Recent content by willows68

Hello, I have just hatched some pure bred Buff Orpington chicks. Now that the chicks are a week old I have noticed that some of them are developing grey legs instead of pink/white. What could be causing this? Parent birds have the perfect white legs and colouring true to the breed.

Hello, I am thinking of breeding Buff Sussex hens and also Rhode Island Red hens. What would happen if I let a Buff Sussex rooster run with my Rhode Island Reds? What kind of offspring would hatch? Also, what if I were do the reverse - Rhode Island Red rooster with Buff Sussex hens?

Hello members, I am presently on Day 18 (incubator says 4 days to go for hatch) and the incubator is still turning the eggs. According to the manual turning does not stop until two days before hatch. Should I manually change this or go with the flow?

That's the conclusion I came to. I've been in touch with the manufacturer who sent me some instructions on how to return it to its factory settings. The retailer has apparently tested it - but I don't trust it and don't want to risk losing any more chicks. The retailer has today offered to...

Temperature was hitting 50 degrees c. and humidity was up in the 60 and 70s during incubation when the settings should have been 37.5 and 45 percent.

Hello lovely members, I need some advice. I purchased an R-Com King Suro 24 incubator in the Republic of Ireland upon the advice of the sales assistant. I originally wanted to purchase the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance EX Auto-Turn incubator. I was advised that the R-Com was just as good, but a...

Where do you keep you incubator? I live in an old farmhouse with extremely thick walls so most of the rooms are pretty cool. I could keep the incubators in my sewing room? However, that room does not get a lot of sun during summer or winter and remains fairly cool all year round. Your advice...

I think maybe a forced air. It is a R-com 20 Pro. Link below. http://www.pandtpoultry.co.uk/product/categoryid/84/productid/1266 As for ventilation, it has vents on the front. It's quite cold here at the moment so I don't have the window open in the study where the incubator is set up...

The eggs in this hatch were from my own flock. My rooster and his selected ladies are all being fed a breeders crumb, and greens of course. The rooster and hens are all about the same age. I bought them last August as POL. The rooster was sourced from a different breeder so they are unrelated.

Hello TwoCrows, well my hatch has now finished. Final count is 11 out of 20 eggs. I need some further advice - what went wrong? I did open a couple of the unhatched eggs and they had fully formed chicks inside and also very small chicks inside with a huge air space at the top. One egg I...

I use that rubber drawer liner stuff in my brooders for the day-olds. It stops them slipping and is very easy to clean. I am sure this would work well inside the incubator too. I'm just too nervous to disturb the eggs when they are approaching lockdown.

Well I never, you learn something new every minute of the day! Thanks for your advice. I've been talking to a few RIR breeders here in Ireland and have gleaned quite a bit of knowledge. I now know that my RIR ladies are in fact hybrids - great layers, but not very good for breeding as they...

I am by no means an expert, but I have just completed a hatch with my new R-Com 20 Pro incubator and I left the tray in place. It did seem to help to keep the eggs in place while they were hatching and helped to prevent the hatched chicks moving them about.

Dangerous?

Oh good. Thank you. I feel a little more confident to go ahead and order the eggs now. Wish me luck with the hatch!