California - Northern

[sewandgrow]

Now that I know that the RCom will not maintain temperature and the Genesis will not maintain humidity in a non climate controlled room, I need to find out if there are any incubators that can stay stable in a room without air conditioning and heat?

I have never had a problem with the Brinseas maintaining temp. Maybe the insulation on the cabinet one helps. The Octagon 20 never wavered either. My front porch is glassed in & faces (a protected) East but gets pretty warm out there. I open a window & the sliding door at the North & South sfor cross ventilation & add a big fan when necessary for air flow. The incubators are not in a direct draft. I am really impressed with the performance of these incubators. It's just the cost that I choke on.

Maybe those (redneck) bucket air conditioners might work to keep the incubator room temp down.

Funny you should mention that Chris. I just got all the stuff together to try one. I was even going to try it in my car where the A/C
went out for fun. My fan came with a cigarette lighter plug on it & before I cut that off & rewired it to a plug I thought I would give it a run in my PT.....LOL

I'm super excited! I candled all the eggs and outlined the airsac for future reference. They all look good, no detached or saddle shaped. A few are "jiggly" but barely. And I noticed that they were all packed large end up so I have hope.

I was thinking about not turning them for the first day or so like some people recommend for shipped eggs but with them looking so good and the fact that I'm letting them sit for almost 24hr anyway; should I just plug the turner in when I set them?

If you have already let them sit over night I would put them in the turner. If I set them right into the incubator I put them on the non turning hatcher shelf the first day or two.

We just roasted the first of the meaties I processed a few weeks ago. It was very tender and juicy and we were very pleased with it!

Were they regular Cornish cross Vicki? I haven't raised just meaties but use extra cockerels for that.

 

[BCollie]

Quote:
So she suffered...It wasn't just passing out like it would have been from heat. She was in pain.

 

[casportpony]

@Bcollie, sad to say, but she had been sick for awhile. Don't beat yourself about it, it's quite common and there's nothing that can be done for them. Not sure how many you have, but you might want to consider getting a baseline weight on all of them.

-Kathy

 

[chiqita]

Holy crap! I have had my first totally unprepared person. Wants 1 day olds does not know what a heat lamp is. Has no brooder and no clue! And this is after I talked to her earlier and asked if she had the stuff.

And now shes got my address. Wonder if she is going to show after I told her she can't have babies without brooder...

 

[BCollie]

Thanks, Kathy. It's so sad, I wish there was something that could have been done to prevent it or at least take away her pain.

I'll have to do that, I only have 5 adults at the moment. But lots of babies! I'll get weights on them in the next few days, maybe tomorrow when my girlfriend is here to help me hold birds.

I'm working on building up my flock. After the MG scare I'm only getting hatching eggs from trusted sources, mainly PapaBrooder. I currently have 5 adults: 2 Andalusians(blue, splash), 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Tolbunt Polish, 1 Light Brahma. And some of the babies I'm keeping: 1 Black Copper Marans(as long as she doesn't start crowing!), 1 Cream Legbar, 1 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, 1 Olive Egger. I'm hatching out some Easter Eggers and will be keeping one of them.

How accurate is wing feather sexing at the ages of <1-3 days old?

 

[ronott1]

So she suffered...It wasn't just passing out like it would have been from heat. She was in pain.

The heat was likely a factor that sped it up, so she likely did not suffer as much as she would have.

There has been some research between prey pain and predator pain. Predators feel and process pain differently. Chickens are Prey so some pain is sent via different nerve pathways. It is not as sharp as us predators feel pain.

I am not saying chickens do not feel pain though.

You are doing a good job taking care of your babies!

 

[chiqita]

Depends on the breed. Not enough to sell chicks as sexed but some say better then random guessing. You have not mentioned a breed that is known to be feather sexable.

 

[BCollie]

Quote:
Thank you. I do my best for them. I'm glad the pain isn't as severe as it is with predators. Very interesting subject, I'll have to read more about that! I'm a major science freak.

Depends on the breed. Not enough to sell chicks as sexed but some say better then random guessing. You have not mentioned a breed that is known to be feather sexable.

The chicks I'm trying to feather sex are an Olive Egger and a Tolbunt Polish. If the feather sexing is accurate with these ones, both look to be girls because they have two different layers in the wing feathers that are coming in.

 

[BCollie]

Two pictures of the same chick.

 

[caychris]

I guess its a good sign the doors have been open all day today and no one has been injured etc. In fact just saw one of the buffs stand up for herself to one of the Dels. (The half blind one) and they are not running as much from them. Of course the Buffs have the advantage that they will willingly be lap chickens when someone is in the run with them.

Seeing the buff (the more skitish of the 2) stand up to one of the Dels is a very good sign I think.