Broody Cat PICS, Old Drawer Bator, D'Uccles due 4-24 - Hatched

[AngieChick]

What a beautiful, professional job you did. Nice!

 

[nerfy]

That is one nice incubator. Nice job!
Love you kitties too!

 

[purr]

Quote:
I used to have a cat that would go in the kitchen cabinet and close the door behind him and then meow until you got up and found him. His name was Spud

 

[MichiganWoods]

Thank you Barry, AngieChick and nerfy!

Barry, that cheapie thermometer actually came with the LG turner. I figured it didn't hurt to throw a few thermometers in there. I have actually added two more since I started incubating, just to see what the temp is in various places inside the bator. They all seem to be hovering around the same temp, so that's great.

purr, that sounds adorable!

Mine actually doesn't hide... *I* hide and he comes to find me. I give him that "look" and make sort of a silly, kung fu type of pose, wait a second, then tear off down the hall to duck into one of the rooms. I quick hide behind the door or in the closet, and wait a moment. If I don't hear him immediately, I just go, "Row?" and I hear *romp romp romp* as he lunges down after me. Then when he finds me, I sort of jump out at him. He responds by lifting up on his hind legs, bows his head and rubs the back of his head/neck in my hand for a pat.

 

[purr]

Quote:
that's adorable.

 

[walkswithdog]

Humidity is important in a HEATED air environment.

Hens are not managing humidity, they heat the eggs with direct heat that does not rob an egg of it's moisture.

In a box with a light or heating element you are constantly robbing the air and egg of moisture, so you have to do something about it or it dries out too much.

In the natural environment the egg loses it's 12% and rarely too much.

In the artificial environment of an incubator you can cook off 20% of the eggs moisture pretty easily if you do nothing to manage humidity. Then the wee buggers are pretty stuck. Too much, opposite problem, you can drown them.

That's why there are fairly set rules for artificial incubation. Natural incubation is a whole nother boat.

 

[Peeper7]

Awesome incubator ....
I need to ask you guys something...
A friend of mine says that my outdoor cats will kill the fully grown chickens and now I'm concerned. I plan to free-range 'em -- although I have mixed feelings about organic and free range.
Our previous flock ate grease off of the equipment, nuts and bolts, and who knows what else. How healthy is that ????

Anyway, how old do my chicks need to be before they are safe around the cats?
Thanks much!

 

[motherbear]

Peeper7 - our free range chickens chase our cat who is a great hunter. We chose large breeds because of him and the multitude of hawks in the area - don't know if that's why he leaves them alone. We watched him pretty closely in the beginning and didn't let the babies range without supervision until they were nearly full grown. If you are concerned, you could carry a squirt gun for a while and squirt the cats if they show too much interest in the chickens.

 

[Peeper7]

thanks motherbear. that's about what I figured!

 

[MichiganWoods]

motherbear beat me to the answer.

DAY 4 CANDLING UPDATE:

OK... so I decided since these are creamy white eggs, I would try and candle them today just to see what I could see. This is my first time trying to hatch any sort of white shelled eggs. To my surprise, all 7 have clear and visible veining!!!

Looks like my broody kitty has been good for the babies!

(Or perhaps my incubator is working decently.

)