California - Northern

[sewandgrow]

I will, when I'm sure that it's finished.

After Ron's post, yesterday, I went out to remove the 5 hatched chicks and they were playing football with the newly hatched Delaware. I took out the Dorkings, left the Del to dry and turned over the 3 remaining eggs.

Two of those eggs had pips that had been on the underside. I had placed cheesecloth on the bottom of the incubator for hatching. The cheesecloth was stuck to one of the pip holes. I don't have a spray bottle, so I dabbed it with a damp paper towel. Humidity had dropped to 38, so I closed the lid.

No change to the unhatched and pipped eggs when I went to bed. Got up at 4, to let dogs out because I heard coyotes close by. Checked and saw that the chick from the pipped egg that wasn't stuck to the cheesecloth had hatched. One pipped and one not pipped egg left.

Late afternoon today is Day 22. Would that be time to turn off the incubator?

I sure don't feel like doing eggtopsies after reading and seeing the posts lately!

So, most of the chicks hatched on Day 20. 2 hatched on Day 21. Two haven't hatched. How do I know if the settings for temperature & humidity were ok? All other eggs weren't fertile, had no indication of development.

I had to add 1 3/4 gallons of distilled water during this incubation. Is that usual for an RCom?

My R-Com is the smaller 20/24 egg one & doesn't use much water. My husband collects rainwater in a barrel system for me to use & keeps a 5 gallon bucket in the porch for me to use. Kim...it sounds like you did a really good job with a high hatch percentage ..............Congratulations.!!!!. I always leave mine a few extra days in case & I like to put them in egg carton strips with air cell up for hatching.

 

[liz9910]

This morning I noticed that my poor Serama rooster was looking rather lonely all by himself in the run, all the girls were missing in action. I pull open the nest box and sure enough there are 3 broody hens all sitting together in a pile. Hilarious. I wonder who is actually sitting on the eggs?

@chiqita one of them is the frizzled Serama I got from you so maybe there will be frizzled babies? That would be adorable. My phone was dead so no pictures but will get some later.

 

[capayvalleychick]

My R-Com is the smaller 20/24 egg one & doesn't use much water. My husband collects rainwater in a barrel system for me to use & keeps a 5 gallon bucket in the porch for me to use. Kim...it sounds like you did a really good job with a high hatch percentage ..............Congratulations.!!!!. I always leave mine a few extra days in case & I like to put them in egg carton strips with air cell up for hatching.

Mine is the 20, like Hangtown & lawatt. I know that the humidity here is low, maybe that's why it used so much water. This was an experiment to see how well it would hatch automatically and I wanted to see how they would hatch on their sides. Maybe it would have worked if the hatched chicks hadn't been pushing the eggs!

 

[Cluckhead]

Hey capayvalleychick, our 6 month old Shorthair is from Capay Valley!


Anyone local looking for a nice cockerel? I have a 12 week Ameraucana/EE that needs a home.

 

[PetRock]

I will, when I'm sure that it's finished.

After Ron's post, yesterday, I went out to remove the 5 hatched chicks and they were playing football with the newly hatched Delaware. I took out the Dorkings, left the Del to dry and turned over the 3 remaining eggs.

Two of those eggs had pips that had been on the underside. I had placed cheesecloth on the bottom of the incubator for hatching. The cheesecloth was stuck to one of the pip holes. I don't have a spray bottle, so I dabbed it with a damp paper towel. Humidity had dropped to 38, so I closed the lid.

No change to the unhatched and pipped eggs when I went to bed. Got up at 4, to let dogs out because I heard coyotes close by. Checked and saw that the chick from the pipped egg that wasn't stuck to the cheesecloth had hatched. One pipped and one not pipped egg left.

Late afternoon today is Day 22. Would that be time to turn off the incubator?

I sure don't feel like doing eggtopsies after reading and seeing the posts lately!

So, most of the chicks hatched on Day 20. 2 hatched on Day 21. Two haven't hatched. How do I know if the settings for temperature & humidity were ok? All other eggs weren't fertile, had no indication of development.

I had to add 1 3/4 gallons of distilled water during this incubation. Is that usual for an RCom?

Sounds like you are having a great hatch! I used to not do eggtopsies because of the yuck factor but this year, I've opened up each one. I just place the unhatched eggs in a zip lock bag and open the fat end of the egg. It is sad to see unhatched chicks but more than half of the ones I open are just yolk or early quitters. That makes me feel better about my incubating! It also tells me that I need a new candler because I'm obviously setting eggs to hatch on day 18 that shouldn't be. My Mother's Day hatch I ended up with 4 eggs that didn't hatch. When I opened them, 3 were yolk and the 4th had a late quitter chick. Also, the hatches that have been incubating in the cabinet hatcher start hatching on day 20 and finish on day 21. When I use my Hovabator Genesis for the whole process, I have had them hatch on day 19 and continue hatching until day 22. Some of that might be a breed characteristic. The Bresse always seem to hatch earlier than the others. The Langshans are slow pokes and most are the last to hatch. I have my final hatch for the season that I just put in my Genesis yesterday. It is mostly from my two Black Langshan trios, some RIRs that I hope are fertile, and Pita Pintas. It will be interesting to see how they hatch because they will be in the Genesis for the whole time.

 

[sewandgrow]

As everyone knows .................. I know not what I do when it comes to this computer but I am going to try to post the cone frame we made.





photo.JPG
3.3 MB

 

[tommysgirl]

Our farm friends have their cone mounted on a metal stand but they have 10 acres and lots of room for misc equipment! They dig a deep death hole, place the stand over the hole, and bury the heads, blood, and other parts after processing is done. We usually process around 40 at a time. It is quite the event!

Do you guys make a day of it and share a meal and things after? I don't mean to be course or flippant or anything, I am serious. Seems like it would be natural to do this sort of unsavory task then follow it up with a positive. Like the old time threshers or a barn raising or something.

I will, when I'm sure that it's finished.

After Ron's post, yesterday, I went out to remove the 5 hatched chicks and they were playing football with the newly hatched Delaware. I took out the Dorkings, left the Del to dry and turned over the 3 remaining eggs.

Two of those eggs had pips that had been on the underside. I had placed cheesecloth on the bottom of the incubator for hatching. The cheesecloth was stuck to one of the pip holes. I don't have a spray bottle, so I dabbed it with a damp paper towel. Humidity had dropped to 38, so I closed the lid.

No change to the unhatched and pipped eggs when I went to bed. Got up at 4, to let dogs out because I heard coyotes close by. Checked and saw that the chick from the pipped egg that wasn't stuck to the cheesecloth had hatched. One pipped and one not pipped egg left.

Late afternoon today is Day 22. Would that be time to turn off the incubator?

I sure don't feel like doing eggtopsies after reading and seeing the posts lately!

So, most of the chicks hatched on Day 20. 2 hatched on Day 21. Two haven't hatched. How do I know if the settings for temperature & humidity were ok? All other eggs weren't fertile, had no indication of development.

I had to add 1 3/4 gallons of distilled water during this incubation. Is that usual for an RCom?

Sounds like you have done great! Good luck with that last pipper and the one still unpipped.

I have seen them actually nailed or screwed to a fence or post but mine is portable. You never know where I might be processing.....LOL. We built a 2 x 2 frame that the cone sits in & I can move it around. My son is going to try to get a picture for you. I told him to go take a picture where there was no junk around it for me to post.......He came back in & say Mission Impossible Mom .............. there is always junk everywhere....................LOL He is Sooooooooooo right......... it is just a way of life around here..........LOL.
Picture soon hopefully..............

I like the idea of something that can be put away when not it use and look forward to seeing our pics! Please thank your son for me.

@debs_flock If we had such a tree it would be perfect...also if we had more space so it wouldn't be obvious.

Hey capayvalleychick, our 6 month old Shorthair is from Capay Valley!


Anyone local looking for a nice cockerel? I have a 12 week Ameraucana/EE that needs a home.

The Black and White? He is very handsome. Good Luck!

 

[EZFarms]

Kathy i think ill go with your explanation of worms. it seems to fit best. do they cause feather loss? I know they cause weight loss. and tgats very generous of u to send me some safeguard. i love this site and this thread you guys are so nice and dont get onto people for asking questions or anything

 

[PetRock]

Do you guys make a day of it and share a meal and things after? I don't mean to be course or flippant or anything, I am serious. Seems like it would be natural to do this sort of unsavory task then follow it up with a positive. Like the old time threshers or a barn raising or something.

We always bring breakfast goodies because that helps motivate the kids (& adults!). We usually start at around 9 AM and finish by 1 PM. A meal together after that would be a good idea. Usually, we are so tired that we clean up and go home.

 

[Cluckhead]

The dog in my Avatar, he's German Shorthair Pointer

Quote: