Cream Legbars

[normanack]

I have moved to basically "dry" incubating all eggs in a brinsea cabinet. Maybe just adding water twice during incubation and then keeping it at 60 for the last few days. 

This has resulted in a dramatic reduction (to almost zero) in failure to hatch of fully developed chicks. 

I also usually only candle them twice - once at day 7 and once at day 16 ish. It seems that the less the eggs are handled the better they do.

So "dry" dosn't mean no water at all, right? What's the lowest humidity you use in the incubator? Thanks!

 

[Phage]

Quote:
Ambient humidity in the incubator without adding water (in costal San Diego) is 23-25%

I add water if I remember and then only once a week at most. The bator is in the basement and the more the eggs are "forgotten" the better they do. The incubator is awesome.

 

[KPenley]

So "dry" dosn't mean no water at all, right? What's the lowest humidity you use in the incubator? Thanks!

Well, sort of. I don't add any water to the incubator until day 18. Between the eggs releasing moisture and the natural moisture in the air, mine stays between 15 and 30 those first 17 days during winter. If the AC is on I really struggle to keep the humidity under 35/40. Then I do add sponges and water through straws during lockdown.

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

I dry incubate in a Brinsea cabinet as well and my humidity tends to hover around 20 ish%. I don't add any water at all for the first 19 days and then I bump it up to about 50 ish% for the last 2 days (I only do a 2 day lockdown). With this method I can hatch a rock, lol. Ok, well no not really but everything I put in there under these conditions hatch like crazy!

The only thing I do additional is add a little Oxine to the water at lockdown to keep everything fresh.

I live on Long Island and in the summertime it can get pretty humid. I find once I can no longer keep my humidity under 35% I start having hatching problems- especially my Cream Legbars. They are always the first to give me trouble with slightly higher humidity levels.

Just my observation but I notice that the lower the incubating humidity the more brittle the eggshell tends to be at hatch time. This seems to help the chick hatch quickly eliminating those slow hatchers that take forever to zip and eventually get stuck. I have even had a few eggs I missed putting into lockdown and they hatched quickly without incident at 20% humidity

When I was not dry incubating no matter how high I got my lockdown humidity I still had lots of chicks get stuck in shell. Dry incubating is definitely the way to go


Trish

 

[caychris]

Opinions of this 8 month old boy



He isn't mine but a friend not too far away.

 

[Double Kindness]

You may want to speak with @dretd she has very nice legbars from my understanding.

 

[Debs55]

I have been watching my legbar girls lately and I think they should start laying soon! maybe if I am lucky I will be able to set some in the bator on the 6th along with eggs from other breeders. Even though mine wont be crested I will still have some nice blue egg layers for my layer flock which is exciting for me as well

 

[caychris]

I was looking for more instructional information about spotting what is good or bad. To my untrained eye this is what I pick out

The hackles and saddles are different colors (very brown/gold saddle)
Wings show a lot of Chestnut
Wattles are really large and seem disproportionate.

Cant tell if size and shape are an issue as I think the picture is angled wrong and bird is moving or something.

Not sure about tail.

The only thing I see going for him is his comb is straight.

 

[bamadude]

I think @ChicKat mentioned that they were going to compile a checklist about what to look for when selecting breeding stock. Im looking forward to it.
Caychris: to me he looks great.

 

[BuffyBugSlayer]

Opinions of this 8 month old boy He isn't mine but a friend not too far away.

Well I will respond. Since he isn't yours I am always hesitant to say much. The picture is a bad angle and makes him look short and like he has no back. His tail is at an extreme angle. I like his comb and wattles pretty well. My cockerel has an enormous comb and wattles. Much bigger than this one. He has mostly white earlobes and he has a small crest. All good things. It looks like his legs have a nice yellow color as well. He does have a lot of "extra" body color. Probably more than I would feel comfortable with. His hackle and saddle colors don't match. Personally if I were choosing I would pass on him but if he were all I had to work with I would.