Araucana thread anyone?

[cackleberrycoop]

Sega, I've been wondering about those eggs in the photo of your beautiful chicks. On my computer monitor they appear to be grey and brown. Is that what they look like to you as well and were they that color when they went into the bator, or did they change with the heat?
Also, where are the chicks? It looks like they are right where they hatched out of their eggs, but if I tried to take a photo of my chicks still in the hatching section of my incubator, all you would be able to see would be the middle section of the babies through the shelves of the incubator. I would LOVE to have a hatcher where I could see the babies like they are in your photo!!!

Those tufts really are inspiring, and all that blue chick down!!!!!! I love it so.

 

[shanshan51]

I am back and have missed you all. I only lost one chicken while I was on vacation, so far. I am headed out to take stock of everyone in a minute. I set up my new incubators last night. I like them I think. LOL! I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe a magical box that said TA DA! as it slipped out of the packing boxs. It didn't help that my husband was standing there helping me unpack. I know he was expecting some slick shiny contraption, but I new I wanted wood construction. I also know for certain that if I outgrow these, I can use the design to make new ones identical which is what I was hoping for. I have to see something to replicate it. So I am happy that way. They are a little noisy but its just the fan motors. It doesn't bother me but my husband who doesn't want them in the house is feeling cranky. Doesn't help that I have 8 baby chickens of various ages in my office chirping away.

Just talked to Mr. Dickey and he said that the incubators are stackable. How cool is that. He also keeps his outside in a shop building running year round as long as they don't get below freezing, so if need be I can do the same. I will try to get pics today. I have about 60 eggs in there incubating away. So exciting.

So 3 baby chicks hatched out of my duckwing pen this weekend. 1 is black, 1 is yellow and black and one is wheaten. The wheaten one is pure yellow except for a tiny spot on its back of brown. YIPPEE! My other wheaten one died before I went on vacation so I have been wondering if I was going to get any or not out of this pen. Now that I am back I can start moving chickens into the new pens I built before I left and get serious about who is going to make babies with whom.

Lanae

Welcome back! I am so excited that the birds I purchased from you have their first set of eggs n lockdown as of today! They should hatch Friday or Saturday. Very excited! Also one of the splash hens decided to go broody on golf balls. She is quite intimindating lol.

 

[cashdl]

Wow Shannon, I can't believe it been 3 weeks. Time totally flies. Let me know what colors you get. I am guessing mostly cuckoo. At least till the eggs are fertile from the roo you bought also.

Is it the little splash hen that came with the baby in tow. If so she is a great mommy.

Lanae

 

[cashdl]

Here is my new set up. I don't think I will need to use the humidity set up for the incubator because it has been holding humidity perfectly at 30% with no water. I added about 1 cup of water to the hatcher and it is stable at 60% . The temperature in the hatcher is holding steady at 99.8 and the incubator at 99.3. Mr. Dickey say I can get it to 99.5 perfectly and it will hold that but right now I want to get thru the first hatch which is due this weekend and then I will mess with them a little more. I have just over two flats full right now, thats about 65 eggs if I counted correctly. The incubator holds 180 eggs with the egg flats that are in there. I know I can get the styrofoam egg crates cut to fit and then it will probably hold 200 eggs. I already have visions of needing another one but don't want my husbands heart to stop. I can always use my LG's if this one gets full, that will give me space for just over 300 eggs.

Here is the chicks that hatched last weekend. I am totally excited by the little wheaten one. These all came out of my duckwing pen. Interesting color combo for one pen.

Lanae

 

[shanshan51]

Wow Shannon, I can't believe it been 3 weeks. Time totally flies. Let me know what colors you get. I am guessing mostly cuckoo. At least till the eggs are fertile from the roo you bought also.

Is it the little splash hen that came with the baby in tow. If so she is a great mommy.

Lanae

No she does lay everyday though. It is one of the other two. Those lay almost everyday. I am getting 2 a day they actually started laying in less than a week of their arrival. I can't wait to add in the others I have that are a reddish color. Maybe in another month they should be big enough

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Here is my new set up. I don't think I will need to use the humidity set up for the incubator because it has been holding humidity perfectly at 30% with no water. I added about 1 cup of water to the hatcher and it is stable at 60% . The temperature in the hatcher is holding steady at 99.8 and the incubator at 99.3. Mr. Dickey say I can get it to 99.5 perfectly and it will hold that but right now I want to get thru the first hatch which is due this weekend and then I will mess with them a little more. I have just over two flats full right now, thats about 65 eggs if I counted correctly. The incubator holds 180 eggs with the egg flats that are in there. I know I can get the styrofoam egg crates cut to fit and then it will probably hold 200 eggs. I already have visions of needing another one but don't want my husbands heart to stop. I can always use my LG's if this one gets full, that will give me space for just over 300 eggs.

Here is the chicks that hatched last weekend. I am totally excited by the little wheaten one. These all came out of my duckwing pen. Interesting color combo for one pen.

Lanae

Did those come with the clear doors standard, or did you pay extra for that? I really would like to have a door that I can really see thorugh. They look great!!
The trouble that I found with my incubator humidity without the humidity bucket system is that it ran through the water SO fast. So, when I had the eggs in lockdown and would add as much water to the very tippity top of the internal water tray, had the humidity just perfect and then right as the eggs would begin to pip, it would be dry as a bone and way too low humidity. So then I would have to open stuff back up again just at that critical point and fill it up again, only to have it go dry again just as the hatch was really starting to happen. It was hard to work through the hatch under those conditions. Of course, MT is much dryer than CA, so it may be that you don't have to use your fancy buckets.

I really hope that these work like a charm for you!!

 

[cashdl]

So far the humidity hasn't budged on either one. I have been watching it to make sure. Right now we are in the rainy season ( finally ) so humidity shouldn't be too hard to keep up. This summer it gets very dry here so I may need to use my buckets then. I was kinda surprised at how unfancy they are. I had a DUH! moment when I opened the box. They make sense but would be really cheap and easy to replicate. Same for the incubators now that I see them in person. But I am a visual person and have the tools, workshop, and helpful hubby who is always eager to save a penny, here to help me out.

I bought the doors as extra. I figured I was never going to be able to afford to do this again and just bought all the extras. You can order a clear acrylic door for the GQF on ebay for about $70.00. I am constantly peering in the doors so I highly recommend them. When I make my next incubator, I found that I can order all the parts, like the motor, swing arm assembly, heaters, and doors, so I will just build the box and buy all the other stuff. probably cost me about $300.00 for everything, but its about half the price once you figure in shipping. Course if I have the money next time I will definately order another Dickeys, then they will all match. These are really solid machines. I like that. Also they are stackable which means they take up less room. Which is great.

The noise from these is only from the fan. The turner motor is really quiet except when I am doing it manually to get the trays level so I can put eggs in. Then you hear the motor cause it is moving more quickly, but when its on auto it doesn't make any noise at all. No beeping on these at all. It is just the constant steady hum of the fans that gets to my husband, but it really isn't much louder than my new fridge. Its just that there are two of them in one room humming. Mr. Dickey said to put foam under each corner and it will absorb the sound so that is what I am going to do.

Lanae

 

[shanshan51]

I think I have teany tiny tufts! Am i seeing it correctly? Are these real tufts? Sorry I am a newbie and excited.

 

[shanshan51]

Also what color is this?

 

[collaire]

Lanae.
Your new incubator will hold 288 Araucana eggs. To quiet your fan noise, go to an auto supply and get some .060 rubber gasket material. Put apeice under each leg on the fan mounting bracket as well between the fan motor and fan mounting bracket The vibration from the wood to steel and, the steel to steel contact is what causes most of the noise.