Arizona Chickens

[DesertChic]

So you have pure Dorkings now? That's pretty cool. I'm interested to know how they turn out. There ain't many of them around.

It's been really, really hard to find some, but yes, it appears I finally have pure ones. I'm noticing that some of the chicks have nice white legs while others seem to have yellow tinted legs. Since I'm going for SOP, I may have to cull a few of them, which doesn't necessarily mean butcher...just not breed. Given my track record I'll probably wind up crossing my culls with my NNs.

 

[ejcrist]

It's been really, really hard to find some, but yes, it appears I finally have pure ones. I'm noticing that some of the chicks have nice white legs while others seem to have yellow tinted legs. Since I'm going for SOP, I may have to cull a few of them, which doesn't necessarily mean butcher...just not breed. Given my track record I'll probably wind up crossing my culls with my NNs.

Gotcha. That's good to hear you got some. Gosh, in my short chicken career I found quality birds of any breed are hard to come by as a general rule, so when you get some it's definitely cause for celebration.

Now are you going to single breed those Dorkings or put one rooster with a group of hens? I'm going to single breed the standard birds I just got. I learned one way to do it is to put each hen in her own pen and rotate the rooster daily. That'll make it possible to mark the eggs for each mother but I haven't figured out how to know which hatched chick belongs to which shell. I'll more than likely not be home when they hatch so I have to figure a way to partition the hatching tray or something. Do you have any ideas on how to otherwise separate the eggs/hatched chicks in the hatching tray?

 

[BlueBaby]

Gotcha. That's good to hear you got some. Gosh, in my short chicken career I found quality birds of any breed are hard to come by as a general rule, so when you get some it's definitely cause for celebration.

Now are you going to single breed those Dorkings or put one rooster with a group of hens? I'm going to single breed the standard birds I just got. I learned one way to do it is to put each hen in her own pen and rotate the rooster daily. That'll make it possible to mark the eggs for each mother but I haven't figured out how to know which hatched chick belongs to which shell. I'll more than likely not be home when they hatch so I have to figure a way to partition the hatching tray or something. Do you have any ideas on how to otherwise separate the eggs/hatched chicks in the hatching tray?

You could put a couple of those smaller boxes cut down a bit in there. Place some paper towel in the bottom of them. It will also keep the bottom of the incubator easier to clean out after the hatch. The ones that I used that fit mine good I got from Walmart. I like those 6 count cherry cheese danish that they have. I re-purposed them for my hatch. They worked great!

 

[ejcrist]

You could put a couple of those smaller boxes cut down a bit in there. Place some paper towel in the bottom of them. It will also keep the bottom of the incubator easier to clean out after the hatch. The ones that I used that fit mine good I got from Walmart. I like those 6 count cherry cheese danish that they have. I re-purposed them for my hatch. They worked great!

Now there's an idea. Yeah that would work well - thanks. Never thought of that. As soon as I finish building the breeding pens, which should be around the end of December give or take, I'll get going on my first hatch. I'm pretty fired up about doing it. I've read as much as I could on the subject and I think I memorized all the steps so now it's just a matter of doing it. I hope I don't mess it up. I want to make sure I keep details on the lineages.

 

[BlueBaby]

Now there's an idea. Yeah that would work well - thanks. Never thought of that. As soon as I finish building the breeding pens, which should be around the end of December give or take, I'll get going on my first hatch. I'm pretty fired up about doing it. I've read as much as I could on the subject and I think I memorized all the steps so now it's just a matter of doing it. I hope I don't mess it up. I want to make sure I keep details on the lineages.

Yes, it does work well. The first hatch I ever did I just laid them on that plastic mesh thing in the bottom for lock-down. They made a mess in the bottom with the blood and junk that fell through those holes when the hatched. The last hatch that I did was a split hatch. I put paper towel over the mesh in the bottom, added those boxes, and put paper towel in the bottom of those too. The mess was on the paper towels in the boxes. You can just toss those out.

 

[DesertChic]

Yes, it does work well. The first hatch I ever did I just laid them on that plastic mesh thing in the bottom for lock-down. They made a mess in the bottom with the blood and junk that fell through those holes when the hatched. The last hatch that I did was a split hatch. I put paper towel over the mesh in the bottom, added those boxes, and put paper towel in the bottom of those too. The mess was on the paper towels in the boxes. You can just toss those out.

Doesn't the paper towel effect humidity levels in the incubator? I'd thought of using them too and was warned rather sternly by several people that using them could damage the outcome of the hatch by reducing humidity levels.

 

[BlueBaby]

Doesn't the paper towel effect humidity levels in the incubator? I'd thought of using them too and was warned rather sternly by several people that using them could damage the outcome of the hatch by reducing humidity levels.

Well like I said, I did a split hatch using that. Group #1 had 4 eggs, and Group #2 had 9 eggs. There were 13 eggs total. 12 of them hatched out, and lived. Only 1 of them had grown too big for the egg and didn't make it for hatching.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
I use a Hovabator for a hatcher. A thin layer of cheesecloth over the wire mesh floor makes cleanup easy and allows air circulation. I had major humidity issues with the Hovabator as hatcher until I stopped using water in it and just hatched dry. Previously I would add the water in the bottom and things would be fine until the birds started to pip. Then the humidity would spike as they started to hatch. Haven't had as many problems since I stopped adding humidity during hatching. (I do add humidity during incubation, but I use a separate Hovabator for incubating.)

To separate the eggs in the hatcher, I use corrals made out of plastic needlepoint mesh. The mesh allows air flow to circulate fairly well. I got the mesh at Michaels. Cut it to height, formed it into a circular corral, and zip-tied it together. Just make sure you make the corral walls high enough that the chicks can't climb over after they hatch. I have four corrals in slightly different diameters that I can use all at the same time. The circular corrals leave a little space between them, so I can have five different sets of eggs in the hatcher at the same time - four in corrals and one set not corralled - and still keep the chicks separated.

 

[BlueBaby]

I use a Hovabator for a hatcher. A thin layer of cheesecloth over the wire mesh floor makes cleanup easy and allows air circulation. I had major humidity issues with the Hovabator as hatcher until I stopped using water in it and just hatched dry. Previously I would add the water in the bottom and things would be fine until the birds started to pip. Then the humidity would spike as they started to hatch. Haven't had as many problems since I stopped adding humidity during hatching. (I do add humidity during incubation, but I use a separate Hovabator for incubating.)

To separate the eggs in the hatcher, I use corrals made out of plastic needlepoint mesh. The mesh allows air flow to circulate fairly well. I got the mesh at Michaels. Cut it to height, formed it into a circular corral, and zip-tied it together. Just make sure you make the corral walls high enough that the chicks can't climb over after they hatch. I have four corrals in slightly different diameters that I can use all at the same time. The circular corrals leave a little space between them, so I can have five different sets of eggs in the hatcher at the same time - four in corrals and one set not corralled - and still keep the chicks separated.

Your idea sounds like a good one, too. Thanks for sharing it! My incubator is one of those Little Giant still air Item #9200.

 

[DesertChic]

Well like I said, I did a split hatch using that. Group #1 had 4 eggs, and Group #2 had 9 eggs. There were 13 eggs total. 12 of them hatched out, and lived. Only 1 of them had grown too big for the egg and didn't make it for hatching.

That's awesome! This gives me hope, because cleanup would be so much easier with paper towels in my incubator. Plus, I always thoughts it would be so much easier to keep the chicks from developing splayed legs and to fluff up faster with the paper towels on the floor of the incubator. I may just have to perform a "test hatch"...just a half dozen or a dozen eggs from my own breeding pens...you know, just to make sure it works okay in my incubator. (And this is where my addiction begins....LOL!).