Colorado

[WendyGeisler]

Cutting back my flock a bit - after much discussion and observation, I've come to the conclusion I have one too many breeds here, especially if I want to get some Leghorns down the road. I am posting here and on the Colorado Chickens FB group that I want to find a good home for all my Egytian Fayoumis, and to any member of this or the FB group they are free. There is an adult pair who will be a year old March 10th, a Fayoumi x Sussex pullet who us just about at POL, a pure Fayoumi pullet who should be at POL next month, and 2 young cockerels who are about 8 weeks of age. I would like someone to take all of them as a package deal if possible.

They are healthy, great foragers, easy on the feed bill, and the hen who is with the male is laying 3-5 eggs a week. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Oh Wow, who ever takes your flock will be so lucky! That must be hard to let a whole group go, big hugs!

 

[WendyGeisler]

I finally have some pics to share of the Silkies hatched on NYD and the following Saturday (1/4/14). They moved to the coop brooder today, and I have 4 more plus 2 Egyptian Fayoumis hatched this weekend that will go into the house brooder for a few days and then also move out to the coop brooder.

So sweet! I love their little furry feet!

 

[WendyGeisler]

I am collecting the parts now for my small cabinet incubator. I have the 9 bottle wine refrigerator, already gutted. I chose this because it has a full glass door on the front, so that I can keep an eye on the eggs. I have the Thermostat, heater coil, and two 120mm computer fans coming next week. The cpu fans have red led lights built into them so that I will have light in there without having to drill another hole in the cabinet and have another wire running around. The heater coil is a replacement coil for the gqf sportsman cabinet incubator. it should work well.I have a question that someone may be able to help me with if they will. Where is the heater coil located in the sportsman incubator? My plan is to locate the coils in front of the fans so the air moves across them. The fans and coil will be mounted to close to the top of the incubator. I should be able to have two levels to hatch on. I am picking up one used turner tomorrow, but will have to cut an inch off of it to get it to fit in the cabinet. I will take pics as the project progresses. I hope it works as well as I think it will. I am already collecting eggs for a test hatch. It should take about three days to assemble, as long as the weather holds(it is cold in the shop). Wish me luck

Wish you luck??? Samsr- I am sure you can build anything!! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[WendyGeisler]

I am putting together the final (

) materials list for phase 3. My hope is to have this final chicken building phase finished by the end of March.... If the weather cooperates......
Phase 3 will include an area for up to 15 turkeys (eventually the plan is for this to be the turkey breeding house/pen); and two chicken breeding pens. Each of these three areas will include a 6 X 8 walk in coop. This will end the chicken building. When we are finished, we will have the main hen house (10 X 12) in the 3000 Sq ft run, the two growout pens, (each with a 4X6 elevated coop in an 8 X 24 pen), 4 breeding / brooding / segregation pens, each with a 3 X 4 elevated coop; the two breeding pens will each be about 575 square feet, while the turkey pen will be about 1000 sq ft.

Phase two also included a storage shed for straw, etc, and a work shed, and a feed/supply shed with a front porch.

I think that's enough.... LOL

.

After the chicken building is done, the greenhouse is next, followed by a possible larger turkey operation........"Chicken math" has become "poultry calculus"

All I can say is WOW! I hope the weather is great so your building can go up as planned.

 

[WendyGeisler]

You need to post pics of your incubator!
I'll be in UT this week for work and found someone with bantam olive eggers with eggs available. I'm so excited! I hope I can work it out to pick them up while I'm there. I think I'll turn on the incubator before I leave just in case.

Pozees and suncatcher are either of you off I70? If so, maybe I could stop by and pick up some eggs on my way back. So much for my trial hatch.

Oh Trsturself!!!
The person selling Olive Eggers, is it the hens or the fertile eggs? I would love either!! I would happily pay you. Wendy

 

[WendyGeisler]

Tomorrow is my hatch day!!! I have 10 in the incubator and 9 look good.
These are from my easter eggers crossed with a blue copper marans roo.
I am hoping for some olive eggers, we'll seee

 

[Chickenuts]

Welcome Reinette! So much good info here! How are the chicken regulations in Lakewood?

 

[samsr]

I have a few pictures together as well as a small part list,

1 used wine refrigerator with glass front door. Remove all cooling system components and shelves. I found a short one. This set up could heat a large one.
1 replacement heating coil and insulators for a GQF sportsmans cabinet incubator.
1 120mm computer fan, lights optional.
1 16x8 piece of glass for a shelf and baffle.
1 16x 6 piece of metal to mount the fan and heater coil to.
1 digital temperature controller. I am using the celceous one at the moment. I will be getting a fahrenheight one by the end of the month. Either will work, However I find

with the celceous controller It can be set at 37 degrees or 38 degrees. 37 is a bit low and 38 is a touch high to my likeing. I would like to hold the temperature steady at 100 degrees if I have a chance. Right now it holds steady at 100.4F


Here is how the incubator build turned out. I used the original cord and ran it to a electrical plug that Installed on the back of the unit. I plug in the fan transformer and the egg turner into it. This way I don't take up too many outlets or need a electrical strip in order to use it. Now it is a Magic Chef incubator. You can see the lit up fan on the inside through the door glass.



Thermostat up and running. Controlling the heater coil inside the unit. I have it programmed to come on at 37 (98.6)and off at 38 (100.4) It is holding the internal temp steady at 100.4F



Picture of the wired up electrical plug on the back. Its just a metal outlet box and cover wired up and attached to the cabinet. It works pretty slick to keep electrical close. That is my power adapter for my computer fan and the plug for the egg turner plugged into the outlet. The box is mounted where all the refrigeration accessories were.


With the cabinet door open you can see from top to bottom The CPU fan on the special metal mount with the heating coils in front of it. There used to be a shelf that slid into two rails along the side just below the fan mount. I removed this and cut a piece of glass 16 inches by 8 inches so that I could place the water there in front of the fan. This also lets the light from the fan illuminate the inside of the cabinet.
Next is the shelf for the modified egg turner. I made the shelf out of a used semi truck grill screen. It is about 1/16 inch hardware cloth with a frame around the edges for structure. The gaps give enough room for the air to circulate through.
The egg turner is a standard Farm Innovators turner with the back tray cut off. It would not fit otherwise. There is a wireless thermometer in front of the egg turner also. The temp at the front is the same as the temp. at the back so far.
On the bottom of the unit is Thermal mass in the form of full water bottles. This keeps temp swings to a minimum.



Closer picture of the fan and heater coils mounted with the insulators. Cutting the round hole in the piece of sheet aluminum was quite the task without a hole saw. You can see my water dish sitting there on the shelf in order to supply humidity. Humidity is running at a nice steady 42% by the way.To get it to hatching humidity, I should just have to place another dish on the same shelf.

I need to do a proper write up at a later date, but I though I would let you guys see my progress. 19 eggs are in there at the moment, to give it a test run. Let me know if you have any questions and what you think.

 

[NurseChicky]

Here is my coop almost finished. I just need to put hinges on the doors, paint, and check for leaks. Let me know what you think. I may add some pics of the inside later.

 

[samsr]

Nice looking coop. Its always fun building things.