of course the vent hole in the top. These are necessary for the eggs to breath. Otherwise the incubator would become full of carbon dioxide as the embryos exhale. I haven't studied it but that's my opinion. I believe there is some other reason for shrink wrapped chicks. Perhaps the membrane is to thick and the chick can't break through it. I've noticed when I crack open some eggs this membrane is thicker than others.

I do think opening the incubator to much can create problems. Though I open it and turn each egg a quarter turn for the first three or four days. I know hens rotate their eggs and don't simply rock them back and forth. I've read that they actually move the outer eggs to the middle and the middle eggs to the outside of the group. We don't do that in incubators, thereby leaving the eggs either in a cooler spot or warmer spot of the incubator.

Sorry I said to much again.

Rancher

I agree on the warmer, cooler spots in an incubator.

Now as to what a broody does. I had one go broody in my workshop. Me being me, I let her sit there. let me tell you, they move those eggs often and they seriously roll them! Warmer eggs from the center, rolled to the outer edges, outer eggs rolled to the center. I watched her roll them in the direction you would expect, and also roll them the hard way ( over the pointy end). They are facinating to watch. She would give me the stink eye, but let me watch.
So besides the 15 minutesish that the broody is off the eggs each day, she is off them several times a day to roll them. Which leads me to beleive opening the incubator every few days to either candle, water , whatever has little effect on the eggs. I also have had broody's with shrink wrapped chicks. My thought hass always been from watching the hatches, that the chick is weak, and is just plain having a hard time getting out. This in itself causes the shrinkwrap. And yes, some eggs just have a thicker membrane.
No Rancher, not saying to much at all!

 

[Cass]

I just ordered an itty bitty incubator. Lord help me. I don't need any more chicks, but I can't wait for a hen to go broody when I do need chicks, right?

With the set up I have here I can start hatching right after Christmas next year and have them ready to lay about the time it is warm enough to put them in the coop. LOL

 

[Henicillin]

Quote:

Amy, I grew up in Cheshire! were you raised in Pittsfield proper? ginny

I'm Pittsfield born and bred - hatched at BMC and raised first in West Pittsfield (back when it was nice), then East Pittsfield off Elm Street. Native Berkshire peeps, represent!

 

[stonykill]

I just ordered an itty bitty incubator. Lord help me. I don't need any more chicks, but I can't wait for a hen to go broody when I do need chicks, right?

With the set up I have here I can start hatching right after Christmas next year and have them ready to lay about the time it is warm enough to put them in the coop. LOL

then you'll get a bigger incubator. Then you will be like me, and be waiting for the right deal to buy 2 more! lol

 

[Cass]

then you'll get a bigger incubator. Then you will be like me, and be waiting for the right deal to buy 2 more! lol

actually I don't think I'll get a bigger incubator....only have so much room and I will NOT build a larger coop. (Larger runs? SURE!! LOL)

I started with the chickens due to the 2012 EOW scare that has many in a frenzy. IF they are right I don't want to be totally unprepared. I am currently increasing my flock size due to time required to reach egg laying age....again, don't want to be unprepared. I figure I can barter eggs for things I might need if things turn ugly. If they don't and the world continues to spin, I'll eat the ones that piss me off and reduce my flock size to more managable levels. (I just ate Rowdy the Roo tonight. He was yummy)

 

[stonykill]

actually I don't think I'll get a bigger incubator....only have so much room and I will NOT build a larger coop. (Larger runs? SURE!! LOL)

I started with the chickens due to the 2012 EOW scare that has many in a frenzy. IF they are right I don't want to be totally unprepared. I am currently increasing my flock size due to time required to reach egg laying age....again, don't want to be unprepared. I figure I can barter eggs for things I might need if things turn ugly. If they don't and the world continues to spin, I'll eat the ones that piss me off and reduce my flock size to more managable levels. (I just ate Rowdy the Roo tonight. He was yummy)

nothing wrong with being prepared! If they are right, you will need broody's however. Unless you got a little one that can run off of a battery and a solar panel. I have thought about doing that. Thinking about being prepared is always smart. That's why I'm building up the ""farm". When the economy takes another serious downturn, I've got food. food will be in demand. Small farms are the wave of the future!

 

[Henicillin]

Quote:

I'm not Rancher either, but I break up bread treats for the entertainment value of watching them run around it and each other to get to the piece that someone missed cuz it fell behind them. I usually throw out several pieces at a time so several run at it at the same time. It's cheap entertainment, what can I say?

If you go out to my run with a bread bag in hand, you instantly have groupies. Alan just chucks it all out of the bag at once. I subscribe to the "many little pieces" style of bread-tossing, though, as I like to fling bits as hard as I can just to watch them all run like mad after the pieces.