5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[ronott1]

A cheap one. HovaBator 1602n with an LG auto turner from TSC and a pc fan from an old pc.

I love it!

I hope you have the best hatch rate!

 

[Wunjo]

A cheap one. HovaBator 1602n with an LG auto turner from TSC and a pc fan from an old pc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ronott1


I love it!

I hope you have the best hatch rate!

Well I'm not to lucky with the actual hatching part. Hopefully though it will go good this time. Then I can hatch real eggs instead of barnyard mixes.

 

[draye]

Well I'm not to lucky with the actual hatching part. Hopefully though it will go good this time. Then I can hatch real eggs instead of barnyard mixes.

What you talkin bout Willis?
Barnyard mixes are real eggs and they make real chickens too.

 

[msladyhawke]

Do not worry about them getting cold. Two hours out of the incubator will not hurt them and may help them hatch. My Brinsea has a two hour per day cool down cycle that I am going to start tonight.

I have been debating on that Ron. My brinseas have the cooling option too but I've been scared to try it! Do you use it every hatch?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

is there a reason non laying pullets shouldn't be on layer feed? I got my pellets from mcmurray as 22 week old pullets but they haven't laid an egg yet. I hope i didnt hurt them... they mostly free range. I thought they just weren't laying because of the lack of light

Layer feed is about 4% calcium. All other feeds(starter, grower, finisher, etc.) are about 1% calcium. If you think about it, a single mineral making up 4% of the diet is a huge amount. A bird that isn't building an eggshell every day that is 3 grams of calcium doesn't need it. Excess calcium must be processed and eliminated by the kidneys. Too much will overwhelm and be deposited in other organs and soft tissue, cause kidney stones, gout and eventually, death.
A Canadian study showed that broiler breeder males died at 4 times the rate of females. Necropsies showed they died from kidney disease.
Poultry feeds have been developed based on research and commercial production. Egg farms flocks are all the same age and use a lighting program that isn't practical on a small scale. The growing pullets are kept on 8 hours of light and lighting increase is timed so that all the birds commence laying shortly after the switch to layer feed.

http://www.agbiosecurity.ca/healthy...m and Vitamin D3 problems in laying birds.pdf

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/chicken_gout.html
People will tell you otherwise. I know lots of people that feed layer to their whole flock whether they're laying or not. And it is true that some breeds/strains are more tolerant. But when chickens die, they won't get a necropsy and never suspect nutrition was the cause.

typically they don't need as much calcium if they are not using calcium to produce egg shells. Too much calcium can cause health issues including heart and kidney problems. Also if the calcium is increased then something is decreased, most likely the protein. While a pullet i still growing more protein is needed. During a molt more protein is needed. During the winter lots of people feed extra corn for energy but that energy is lower in protein. The trick is knowing why your hens are not laying and feeding accordingly. Personally I don't use layer feed. I feed all flock or even grower and offer calcium on the side as the roosters really really don't need the extra calcium.

I've quit feeding layer and won't again unless I'm sure the whole flock is laying and there isn't a rooster with them.
It is however to make sure oyster shell or other large particle calcium source is available all the time. Since I quit using layer feed I added an additional container of oyster shell right next to the nests as well as the one I always kept in the run.

So my husband bought grains which looks like scratch and I was told to keep my hens and Rooster all on layer feed and that them grains looking like scratch are more like a candy. What's your input on this. I currently have both the grainy scratch and layer feed mixed together. Could this be a future issue for either my hens or my Rooster?

The scratch grains shouldn't be mixed with the feed. That's why they're called scratch, the chickens like to scratch for them so they get scattered on the ground. They can be put in a container but the chickens will eat all of it before they eat their feed. Scratch and other treats shouldn't make up more than 5-10% of the diet. Most grains are about 10% protein, corn is a little less, wheat and oats are a little more. If your feed is a 16% protein and half of the chickens' intake is scratch, they're only getting 13% protein and that's not enough. Most feeds will have a statement on the label to the effect "Feed as the sole ration, no other supplements are needed"
As for the rooster eating layer feed.
http://www.reproduction-online.org/content/early/2011/06/13/REP-11-0131.full.pdf

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Day 7 for me! I know I'm a day behind most of you

Set 10 eggs. Egg #'s 8 and 9 are clear. Egg # 4 I can see veining but no kidney bean or movement...if there's an embryo, I think it's suspended in the center of the egg. I can see kidney beans and movement in the rest of them though!

Question. I am turning 5x a day. I have a schedule...turn when I get up, then at 11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm, then before I go to sleep. How bad is it if I miss one or two of the turns? I have to go out today and get feed for the animals. I'm also doing some grocery shopping, so I am going to miss the 11 am turn. Then, on Christmas Day, we will be gone most of the day because we spend it with my hubby's family. I do not have an automatic turner. So, will it harm the eggs if I don't turn them 5 times? TIA.

 

[Gardeningmama]

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[Gardeningmama]

My wonderful hubby fixed my flashlight last night, and I finally got to have a look in my Marans eggs. 4 are clearly going strong, 1 is soo dark I can make out veining and the dark spot, but I'm wondering if it's moving, the other is either clear or that dang egg is so dark it's fooling me. But YAY my Marans are growing! So, overall 16 eggs going strong and 2 time will tells!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Question I have never really seen on here. How gently do the eggs need to be handled? When I candle I try to do it as fast as possible so that they will not get cold. Will the jostling them around make them die or burst the veins? Or can they take a pretty hard drop or shake?

A hen will roll them around but they're laying on soft nesting material so don't get dropped, shaken or bumped.
Except for when 2 or more hens are competitive brooding and steal each others eggs when they get up for their daily stretch.

I am glad to see the information sharing about general flock keeping as well as hatching here. Most of us read lots of things, and eventually discover conflicting information. When all else fails, your flock will tell you whether you need to change something.

As a general rule, as others have said, I do not feed layer. I feed a grower or all-flock/general poultry feed, and offer free choice grit and oyster shell, always available. I also give plain homemade yogurt, apples, meal worms, etc. as treats, and all my birds right now are getting a treat dish of scratch (DH calls it crack LOL) right before bedtime. I mix my own scratch. I mix cracked corn, whole wheat, rolled oats, wild bird seed, and whatever else is on sale or sounds good at the time I'm buying ingredients. Commercial scratch almost always has a ton of milo which my birds just don't eat that much of, and it is a waste. I hate waste.

When I am fermenting I mix all-flock/general poultry feed with my scratch mix. Here, for me, right now, FF doesn't work, but once spring is here I'll start fermenting again. I had to be out of town several weeks in a row 2-5 days at a time starting in October, and I do not expect DH to maintain FF, nor does he especially wish to, so I switched all to free choice dry plus treats. For several weeks I used Nutrena All-Flock and Starter/Grower, and my flock seemed to be on the decline, so I switched back to locally ground starter and grower and a Ranchway Poultry Feed for the adults, continuing treats and of course grit and oyster shell. When I read about the recall due to low calcium in Nutrena feeds, I upped yogurt, and figured I knew at least part of the problem.

Amen on the conflicting information. I know a lot of people that get their feeding and poultry health advice from the feed store. Not a good idea. No offense to feed store employees that may know what they're talking about but I don't know any that went to vet school or studied poultry nutrition.

I mix my own scratch too. Scratch from the feed store is a mix of grains with no guaranteed analysis or ratios. They usually just include the cheaper grains in larger quantities.
Hey, I can do that at home. Additionally, the scratch should be adjusted seasonally. In summer, I give almost exclusively oats which is lower in energy but a little higher in protein. In winter, wheat, barley and sunflower seed. In mild weather it doesn't matter as much. By excluding corn, I avoid GMOs. I buy the grains and seeds in 50 pound bags. I have recently started sprouting all their scratch. The current mix of sprouts is wheat, sunflower seed, winter peas, buckwheat and flaxseed, in that order.

I also started fermenting feed. I was going to just try it on one flock but the more I learned about it, I've started feeding all of them FF. They all still have free choice dry bulk feeders in the coops. I kick myself for not keeping better records but I'm going through noticeably less feed now.
I'm looking forward to a large enough hatch to try a little experiment. I'm going to split the chicks into two groups. Feed one dry and one fermented and compare growth rates.
All the eggs are from 2 different flocks so 2 different roosters so I'll have to include equal numbers in the two test groups.

Oh yeah
good one. I do the oyster and egg shell as well, but I find I have to crush it up really well or they get stopped up, but how much is too much ?

Actually the larger particle size is better for active layers. They stay in the upper digestive tract longer so make contact with calcium absorption sites in the intestine while the birds are on the roost sleeping, not eating but often that's when the egg is in the shell gland.

As I'm reading through the post tonight, trying to catch up since dinner (50+ post), I am learning a lot of things about feeding my chickens. This of course leads me to a question: "Aren't oyster shells a source of calcium?" or is that something that I need to offer also?

Oyster shells are an excellent source of calcium, research shows likely superior to all others. That's the reason to provide oyster shell for laying hens.

Have any of you ever fed alfalfa pellets to chickens? I feed it to my sheep and horses instead of grain usually and the chickens glean it from the ground where they spill it. I was wondering if it was OK to feed it to them in a larger quantity, i.e. like cutting the layer pellet half with the alfalfa pellets?

I tried it once but the chickens ignored it.
I plant alfalfa in their pastures though.

I have been debating on that Ron. My brinseas have the cooling option too but I've been scared to try it! Do you use it every hatch?

Is the cooling option adjustable or is it set at 2 hours or not at all?

When I weigh eggs, I turn the heat off and take my time. I think that simulates the hen off the nest.
If you think about it, a hen usually has a higher hatch rate than incubators. Also, they evolved to have a daily cooling period.

 

[Gardeningmama]

Day 7 for me! I know I'm a day behind most of you

Set 10 eggs. Egg #'s 8 and 9 are clear. Egg # 4 I can see veining but no kidney bean or movement...if there's an embryo, I think it's suspended in the center of the egg. I can see kidney beans and movement in the rest of them though!

Question. I am turning 5x a day. I have a schedule...turn when I get up, then at 11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm, then before I go to sleep. How bad is it if I miss one or two of the turns? I have to go out today and get feed for the animals. I'm also doing some grocery shopping, so I am going to miss the 11 am turn. Then, on Christmas Day, we will be gone most of the day because we spend it with my hubby's family. I do not have an automatic turner. So, will it harm the eggs if I don't turn them 5 times? TIA.

I turn 3 times a day, I just don't have time for 5. The most important factor is that they don't sleep on the same side overnight. If "x" was the overnight side last night, make sure "o" is the overnight side tonight.