building paradise for the birds

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
if you want to start small just go someplace that sells meal worms for bait. They are very prolific and easy to raise. you can find instructions on the internet. Crickets too...

deb

 

[Dish chickens]

if you want to start small just go someplace that sells meal worms for bait. They are very prolific and easy to raise. you can find instructions on the internet. Crickets too...

deb

Thank you

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I keep scovies, and I prefer them. They are quackless mostly, and make a Haaaahaaa sound when talking and a pleasant trill.. They will quack if terribly frightened, rare to hear it.. I also find the caruncling attractive, but I raise turkeys too LOL! It defines the breed from other ducks. More meat per bird, much friendlier with other poultry, people and waterfowl, and the drakes don't try to mate my chickens and kill them. I have pekin for my DH, and they stay penned. I have raised several other duck breeds and hands down, Muscovies are my favorite for meat, eggs and temperament.
Muscovy are NOT a true duck, but a cousin of the species. They are excellent mothers and WOW

for the table when I have too many drakes! Good layers and cause less damage to the land than dabbler ducks. If I had a choice they would be the only duck we keep. They free range and fly very well. Most of the year, my scovies feed themselves and rarely visit the feeders.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Mealies are super easy. I started with about 1000 and have no idea how many I have. Really good supplement for protein, but very fatty also.

 

[birdman55]

where did you get the mealworms and how hard is it to raise them? I'd like to raise them for my chickens.

I ordered mine online thru amazon....something rainbows...they came and when they arrived they looked great average size ....and its simple you use oats about two inches thick put the mealworms in (if you use anything other then oats you will get flies and it will be harder to raise...) and you add carrots (seems to work the best for their source of moisture) make sure to let the carrot set out so it dries you don't want anything you give them to mold it will kill your worms...also if you are trying to raise them for your birds your gunna wanna buy more then a thousand right off the rip because they take a long time to reproduce like four months...so be patient and I wouldn't feed till you have a overabundance in your cycles...you will need two containers I will post pics of them later im kinda busy and just in right now...its just raining so much here... then you will need a small container for the pupa...empty container for them as they don't eat when there in this stage....then they turn into a beetle and reproduce eggs....when they turn into a beetle you then switch them to a container like the ones you have for the worms with oats in them and carrots....and they have eggs which turn back into worms...so you can see it takes a while...there is a way you can do this method without a lot of sifting I will be posting pics of what I have found then the only time consuming event you have is picking out the pupa...the reason you wanna keep the stages in different parts is because they are cannibalistic if you keep them together your defeating the purpose and it will take you forever to see them multiply...anyways hope this helps...have a nice day I shall be back....merry early christmas

 

[aart]

where did you get the mealworms and how hard is it to raise them? I'd like to raise them for my chickens.

You can get mealworms at some pet stores also.

I use heat treated(to kill any pests) wheat bran for bedding/food.
Carrots for moisture/food in summer and wetter fruits and veggies in winter to minimize mold issues
.
There's a great long thread about raising mealworms here on BYC, lots of experience and good advice:
http://I use heat treated wheat bran for bedding and carrots for moisture

 

[birdman55]

well the incubator is done and now all im working on is the humidity...when I build the larger ones it will have humidity and temp controlling itself....also what I noticed is that I had to increase the setting on the digital temp reader to get the 99.5 and also I increased from a 40 watt to a 60 watt light bulb to make it heat up faster and stay more precise...
here are the pics
so you have connected the wires together like so

then I installed dc wire into the load terminal which on mine was 1, and 2

then you will need to connect one wire from your bulb to one wire from the extension cord....I connected the black wire...and then put a wire connector and secured it and then put on electrical tape around the fitting and the wires

next you install one wire from your loading terminal to the other part of the extension cord (wire connector with tape like so)

then connect the other wire from the loading terminal to the other part of the light...like so



then drill a hole for the fan wire on the opposite side as the digital reader pull thru and connect a wire connector like this one onto it...I got the heat shrink one so I could shrink it making it stronger...then ofcourse I taped it as well with electrical tape

should look like this...before you connect you wanna see which wires will run the unit so plug in your unit and touch red to red and then the other two....if it runs that's the right combo if it does not then switch and it should be right...then connect

then mount your fan like so...make sure it is off the bottom and more towards the top...I would say somewhat in line with the lights..then screw it down like so

so its running now adjust the temp to be perfect then work on your humidity...boom done..coolerbator

this is a view thru the glass on top of the unit...30 chicken eggs...well now I got the jist of the coolerbator now to make a larger one out of a refrigerator....hope it works out...easy adjustments can make this unit run more efficient.
hope these pics have helped out...the only thing I can see in here that would work better is the egg rack and making it turn...so ill be working on that...be back in a flash

 

[perchie.girl]

EGGCELLENT..... job Love the creative use of extension cords...

I love wirenuts they are so forgiving.

When you do the refrigerator one are you going to automate the egg turners? it would be easy to do...

deb

 

[aart]

well the incubator is done



so its running now adjust the temp to be perfect then work on your humidity...boom done..coolerbator

Aren't you going to run it for a day or so, make sure it's running well, before adding eggs?.........oh, I guess not

 

[birdman55]

EGGCELLENT..... job Love the creative use of extension cords...

I love wirenuts they are so forgiving.

When you do the refrigerator one are you going to automate the egg turners? it would be easy to do...

deb

not sure yet depends on how much money I have to do it...which way do you know of doing it or you just thinking buy the automatic turners and install them

Aren't you going to run it for a day or so, make sure it's running well, before adding eggs?.........oh, I guess not

nope with chicken eggs I found they are very forgiving...I have seen people just drop a 250 heat lamp and then the chickens hatch....but for other birds I wouldn't just put them in there...and with digital you can tune in way faster then you can imagine...everything is sensors so you can quickly adjust...
so the humidity is fixed and heat is perfect...
check it out one with lights on and one with lights off...the one with lights off is cool cause the computer fan 80mm has actual lights in them so I can see all the time...