Setting 41 on 6-15, 7-8, 7-31, and 8-23 feel free to join in at any time

[SFrati]

I just put 14 fertilized eggs under my broody hen. She wasnt too happy I moved her off of her golf balls and onto the pile of eggs but quickly took to them. Tonight she sat diligently and hopefully she will keep going until everybody hatches.

 

[sjturner79]

Hatch complete.
30 set
Humidity at 20% mostly , with a rise to 55 and then fall back daily.
Tried to keep 100.1 f temp but incubator temp wanders frequently. Highest temp seen was 102.5
22 eggs locked down. Only one discarded egg showed signs of development, but had died cause I dropped it on the earlier candling and broke the shell so it dried out.
3 discarded at hatch time discovered to to be scrambles. 3 dead without pipping.
1 pipped but suffocated.
15 live chicks.

 

[SFrati]

Oh no! May I?? My hubby and I just saw a show where they tapped a maple tree and he said he has done it before and asked if I wanted to try it. I said sure! We were planning to try it this weekend.

I tapped trees this year for the first time. It has to be done when the days are just above freezing (low 40s) and the nights are below freezing. Usually there is still snow on the ground. That is the time of year when the trees sap runs. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup or 10 gallons of sap to make a pint of syrup. Gather your materials so you are ready to go with the time of year is right.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Oh no! May I?? My hubby and I just saw a show where they tapped a maple tree and he said he has done it before and asked if I wanted to try it. I said sure! We were planning to try it this weekend.

Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, you're doing it at completely the wrong time of the year. Actually, even if you do live in the southern hemisphere, its still the wrong time of the year.

1. Not all sap is capable of making tasty syrup. The sap that heals a tree tastes entirely different than the sap that makes leaf buds. Tasty syrup can only be made out of sap that makes leaf buds. This only happens when a tree is coming out of winter hibernation. Both maple and birch can make sap that taste almost identical. Do not try with other tree varieties. Make syrup trees when they are in full bloom to be sure you have the right species when they have no leaves.
2. The flow of sap, sufficient to make boiling sap realistic, only happens when the tree experiences 2 very specific events. Within 10 hours, there must be a temperature change of sufficient magnitude that the tree's sap pump actually kicks in. Within 10 hours it must experience a temperature at least 5 degrees above zero, and 5 degrees below zero. There are ways to make that difference less (e.g. using vacuum pumps), but essentially if that change does not occur the tree lays dormant for another day. When it does happen, pressure is created to cause the open cells in the upper tree (above ground part) to retract enough that the roots then have sap sucked from them and up.
3. While it is true that sap is reciprocally drawn down into the roots in the fall, the cells in the tree appear not to be able to react in the opposite fashion. As a result, sap is put back into roots via gravity, not pressure...so there is no equivalent flow. Also, the sap that is put back into the roots has a much higher starch content, and so is equally bad tasting.
4. Ergo, you could get sap as early as January, if there was a significant thaw, but typically sap flows in March and April (in the northern hemisphere), ideally 20 good sap flowing days per season.
5. The earlier you tap a tree, the sooner the tap will become useless. You have to create a new tap every year, preferably on the south side of the tree (in the northern hemisphere), but each tap makes an area 12" wide by 24" tall useless for taping for at least 6 years. Taps get filled within 2-3 months to become near useless, by a shell-like micro-organism which actually coats the inside of the tap to make the hole smaller. If you do tap early, remove the tap when the cold weather returns.
6. A typical 19/64" tap will produce 1 gallon of sap per sap running day. If you use buckets, collect them every day. Remember, buckets with bugs in it means you got good sap (and a fine strainer removes the bugs, so like the bugs).
7. Good sap reduces at a 40:1 ratio, which means a good tree will give you 1/2 gallon of syrup per season.
8. My sap reduces at just above 30:1 cause my trees are awesome...;-]
9. Sap will keep, cold, for weeks...but the older the sap the darker the syrup. Has no effect on taste, just color. Boiled sap, to any degree, keeps better than raw sap. Better to boil till all your sap is processed than to keep sap. That's why we have main boilers as well as auxiliary boilers. If you are only doing small batches, you've no problems in this regard, just keep boiling till you are done.
10. You cannot boil sap too much, but you can boil it too quickly. There's a kosher fat dry produce sold by syrup equipment companies that will prevent boil overs (boiling too quickly), always have some when boiling. A throw away pot on a turkey fryer or BBQ is a perfect way to boil small batches, just make sure the pot can be heated evenly. Sap boiled beyond 219.2F (typically syrup temperature) can become maple butter, then maple fudge, then maple sugar. But you can burn maple syrup if flame actually gets onto the syrup. That's the purpose of the fat, keep the foam down so you don't boil over.
11. Never boil sap in the house...consider, you are release 40:1 water over sap...it will cause drywall to bubble and wall paper to come off the wall. Finish in the house (e.g. take it off the BBQ at 217F and then finish in the house).
12. Make candies after you've made a lot of good syrup.
13. Syrup, if not made well (e.g. not boiled to a high enough temperature) can go moldy, just boil it again and stir in the mold. Get a better candy thermo. Syrup boiled to too high a temp can crystalize on the rim of the bottle, just boil again adding some good water and stopping before you get to 220F.
14. Good maple syrup never needs to be refrigerated, unless you like it thicker. There are no food safety issues with maple syrup no matter how bad its made.

I would encourage everyone to use more maple syrup. It is the healthiest form of sugar on the planet. Use it in your coffee, tea, cereal, toast, in bastes and marinades, anywhere that calls for molasses, brown sugar, etc...

 

[sjturner79]

 

[scflock]

I'm not sure if its the same with the 20, but do you get fluff stuck under the plastic near the fan? It's like that with the minis. I end up unscrewing the fan and cover and cleaning it out good because I really want my incubators to last. It seems to all condense under there.

Yes. Every hatch I take the cover off and blow the fan out with a blow dryer. Also wipe down the fan blades. If there is fluff stuck to the blades, it will knock it off balance and make it noisy when it runs.
Up to 10 now. Officially day 21 in 3 hours

 

[SFrati]

I don't know but you can mark her eggs that's she's sitting on and then when you check them you'll know if anyone added eggs to her batch. Why can't you put her and her eggs into her favorite nest that she keeps going too?

I have marked her eggs. I just have to pick out the new egg every day. I put her in a new location because her previous location was one of my main nests where she would be bothered by all of the other hens. Also if the chicks hatched there they would not be safe. I moved her to her own private nesting location in a brooding box with plenty of room, food, water, and access to the outside. I had to take away access to the outside once she started going to the other nest. Where she is now is where the chicks will be the safest.

 

[bantam brood 17]

Today is lockdown

for the 3 out of 6 that made it to lockdown, the waiting begins

also I,m going to be home for day 21 so hopefully I can see them hatch. Good luck to everyone else who as got hatches coming up

 

[FridayYet]

American BCM standard is feathered legs. Babby Daddy must be English.....

 

[NTBugtraq]

My new run for the youngun's flock.



The old pool fencing gate.



View from inside the coop.



And the coop finally has shingles, no more drips inside, yeah!!

When all my young birds are processed or integrated into the main flock, I will open the door between the two coops so the main flock will be able to roam around outside too.