Consolidated Kansas

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Vaccinating chicks ~ I thought this was interesting and if anyone has any information on it. I was looking at the Welp hatchery site and in the "tour of the hatchery" page they mentioned two things.

One ~ ovo vaccinate ~ vaccinate in the egg.

Two ~ spray vaccinate ~ sprayed on the chicks.

Both are mentioned here ~ http://www.welphatchery.com/hatchery_tour.asp Would this be for mereks or something else?

 

[Hawkeye95]

I am not sure the difference - but I did a LOT of research last night and read a LOT of reviews. Those who owned the KingSuro were not happy and wish they had paid extra to get a better product.

I ended up buying the R-Com 20 Max last night - the reviews were fabulous, the features are more than I ever was looking for in an incubator and the price was doable for what I was getting - can't wait for it to get here!

YAY!!!! Congrats on your R-COM! I'd LOVE one of those!!! Maybe if I go back to work, I can afford one of those things! LOL I'm so sorry you had bad luck with the Brinsea-- especially since I LOVE mine, but I'm pretty sure you are getting a fantastic incubator! They have such an amazing reputation, I don't see how you could go wrong with it. They are just waaaaay out of my price range. Post a pic when you get it!!! And still, have it running for a good 3 days before you add any eggs to it.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Vaccinating chicks ~ I thought this was interesting and if anyone has any information on it. I was looking at the Welp hatchery site and in the "tour of the hatchery" page they mentioned two things.

One ~ ovo vaccinate ~ vaccinate in the egg.

Two ~ spray vaccinate ~ sprayed on the chicks.

Both are mentioned here ~ http://www.welphatchery.com/hatchery_tour.asp Would this be for mereks or something else?

I don't know. I do think that Mareks can be dropped in before hatch-- they poke a hole in the shell, but I wonder if the spray would be for NewCastle disease? That is another one people often vaccinate for.

 

[HEChicken]

The wire baskets how big and did you place them at opposite ends of the cooler? How did you put the hardware cloth in?

There doesn't have to be a set size. I was just looking for something that would fit the floor of my cooler. I actually went looking for one but couldn't find one the size I needed. When I saw this set of two I realized the two side-by-side would fit perfectly. I think they are each about 4x4. The hardware cloth just sits on top of the baskets. No fitting needed. The only reason I used it at all was so that chicks couldn't fall down and get wedged in the fan.

One thing I forgot to mention last night is that I did also cut out most of the lid. First I cut out a big slab. Then I carefully cut horizontally about 1/2", and down to that cut 1/2" wider than the big hole. I know that's going to sound complicated but it is just a picture frame. I then went to the thrift store and looked for a cheap picture frame that had glass intact. I took out the glass and fit it into the "picture frame" in my lid, making it viewable. I couldn't stand the idea of not knowing what was happening in there at hatch time and didn't want to keep opening the lid to peek.

Below is a really old picture of my first model, but it gives you an idea what I'm talking about on the picture frame top. The glass is nestled into the styrofoam so that it sits flat. You can also see the inverted wire baskets, with the piece of hardware cloth sitting on them. I later added the rubberized shelf liner so you no longer see those. I also forgot to mention that the cat food bowls sitting under the wire baskets are filled with water which is what provides the humidity. This pic is from my first incubation attempt where I had every thermometer under the sun in there. I now use only one that I can trust since all of the therms in the below pic read slightly differently so I never knew which one to rely on. I also no longer hatch in egg cartons, but just lay the eggs on their side on the shelf liner. I've had much better hatches this way. I'll try to take some pics of my current set up and post them - kind of a step-by-step for putting all the pieces together.

 

[HEChicken]

I don't know. I do think that Mareks can be dropped in before hatch-- they poke a hole in the shell, but I wonder if the spray would be for NewCastle disease? That is another one people often vaccinate for.

That is my understanding also - that they vaccinate the eggs before the chicks hatch. I have an egg piercer, that pricks a hole in the shell of an egg prior to hard-boiling to prevent cracking. I imagine the vaccine works similarly - they can pierce the hole and inject the vaccine without cracking the egg. Here is what my egg piercer looks like:


You place each end of the egg into the yellow hollow, and push straight down. A little needle (you can just see it in the middle of the hole if you look carefully) pierces through the shell as you push.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Vaccinating chicks ~ I thought this was interesting and if anyone has any information on it. I was looking at the Welp hatchery site and in the "tour of the hatchery" page they mentioned two things.

One ~ ovo vaccinate ~ vaccinate in the egg.

Two ~ spray vaccinate ~ sprayed on the chicks.

Both are mentioned here ~ http://www.welphatchery.com/hatchery_tour.asp Would this be for mereks or something else?

It would help if I read everything ~ They only mention two vaccines - mereks, given at one day old, and coccidiosis *SPRAY*. So that is what the spay is, but if they give the mereks at one day old, it does not explain what the one is that is put into the egg.

 

[chicken danz]

I have purchased hatchery chicks that were vaccinated for Mereks and it left a little bluish purple dot on the back of their necks. Kind of like blue Kote. I wonder if their needle has a spray built in to disinfect the area or wet it. I think the needle actually has to penetrate under the skin. I could verify this information if anyone really wanted to know.
Newcastle disease isn't something that effects chicks in the U.S. Once there was a break out in southern California when imports were brought in without being screened or vaccinated and they literally had to euthanize hundreds of thousands of birds to stop it. There is no cure for it and it makes Mareks look like a cake walk. The biggest danger of it coming in would be from the southern most states that border Mexico if birds were smuggled in and or imports from other tropical areas. If I lived in Southern Texas or California for example, I might consider vaccinating for that.
It's obvious we can't vaccinate for everything. It's a matter of what we deem practical and how we use bio-security to protect our investments. I try to keep a closed flock for the most part unless I know where a bird is coming from and what type of preventive care it has had. I only buy eggs from NPIP flocks and people with excellent reputations. My one open category are the layers who come from hatchery stock. And of course now I am working on my own breeding program for them as well so I don't introduce that factor into the group.
I guess my biggest failure is allowing people to come in and look at all my birds. I do love to give the tours. As time goes on however I have more and more of them confined to pens so they aren't in contact with any outside sources. I really hate to pen my birds though and like them free ranging.
I might add that you could buy a turner from LG or hovabator to use in a homemade incubator like HeChicken's. HeChicken does the thermostat have to be placed inside of the incubator or does the prob read the temp and send it to the unit? Just curious. I am trying to design a reliable incubator for my daughter using stuff on hand. I don't have a thermostat figured out yet however.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

It would help if I read everything ~ They only mention two vaccines - mereks, given at one day old, and coccidiosis *SPRAY*. So that is what the spay is, but if they give the mereks at one day old, it does not explain what the one is that is put into the egg.

Uh huh, it would help if I would read before posting. OK, last post from me on this subject cause I am done reading. It is the mereks that is inovo vaccinating from Welps.http://www.drugs.com/vet/marek-s-disease-vaccine-sb1-can.html

 

[HEChicken]

I might add that you could buy a turner from LG or hovabator to use in a homemade incubator like HeChicken's. HeChicken does the thermostat have to be placed inside of the incubator or does the prob read the temp and send it to the unit? Just curious. I am trying to design a reliable incubator for my daughter using stuff on hand. I don't have a thermostat figured out yet however.

Good question - I never even thought to specify that. The thermostat sits outside of the cooler and the probe enters through a hole.

I have looked at the LG turners but they would not fit in either of the coolers I have. I don't know if Omaha Steaks coolers come in larger sizes. If I could find a cooler large enough to accommodate the turner, I would be very interested.

Okay, I took a series of pics just now, showing how the incubator goes together:

To start, place the heating pad on the floor of the cooler, and slip the power cord out through the hole in the side. I then place the fan on the heat pad and its power cable slides out through the same hole. Having the fan just inside the larger hole allows it to draw in fresh air. (You can see the probe here sitting on the heat mat.)


Here is the outside of the cooler. I used a bolt to attach a small plastic basket to the side, that holds the thermostat, and keeps the cords contained. You can see the wire nuts I used to attach the fan to a power cord I cut off a non-working appliance. This is the only wiring required and is so easy a kindergartener could do it


Next I add the two cat food bowls and cover them with the inverted wire baskets. You can use about anything here. I went to the dollar store and looked around until I found something that would work. My main goal was to create a platform on which the eggs would sit, and to protect them from falling into the water bowls or getting stuck in the fan.


Now I add the hardware cloth. This is not attached to anything. It is rigid enough that it sits on the wire baskets, creating the "platform". There is a 1/4" gap on all sides of the hardware cloth as if it fit too snugly it would be difficult to get it in and out. Also, it is important to leave room for the probe to be raised past the platform, since it needs to sit at egg level.


Next I add the rubberized shelf liner, again making sure to draw the probe up to sit on top of it. Note that I cut it slightly too large. This allows me to tuck it in around the sides so that the chicks have no way to get a leg stuck in that 1/4" gap between the hardware cloth and the sides of the cooler.


Here is the opposite end of the cooler. Note the large hole, and several smaller holes. The smaller holes were made using a pencil - the sharp tip allowed me to just push the pencil right through the styrofoam. The larger hole is sized to fit a cork. So, if I ever needed to plug up a hole, I have a couple of corks sitting on my incubation table (have never used them though). By placing the ventilation holes on opposite ends of the cooler, the fan is able to draw in fresh air on one side and vent it out the other.


Now for the lid. You can see where I cut out the large "hole" in the lid. You can also see in this picture just how thick the styrofoam is! I purchased the picture frame from the thrift store in order to get a piece of glass that would fit, and then I cut the hole and "picture frame" to fit the glass.


When the incubator is running, I place the cut out lid piece over the glass. This helps to keep heat in, and keeps moisture from condensing on the under surface of the glass. When I need to peek in, I push it to the side or remove it altogether.


Let me know if you have any questions. Sometimes it is easy to leave out a detail....

 

[chicken danz]

I have a couple of those coolers and some others that salt water corals were shipped in. One of those might be big enough. Another source for these coolers is prescription drugs. I got a couple of coolers for transporting the salt water animals, that came from a doctors office and a drug store. The medications that had to be kept refrigerated. That is a good source for some of larger size. I had one that was probably 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. It however had to go by by, because it got moldy in my old damp basement a few years back.
They actually were free. I had a friend who worked in a doctors office who had gotten them from work.
A few calls might net you some good containers. I'd like to build my daughter's with a wood exterior but I could always build it around the outside of one of the coolers as well.