Reviews by Lady of McCamley

While I try to always handle my birds with utmost care and kindness, preferring to navigate them by the feed bucket, a light hand, and a sweet "chook chook," there are times you simply need to get a wayward bird out of trouble or out of an area. If they are not listening to the feed bucket and resisting being picked up, then you must resort to catching them. Since my birds are comfortable in my presence (but not always at being picked up), instinct prompts one to "sneak up" on them, slowly bend, and catch...but you are almost always a split second too slow which results in an upset bird. If you do catch with that method, you are at great risk for back injury.

I actually got the KUFA telescope landing net on advice from my chiropractor. He told me he was tired of putting me back together after I had yet again pulled my stiff lumbar muscles chasing a wayward chicken. It turns out the bend, twist, catch with immediate snapped applied tension (when the bird tries to escape) is probably the worse thing you can do to your (aging) lumbar spine. He told me to do something different to chase down chickens or risk blowing a disc. Okay. He got my attention.

After examining the options on BYC and then browsing Amazon, I settled on this net to try since several Amazon reviewers said it was good with chickens. They were spot on.

This net is superlative for catching chickens. It is wide enough and large enough that the bird can easily run into it, deep enough to trap it there, and soft enough to not injure it as this particular net has a soft ring in the front leading edge (where the bird is most likely to run as it tries to escape). The net itself is sturdy yet very flexible and soft.

Its telescoping handle is easy to extend or shorten which makes it very valuable for a longer catch or tighter quarters. The overall net is very light weight, which makes it very easy to maneuver quickly. The size is large enough for the largest heavy fowl, even small turkey. Yet, I've used it with smaller pullets and even young chicks with deftness.

The only time it was a bit cumbersome was trying to corner a little one inside a smaller coop...the length of the handle and net were too bulky for really tight quarters (like a nest box corner). For that, it is best to find a salad colander or other such device.

I am amazed at how little energy I expend with this KUFA net. The birds settle very quickly once you've lowered the net on them and they realize they can't escape, keeping the bird much calmer in the process that an all out chase assault.

And my back? At around $20 (Amazon price), this net has already paid for itself with its first use as one chiropractor visit is a lot more than $20 in my area.

I highly, highly, recommend this net to catch poultry when you absolutely need to round up a bird who does not want to be picked up (but prefers to flirt with you and the feed bucket...at just that arm's length away).

Lady of McCamley

Overall I am pleased with my 2 California Greys. This is the first opportunity I've had to assess the breed, though they've been on my wish list for a number of years, as they are harder to find even in my area, which is close to where the breed was originated. That original line is long lost, so I've been told, so what the hatcheries have today are a crossing of White Leghorn and Barred Rocks. This makes for a smaller bird that is a bit skittish but calmer than the Leghorn. It keeps the same feed ratio as the Leghorn and likewise lays very well if not quite as prolific as the WL. However mine continue to lay a medium size egg though slowly gaining in size their first laying year vs. the large to extra large of the WL or Brown Leghorn. I would get them again as I like having the nice stark white egg against the dark browns and greens of my other layers but would prefer a larger egg size. Hopefully that will come in their second season. The Cal Greys are calmer and less noisy than the Leghorns I've had, but definitely less inquisitive than Barreds, which actually I kind of prefer as my Barreds have been too curious to the point of annoyance. The Cal Greys keep to themselves, are a bit wary, yet still come to the shake of the treat bucket, though shy away from any hand contact. Most importantly they overall remain quiet. Good foragers as well and seem hawk savvy. Overall productive and useful for a white layer.

I own two of these little "dinky 'bators." We purchased them years ago when the kids were wanting to incubate some chicks for a 4H unit.

The beauty of them is that they are inexpensive, small, easy to use, and accommodate very small hatches...no more than 3 regular chicken eggs fit in one incubator. So if you are not needing to set 24 to 48 eggs, you can do a small clutch. We bought 2 so that we could set 6 regular size chicken eggs.

These incubators are completely manual control, so it is a bit time intensive as you do have to fiddle a bit to keep the temperature accurate, and of course remember to turn eggs regularly...but if you take time to fiddle with it BEFORE you add eggs you want to hatch, using toss out eggs, it is possible to get the hang of it such that I was able to keep temps pretty accurately.

There is no humidity gauge, so you won't know humidity with any degree of certainty, but they are made to keep water in one leg, and kept at the proper temp it seems to keep good humidity. Please note: This unit is designed for indoor use at normal home ambient temperature in order to function properly. If your room fluctuates a lot, then this incubator will reflect that and be hard to keep in proper range.

On the one full brood we attempted, I was able to develop eggs and hatch a chick...1 out of 6....BUT 4 of the others met with an accident when a child knocked over the incubators and 4 of the eggs fell onto the floor splatting...so I have skewed results. Of the 2 left, both developed right up to hatch, but only 1 chick hatched.

I use broody hens to do my hatching/brooding, but I like to keep these incubators around for several useful purposes.

They are good to use to start eggs when I have expensive shipped eggs so that I can maximize my chances...I put 6 under my bantam broody and then 6 in these incubators...check on day 5, place the best under the broody, and then again on day 10 to again place the best under the broody. The eggs left in the incubators are my "maybes" of which none of those left have hatched...so again skewing my hatch rate...but I would not expect anything above a 50% hatch rate with these if used for the full term. (I have had a number of my day 10 switch overs hatch under the broody that were started or kept going in the incubator).

I think their best use is that they are excellent as an emergency ICU unit for a chick that is in trouble after hatching from my broodies. For that it works swimmingly well. I've used them twice for 1 chilled chick (fell out of the nest after hatching and gasping its last breath with hypothermia) and 1 assisted hatch chick with an open naval and mild omphalitis.

The incubator is small, so you can only keep a freshly hatched chick in it for a few hours until they dry out, sleep it off, and want to move around....or a sick chick on the mend until they are up and moving again.

So while I wouldn't expect to use it to keep a solid hatching program going, it does have use for those who desire small educational hatching or an extension for developing shipped eggs with broodies or as a chick ICU.

Lady of McCamley