Colorado

[uzisuzuki]

Good morning fellow CO peeps!

I'm in the desperate market for an incubator upgrade. I'm gonna set another batch late tonight or early tomorrow after a 4/12 hatch rate using my Farm Innovators bator from TSC. So, I'm gonna set in my current bator and then swap when the other one gets here.

I've been authorized up to $400 from my silent chicken partner aka my husband, LOL.

My big considerations are: auto-egg turner, humidity stability and the ability to have it not go wonky during power outages which are numerous here.

I've been looking at the Brinsea Ovation series, the Hovabators & the Incuviews. Can anyone weigh in on these or others I haven't thought of?

I have two different Brinsea (a large one & a small one) & I really like them. They don’t run on battery, so a power outage would cause issues - we get them a lot & I had to rush it out to a car to plug in there while driving to a house with power still on.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

I'm not against my roosters being butchered. I am against selling them for less than a whole chicken cost at the super market.
I am looking at selling off all my chickens so I can plant my garden. But the roosters have to go first.

 

[lomine]

I'm not against my roosters being butchered. I am against selling them for less than a whole chicken cost at the super market.
I am looking at selling off all my chickens so I can plant my garden. But the roosters have to go first.

I can understand that, I wouldn't want to give them away or sell super cheap either. It takes work and feed to raise them.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

The first Ayam Cermani x Americana chick hatched today.

 

[Bridger Davis]

Hi there! Being the Colorado thread, I felt this would be the place to ask if anyone else is in Greeley Colorado getting ducks... Or even NoCo for that matter.... Lol chances are slim, but I figure it couldn't hurt to ask...

 

[ScottKelly1974]

The first Americana hatch is over. I have 5 chicks, one is pictured above, the others are all black. So it makes me think the one pictured is a pure Americana since these eggs were part of the first eggs she layed after I bought her. There are two Americana roosters in the pen with her and the others where I bought her. The others are clearly fathered by my Ayam Cermani rooster.

Is anyone looking for chicks? I do plan on selling the chicks, eventually.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

I have two different Brinsea (a large one & a small one) & I really like them. They don’t run on battery, so a power outage would cause issues - we get them a lot & I had to rush it out to a car to plug in there while driving to a house with power still on.

Good morning everyone,
After much consideration, we choose the Incuview with humidikit. Here’s to happy hatching! I’ll let you guys know how my hatch turns out!

 

[Percheron chick]

Hi there! Being the Colorado thread, I felt this would be the place to ask if anyone else is in Greeley Colorado getting ducks... Or even NoCo for that matter.... Lol chances are slim, but I figure it couldn't hurt to ask...

. No ducks but geese. Have 13 heading to lockdown but don't have much faith in the eggs. I think most got too cold or froze. Have another 10 that the girls are sitting on.
There are a bunch of adult ducks on CL. I'm heading to Feeder Supply today and she's advertising Pekins. I can check them out. She will also order in breeds .

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

I've got two 1588 Hovabators with egg turners. I've had a lot of problems hatching but honesty it's probably got less to do with the incubators and more to do with fertility and our altitude. Once you get the temperature set it stays stable, just maybe not accurate. There's no humidity controls but it holds the humidity well. The stability depends on what % you go for. The wells in the bottom hold water for a few days, the humidity holds stable as long as there is water in them. Even with the smallest well I can't get below 40% so I usually don't use them till lockdown.

I've done 3 hatches so far this year. Though my hatches have improved they are still not what I would call great. The thing that has had the biggest impact between my first hatches a couple years ago and now has been switching to dry incubation. Now that Spring is here, and hopefully no more really cold days that kill eggs, I'm hoping for better results. Though after chatting with a silkie breeder, I'm wondering if I'll ever get anything really good. She seemed happy to get 40% and the way she made it sound that was normal around here.

I also am breeding Silkies, so I’m hopeful with an incubator upgrade I’ll get better outcomes. One thing I have noticed with them is that they tend to hatch better with a lockdown at day 17 and not day 18. This is because they consistently hatch at day 20, not day 21.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

I've noticed different hatching days too. Since I have different batches going at the same time in the 37 egg incubator, I have to keep records.
What I do is to have every egg marked with the date layed and the hen who layed it if possible. Then when I go to incubate the eggs, I have the date range written on a calendar of when I started them and 21 days.

I don't let the eggs hatch in the large incubator since it is made of Styrofoam; I put them in the small plastic one for hatching. Plastic is much easier to clean.