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

[Beekissed]

Okay! Thanks for the info!

 

[lazy gardener]

RE: doing the egg, flashlight, pencil juggle. I think I found the solution last night... at least it worked for me. I put my little flashlight in an egg carton, so it was spanning the dip between 2 cells, with the business end hanging out a bit past the lip of the carton. That left one hand to hold the egg with the cell against the light, and the pencil in the other hand. Easy peasy to rotate the egg against the pencil... kind of like the concept of how a lathe would work.

 

[Beekissed]

RE: doing the egg, flashlight, pencil juggle. I think I found the solution last night... at least it worked for me. I put my little flashlight in an egg carton, so it was spanning the dip between 2 cells, with the business end hanging out a bit past the lip of the carton. That left one hand to hold the egg with the cell against the light, and the pencil in the other hand. Easy peasy to rotate the egg against the pencil... kind of like the concept of how a lathe would work.

I'll have to try that tonight...tonight is my 7 day air cell marking and first culling of clear eggs. Thank you for the neat idea!!! I'll report on how it worked for me...that is, if I understand what you mean by the positioning of the light in the egg carton.

 

[Beekissed]

Okay...I tried it but I must not have gotten the gist of it because it just wasn't working for me. I ended up placing the egg against my stomach(big and stable landscape) and holding it against the flashlight in that manner and it was much easier than before.

I only removed one egg at this time for no signs of development whatsoever, either in the egg or in the air cell. There were a couple more that had air cells developing but sure didn't have the growth of the rest of the eggs in there....but were questionable and so I left them. There was one with a definite blood ring but it also had a very active chick in there, so I just marked the blood ring and left it alone. Another had a partial blood ring, not quite as much development but still had something going on, so I left it.

There were several that were so active that I marked those with a star on the shell, as in my star pupils...they were movin' and groovin' in there. Overall, I'm very, very pleased with all the aircells of the remaining eggs as they all seem right on the appropriate size for a 7 day egg, even the more porous eggs.

I'm still amazed at how the air cells are almost uniform in size throughout the whole hatch...God truly has an amazing design in how this egg functions to bring about a chick. I'm also very tickled that this method is getting a fair shake this time because now I have many viable eggs...I simply cannot WAIT to see if they all make it to hatch and how vigorous they are this time, when I am not drowning them with water!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I'm so glad you tried again with this batch of eggs and that they are doing so well. I surely didn't want this experiment to end on a sad note. I couldn't agree more about the miracle of egg design and development. The more I learn about how things work and all the pieces that have to come together to create a little life, the more I am amazed. And grateful.

By the way, how are the little meaties doing?

 

[Beekissed]

I'm so glad you tried again with this batch of eggs and that they are doing so well. I surely didn't want this experiment to end on a sad note. I couldn't agree more about the miracle of egg design and development. The more I learn about how things work and all the pieces that have to come together to create a little life, the more I am amazed. And grateful.

By the way, how are the little meaties doing?

They are growing like weeds and getting out of their brooder when they can, eating like little porkers and loving life in the coop.

Lost one a few days after they arrived...just sleepy and not wanting to eat, so I knew it wouldn't make it. It was the smallest one of the bunch, so it wasn't a surprise.

Here's a few pics I took the other day....








And a video!

 

[aussie pete]

glad to hear u have such good signs about these eggs

at the end of day 21 - i have 10 out, 5 externally pipped ,still 7, I'm patiently waiting on- temp still rock solid, humidity currently on 81%

cheers Pete

 

[Beekissed]

glad to hear u have such good signs about these eggs

at the end of day 21 - i have 10 out, 5 externally pipped ,still 7, I'm patiently waiting on- temp still rock solid, humidity currently on 81%

cheers Pete

I'm pleased with this method of watching for development and I'm glad you told me that one could get by with that. I had to tweak my setup today to keep temps down to 100 but seem to have found a way to do so quite easily. It seems like the humidity must be fine with all the air cells being on track for Day 7...even the one that was larger than the rest the other day has sort of self-adjusted, just like you described, and is now indistinguishable from all the rest.

That's a big hatch! Pete, have you noticed since using the FF if you have more pullet to cockerel ratio or has there been no difference? I'm curious because we've had reports both ways...one said she is getting more pullets now and another said no difference, same as before feeding the FF. Also, have you noticed more health and vigor in your chicks since using the FF than before?

When do you normally sex yours? Do you do it with feather or vent or neither?

 

[aussie pete]

Bee I haven't noticed any lge pullet number increase in hatches, I don't attempt to sex at all till at least 8-10 wks then x wattle development.

usually have buyers for my cockrels so don't worry to much about ratio.

if i was in a position where i wasn't breeding purebreds ,& wanted girls only for eggs or sale, i would get a RIR boy to cover my LS girls so i could cull boys at hatch

i have noticed even in this hatch that the bigger say 68g eggs produce a much larger framed chick, than say a 58g egg .
will try to get a pic later tonight to show or weigh chics when i get them out of incubator .

though it appears to even out after a couple of days of feeding

Pete

 

[Beekissed]

I was rather shocked at the size of the chicks in that last hatch and how small were the eggs they came out of. It just doesn't seem possible that a chick that big could fit into that small of a space.

Shoot! I was kind of hoping the FF would turn out more pullets. I've had that happen when giving ACV to meat rabbits and have also had a high pullet rate in my broody hatches in the past when using ACV in the water, as well as more ewe lambs with the sheep, so was wondering if the FF would produce the same. I know folks laugh at that and say it's not possible but it's been playing out at my place for years now and have read reports of the same for other farmers, particularly with sheep, after using the ACV in the water.

I'd like to practice my feather sexing abilities with this hatch and then band the ones I think are cockerels just to see if I'm any good at it when the other signs start to show.