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

[lazy gardener]

Congrats on all of the good things that have happened for you in the last 24 hours. Now, tell me... wasn't it worth the whole thing, just to get that little Hootie II?
Beautiful roo. What did you say the breeds of the TSC chicks was? Here's hoping that those little duckies are a male and female. I was just looking at the catalog today, and admiring the Campbells. (Hubby would kill me!) We are planning a new coop, hopefully with enough room for feed storage, and a counter top... to set my incubator on!!! Perhaps, if I plan wisely, and use multi level spacing, I can save a bit of space for ducks in my future. They would have to be Campbells for sure!

Of course, now that you have such a beautiful roo, from such a royal gene pool, and it's still early in the season... I'd suggest that you banish your other roo to a bachelor pad, and get to work hatching some heritage Rocks!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Congrats on all of the good things that have happened for you in the last 24 hours. Now, tell me... wasn't it worth the whole thing, just to get that little Hootie II?
Beautiful roo. What did you say the breeds of the TSC chicks was? Here's hoping that those little duckies are a male and female. I was just looking at the catalog today, and admiring the Campbells. (Hubby would kill me!) We are planning a new coop, hopefully with enough room for feed storage, and a counter top... to set my incubator on!!! Perhaps, if I plan wisely, and use multi level spacing, I can save a bit of space for ducks in my future. They would have to be Campbells for sure!

Of course, now that you have such a beautiful roo, from such a royal gene pool, and it's still early in the season... I'd suggest that you banish your other roo to a bachelor pad, and get to work hatching some heritage Rocks!!! Put his genes to good use ASAP.

 

[TexasLisa]

Congratulations Bee on Hootie 2 and The Rock. What a beautiful specimen of a male! I am so happy you had a good day yesterday. Prayers were definitely answered! Hoping for more good news today!

Lisa

 

[OHhappychicks]

Exactly what breed is a WF? He is most handsome. Are the red streaks supposed to be there or are they a result of his altercation with the other roo?

 

[Beekissed]

Congrats on all of the good things that have happened for you in the last 24 hours. Now, tell me... wasn't it worth the whole thing, just to get that little Hootie II?
Beautiful roo. What did you say the breeds of the TSC chicks was? Here's hoping that those little duckies are a male and female. I was just looking at the catalog today, and admiring the Campbells. (Hubby would kill me!) We are planning a new coop, hopefully with enough room for feed storage, and a counter top... to set my incubator on!!! Perhaps, if I plan wisely, and use multi level spacing, I can save a bit of space for ducks in my future. They would have to be Campbells for sure!

Of course, now that you have such a beautiful roo, from such a royal gene pool, and it's still early in the season... I'd suggest that you banish your other roo to a bachelor pad, and get to work hatching some heritage Rocks!!!

I've got my head on straight now, so I've got it reasoned down to logic how I'm going to be able to breed these WRs without a broody on hand and using this method....I'll outline it below.

The TSC chicks are RIRs...they say...but a few have white feathering on the wing tips, which could mean RSL. They are straight run so it's likely I'll have to eat some or all of them...I tried to get the man to be selective about which chicks he was picking but he didn't even know what breed they were and acted like it was the first time he had ever seen a chicken.

The KCs would have been the only ducks I would have even considered bringing home....they are such good egg layers(better than chickens), good foragers and stay healthy even without water to live near, so they are pretty low maintenance as far as ducks go.

The other roo is taking a journey to a new home soon. They are settling their differences this morning and are currently walking calmly side by side, foraging with the flock. Will set some more eggs in May a good long while after this former roo is gone. Chances are I might still get a Cochin in the nest but maybe not. He's not a real vigorous breeder and this WR most certainly is....my girls don't know what happened to their world this morning but they are going to be losing some pounds, I tell ya!

Exactly what breed is a WF? He is most handsome. Are the red streaks supposed to be there or are they a result of his altercation with the other roo?

He is a Plymouth White Rock, the king of all poultry, IMBO(in my biased opinion

) but they are often referred to as WRs. The red streaks are where he got his comb and wattles bitten in a fight...they bleed pretty well because of their good blood supply, so it looks worse than it really is.



My thinking on any further incubation I may be doing......

I've got it decided in my head how I'm going to get through this incubation without breaking my heart over it each time. I'm going to stop candling so much...only going to candle at day 10 and remove the clears, day 14 to mark air cells and again on day 18 to mark the same and the pip site, and in the end, any eggs not hatched by 48 hrs past the hatch date will be tossed without an examination...what do I need to look at them for? I can't tell what happened anyway, so no need to go there.

In that way I can minimize my motherly tendencies towards seeing babies in the eggs and identifying strongly with them....I don't know if this hits you guys because you are not built in that way, but as a woman with very strong mothering tendencies, I really can't seem to separate myself from the fact of chick death and I'm hoping the least I handle and candle, the least I'll get caught up in the nurturing of it all.

Got another chick this morning and these chicks are extremely healthy, loud and strong.....got five more making sounds of arrival and one with no sound. I'm pleased that this method does indeed work, that one doesn't have to measure or maintain any certain humidity to have a successful hatch with it, it held temps incredibly steady in a room with fluctuating ambient temps, and I'm certain as time goes along and I get better, more viable eggs, I'll be able to use this method alongside a foam chest incubator to measure true efficacy with the same sort of eggs.

I'm convinced this method works and I'm loving it that one doesn't have to do anything to the humidity to get a successful hatching....these babies are practically bursting out of their shells and when I find them their shells are nestled one within the other...is that typical? These chicks are very tiny...not like the other ones. They are about the size of those bantam chicks I saw at TSC yesterday...incredibly tiny. Big head, big feet, tiny body.....I think that is more due to the sire because that's how he looks too. Both of these chicks are from BA hens. Will post updates as more arrive throughout the day.

I think this method is going to be a 22 day method and I may even coin the name for that and call it NN22, for short, as I continue to work with it and I hope others do as well.

I have to get out there and do some revamping of coop feeding situations~build a bigger feed trough~and till some land to plant my salad plot and my wildflower plots. Will also give the garden another turning before the final tillage for the season. I'll keep checking back on the chicks and letting you all know how it goes along.

 

[TexasLisa]

Bee that is wonderful news on the new chicks. I love your new plan!

Lisa

 

[ocap]

My thinking on any further incubation I may be doing......

I've got it decided in my head how I'm going to get through this incubation without breaking my heart over it each time. I'm going to stop candling so much...only going to candle at day 10 and remove the clears, day 14 to mark air cells and again on day 18 to mark the same and the pip site, and in the end, any eggs not hatched by 48 hrs past the hatch date will be tossed without an examination...what do I need to look at them for? I can't tell what happened anyway, so no need to go there.

In that way I can minimize my motherly tendencies towards seeing babies in the eggs and identifying strongly with them....I don't know if this hits you guys because you are not built in that way, but as a woman with very strong mothering tendencies, I really can't seem to separate myself from the fact of chick death and I'm hoping the least I handle and candle, the least I'll get caught up in the nurturing of it all.

Got another chick this morning and these chicks are extremely healthy, loud and strong.....got five more making sounds of arrival and one with no sound. I'm pleased that this method does indeed work, that one doesn't have to measure or maintain any certain humidity to have a successful hatch with it, it held temps incredibly steady in a room with fluctuating ambient temps, and I'm certain as time goes along and I get better, more viable eggs, I'll be able to use this method alongside a foam chest incubator to measure true efficacy with the same sort of eggs.

I'm convinced this method works and I'm loving it that one doesn't have to do anything to the humidity to get a successful hatching....these babies are practically bursting out of their shells and when I find them their shells are nestled one within the other...is that typical? These chicks are very tiny...not like the other ones. They are about the size of those bantam chicks I saw at TSC yesterday...incredibly tiny. Big head, big feet, tiny body.....I think that is more due to the sire because that's how he looks too. Both of these chicks are from BA hens. Will post updates as more arrive throughout the day.

I think this method is going to be a 22 day method and I may even coin the name for that and call it NN22, for short, as I continue to work with it and I hope others do as well.

I have to get out there and do some revamping of coop feeding situations~build a bigger feed trough~and till some land to plant my salad plot and my wildflower plots. Will also give the garden another turning before the final tillage for the season. I'll keep checking back on the chicks and letting you all know how it goes along.

I don't candle at all but I do a sniff test on day 18 to see if I smell anything rotten.
I put the eggs on a level surface on day 18 let them roll and put the light side up for the "lockdown".
I don't open eggs that don't hatch.
I increased my temperature half a degree F to try and get mine to hatch on day 21, my initial attempt was 22+.
I am content with 50% hatch rate, and am always surprised any hatch.

I am proud to be your friend, don't worry about getting a Styrofoam incubator, your nest incubator is working (Hootie and Hootie II proved your system).

John
p/s if I go first I will meet you at the gate.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't candle at all but I do a sniff test on day 18 to see if I smell anything rotten.
I put the eggs on a level surface on day 18 let them roll and put the light side up for the "lockdown".
I don't open eggs that don't hatch.
I increased my temperature half a degree F to try and get mine to hatch on day 21, my initial attempt was 22+.
I am content with 50% hatch rate, and am always surprised any hatch.

I am proud to be your friend, don't worry about getting a Styrofoam incubator, your nest incubator is working (Hootie and Hootie II proved your system).

John
p/s if I go first I will meet you at the gate.

Now, that IS a hand's off incubation, John! I can manage that....all except the level surface, so I may have to candle on day 18 just to locate the air cell tilt and might as well take out any clears at the same time. Or I may remove clears at day 10 just so I won't have to turn all those dud eggs!

I wonder if a person could save some time and handling of the shells by taping them with paper tape into egg chains of 4-6 eggs per(tape pinched to itself between each one for stability) and just picking up the ends of the tape and flipping the chain and then on the 18th day, untape and set them where they need to be...or am I just getting lazy?

You really think this nest is as efficient as a foam chest incubator? I'd love to continue to just use it all the time. The only tricky thing about this one is when the electric goes out but that's probably true for most incubators, though the pad doesn't come back on automatically when power is restored.

John, I will expect a hug if you beat me there and I'll run out to meet you if I win the race Home.

If we should happen to all be caught up together before then, the last one in is a rotten egg!

 

[normanack]

I'm not sure about this (novice here), but if humidity isn't an issue, I don't think candling air cells is necessary. One less thing to worry about.

 

[ocap]

Now, that IS a hand's off incubation, John! I can manage that....all except the level surface, so I may have to candle on day 18 just to locate the air cell tilt and might as well take out any clears at the same time. Or I may remove clears at day 10 just so I won't have to turn all those dud eggs!

I wonder if a person could save some time and handling of the shells by taping them with paper tape into egg chains of 4-6 eggs per(tape pinched to itself between each one for stability) and just picking up the ends of the tape and flipping the chain and then on the 18th day, untape and set them where they need to be...or am I just getting lazy?

You really think this nest is as efficient as a foam chest incubator? I'd love to continue to just use it all the time. The only tricky thing about this one is when the electric goes out but that's probably true for most incubators, though the pad doesn't come back on automatically when power is restored.

John, I will expect a hug if you beat me there and I'll run out to meet you if I win the race Home.

If we should happen to all be caught up together before then, the last one in is a rotten egg!

your system (from what I have gleaned on this thread) seems to be better than the cheapest Styrofoam incubator.
Bob Blosl recommended that I buy a 1588, that one might beat your natural system (talk with others, I am ignorant). Ozexpat has a lot of experience, send him a pm if you are going to spend $200.

See you at the gate! 90 Minutes in Heaven is a book about a guy that died and was met at the gate by everyone that had been involved with his Christian walk.

No rotten eggs

Lots of hugs !!! I have spent nine years discussing, learning and defending the Christian faith with non-believers. The best four books (after the Bible) are my favorite books listed below.