Consolidated Kansas

[Prairie Fleur]

All this talk of incubating chicks makes me jealous!! maybe next year..

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: I have too. I actually am thinking of building another one similar to the GQFs. I have a thermostat to use that was expensive but I couldn't get it to regulate right. I thought perhaps if I built a unit myself that was more insulated I might be able to get it to stabilize. Wishful thinking. I really need a dedicated incubator for hatching geese and peafowl because they use so much room. You can buy all the components to do it without resorting to using lightbulbs at what I consider a reasonable price.

Danz & Deerfield you both are a lot of help. Thank you!!! I have no idea what I am doing but there is only one way to learn! My DH is on board with the incubating idea and is driving me crazy because he wants to start now, not with the HAL. I guess he can't complain about chicken math this way
Our only experience with hatchlings is last year when we picked up 7 that had just hatched from Orscheln. This will be way more exciting and rewarding.

Best of luck with the hatching. It's a learning experience. The thing to remember is if your success rate is limited just try again. Don't be afraid to try things either. I learned from trial and error.

 

[tatinatimom]

I guess as they say, "don't count your chickens before they hatch"....
So what is the absolute oldest egg you would put in the incubator for a better success rate? 10-12 days?

 

[Trish44]

I guess as they say, "don't count your chickens before they hatch"....
So what is the absolute oldest egg you would put in the incubator for a better success rate? 10-12 days?

Most of the time I try to stick to no more than 7 days old. The best chance for hatch goes down every day after that. I know Danz has hatched some older but most people stick to the 7 day rule.

Trish, how is the PT coming on that knee? I was referred to an Electrophysiologist today to see if there is anything he can do for me. My heart medication has stopped working for the irregular beat and I'm not feeling too zippy. Wouldn't you know you would have to chase birds in with that knee?

I'm sorry about your medication not working any more. I hope they can figure out what needs to be done so you can feel better. I know your heart issue & mine are different, but we both have irregular heartbeat issues. I know how I feel if I miss a dose of my medication accidentally & before I was diagnosed I was just exhausted because it makes you tired when your heart isn't beating efficiently or regularly. I still have issues with fatigue but it's from more than one source. I have been out of PT for awhile. I had asked the Dr. when I went back for my postop checkup if I could continue on my own & he said yes just have them give you a home program. Honestly after a little while of going I get to the point that I do better with just recovering on my own most of the time. They get to trying to push me too hard & my body just doesn't allow that. I have so much inflammation in my body that pushing it just makes me worse & they don't get that. You would think after going to the same Physical Therapy group for so many years they would know that about me by now, but they just keep on doing what they do. I can't say my therapists were happy I wasn't coming any more, but their prices are expensive & our insurance doesn't cover it as well as they should either. I'm not looking forward to when I have to have the total knee because I know I will have to have therapy a lot longer. Well now I'm not only chasing birds in but this lamb. He's getting really frisky now & a little rowdy so tomorrow he is going to go outside with the others at least during the day. I took a poll on a sheep group on FB I'm in & they all told me he at least needs to go out during the day to be with his own kind & boy am I ready for him to be out there. If it's still too cold at night for him I'll bring him in for the night but he needs room to run & jump. He's starting to do the little jumps & twists in the air that the lambs do, it's funny to see but he also is getting pretty pushy with me about his bottle.

 

[chicken danz]

I don't try to hatch anything over a week old. There's been a few times I've put in older eggs but I've found you end up with some physical maladies or a poor hatch rate. It's just not something I do. I normally have way too many eggs to hatch to wait anyway. I normally set eggs on Monday or Tuesday just from habit. I really need to adjust my days and do it on Friday. Right now I have about three trays full to go in. Many of those won't develop cause I know they got too cold. But an idiot like me has to try. I think that is one reason the hatch rate is so poor on shipped eggs as well. If the seller collects them over a period of days, then ships them and the post office takes their sweet time to get them there along with all the rough handling, the eggs are just getting too old to hatch well. If a seller can collect them all in one or two days and immediately ship them then that helps.
I've read where some of the game birds supposedly hatch better if you hold the eggs for several days but I haven't found it helps at all. I have thought about hatching different colors or breeds on different days but that would mean every day would be hatch day. Quite frankly once a week is about all I want to deal with.

 

[milomac]

Danz your info was right on How cold can an egg get and still be viable, I have taken eggs rom refrigerator to add to a batch and still had good success, but when it is 16*s out you have to wonder how long have they been out here

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I gave up on shipped eggs after the second broken heart LOL!

Has anyone had any imported birds? It seems like a long expensive process, but some of these European birds are amazing.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL Milomac. I have a theory. If it hasn't frozen enough to crack it could still be viable. When the incubators are full and there's no room left any where, I'm not be as willing to try. I normally don't candle until right before hatch cause I don't like handling the eggs. But when there are freezing temps I try to candle about 10 days in. I had a tray full I candled yesterday I had marked with an F to indicate they came from freezing temps. About 50% were still viable. I was really surprised so many were developing. There were several that started and stopped though which I don't normally see, so apparently the cold damaged some of the cells.
It seems I learn more all the time. I would have thought that an egg that got too cold just wouldn't begin to develop but now I know that they can start but mother nature steps in and intervenes. I've never gotten over my fascination with biology and how it works.
I forget so much at my age, but it's great to know I never quit learning either.

 

[chicken danz]

Tarabella, almost every chicken on my place came from imported stock. I haven't imported them myself but many of them came directly from the importer. The only exception are my barred rocks and my sussex which are heritage stock. The Imports are amazing. They're so much prettier than American birds. And in most cases huge comparatively. In reality I think almost all the birds in the U.S. have been imported at one time or another but the problem is that they haven't been culled and bred to keep the right traits. And they have been mixed with all kinds of different breeds to produce more laying or more meat.
The average cost to import a bird is around $2000 dollars which is also dependant on how many are brought in at a time etc. Not in my budget at all.

 

[KsKingBee]

All this talk of incubating chicks makes me jealous!!

maybe next year..

Well....maybe this year....?