wow - technology has gotten a LOT cheaper since I built my last incubator!!!
I bought the controller you listed above & its working great!
I'm going to run it a few days & make sure it keeps a stable temp & see what it will do for humidity.
Thank you for the suggestion! $16
I've been away from BYC for a long time - but over this Christmas break I decided to build a new incubator.
This is my first try with a water heater thermostat - super simple - got it kicking on & off but it seems the range in temp is huge - it will kick off at 100* but kicks on at around...
they will avoid the pool if they can - they are not ducks & will sink like a rock if they fall in. You can free range in the woods - I do - they spend all day in the woods at my house when it's really hot out. The thing is the raccoons come out at night, opossum too - so make sure to lock them...
I use the pullet-shut door from chickendoors.com
Let me tell you this guy is FANTASTIC! I had a problem where my door kept resetting & losing the open/close times. It was driving me crazy.
He actually called me & while on the phone with me had me run a series of tests - it turned out I had a...
they are plenty old now to not need a light - even if it gets cold at night.
As for winter - consider that wild birds live just fine all winter - Feathers are the worlds greatest insulator!
What you do to protect them in the winter is make sure the coop is tight enough to keep the wind off...
for 9 hens you need the enclosed portion of the coop to be no smaller than 4x6 - in winter they wont go outside & they need the space so they don't get on each others nerves 7 end up fighting.
you should have no trouble with that - just make sure you can close the part where they sleep & the...
Sky is the limit! or your budget is -
I've seen people use bales of straw for a coop - or an old school bus!
For me personally - I bought a store bought shed - less expensive than building one though not as nice (but heck its going to be covered in chicken poop - how nice does it need to...
Lock them inside the coop for 2 or 3 days - this resets their idea of "home".
The light is a good idea - I doubt the coop color bugs 'em at all.
The thing with chickens is this - the brain is about the size of a pea - so they dont have the capacity to deal with change - the little brain gets...
Since you are new to this - you want to worm the chickens 2x per year as well.
Add a few tablespoons of wormer to their water & dont eat the eggs for a week
The danger is the other hens will chase her off the eggs when they wedge in there with her. My broody keeps switching to a different box.
Most people try to separate the broody & chicks from the rest but some dont.
It's best If they get their own quiet place in til the chicks are a few weeks old
I locked them down this morning - my incubator is home made and I use a variable voltage charger as the 12 volt power source to the thermostat.
Well 8am this morning I decided to clock down the computer fan & locked the incubator down. I dropped the voltage on the charger from 12 volts to 6...
She will hatch them no problem.
If she accepted them as her chicks you can move them too. I prefer to move birds well after dark. They tend not to notice things that happen while they are asleep
Getting good advice here -
Couple things you need to know -
1) never (almost) help a chick hatch - it will make it out or it wont - but if you help it can cause more problems than you want.
For example - the chick gets its oxygen through the umbilicle attached to the membrane - the pip is...
So that is an interesting question - Momma will hatch any egg you sit under her - but I dont know about her raising critters of another species.
Anyone know if a chicken will raise a duck?
I've never tried that.
so to be clear - you have a broody duck sitting on the eggs, they are not in an incubator.
There is nothing for you to do at all - just leave them alone.
They will hatch or they wont - not much you can do but upset the mother by messing with her chicks / eggs.
I'm told that ducks &...
do you need to vaccinate them? Is there a problem with Marek's in your area? I think most people don't vaccinate unless buying from a large breeder or they have a known problem on their farm.
Humidity is relative to air flow - is your incubator totally sealed with little air flow? or are there vents that are open?
Really - low or high humidity for a day or two shouldn't harm anything - remember the hen gets up at least 1x per day & humidity drops to ambient when she does that - so...
There are suggestions - but honestly - the momma hen doesn't read the instructions & can't tell 1 egg from another - so there is no "wrong" way to turn them.
Ideally you want to turn them over 3 x per day - some people put an x on one side & a O on the other - that way they know all the eggs...
Not sure about anyone else's home made bators - but on mine - the glass fogs up during lock down when the humidity goes way up.
If I cover it with cloth - it doesn't fog -
Can you do double glazed? Thoughts?