California - Northern

[Hangtown Farms]

Has anyone heard from Meg?

I haven't seen her on for quite a while, I hope things are alright.

me too hope all is well.

 

[juststruttin]

Silver insulation bubble wrap, hmmmmmmmmm, I will have to look for some of that. Thanks for the suggestion.
I've been told that I can't keep the brooder in the house anymore so I'm looking for ideas to keep the brooder warm (in the garage).

They sell it at most hardware stores, Home Depot has it. It is great stuff and washable. I spray it off between brooder batches and it cleans up really easily. I make a corral with it then staple gun it to a wall in the barn. If fill the corral with pine shavings. - instant brooder. You can enlarge the circle as the chicks age. For extra warmth, put a couple of pieces over the top.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
I just sent her a pm.

Happy New Year!

 

[ronott1]

Here are parts of that discussion on storing & hatching eggs, that I mentioned previously. I thought that I would repost it here, in case any one is interested. I thought the info might be useful to some of you. The poster was Bentley.

"I have done extensive research in egg storage, transport and incubation and I know that after 7 days, times is of the essence and any temperature change after eggs initially cool is detrimental. So FOR ME, getting eggs in the incubator as soon as possible after receipt is the way to go. I will prewarm eggs only if they are to be added to a setter that already contains eggs to reduce the temperature drop in the setter as it attempts to warm the new eggs.
...
Pre-warming hatching eggs does not need to be fast at all. As a matter of fact, the main reason you would pre-warm eggs is if they are going into an incubator that already contains other eggs. Again, you are just trying to prevent the OTHER eggs from damage or stress due to the possible cooling of the incubator when the new eggs that are cool are added. So, there really is not a benefit to the eggs being pre-warmed themselves. Think of the actual embryo, all it knows is that it's temperature is gradually increasing which increases cellular growth and development. There is an incubation time period of 21 days or 504 hours (this can vary several hours for different breeds or strains) so pre-warming counts as development. If some eggs pre-warm longer than others they may hatch at slightly different times. So, How pre-warming happens is not important as long as the pre-warming occurs for all eggs to be set uniformly....
You are correct, fertilization occurs a few minutes after ovulation then continues to develop until the egg is laid due to the body temperature of the hen. But I do want to make a point, that is a very important point. Embryo development does NOT STOP after the egg is laid nor at anytime during storage unless it dies. This is a living growing embryo and cellular development does not stop, it slows considerably. This is very important to remember when storing hatching eggs, it is STILL a living growing embryo that cooling just dramatically slows development not just an egg waiting to restart development. This is why temperature fluctuations during storage can be so damaging to embryo livability because the embryo will speed up and slow down development in accordance with changes in temperature and each speed up slow down adds stress to the 'suspended' embryo.

... I feel this is a very critical thing to understand when storing hatching eggs, it is living and still growing...

When an egg goes from cool to warm and humid condensation can happen rapidly and this can give any pathogens on the shell a medium in which to grow. However, from my experience per-warming eggs will not eliminate this.

Also, in my experience and research in storing hatching eggs 55 degrees is way too cold unless you have to store eggs for periods longer than 2 weeks and even then the best results aren't found at that cool of a temperature. For short term storage a constant 70 degrees is optimum. ... PM me if you are interested and I can give you some very specific information from research AND personal experience. There are many many scientific publications in this area that would bore most people here.

But, in that puny nut shell, dramatic changes in the temperature at which embryos are exposed is very detrimental to embryo livability and a CONSTANT (or as close as possible) temperature of 70 has been shown to achieve the objectives of egg storage without adding too much stress to the embryo which can result in embryo mortality during days 1-3 of incubation.
...
The best method to use, considering that most incubators can't adjust humidity like the big expensive machines is to check moisture loss, or weight loss of the eggs. Ideally, to get the best chick quality, an egg should lose 11-13% in weight from day of set until moved to the hatcher at day 18. Weigh the eggs before set then at transfer. If they lose too much weight then raise humidity by adding more water (surface area of the water). You an increase surface area of water to increase humidity bay adding a sponge or rag in the water. If they lose less than 11-13% then lower humidity to allow more moisture loss of the egg.

In general, I find the ideal humidity for most machines is about 82 F wet bulb or around 54-56% relative humidity."

Thank You Kim!

 

[cherylcohen]

Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Miss Molly]

Yes, Happy New Years... God Bless Everyone!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Happy New Year!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Happy New years !

 

[lawatt]

happy new years morning!

just curious, how long would you folks keep a new rooster in his coop/run (with his lady friends) before letting the gang out to free-range? will he know it's home after only one day of being "cooped," or should i keep them all indoors for a few more?

 

[mendocinosunris]

HaPpY nEw YeAr!!!!