California - Northern

[ronott1]

Quote: I have that one and it is not very accurate. This one is better: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-thermometer-hygrometer.html

Temp is accurate and the humidity level is close.

 

[PetRock]

I was just looking at that one and it looked great, but when I read the very poor reviews about how it isn't accurate I was really disappointed

That is disappointing! I guess all I looked at were the 4 reviews on the incubator warehouse site. They were all 5 stars out of 5. I thought that it was a great idea to have the probe inside the incubator and the unit outside. Has anyone had any experience with this GQF one?

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=151

 

[PetRock]

I have that one and it is not very accurate. This one is better: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-thermometer-hygrometer.html

Temp is accurate and the humidity level is close.

Thanks, Ron. If I'm going to buy one, I sure want it to be accurate!

 

[tommysgirl]

Thanks Ron. The photos are so helpful. I am a visual learner...it's hard for me to understand even well written instructions but I understand now what you mean...what are the glad ware tubs for?

Shipped eggs should be incubated big end up. For hatching at lockdown, put them on their side with the big end slightly up. Check my Siggy for a link to more information.

I still use cartons at hatch and tilt the eggs:



Set them with the big part of the air cell up. All but 3 of these hatched. Amy Beth has them now.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks Ron. The photos are so helpful. I am a visual learner...it's hard for me to understand even well written instructions but I understand now what you mean...what are the glad ware tubs for?
Quote: Those are for extra humidity. They have a slot in the top and for incubation they fit on the rail of the egg turner.


Two of them raise the humidity and I do not have to hunt for the water channel.

 

[chiqita]

well they might go in with one of my dark layers too

pretty olive eggers. Now my white empordanesa are domanint white so I am not sure if the chicks would just be white... Hmm maybe with the crele pene. Actually I may put a easter egger in there and breed some pretty EE .... Hmmm Jason no just your focus breeds lol.
yeah !!!! congrats post pics when it gets there
I love the blue or Lavender Ameraucana's with the dark egg layers. my Barnevelder lavender ameraucana olive eggers where so pretty and the lighter Barnie egg made for a real pretty olive color
lol yep. The thing that turns me off most from breeding them is that. Everyone is a expert but no one can completely agree on the Ameraucana thread.
I had someone say I was incorrect calling 2 true ameraucana varieties that where crossed and not to standard easter eggers.
He said they are Non Standard Ameraucana . I said I dont care what they are called but until everyone can agree on what to call them there are going to be alot of people
getting had and sold non standard ameraucana that are really truly Easter eggers with completely other breeds in them and there daily 40 posts of easter eggers will continue.
you need a new rug

Ok, why do I need a new rug? I am both curious and intrigued. ( on a side note, we DO need new carpeting in 1/2 the house, but I dont want carpet so I have not tackled it yet. )

Wow! Until we get our run built I'm not letting them go more than 50ft from me. Unfortunately we live on hilly land so building a run is going to be a pain.

Sorry about your rooster. I agree that we will need to have some sort of stiffer wire for the runs.

On an unrelated note... what is the appeal of quail? Do people typically raise them for meat?

Quail are great becuse they are FAST and take little room. Appx 8 weeks from being an egg to laying an egg. And once you have settled the differences in your covy they are easy to care for. Great for apartmnets , eggs, and or meat. They can have issues when they get moved or introduced, but other then that they are great fun.

I am finaly getting quail eggs too! The bad thing about them is they need 13 hrs of light or they wont lay, and once they stop, they take a while to restart. Mine got supplimental light the end of january and are just now putting out.

If you DO raise quail however, you ahve to get rid of the extra boys, you can NOT do 1/1 raito unless they are alone with a LOT of room. even then it only works some times.

Thank you everyone for the information about how often you collect eggs!

I am loving all of these hatching pictures. I am tempted to hatch my own chicks instead of mail ordering them.

DOO ETTT! It is much more fun and if you can only get a few birds, heritage that will lay for longer is the way to go . I vote you get at least one Marans to go broody for you a couple of times a yer! But I am biased.

Yes, but .... <*sputter*>... can you have elderly quail? Something worth naming?

Some quail have more personality then others. We name some and they do get more special treat emnt. Bubbah Is our HUGE crotechty female. her eggs are 1/2 again as large as anyone else, and when she is in a bad mood she beats the boys up. She got bumblefoot and still limps a little and gets a foot bath in epsom salts every once in a while. She will be here till she drops, mario loves her to pieces and she comes to him when she is in a good mood and trills. Strangefeather was a male who had a single twisted feather in his neck and was the sweetest quail to other birds. He used to take care of the babies when he was growing up, and I used him as a shepard in the little hoppers cages until he was an adult. The girls all loved him, and he got along well with theother roos. he was a bit small for ideal breeding, but passed his personalitly on to the chicks. I saw markedly less problems with people who got birds from that cage setting up theri pens. Sadly he passed this winter from causes unknown. Quail just up and die on occation.

Gimpy and wiggles were a pair of quail we eventually rehomed as pets to a guy who was raising quail for their kids. Gimpy was a neuter and wiggles was its big italian buff friend. Gimp had a limp from a funny hip. Wiggles used to keep everyone away from its so she could run around and play.

I can tell more stories like that. Not all quail have personalities ( or you could never eat them!) But those that do are precious and entertaining.

I was just looking at that one and it looked great, but when I read the very poor reviews about how it isn't accurate I was really disappointed

If you want to put one INSIDE the incubator so you can see it from the window, try a Acu rite from lows or osh. They are .10 to 100 degrees, then just a full degree. It is good with humidity unless you also use it to check the temps of your chick brooders and it does not get cleaned off the back properly..

But I'm not trusting my own advice lately becuse I'm having a HORRIBLE time with hatching. I was feeling so depressed about ti all I almost bought a brinsea cabinet from down in LA but she sold it before the weekend, so no eco 360 for me . I dont know what happened, everything is developing BEAUTIFULY but not pipping. Except the show eggs I got from Fresno, not many of them wated to start. It could be a humidity problem, I have had some early issues keeping it stable, but its doing better now. I will eggtopsy some of these chicks and see if they could not turn around. I had a 100% hatch when I had my friend hatching them, so I know its not the eggs ( good rates on my shipped eggs lately too, having them do better then me is MEGA depressing)

If it is humidity it should be fixed now, we found a replacement for the water pan that gave out after the Humidair got its upgrades. But im now wondering if I sould get a utra mega humidity reader and put it in there to make sure I've got everytrhing at around 35 %. Our house is just dry, I cant do a real dry hatch or its about 20% or below. ugg, who would ahve thougth learnig how to sue this thing would be so problomatic?

How is everyone this morning? I have been somehow busy this last week or so, not sure HOW i got so busy, does not seem like a got a ton done! It is a beautiful day but the chicks are getting wild, they are jumping out of the mini brooders and running around the floor. They should be moved out into the garage but I was putting it off and now its like chicks gone wild in here with them sneaking on the top of the warterers, jumping out of the cages and trying to run over my keybord. The cages are mostly covered but they are sneaking out the extra spots! I blame the leghorns they have taught everyone to fly!

Pumpkins is trying to go broody, anyone know how to break a broody turkey? I candled the turkey eggs I had under a broodie last night, and they all look different then the early eggs but no veining yet that I saw. But they went in on 2/28 so its a bit early. I thought I saw a baby in one, however. I think I am going to take her hissing little self and make her sit outside in the sunshine again today and see if it helps.


Pumpkins would put me at 3 3/4 broodies. I have 2 Marans that are committed wiht eggs, pupmkins, and a girl who is sitting on the nest for about 4 hrs a day thinking about it. And one silkie who bit me while collecting eggs today, but I think she was just in a bad mood.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Sorry to hear about the hatch challenges! It is frustrating when they get close but do not make it. I hope you get the incubator dialed in.

Look for a thermometer that has high and lows in it. There may be temp swings that are out of range.

All is well in the chicken world here! Did you see the picture of the Olive colored egg from your flock babies I hatched? I am going to be working on nest box changes this weekend and of course it is time to start rehoming for the year.

 

[OR4-hmom]

I keep hoping for someone to go broody. I guess they just don't want to start yet, last year I couldn't get them out of the nest boxes, I'm sure they will do it again.

Cleaned the new babies tank this morning and tried to get a couple of pictures before it was a mess again. 5-7 day old BLRW, I need to figure out who is throwing the SLW marked chicks.

 

[Ali707]

Oooooh! Bobcats are evil. We have one that migrates through here when she is going to her den to have babies. Everyone is in cages for January. This year she got Louie my huge wonderful marans rooster. His son is just making over the girls now. They are tenatious and nothing scares them.

Make sure your runs are hardwire and not chicken wire!
Put them in now! The biggest enemy of quail eggs is dehydration. They have been sitting for a while anyway. If your worried don't turn em for a few days. You want them all large end up in the turner then just turn it on in a few days. If the are too many of them double stack for the first 10 days then candle.

Mario is home sick and they put him on antibiotics. He's in a bad bad mood. I will post more later

Thanks Chiqita!

I did put them in at 8:30 last night since you said to go ahead. I just unplugged the turner for a day. I will start it up tonight again.

NOW I am a little worried because Ron mentioned that the Genesis doesn't reflect the true temperature at egg level. Does that mean I need to get a regular thermometer and put it in with the eggs? I did have a kitchen one that actually has an alarm on it. So if the temp goes above 101 the alarm will go off. However, it was reading a couple of degrees lower than the Genesis!!! Now I am all confused. So the temp gauge on the unit isn't really very accurate??? UGH!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Yes, put a thermometer at egg level that reads in tenths. Adjust the setting by a couple of tenths and wait an hour or two between adjustments.

Look for one at a pet store--the type they have for reptiles.