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

[Cowpoke]

Bee Thank You! For posting the pics and Vid! It has been a pleasure following your experiment and a learning one!

I'm sorry about your GP ! I know how it is to lose a good dog.

And now a Broody! I'm envious!

 

[OHhappychicks]

I'll second Bee on the Petsafe wireless containment unit. We got one when we bought our property. There used to be a 1/2 acre fenced area behind the house, but I guess the people before us decided to take it down. I hear they had 4

german shepherds. Anyhow, all the fence is still here, just not up. It will work well for my garden and coop. Our Lilly is a complicated dog, but very smart. I spent the time working with her to respect the boundary for about two weeks before we took a chance and let her go. Her first thought was to bolt toward the coop. She is FAST and probably made it a goo 50 feet beyond the boundary before she got shocked (on level two, mind you). You would have thought something was killing her! She right back to the house and has not tested the boundary since. Best $100 we ever spent. We bought ours off craigslist, used but good condition.

Oh, and Bee, Lilly is doing really well with the chickens!! She hovers by the hens, no doubt to eat poop, but never chases them and seems unfazed when they flip out and take off for whatever reason. The mean Roo on the other hand, she likes to pester. I guess because he comes back at her. Good thing is, if she keeps him away from the house, the hens will stay away for the most part.

Thank you for your testament! This is the way we will go if we get another dog. We still haven't decided, although the longer it takes us to catch these fox, the more inclined I am to the idea. I will have to save up for the Petsafe. I won't get the dog until I know I can get the containment unit.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Bee, I am so sorry about your dog--what a a shame!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Bee Thank You! For posting the pics and Vid! It has been a pleasure following your experiment and a learning one!

I'm sorry about your GP ! I know how it is to lose a good dog.

And now a Broody! I'm envious!

AWEEEE BEE they sooooooo cute! LOve the video!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I hated the wired fencing too...it was ineffective for my dogs and a pain to install and maintain. This one involves placing a collar on the dog and plugging in a box...that's it. It will cover about half acre of land, which is all my dogs really needed to keep the preds away from the coop and forage areas.

I use PetSafe brand...I just bought a new one. The old one lasted me 10 yrs of faithful, reliable service...I was impressed enough to buy another just like it. I used to live right by a busy highway and it kept my dogs safe as houses. One was a GP mix dog and it worked so well on her that I thought it could be used on a full blood GP but his coat was mega huge and like carpeting at the neck line...couldn't trim it enough to get down to any contact point for the fence. I didn't even have to trim any fur for my other dogs and they could wear the collars very loosely, more like necklaces.

Yeah, it was the one the neighbor shot...we only had him 3-4 days. I was right out there in the yard working when he took off...I didn't see him go and he hadn't offered to leave the property before that, but when I noticed him gone I called for him. A few minutes later I heard the shot and he never came back. And that's country justice out here and one cannot blame the neighbor when they see a huge, potentially dangerous dog come running up on their land. My fault.

oh man Bee I hate that! I am so sorry!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Hey, Pete!

Got a broody or two now, so am going to use one to hatch out those WR eggs. I only had two young WR hens but one died off the roost the other night of liver failure, so it's a rush order on hatching more of the same....so stalking my remaining WR and hoarding her eggs until I have a clutch to place under that broody.

Seems like I've had chicks forever this season...I'm not used to it. Started with meaties, went on to Hootie, then some TSC chicks and a duckling, then the second Hootie Bunch, and soon more ducklings will arrive and after that~hopefully~this broody will have a hatch of WRs.

Shew! Never dealt with so many young birds in one season, in so many different batches, in all my life. I'll be glad when it's over and probably a little sad too...they sure are cute.

oh yes Bee it's a job isn't it? I'll soon have 3 different batches to work with. oh dear.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Quote: I hear ya Bee on the hatching and chick scene. I've been hatching about weekly since Feb. 15th, I'm fatigued. 2 more batches in bator then I'm done, yeah. Today was so stressful, I have the chicks in a small run inside the big run at the pop door. I opened man door to coop this morning to get food, turned my back, walked to bin to get FF and every baby had jumped out of the coop that quickly--even my 4 day Barred Rock! Hubby and I scrambled to secure bottom of fence where the itty bitty things could get out but they insisted all day in digging and sunbathing along the fenceline. I could not catch that many and even if I tried it would guarantee they'd run under fence to neighbors yard! So I had no choice but to let them "free range" today! I have to get them all at dusk and put in coop as they have no clue how to use ramp to get in.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I hear ya Bee on the hatching and chick scene. I've been hatching about weekly since Feb. 15th, I'm fatigued. 2 more batches in bator then I'm done, yeah. Today was so stressful, I have the chicks in a small run inside the big run at the pop door. I opened man door to coop this morning to get food, turned my back, walked to bin to get FF and every baby had jumped out of the coop that quickly--even my 4 day Barred Rock! Hubby and I scrambled to secure bottom of fence where the itty bitty things could get out but they insisted all day in digging and sunbathing along the fenceline. I could not catch that many and even if I tried it would guarantee they'd run under fence to neighbors yard! So I had no choice but to let them "free range" today! I have to get them all at dusk and put in coop as they have no clue how to use ramp to get in.

oh my gosh that sounds VERY stressful!!!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

It was RoseMarie! Got them all in last night--no one got lost. Here they are on Alfalfa I planted for them--young crop, they did not hurt it!

 

[Zombified]

You know...it must have been very hard for my folks. I'm the youngest of nine children and all our clothing, bedding, furniture...well...everything was gone. I don't know if they had insurance on that old house. But something wonderful happened in our county and small community...people gave us a place to live and the donations for clothing was overwhelming. Now, this is back in the 70s and no one had much back in those days, so when folks give enough that a family of eleven people can be clothed, have beds to sleep in and have a place to live...well..that's nothing short of a miracle.

Bad things happen all the time and one can choose to get stuck on that event or in that place all their lives...or they can choose to see the good that came of it. I always try to choose the good things to remember and put the bad or painful things behind me, where they belong. It's hard to keep rolling smoothly down the road if you leave a nail in your tire, so those need to be plucked out, the tire patched and the car of our lives put back on the road if one is to get anywhere and enjoy the trip.

Bee, everytime I get on, I see you've written something amazing. You're quite inspirational.

And eeee! All those chicks are so cute! <3

Sooooo, update from me. I candled Thoth's eggs the other day, and found another living baby! Sadly, yesterday, when I candled them again, the original living baby seemed to be dead. I didn't take it out, because I don't know for sure.

The temps have been pretty steady, with very minor (like, one or two degrees) fluctuations in the morning and evening times, but those are extremely easy to fix, and once fixed, they stay steady for the rest of the day/night.

I'm having issues with the humidity right now, though. It's really difficult to bring it past 25%, but I need it higher for the eggs that are getting ready to hatch. I'm not sure if I should aim for 60%, or if that would be too high. I've been aiming for 40-45%.

Other than that, all of the eggs (aside from the ones that I'm 99% sure are dead) look like amazing bouncing beans.


EDIT;
Oh, and everyone over here is going through a molt! There are feathers all over the yard! Haha. My ducks look sooooooo scraggily!