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

[Beekissed]

Wow! Homemade bread, little or no gas bill, low electric bill, no chicks in the house, hate to "throw money at any problem", real life broody chicken simulating-hatching eggs economically; sounds like my kinda Lady! Keep it up Bee! This is exciting!
Bare foot thermometers..Oh My

Yes...I ARE frugal, though some have accused me of being cheap. It's a way of life now. After living off grid and homesteading while growing up, I developed a distinct aversion to being tied down to the grid, technology, and wasting money on needless things. In a weird sort of way I find it a luxury to be able to heat with wood, eat homemade bread and canned, home grown chicken and things grown here on the land, though I'm sure many would view it as going backwards in time instead of forward.

From what I read on forums and in magazines, it's the wave of the future to go back into the past, so I'm just surfing one wave ahead of everyone.....

Even darned my winter socks this year...was tickled to show them off to folks, though no one seemed to share my level of enthusiasm for it all.

 

[ocap]

Yes...I ARE frugal, though some have accused me of being cheap. It's a way of life now. After living off grid and homesteading while growing up, I developed a distinct aversion to being tied down to the grid, technology, and wasting money on needless things. In a weird sort of way I find it a luxury to be able to heat with wood, eat homemade bread and canned, home grown chicken and things grown here on the land, though I'm sure many would view it as going backwards in time instead of forward.

From what I read on forums and in magazines, it's the wave of the future to go back into the past, so I'm just surfing one wave ahead of everyone.....

Even darned my winter socks this year...was tickled to show them off to folks, though no one seemed to share my level of enthusiasm for it all.

I wish I had grown up that way, IMO we need your knowledge of how to survive, that is one of the reasons I picked chickens, no need for freezer.

 

[Cowpoke]

Here in Southeast Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico coast; we have to be prepared for hurricanes. In my case of preparedness, I have a portable generator that could be used in a power outage. We had to use it for 17-days, during the last hurricane. You just need to be at home and know you have an outage. As for as power blips, we get our fair share and I can see where an electronic thermostat for the heating pad could be a problem, especially if you are not home or unaware of a power blip, I guess you just have to stay on top of things, very closely.

 

[aart]

I've always been fairly frugal, but after working for 20 years making good money buying what ever toy or tool or food my consuming little heart desired...I lost my job, permanent 'layoff', being too old/experienced to find another job in my field and having been frugal enough to save lots of those good wages...being frugal took on a whole new meaning.

A different perspective on consumerism was really rather enlightening. I started selling stuff I'd 'wanted' before now to find I didn't use it or 'need' it. When I saw something in a store that I would have previously purchased, I coined a new personal mantra..... "I don't need that".

I'm learning to live much more simply, making do with less, not buying even food on impulse, I wait til the larder is **** near bare before buying more just to force myself to look at it all differently....always thinking in the back of my mind, I have savings-I don't really need to do that....but what about the people who really live on the edge of solvency.
Makes me grateful to have what I do, and not squander one tiny bit of any of it....and prepares me for stretching the times ahead.

 

[Beekissed]

I wish I had grown up that way, IMO we need your knowledge of how to survive, that is one of the reasons I picked chickens, no need for freezer.

I think the biggest tool for survival is attitude. I have siblings that hated every minute of our off grid life and still to this day express hatred of the whole affair...needless to say, none of them care to try any aspect of it again. I think attitude dictates whether you feel like you are living under a hardship or if you are having an adventure and both will determine your success and how long you can continue that way of life.

Anytime I hear people discussing such a thing and one of the first things they say is, "That would be neat, but I couldn't live without my _________ (insert cellphone, electric, TV, running water, freezer, air conditioning, etc.)"...I know they could never live a minimalist lifestyle.

The first thing a person has to do is decide there isn't much of anything they can't live without~ except food, water, shelter, heat and clothing of some type. If not, the goals all change to include all the miscellaneous items they are not willing to live without and that can be a mountain of things....and pretty soon a person isn't so self sufficient after all. Just some hens in the back yard and a raised garden bed or two, maybe some kimchi on the counter top.

Here in Southeast Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico coast; we have to be prepared for hurricanes. In my case of preparedness, I have a portable generator that could be used in a power outage. We had to use it for 17-days, during the last hurricane. You just need to be at home and know you have an outage. As for as power blips, we get our fair share and I can see where an electronic thermostat for the heating pad could be a problem, especially if you are not home or unaware of a power blip, I guess you just have to stay on top of things, very closely.

Yes...very closely. I hate using a sledgehammer (heat lamp) when a rubber mallet(heating pad) would do, but that electric flow is the deciding factor. Someone with more knowledge about electrical components than I would need to figure out how to cheaply and effectively circumvent this problem.

 

[Beekissed]

I've always been fairly frugal, but after working for 20 years making good money buying what ever toy or tool or food my consuming little heart desired...I lost my job, permanent 'layoff', being too old/experienced to find another job in my field and having been frugal enough to save lots of those good wages...being frugal took on a whole new meaning.

A different perspective on consumerism was really rather enlightening. I started selling stuff I'd 'wanted' before now to find I didn't use it or 'need' it. When I saw something in a store that I would have previously purchased, I coined a new personal mantra..... "I don't need that".

I'm learning to live much more simply, making do with less, not buying even food on impulse, I wait til the larder is **** near bare before buying more just to force myself to look at it all differently....always thinking in the back of my mind, I have savings-I don't really need to do that....but what about the people who really live on the edge of solvency.
Makes me grateful to have what I do, and not squander one tiny bit of any of it....and prepares me for stretching the times ahead.

Me too. I have actually picked up pretty things, felt of it, talked about wanting it, discussed how I could really use it...and then put it right back, stating, "No, I don't really need it." For a woman, to walk through a store filled with enticingly beautiful things...well..they just call out to you! And I'm not even a typical woman with a life long habit of consumerism, so I can imagine how hard it must be for those who have always bought what they wanted, when they wanted it. I think the whole hoarding thing lies somewhere in there...a feeling of satisfaction, of well being and even security, when one can just buy what they want, just to have it. There is no real need, but the wanting becomes a need in a way.

There's no question that a lot of people can afford to indulge wants, but when one explores the underpinnings of that want, is it really something a person needs to be feeding? A self indulgent life and a feeling of entitlement? I work for it, I should be able to spend it whatever way I want! I hear that a lot. But when a person is drowning under a mountain of possessions I think they have difficulty seeing the picture of their life and what it really is...a life built on stuff. Just...stuff. Comes in handy now and again but in reality it's still just nonessential stuff that weighs around your neck like a millstone and consumes your mind, time and money like a leaky wood stove eats wood.

I know a lot of people would think me silly to bulk at buying a cheap incubator and just incubating some eggs...but how often would I use it? Really. Then it would be another item of "stuff" to store, dust, move, maintain, etc. It's the little things that add up to the mountain and I no longer want to live in the shadow of a mountain of "stuff", even though my mountain was considerably smaller than most, it was still a mountain. Now I just want to be able to see my life and who I am, without clutter and stuff in the way.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I mainly post stuff like this to show that it can be done and from a picture it really shows about 90 percent of HOW it can be done.

deb

 

[Lacy Blues]

In thinking about heating blankets and whether or not they would come back on with a power outage, I'm thinking that if you got an older one that had switches for heat settings instead of an electronic, LCD thing that you push buttons for settings, it would probably work. I have some older heating pads that I've used for brooding chicks for a few years that have switches. I think that unplugging it, without turning it off first would have the same effect as an outage. When I plug it in again, it comes on without me changing any settings. I always used the heat pads for floor heat, don't know why I never thought of making it a broody mama for them so they could get underneath.

How to do it without electricity, I have no idea at all, except for the kerosene lamp idea. I've seen diagrams of those in old books on raising chickens. You'd definitely have to figure some way to be absolutely sure that thing didn't get knocked over or even bumped on the glass! Sheesh! I don't know if I could sleep at night with one of those burning in the barn!

 

[aart]

I know a lot of people would think me silly to bulk at buying a cheap incubator and just incubating some eggs...but how often would I use it? Really. Then it would be another item of "stuff" to store, dust, move, maintain, etc. It's the little things that add up to the mountain and I no longer want to live in the shadow of a mountain of "stuff", even though my mountain was considerably smaller than most, it was still a mountain. Now I just want to be able to see my life and who I am, without clutter and stuff in the way.

Exactly!! I was soo tempted to buy an incubator, with fan and turner, candler and all that stuff...but was able to resist in part to avoid adding to the 'mountain', in part just can't justify expending the funds and at last because I met someone who had the gear but not the patience and attention to detail to see thru a successful incubation...so I was thrilled when she asked me to do an incubation for her and to keep the gear until I could do one for myself. When I'm done, the 'stuff' goes back onto her mountain....hehehe.

I've done two and learned that the incubation is just the start, then you have to house them, integrate them and all that...another mountain I don't want to build.
But I got to have the experience and have satiated the desire to put to use all I have studied and first hand experience and observe all an incubation entails.

Sometimes if you wait, what you desire will come in some form.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes! I was just talking to my mother about how wonderful it was to be brooding those meat chicks up in the coop instead of in the house and not having to fuss with cleaning a brooder, spilled water and feed, etc., thrn having to integrate the flock later. I love an easy care routine and brooding in the coop with a hay bale brooder is just about the easiest thing there is, except having an actual broody to do the heating of the brood.

Incubation is just one aspect of it all and one that I have always left to broodies because I had those...and they worked so well...and there was really no work involved, nor money spent. I loved that!

It's a hard ol' life being broody-less.... Then ya have to mess with "stuff"....