ALABAMA!!

[Wisher1000]

Hey,Red, how many older hens will you be getting? It matters...

 

[AParmer]

I'm thinking about making my own incubator. Does anyone have any tips on where to start? I've found a few that I liked here on BYC, but lets face it, sometimes we do things differently in Alabama!

 

[RedneckGurl]

Quote:
Probably about 10 or so. They are coming to me from someone who is thinning her flock of older hens to make room for younger layers.

 

[RedneckGurl]

Quote:
Yep, I agree with you there - the Redneck Engineering quotient is high here in good ol' Alabama.

 

[Wisher1000]

My advice is to stick to one rooster until you have 20 hens. With that much room in your run, my suggestion is to get the younger hens and the young roo first (if possible.). Once they have settled in for several days, bring all the old biddies in at once. Then just watch to make sure the fights don't get too serious. They should be fine in a couple of days.

 

[chirpingcricket]

My advice is to stick to one rooster until you have 20 hens. With that much room in your run, my suggestion is to get the younger hens and the young roo first (if possible.). Once they have settled in for several days, bring all the old biddies in at once. Then just watch to make sure the fights don't get too serious. They should be fine in a couple of days.

I agree with Wisher1...one thing/note I would like to add, you may want to provide a "hiding/escape" area, so if the older chickens get too aggressive at first, the younger ones have a way to get out of harms way. In no time, (a week or more) the young chicks will "brave it" to run out and grab food, hold territory etc., if they haven't already.

I have an old bench, couple of cement blocks position for them to run in, through, out or hide, you could use a 5 gallon bucket positioned on it's side with them a way to get in or behind etc......

Meanwhile, I usually provide an alternate water and feed location more easily accessed by the smaller chicks. I do this with my mixed flock of age difference roos (3 weeks) just to keep them more at ease and less bickering...and monitor closely as Wisher1 stated.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

 

[chirpingcricket]

Yep, I agree with you there - the Redneck Engineering quotient is high here in good ol' Alabama.

I'm thinking about making my own incubator. Does anyone have any tips on where to start? I've found a few that I liked here on BYC, but lets face it, sometimes we do things differently in Alabama!

Uh, that depends on what you have access to in materials, carpentry skills and dollahs....heehee!

I haven't built one but would absolutely love to try one day, compared to the styrofoam stock stuff OTC...

1. I would try to go with the largest ice/drink/fish cooler (Igloo) I could find/afford. Plastic on the inside much easier to clean/disinfect, styrofoam insulated where you need it (in the middle) and heavy duty plastic on the outside.

2. A tight fitting lid that has been cut out a bit to insert plastic/plexi-glass well glued in for overhead viewing. Lid would provide ultimate seal.

3. Rig so you could use 1 or 2 standard household light bulbs, 60, 75 or 100 watts to provide temp with a way to dim/lower wattage/temp...

4. Find (old fans from computer etc.,) or purchase fan(s) if you prefer air circulation, I do. Helps prevent mold/mildew. Attach to lid.

5. Find/purchase a real hydrometer/hygrometer to monitor the humidity. Attach to lid. Probably would go with clean sponges in clean plastic bowl with distilled water to add/adjust humidity....'Cause like Redneckgirl stated, humidity is one thing we have plenty of here on the Gulf Coast, especially if you are 'bating during spring, summer, fall.

6. Purchase automatic egg turners, as many as you can fit into your cooler 'bator! I know I would not remember or have time to turn by hand.

7. Purchase a good candler, I use a small mag light, don't want anything that would get hot and burn/overheat the egg while you are trying to candle.

8. Last but not least purchase some real GOOD thermometers!!!! Install them at the level that your eggs will be turning/laying at lockdown. Give you the most accurate reading of egg temp.

Have a calendar hanging nearby, a clock, to monitor temp/time changes and how long you have been sitting there waiting for a pip, heehee...

Also, be ready with some kind of brooder box holding/feeding/playing area within 3 days or so post hatching. They grow incredibly fast. I purchased a large, clear utility box, like, maybe 65 quart size. They were out growing it in weeks. I have learned the hard way to keep my new chicks off the ground/off dirt, for the first 4 weeks.

Here in the South, with the varying temps and humidity and rain, rain, rain....coccidiosis can completely wipe out a flock in just days...especially if you have a bunch of chicks and they haven't had enough of the med feed (I highly recommend for the same reason above) to get their immunities up. This happened with a set of chicks that our broody hens were raising. The ones I incubated and kept inside for 4 weeks, were fine. Both sets were on medicated feed.

Takes at least 2 weeks at the minimum to build immunity of med feed. The med feed only protects against 2 strains of cocci, not all 8 strains. If they get it, and you are lucky enough to diagnose it within 72 hours of first deaths, you/chicks have a long hard battle ahead over the next 4 weeks to get them over it and their immune system stable.

It's alot like the Parvo virus for dogs, bleeds out their intestinal system. Lots and lots of blood. Some folks may never experience it, we hadn't until this past Spring/crazy weather. Have since treated all our pens/coops/soil to decrease the cocci egg load. (Bleach or Oxine)

I could go on and on about cocci, but for now, I'll leave it at this point.

Sorry, if that was TMI, but I wish I had known this when I first started incubating and raising chicks.

Take care and lets us know what you decide to do or build. Thanks a bunch!!

 

[AParmer]

Uh, that depends on what you have access to in materials, carpentry skills and dollahs....heehee!

I haven't built one but would absolutely love to try one day, compared to the styrofoam stock stuff OTC...

1. I would try to go with the largest ice/drink/fish cooler (Igloo) I could find/afford. Plastic on the inside much easier to clean/disinfect, styrofoam insulated where you need it (in the middle) and heavy duty plastic on the outside.

2. A tight fitting lid that has been cut out a bit to insert plastic/plexi-glass well glued in for overhead viewing. Lid would provide ultimate seal.

3. Rig so you could use 1 or 2 standard household light bulbs, 60, 75 or 100 watts to provide temp with a way to dim/lower wattage/temp...

4. Find (old fans from computer etc.,) or purchase fan(s) if you prefer air circulation, I do. Helps prevent mold/mildew. Attach to lid.

5. Find/purchase a real hydrometer/hygrometer to monitor the humidity. Attach to lid. Probably would go with clean sponges in clean plastic bowl with distilled water to add/adjust humidity....'Cause like Redneckgirl stated, humidity is one thing we have plenty of here on the Gulf Coast, especially if you are 'bating during spring, summer, fall.

6. Purchase automatic egg turners, as many as you can fit into your cooler 'bator! I know I would not remember or have time to turn by hand.

7. Purchase a good candler, I use a small mag light, don't want anything that would get hot and burn/overheat the egg while you are trying to candle.

8. Last but not least purchase some real could thermometers!!!! Install them at the level that your eggs will be turning/laying at lockdown. Give you the most accurate reading of egg temp.

Have a calendar hanging nearby, a clock, to monitor temp/time changes and how long you have been sitting there waiting for a pip, heehee...

Also, be ready with some kind of brooder box holding/feeding/playing area within 3 days or so post hatching. They grow incredibly fast. I purchased a large, clear utility box, like, maybe 65 quart size. They were out growing it in weeks. I have learned the hard way to keep my new chicks off the ground/off dirt, for the first 4 weeks.

Here in the South, with the varying temps and humidity and rain, rain, rain....coccidiosis can completely wipe out a flock in just days...especially if you have a bunch of chicks and they haven't had enough of the med feed (I highly recommend for the same reason above) to get their immunities up. This happened with a set of chicks that our broody hens were raising. The ones I incubated and kept inside for 4 weeks, were fine. Both sets were on medicated feed.

Takes at least 2 weeks at the minimum to build immunity of med feed. The med feed only protects against 2 strains of cocci, not all 8 strains. If they get it, and you are lucky enough to diagnose it within 72 hours of first deaths, you/chicks have a long hard battle ahead over the next 4 weeks to get them over it and their immune system stable.

It's alot like the Parvo virus for dogs, bleeds out their intestinal system. Lots and lots of blood. Some folks may never experience it, we hadn't until this past Spring/crazy weather. Have since treated all our pens/coops/soil to decrease the cocci egg load. (Bleach or Oxine)

I could go on and on about cocci, but for now, I'll leave it at this point.

Sorry, if that was TMI, but I wish I had known this when I first started incubating and raising chicks.

Take care and lets us know what you decide to do or build. Thanks a bunch!!

Thank you so much for the useful information! I'm so very excited about starting this project. I built my own brooder when I decided I was bringing home my first ever chicks. Impulse buy that I don't regret one bit. Chicken math got the best of me, started with 6 Black Australorp sexed girls. Two weeks later I brought home 5 Welsummer and 5 Black Australorp straight run. And again, two weeks later, brought home 11 Buff Orphington sexed girls. Oh, then I received a re-homed Maran rooster to watch over everybody as they were big enough to go in the ground pen during the day.

This is the first time I've raised from chicks. Much more work than I thought it was going to be, but fits me like a glove! I haven't got to the incubation area of the book I'm reading.

I'm also a strict believer in the medicated food. I grew up around an AKC registered kennel establishment and saw so many cases of coccidiosis and occasionally parvo. If sickness like this can be prevented in any way, by all means, do it if you can.

(Might be good to add here that my husband thinks I'm insane because my feathered friends are like a yard full of children to me hehe)

If I decided to hand turn the eggs. (I don't really want to!) How often should they be turned? Is it just easier to hatch in the spring and summer or is fall an okay time to do it as well? I'm thinking of purchasing fert. eggs once I'm sure I'm finished with the incubator.

What would I be looking for other that obvious signs of a developing and moving chick when candling?

 

[chirpingcricket]

Thank you so much for the useful information! I'm so very excited about starting this project. I built my own brooder when I decided I was bringing home my first ever chicks. Impulse buy that I don't regret one bit. Chicken math got the best of me, started with 6 Black Australorp sexed girls. Two weeks later I brought home 5 Welsummer and 5 Black Australorp straight run. And again, two weeks later, brought home 11 Buff Orphington sexed girls. Oh, then I received a re-homed Maran rooster to watch over everybody as they were big enough to go in the ground pen during the day.

This is the first time I've raised from chicks. Much more work than I thought it was going to be, but fits me like a glove! I haven't got to the incubation area of the book I'm reading.

I'm also a strict believer in the medicated food. I grew up around an AKC registered kennel establishment and saw so many cases of coccidiosis and occasionally parvo. If sickness like this can be prevented in any way, by all means, do it if you can.

Agree! (Might be good to add here that my husband thinks I'm insane because my feathered friends are like a yard full of children to me hehe) You are in Very Good company, heehee.


If I decided to hand turn the eggs. (I don't really want to!) How often should they be turned? I think it's 3 times a day, but hens are said to turn them about 5 times a day....

Is it just easier to hatch in the spring and summer or is fall an okay time to do it as well?

((((( I'm very leary of our summer heat. I realize alot of folks are/have been hatching via incubator/broody. It's just too hot where I am, and just can't see putting the hens through it. However, I did have one who went broody, and I just had to let her pretend she was doing the mama thing, 'cause I wouldn't be here when they are hatched (early August-vacation) and I sure don't want to have to deal with it in this heat. I will probably continue with my plans for late winter, (worm in Nov/Dec after molt), incubate in Dec/Jan and Feb/March to get past the heat and before the spring rains. )))))

I'm thinking of purchasing fert. eggs once I'm sure I'm finished with the incubator.

What would I be looking for other that obvious signs of a developing and moving chick when candling?
Now that is going to take some time to answer...if I may, I recommend to look up candling on BYC, there are videos, pictures and explanations of what to look for...and also start reviewing hatching threads....asap.

Also, Wisher1 is very knowledgeable and I will probably head towards her next timeif I'm in a dilemma since I won't have to wade through so much info to learn as on some of the other threads. (She doesn't know this yet though, heehee) Sally Sunshine has a huge thread about hatching do's and don'ts along with Happy Chooks too. Just alot of reading but worth the time to get it under your belt.

Hope that helps you a bit!!

 

[Tomtommom]

I kept mine indoors a good while and gave them some weeds with roots/dirt attached after some weeks, this introduces small amounts of the bacteria without overwhelming their systems. Let's them grow accustomed and build a resistance. I avoid medication as much as possible.


Anyhoo.

My girls.. One of them is squatting and lifting her tail and straining and her vent looks wider. Squawking too... guess it's just a matter of time. Poor things just can't seem to get comfy though. Got a couple more that seem to walk a bit stiff legged, sitting more, making little holes/nests in the compost. Guess it's all normal, but I get worried that they're having issues getting their eggs out.