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

[aussie pete]

hi Jules ,have 24 light Sussex due on 4/4,was going to wait for spring time here (sept) ,but ppl keep buying all my chooks lol . was down to 3 hens & old roger the roo.
hopefully i can get these grown out over winter so i have plenty ready to lay in spring.

cheers Pete

 

[Beekissed]

hi Jules ,have 24 light Sussex due on 4/4,was going to wait for spring time here (sept) ,but ppl keep buying all my chooks lol . was down to 3 hens & old roger the roo.
hopefully i can get these grown out over winter so i have plenty ready to lay in spring.

cheers Pete

Wow! You ARE low on stock!

So glad you are replenishing..what would you do without chickens to potter around with? I'm ready to cull my already small flock, sure could use an infusion of good birds. A really kind and wonderful breeder offered me some hatching eggs for WRs, so I'm perfecting my incubating method and skills before I attempt it. Wouldn't want to waste perfectly good WR eggs on my bumbling around.

 

[pogmobum]

Just read this whole loooooooong story super interesting hope it works out well for you !!

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you!

Candled the eggs for the last time tonight and saw good activity in egg #11 and a tilt on the air cell that shows this chick is pretty near to being on time in her staging. Put the largest part of her air cell upwards.

Egg #7 shows good activity as well, air cell is progressing, though not exactly tilting to one side yet...I'm thinking this chick will be a day behind chick #11.

Egg #6 is the smallest and darkest egg, so very hard to visualize anything in that egg but I can vaguely see movement there and the air cell is exactly like egg #7...still centered well on the end of the egg but the appropriate size. I think this chick has less room to move around due to the smallness of the shell. I think this egg too will be a little behind egg #11.

I removed the feathers from over the eggs and added about 10-12 oz. of warm water to the soil beside/under the nest...not directly near or under the eggs. This is the last night they get turned. Temps are steady at 100.0...as I understand the incubation chart, that temp should drop down a few tenths in degree but I'm doubting I can get that exact with this method.

On the 21st day I'll mist the heating pad surface down with some water to provide a little extra humidity but I'm not going to go hog wild with it. If I can catch the activity at the appropriate times I'll try to film it and take pics when they hatch.

Between then and now I'll cut a piece of fencing to shape a small, low arch under one side of the heating pad so the new chicks can come out and go back in after hatching and drying.

It sure is neat seeing those little bodies moving around in the eggs and knowing they will soon be dry, fluffy little chicks in a nest. I'm praying they make it out okay and are healthy little boogers.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Such good news about the 3 eggs! So happy this is working for you (and all of us, really). Keeping your little chicks in my thoughts and anticipating an exciting hatch day.

An aside: I've read that the humidity will naturally rise in an incubator when the pips occur. Keeps everyone from getting stuck and I guess why a broody mama does not leave her nest during this time.

 

[Beekissed]

Such good news about the 3 eggs! So happy this is working for you (and all of us, really). Keeping your little chicks in my thoughts and anticipating an exciting hatch day.

An aside: I've read that the humidity will naturally rise in an incubator when the pips occur. Keeps everyone from getting stuck and I guess why a broody mama does not leave her nest during this time.

That's what I'm counting on..that the first egg will humidify the next and so on. I watched a vid on a broody with a chick hatching and it seems like she moved the chick out of the nest when it was half way out of the egg and then sort of watched him hatch out in the open air...seemed to help him a little by rolling the egg, then removed the shells and a little later when he was dry she made him get back under her. I'm wondering if this is a way she keeps it from getting TOO humid under there.

I'll play it by ear and see what happens. I'm hoping the fermented feeds fed to the parent birds will mean these chicks are strong and vigorous from the start. All reports from others hatching out chicks from this method of feeding have reported large, strong chicks.

 

[aart]

Good Luck!

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Good luck, Bee ! Can't wait to see those little fluffy butts running around !

 

[TexasLisa]

So eggsciting!! Somebody won't be sleeping much!

Lisa

 

[Cowpoke]

I know that's right, Lisa!

Good Luck to you, BEE, we are behind you all the way!