Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[Beekissed]

Day 15...can't believe I've made it this far. Regularly turning the eggs whenever I think about it and am passing the nest..on average about 4 times a day. Airing out the nest for 5-10 min. about once every other day now. When last I looked the air cells were getting a tiny lopsided appearance to them, so I'm thinking they are still changing and being chicks like they should in there. I could see a lot of veins in the eggs when I looked last time. Poured a cup of water into the soil at the edge of the nest yesterday.

When I was airing and turning last night, I played the broody video for them...just for funzies.

Will be building my brooder in the coop this weekend for some meat chicks I'll be getting on Sunday. Only getting 10 of them and they should fit under the heating pad brooder just fine. I've never combined different ages of chicks before and definitely not older meaty chicks and younger DP chicks, but may try it on for size to see what happens. I may set up two heating pad brooders in the same pen so that they all have plenty of room...or combine the two and have one big one.

It will be fun to see how this all works out...I was supposed to get these meat chicks last week and was expecting that they would have aged out of the brooder by the time this set of chicks hatch out and they could then use it.

It will be another experiment to try....

 

[theawesomechick]

I remember you had mentioned something about playing a "distressed broody" video for the chicks once they were hatched. IMO, this might not work, as the chicks may not recognize an animal as a mother unless they communicate with them in their own special way the whole time they are developing in the egg, or through imprinting. Chicken language is much more complicated than we take it to be! They may recognize the broody noises you play for them as other hens in the area also brooding chicks.
I have no idea if this is true or not, just my two cents. And it never hurts to try.

 

[Beekissed]

I remember you had mentioned something about playing a "distressed broody" video for the chicks once they were hatched. IMO, this might not work, as the chicks may not recognize an animal as a mother unless they communicate with them in their own special way the whole time they are developing in the egg, or through imprinting. Chicken language is much more complicated than we take it to be! They may recognize the broody noises you play for them as other hens in the area also brooding chicks.
I have no idea if this is true or not, just my two cents. And it never hurts to try.

Just for funzies. I don't expect much of anything to happen or anything to work in any way...just playing it because I can't make those sounds.

I'm pretty familiar with broodies and broody speak by now as that's the only way I've been incubating chicks for some years now, so not really trying to accomplish anything with it, just seeing if it would cause them to move a little more....always experimenting here in my little redneck lab.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Day 15...can't believe I've made it this far. Regularly turning the eggs whenever I think about it and am passing the nest..on average about 4 times a day. Airing out the nest for 5-10 min. about once every other day now. When last I looked the air cells were getting a tiny lopsided appearance to them, so I'm thinking they are still changing and being chicks like they should in there. I could see a lot of veins in the eggs when I looked last time. Poured a cup of water into the soil at the edge of the nest yesterday.

When I was airing and turning last night, I played the broody video for them...just for funzies.

Will be building my brooder in the coop this weekend for some meat chicks I'll be getting on Sunday. Only getting 10 of them and they should fit under the heating pad brooder just fine. I've never combined different ages of chicks before and definitely not older meaty chicks and younger DP chicks, but may try it on for size to see what happens. I may set up two heating pad brooders in the same pen so that they all have plenty of room...or combine the two and have one big one.

It will be fun to see how this all works out...I was supposed to get these meat chicks last week and was expecting that they would have aged out of the brooder by the time this set of chicks hatch out and they could then use it.

It will be another experiment to try....

yea sounds like it's going good. I'm so glad and I sure hope you get a good hatch.

 

[ocap]

I remember you had mentioned something about playing a "distressed broody" video for the chicks once they were hatched. IMO, this might not work, as the chicks may not recognize an animal as a mother unless they communicate with them in their own special way the whole time they are developing in the egg, or through imprinting. Chicken language is much more complicated than we take it to be! They may recognize the broody noises you play for them as other hens in the area also brooding chicks.
I have no idea if this is true or not, just my two cents. And it never hurts to try.

I am constantly amazed that every chicken comes with the knowledge it needs in its DNA to "speak chicken" without having had a mother. My entire flock arrived last year as day old chicks and now only eight months later the silkies are acting broody.

 

[Tomtommom]

I am constantly amazed that every chicken comes with the knowledge it needs in its DNA to "speak chicken" without having had a mother. My entire flock arrived last year as day old chicks and now only eight months later the silkies are acting broody.

I am impressed by chickens time and time again, although sometimes it's in a "Wow, you're dumb" kind of way. Like the chicken that forgets where the door to the coop is....

and then... they perform the amazing parenting they do. Incredible creatures.

 

[enola]

Good news!! despite the power outage I am pretty sure I have 3 embryoes (?) developing. I am so glad, their daddy is the rooster that I threatened with the crock pot.

 

[theawesomechick]

Good news!! despite the power outage I am pretty sure I have 3 embryoes (?) developing. I am so glad, their daddy is the rooster that I threatened with the crock pot.

And... humankind has discovered a new method of maintaining fertility in eggs!

So, I'm currently transitioning some brooder girls outside to our oh so cold 45 degree Californian night temperatures

, and our house has never gets below 65 degrees, so I'm moving the gals into the garage. However, it's too cold there, so I'm going to have to supply them with a heat source. I really don't like the idea of more glaring heat lamps, so can someone give me a bit of detail on this whole heating pad in the brooder thing? I'll probably be doing this in a laundry basket with sand as bedding.

 

[Beekissed]

Built part of my brooder for some meat chicks in the coop today and will finish it tomorrow when I get some fresh hay bales. The meaties will be here tomorrow and the reason I mention it on this thread was because I'm using a heating pad brooder heater for them and it sort of goes with this experiment.

Here's a few pics of it wrapped in a simple, fleece pillow case to protect it from all the bedding and such....



This is how much clearance it has from the brooder floor and, of course, that can be changed in a couple of ways...either placing it up on bricks or bending the wire to allow for more height, etc.



Here's one entrance after it has been buried in some hay...it has access from front and back.



Back entrance....



And the well camouflaged brooder heater with the hay on top and sides to insulate it further and to allow for chicks to perch on top if they wish...and the chick feeder I built today from wood scraps I had handy. It has a piece of 2x2 woven wire fence on top as a lid to keep them from climbing into the fermented feed. I'll let you all know how it works with these meaties...right now the heating pad is on and I have a thermometer under the brooder to measure the heat there. Will check it in the morning to see how it held temps in the cool of the night...this is an open air hoop coop, so no protection from the night air.

 

[gatorshark75]

Built part of my brooder for some meat chicks in the coop today and will finish it tomorrow when I get some fresh hay bales. The meaties will be here tomorrow and the reason I mention it on this thread was because I'm using a heating pad brooder heater for them and it sort of goes with this experiment.

Here's a few pics of it wrapped in a simple, fleece pillow case to protect it from all the bedding and such....



This is how much clearance it has from the brooder floor and, of course, that can be changed in a couple of ways...either placing it up on bricks or bending the wire to allow for more height, etc.



Here's one entrance after it has been buried in some hay...it has access from front and back.



Back entrance....



And the well camouflaged brooder heater with the hay on top and sides to insulate it further and to allow for chicks to perch on top if they wish...and the chick feeder I built today from wood scraps I had handy. It has a piece of 2x2 woven wire fence on top as a lid to keep them from climbing into the fermented feed. I'll let you all know how it works with these meaties...right now the heating pad is on and I have a thermometer under the brooder to measure the heat there. Will check it in the morning to see how it held temps in the cool of the night...this is an open air hoop coop, so no protection from the night air.

get rid of the hay its not good for chicks or chickens get pine shavings all it takes is a little mold on the hay and bang sick chickens and dead chicks