Consolidated Kansas

[sharol]

How do you guys telike if a egg is fertile

You have to crack one to check. If one egg from a hen is fertile, there is a good chance others of hers are also fertile.

Look for the white spot on the yolk. If it is a simple white dot, it is not fertile. If it has a ring around it (like saturn) it is fertile.

 

[chicken danz]

How do you guys telike if a egg is fertile

I simply tell by whether it starts to develop or not. If you want to check in general do as Sharol instructed. Ideally I wish I had clear shells so I could look at each egg before I set it. It would save some incubator space and time for sure.

 

[zigzag45]

I simply tell by whether it starts to develop or not. If you want to check in general do as Sharol instructed. Ideally I wish I had clear shells so I could look at each egg before I set it. It would save some incubator space and time for sure.

Clear shells Danz? Sounds like a new breeding project for you.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL zig. Do you supposed I could feed them some clear plastic to make them create those? I've always wanted to try the fish bags that breath and incubate an out of the shell egg in one of those. I know there's been similar experiments but they never hatched them alive. I think it probably failed due to air exchange or introducing bacteria. But if it weren't for potentially killing a chick I would so try it.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Which breeds are best for going broody? I'd like to have a hen that would go broody regularly, but wasn't sure which breed(s) might be best. I actually managed to talk DH into letting me get a 24 egg Janoel incubator!! I can't wait to get it and try some of my own eggs. A friend is wanting some chicks this spring so I'd have a place to get sell them. Regardless of the incubator I'd still love to hav a broody hen or two but wasn't sure what people had luck with and if anyone had chicks or eggs available.

What's the news on the Avian Influenza by now?

 

[Trish44]

Which breeds are best for going broody? I'd like to have a hen that would go broody regularly, but wasn't sure which breed(s) might be best. I actually managed to talk DH into letting me get a 24 egg Janoel incubator!!

I can't wait to get it and try some of my own eggs. A friend is wanting some chicks this spring so I'd have a place to get sell them. Regardless of the incubator I'd still love to hav a broody hen or two but wasn't sure what people had luck with and if anyone had chicks or eggs available.

What's the news on the Avian Influenza by now?

I know some have had good luck with Cochins for brooding, even the bantam ones. I know HEChicken often uses them for that. I have had Australorps go broody so much I was ready to ship them out because they're in my laying flock & I wanted them to lay not be broody. I finally sold one of them & then she never went broody for the gal that bought her.

Congrats on the incubator, I had not seen that brand.

I have heard no more news on the AI lately, other than they put a stop to the big swap over in MO due to the quarantine. I saw that notice on a FB swap page. I have heard of no new cases reported, so maybe they have it contained, let's hope so.

I have started using Tektrol on all of my hatching eggs, especially the ones I have had shipped in. We'll see if that makes a difference in hatch rates.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Could Cypress wood chips be used for liter bedding for poultry? I have been told not to us walnut or cedar chips but I saw good sized bags of Cypress chips that are 4 bags for $10.00.

 

[chicken danz]

Prairie, Lots of breeds will go broody. The problem is that many of them sit too tight and don't turn their eggs. Silkies are notorious for doing that. Probably the most dependable broody I know of are bantam cochins. Lots of people use them for all their game birds and such because they tend to be broody most of the time. Just remember not to get one you really want to use for breeding because she will be more likely to be sitting than laying.
When you get ready to start hatching don't hesitate to ask for advice. There's many of us that are willing to help any way we can. Make a trip to Walmart and go to the thermometer area. Find a little digital thermometer and hygrometer. They are very reasonable. The smaller the unit the better. If they are activated, and you can see try to choose one that reads the closest to the rest. In other words if there are 8 on the rack and 6 of those are reading 72 degrees and the others are reading higher or lower, choose one that reads 72 degrees. You can also find them with a remote probe if you don't want to put them in the incubator themselves. I think I do get more accurate readings from units without the probe though.

 

[Trish44]

Could Cypress wood chips be used for liter bedding for poultry? I have been told not to us walnut or cedar chips but I saw good sized bags of Cypress chips that are 4 bags for $10.00.

I have not heard of anyone using Cypress wood so I have no idea if that would be safe or not. I have always used pine shavings in my brooders & coops. Have you tried Googling that to see if you can find any info? I saw someone who I will not mention any names but he was saying on a FB page that he is using peat moss for his chicks now & I'm not sure if that's safe or not. We'll see if he starts losing chicks & that will be the test I guess. Let him be the guinea pig & take the losses if that happens, then we'll know if you can use it safely or not.

Well Ralph I just Googled about the Cypress & it says is retains moisture so it's good for reptiles, not so good for chickens in that case I would say since it would mold I would think.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Hey guys, I'm behind quite a bit. Couple days ago we had a family crisis. My 14 yo DD made it appear she had been abducted at 7:30 in the morning. She took off for a boys home, when finished she stopped in at Rose Hill police dept and told them she had been abducted. Our property then became a crime scene and she was taken downtown for questioning. We were told at 1:00 pm that she had been found and then they took us downtown to be questioned as well. Spent the rest of the day while she was being interrogated and they examined the only computer that was not password protected (Dad's of course, he didn't want the inconvenience). They found a whole lot of interesting stuff. Teenagers. So we're making a visit to the Doctor's office and trying to get our feet back on the ground. Life.

On a lighter note, my eggs go in lockdown today. Wish I could be as excited about it as I was.