Our chickens drink and eat like little pigs when they return to the coop in the evening. So, I didn't want to take their water out of the coop. The problem was the nipples are messy and kept the floor under the nipples wet all the time.
So, I cut a hole in the floor directly under the...
I certainly agree with the need for candling. But has anyone ever experienced an egg exploding in an incubator? When I was young, we incubated thousands of quail eggs, many many chicken eggs and a good many duck eggs.
I don't think my dad knew about candling. Anyway, we never had an egg...
I went back and checked my email address listed with y'all and it is correct. I also checked my "junk" file and it's not rejecting you as junk. There is no evidence that y'alls emails ever make to my email account. I'd really like to be notified when responses are made to threads I am...
Back in the olden days my Dad and I built a few incubators. The turners we made were manually operated from outside the incubators. I've started to build a new incubator and would like to have an automatic egg turner. Of the store-bought types, which ones hold up the best? I'll be turning...
It's been some years since I incubated eggs. I am gonna build a new smaller, simpler incubator this time. My hatch rate was always pretty good but, my incubator was a complicated build. I don't want to spend as much time with the bells-n-whistles this time.
This incubator will be forced...
A friend of mine with several hundred chickens was losing way too many birds to owls and hawks. None of us have ever had much success anywhere with stopping them, other than covered pens.
He really likes the "electric chicken fencing" as a viable way to free range his chickens. No protection...
A couple of friends of mine and two family members were partnered with me in raising some chickens. All of them lived in Braithwaite, Louisiana. The incubating and predator control were my responsibility. The chickens were always much more THEIRS than mine, because they actually raised them...
This is not meant to provoke anyone or to be antagonistic. I used some of this material on a "reply" post earlier. I hope it is legal to post it again.
Many folks feel that predators have a right to kill their stock if they manage to get past their best attempts of repelling them. They...
I often read here comments in regard to animal traps that are just not factual. The trap that is most often criticized is the foot-hold trap. There are many posts here decrying the "cruelty" of these traps. Foot-hold traps catch animals by closing on the area of the foot just above the pads...
The link below is to a type of coon trap that works better than any other trap I've ever seen or heard of. Several manufacturers make a trap very similar to the one linked to here.
http://www.rpoutdoors.com/dudpcotr.html
I have no relationship with the company selling them or the company...
I do all of the hatching and my partner in the country raises the chicks. A couple of days ago I visited our 3 1/2 week old chicks and found some of our Ameraucanas chicks with completely bald spots on their backs. My partner thought it was part of the feathering out process. We have 7 guinea...
My wife and I spent the day out picking up eggs that I had arranged to buy. I got some great deals on what should be really nice birds. I came home with Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons, Birchen Marans, Blue Copper Marans and Welsummers.
My wife sat the egg cartons on the floor of the SUV behind the...
Just read an exert from "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks". It stated that all of the mallard descended ducks are easily herded. But that Muscovies tend to scatter if you try to herd them.
Months ago I was offered many Muscovies that have run wild for generations. I have not taken advantage...
Waaaay back in the day we were catching hawks for "falconry". We used baby ducks or baby chickens for bait. These hawks would spot the little birds from heights that were phenomenal. When we first started, I would tell my partner he was crazy when he would tell me the raptor had spotted the...
My tractor will keep two breeds separated. With an additional tractor set-up, I can keep another two segregated. Speckled Sussex and Ameraucanas are my first choices. If I allowed these two out to forage together, would they get along? Same question for my next choice, Welsummers and...
I posted this in the wrong place initially. I didn't know how to move it, other than coping and pasting the whole thing. Please allow me....
I am building a tractor set-up for about 18 chickens. It has been a fun challenge to make the coop & run easier to maintain and keep clean. My mobility...
I am building a tractor set-up for about 18 chickens. It has been a fun challenge to make the coop & run easier to maintain and keep clean. My mobility is hampered and, I don't wanna make coming to my house a skull-cramp for the kids and grand-children. Keeping things easy and requiring as...
Since I began researching on how to build my incubator, I have seen and read many times where the people who use the "water heater" thermostats got much better performance when the thermostat was located very near the heat source.
My thermostat will be a "wafer" type. My incubator will have a...
I will have 3 fans circulating inside my incubator that I am making from a small cabinet. The way I see it, because the inside is enclosed, there is neither a positive pressure nor a slight vacuum inside. Just circulating what air is inside. What makes the air enter through the holes...