Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Well it's supposed to be a super warm day today, I'm looking forward to it. Sunflowerparrot & I are going to build brooders today, so I have to get around so I can go work on that. I need a bigger one for the broilers I have coming in a couple of months, so I figured I might as well go ahead & get it built even though I don't have the spot cleaned out in the garage for it yet.

I hope you all have a good day & enjoy the weather!

Oh, by the way, there is a guy out my way who is wanting someone to help him hatch eggs, he has run out of incubator space. What do you all think is a fair deal to do that for someone on an ongoing basis? I will have to have some of my incubator space later on for my own eggs, not sure if I want to do it even, but I have no idea what kind of a deal people usually make for the use of their incubator. It does take electricity for sure. I guess I could fire up the Brinsea too & use that. I know I was wanting some silver laced wyandottes, so I guess I could trade for a few chicks. Any ideas?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Josie thank you for your help. I feel so much better about it. She is a sweet girl and I feared having to put her down. She is actually out of the coop today enjoying the warm weather. What a tease it is.
Here is a questions for breeders. When I seperate my birds by breed to get my pure breeds, how long until the sperm from all the other boys is gone and out of her system. I know it is weeks but what is a good time frame?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Well it's supposed to be a super warm day today, I'm looking forward to it. Sunflowerparrot & I are going to build brooders today, so I have to get around so I can go work on that. I need a bigger one for the broilers I have coming in a couple of months, so I figured I might as well go ahead & get it built even though I don't have the spot cleaned out in the garage for it yet.

I hope you all have a good day & enjoy the weather!

Oh, by the way, there is a guy out my way who is wanting someone to help him hatch eggs, he has run out of incubator space. What do you all think is a fair deal to do that for someone on an ongoing basis? I will have to have some of my incubator space later on for my own eggs, not sure if I want to do it even, but I have no idea what kind of a deal people usually make for the use of their incubator. It does take electricity for sure. I guess I could fire up the Brinsea too & use that. I know I was wanting some silver laced wyandottes, so I guess I could trade for a few chicks. Any ideas?

I would say trading for a few chicks would be a really fair deal. For him he doesnt have to spend money paying you and for you getting some birds you wanted.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- thank you and yes there are a couple chicken noodle soups hanging out in the freezer. The girls are already thanking me

There are a couple of newcomers I forgot to welcome so welcome to BYC guys

They are going to make great dinner guests!

We had a pretty good afternoon with our granddaughter today, she keeps us hopping when she's here, so I'm pretty tired now since she left. I still don't quite have all my energy back yet or stamina, so having her today was a little bit of a challenge, but it was good to see her.

You sure don't know how to slow down!

I hope you are feeling better!

New here ... Waverly, KS and Edwardsville, KS areas. Is there a spot here to find chicks for sale? Thanks !

Welcome! Most of us start hatching in Spring. ChickenDanz hatches all year round and is right near you. There are places here on BYC to buy birds, but you will be paying for shipping fees-- having shipped many birds to myself, it costs about $56 to ship a bird TO YOU. That doesn't include the price of the bird. I would try to buy locally if I were you and you can do that here on this thread or on the FB swap or on CraigsList.

I have a few boys that are coming into their own out there that need to go to the chopping block. One of them kinda gave me the hairy eyeball the other day so he earned himself a spot on the short list.

I am so sore today from working yesterday, it is incredible. The baby wakes me up a lot at night kicking. Seems like she is a VERY active baby but not having had any others I have nothing to compare her with. She kicks really hard sometimes, think she is trying to make more room in there. My geese have been going nuts, I have several young ganders all vying for the ladies attention so that has been a noisy racket lately. The horses had their feet trimmed today and my walker was super duper NAUGHTY for the trimmer. I could have flogged him but I don't think that would have made it better. It was really windy and he was jumping and lunging all over the place. Finally had to tie him to the fence for a time out because he needed to chill. We did get him done but I was an embarrassed horse mom. It is pretty bad when your mustang stands in the barn for his trim and the walker won't even come into the barn and then almost mows the poor farrier over. I am excited to move but also kind of tired at the prospect because now I am going to have to get a new trimmer lined up to come out down there.

Are you pretty fast at butchering?? The baby will slow down on all of the kicking when she runs out of room. Then she'll just stretch. Wow, I'm surprised the farrier continued to trim his feet. Mine would have called it quits! LOL Or so he tells me-- my horses don't act up, but he has lots of stories! BTW-- I have been using a new farrier (to supplement my regular farrier) and you might like him. If you want his name, I can pass it on to you. Nice young guy (married, has kids) but has been doing a good job on my Paints. I still have my regular farrier do my Arabian.

Well it's supposed to be a super warm day today, I'm looking forward to it. Sunflowerparrot & I are going to build brooders today, so I have to get around so I can go work on that. I need a bigger one for the broilers I have coming in a couple of months, so I figured I might as well go ahead & get it built even though I don't have the spot cleaned out in the garage for it yet.

I hope you all have a good day & enjoy the weather!

Oh, by the way, there is a guy out my way who is wanting someone to help him hatch eggs, he has run out of incubator space. What do you all think is a fair deal to do that for someone on an ongoing basis? I will have to have some of my incubator space later on for my own eggs, not sure if I want to do it even, but I have no idea what kind of a deal people usually make for the use of their incubator. It does take electricity for sure. I guess I could fire up the Brinsea too & use that. I know I was wanting some silver laced wyandottes, so I guess I could trade for a few chicks. Any ideas?

Good luck building today! It does look like it's going to be nice! Checoukan has done that-- where she has incubated eggs for other people. Maybe she will speak up and say how she works that out. I know she has a BIG incubator. If he is going to be doing a lot of incubating and wanting someone to do eggs for him on a continuous basis, I don't think I'd want to get involved with him if I were you.. I think someone with a large cabinet would be a better bet. But since you have smaller machines, you might not be able to incubate when ever you'd like and stagger and do whatever you want. I would not be tempted. Does this guy already have a cabinet??

Josie thank you for your help. I feel so much better about it. She is a sweet girl and I feared having to put her down. She is actually out of the coop today enjoying the warm weather. What a tease it is.
Here is a questions for breeders. When I seperate my birds by breed to get my pure breeds, how long until the sperm from all the other boys is gone and out of her system. I know it is weeks but what is a good time frame?

Okay, so it's said that it takes up to 3 weeks. BUT--- my personal experience is that it takes a whole lot less. Of course-- all chickens are different so it could depend on the bird and how fertile they are together, so you'll need to separate out the bird in question and test her eggs. If you don't want to do that, then you'll want to wait the entire 3 weeks. But this is how I did it last year when I was working with my birds. I was doing AI, and so that means you can work with multiple roos, hens, etc and control who is bred by who. I kept them in separate pens stacked up in my garage while I did this. When changing boys-- I would stop all "activity" and wait about 3-4 days and then start cracking eggs open and look for fertility. After the first blank, then I would check for another 3 more days and be sure they were still not fertile. At that point, you can switch roosters and go again and it should all be his offspring. It took on average about a week to two weeks to switch... But you have to be REALLY sure, so make sure you know who's eggs are who's and keep cracking them open. I had no problem knowing who's egg I was working with since I had only ONE hen in each cage.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Hawkeye thank you. I like the system you worked with. I am building some breeding pens for them and seperating everyone asap

 

[chicken danz]

New here ... Waverly, KS and Edwardsville, KS areas. Is there a spot here to find chicks for sale? Thanks !

Yep Welcome Penny Lane. I'm a "Waverlyonian" myself. I live South of town.
What are you looking for in chicks? It's true... I never shut the incubators down. I haven't started spring hatching yet other than some test hatches which all seem to be fertile so far. Later in the spring I'll have a lot more to choose from. I have a lot of newer younger stock.


maidenwolfx80
I've read everything from 3 days to 3 weeks on egg fertility. Just from what I know about genetics I would lean closer to 3 days. The egg itself takes a lot longer to form but if you look at the fetilization and how rapidly the cells split I would say that it occurs very near the end of the cycle before the shell is formed. Another thing that makes me believe this, is an incident I had with some of the pheasants. Although not chickens I would say they are very similar. Pheasant eggs do take longer to hatch than chickens so cell division could be slower. I had two roos in with some girls. They had produced some fertile eggs which I hatched later on. However the boys started fighting so I removed the younger male. Immediately any egg I took from them and for the rest of the season weren't fertile. That indicated (because I gathered eggs every other day) that the actual fertilization occured only a day or two before the egg was laid. I could be way off on this but I've tried researching this and have come up with answers all over the place.
I just recently separated my lavender and lemon cuckoo orpingtons and 2 days later started marking eggs for color. Unfortunately it will be about 3 weeks before I know if they bred true that quick.

Trish I've heard about people custom hatching. The cost has varied between $3 a dozen to $2 a live chick. If I were going to do it, so as not to put the responsibility of a perfect hatch on me rather than on the viability of the eggs, I think I would charge $ .50 to $.75 per live chick at one day old. The guy providing the eggs has to have some profit. At that price he would need to deliver and pick up the chicks. Also the chicks would need to be picked up within 24 hours of hatch just so you wouldn't have the expense and space of care and feed for them. I'd also base it on what kind of chicks they are and what he sells them for.
In my world if I have the incubators going anyway and have the room it still costs me the same. But if I am firing it up for hatching just for them then it would be an expense. Incubators eat quite a bit of electricity, plus you have to consider wear and tear on your unit as well as cleaning. I'd not hatch any cheaper than 50 cents live bird though for chicken chicks. The one advantage to hatching eggs if your incubator isn't full would be; an incubator runs more efficiently the more eggs that are in it. Think of each of them as individual little heat sinks. They help hold the temperature so the incubator doesn't have to work so hard to maintain it.
I think I may have stumbled on a decent deal. I had contacted a well known breeder in Texas about some blue partridge brahmas. I got some olandsk from her in December. She had a trio of Breda fowl but decided that she wasn't going to breed them anymore. She hatched her last batch of chicks January 1. I'm not sure how many she has but if shipping isn't too high I plan to buy all her chicks. I think I would have a nice sized breeding group. I could probably get by with the ones I have but I just don't like using house and pen space for 3-4 birds. I should have asked her why she was getting out of them. But because they are an endangered rare bird and I love their looks I would breed them regardless.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Karen S That would be super awesome! Thanks

gadgeetgrl, sent you a PM!

Well it's supposed to be a super warm day today, I'm looking forward to it. Sunflowerparrot & I are going to build brooders today, so I have to get around so I can go work on that. I need a bigger one for the broilers I have coming in a couple of months, so I figured I might as well go ahead & get it built even though I don't have the spot cleaned out in the garage for it yet.

I hope you all have a good day & enjoy the weather!

Oh, by the way, there is a guy out my way who is wanting someone to help him hatch eggs, he has run out of incubator space. What do you all think is a fair deal to do that for someone on an ongoing basis? I will have to have some of my incubator space later on for my own eggs, not sure if I want to do it even, but I have no idea what kind of a deal people usually make for the use of their incubator. It does take electricity for sure. I guess I could fire up the Brinsea too & use that. I know I was wanting some silver laced wyandottes, so I guess I could trade for a few chicks. Any ideas?

Trish44, Have fun! I only incubated for someone once and it was for birds so I don't know. I would be interested to know once you find out.

Good luck building today! It does look like it's going to be nice! Checoukan has done that-- where she has incubated eggs for other people. Maybe she will speak up and say how she works that out. I know she has a BIG incubator. If he is going to be doing a lot of incubating and wanting someone to do eggs for him on a continuous basis, I don't think I'd want to get involved with him if I were you.. I think someone with a large cabinet would be a better bet. But since you have smaller machines, you might not be able to incubate when ever you'd like and stagger and do whatever you want. I would not be tempted. Does this guy already have a cabinet??


Okay, so it's said that it takes up to 3 weeks. BUT--- my personal experience is that it takes a whole lot less. Of course-- all chickens are different so it could depend on the bird and how fertile they are together, so you'll need to separate out the bird in question and test her eggs. If you don't want to do that, then you'll want to wait the entire 3 weeks. But this is how I did it last year when I was working with my birds. I was doing AI, and so that means you can work with multiple roos, hens, etc and control who is bred by who. I kept them in separate pens stacked up in my garage while I did this. When changing boys-- I would stop all "activity" and wait about 3-4 days and then start cracking eggs open and look for fertility. After the first blank, then I would check for another 3 more days and be sure they were still not fertile. At that point, you can switch roosters and go again and it should all be his offspring. It took on average about a week to two weeks to switch... But you have to be REALLY sure, so make sure you know who's eggs are who's and keep cracking them open. I had no problem knowing who's egg I was working with since I had only ONE hen in each cage.

Hawkeye, Trish44 bought a Sportsman last year, so I think that's why she's considering it. I really appreciate you sharing your experience. That's going to be really helpful for me once I get the breeding pens all set up.


Welcome Penny Lane!

You are so lucky to be close to Danz! She has lots of really nice birds to choose from and it's so much fun to go to her place.

It's great to see so many new people here!

 

[ocap]

Well it's supposed to be a super warm day today, I'm looking forward to it. Sunflowerparrot & I are going to build brooders today, so I have to get around so I can go work on that. I need a bigger one for the broilers I have coming in a couple of months, so I figured I might as well go ahead & get it built even though I don't have the spot cleaned out in the garage for it yet.

I hope you all have a good day & enjoy the weather!

Oh, by the way, there is a guy out my way who is wanting someone to help him hatch eggs, he has run out of incubator space. What do you all think is a fair deal to do that for someone on an ongoing basis? I will have to have some of my incubator space later on for my own eggs, not sure if I want to do it even, but I have no idea what kind of a deal people usually make for the use of their incubator. It does take electricity for sure. I guess I could fire up the Brinsea too & use that. I know I was wanting some silver laced wyandottes, so I guess I could trade for a few chicks. Any ideas?

here is one way to figure a rate:
10 year incubator life multiplied by 12 hatches per year equals 120 hatches in the life of one incubator
$600 cost of incubator divided by 120 hatches per incubator equals $5 per hatch
$5 per hatch divided by number of 50 eggs per hatch equals 10 cents per egg (fertile or not same price)

I can plug in the numbers for you if you give me:
cost of incubator
size of incubator (number of eggs)

then add something for your trouble, might be double for your trouble

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thanks Danz also this was true with some of the birds I got from you. Like the D'ulandsk. I will wait and watch and open eggs to check and do a final test batch before I promise anyone any

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye thank you. I like the system you worked with. I am building some breeding pens for them and seperating everyone asap

Oh, I am anxious to get my outdoor breeding pens built too this Spring! Right now, I just have all of my girls in a pen and all of my boys in a pen. So no one should be fertile right now. Well-- actually, not true... a rooster jumped the fence because he was getting picked on and he's in the girl pen. But he's my new black rooster that I paid a fortune for, so I don't care if he breeds them all! LOL But in all honesty, I'm going to separate him out, make sure no one is fertile, and then pair them up. I have already spent quite a bit of time deciding who will go with who so I can hopefully get better birds. (offset or enhance qualities in each other) Going to work in trios and pairs. I have some really nice boys this year and then I'll probably be getting rid of most of them at the end of the year as new ones come up-- that will hopefully be better. Exciting!!!

maidenwolfx80
I've read everything from 3 days to 3 weeks on egg fertility.

Trish I've heard about people custom hatching. The cost has varied between $3 a dozen to $2 a live chick. If I were going to do it, so as not to put the responsibility of a perfect hatch on me rather than on the viability of the eggs, I think I would charge $ .50 to $.75 per live chick at one day old. The guy providing the eggs has to have some profit. At that price he would need to deliver and pick up the chicks. Also the chicks would need to be picked up within 24 hours of hatch just so you wouldn't have the expense and space of care and feed for them. I'd also base it on what kind of chicks they are and what he sells them for.
In my world if I have the incubators going anyway and have the room it still costs me the same. But if I am firing it up for hatching just for them then it would be an expense. Incubators eat quite a bit of electricity, plus you have to consider wear and tear on your unit as well as cleaning. I'd not hatch any cheaper than 50 cents live bird though for chicken chicks. The one advantage to hatching eggs if your incubator isn't full would be; an incubator runs more efficiently the more eggs that are in it. Think of each of them as individual little heat sinks. They help hold the temperature so the incubator doesn't have to work so hard to maintain it.
I think I may have stumbled on a decent deal. I had contacted a well known breeder in Texas about some blue partridge brahmas. I got some olandsk from her in December. She had a trio of Breda fowl but decided that she wasn't going to breed them anymore. She hatched her last batch of chicks January 1. I'm not sure how many she has but if shipping isn't too high I plan to buy all her chicks. I think I would have a nice sized breeding group. I could probably get by with the ones I have but I just don't like using house and pen space for 3-4 birds. I should have asked her why she was getting out of them. But because they are an endangered rare bird and I love their looks I would breed them regardless.

I've still had plenty of eggs fertile from the original rooster at 3 days out. With my silkies, it typically takes 5 days before I'm in the clear and eggs are not fertile again. It has gone longer from time to time... it's very interesting! But you could AI your bird about every 4-5 days and still maintain fertility-- so that tells me you need at least 5 days before you could get back into non-fertile eggs again. Now, that's not what I did, I AI'd my birds every 3 days to maintain fertility (just in case!!). But if I were going to wait and not test eggs-- I'd go for 6-7 days just to be on the safe side.
Okay-- another breed I'm going to have to look up. No idea what Breda are! I'm going to have to put you on my 4-H list FOR SURE!!

It's cheaper to ship chicks, BTW. You can buy the smaller boxes and they weigh less.

Hawkeye, Trish44 bought a Sportsman last year, so I think that's why she's considering it. I really appreciate you sharing your experience. That's going to be really helpful for me once I get the breeding pens all set up.


Welcome Penny Lane!

You are so lucky to be close to Danz! She has lots of really nice birds to choose from and it's so much fun to go to her place.

It's great to see so many new people here!

Ahhhh!! I did not remember that she had bought the larger incubator! Weeeeell, then I can see why!

here is one way to figure a rate:
10 year incubator life multiplied by 12 hatches per year equals 120 hatches in the life of one incubator
$600 cost of incubator divided by 120 hatches per incubator equals $5 per hatch
$5 per hatch divided by number of 50 eggs per hatch equals 10 cents per egg (fertile or not same price)

I can plug in the numbers for you if you give me:
cost of incubator
size of incubator (number of eggs)

then add something for your trouble, might be double for your trouble

I like this! Smart!!