I weigh eggs. Make yourself a spreadsheet, and weigh the eggs when they are set. You are expecting the eggs to lose 0.65% of their weight per day, so you multiply that times the number of days (with the day you set being Day 0 unless you set early in the morning) to get expected % weight loss.
I have been tweaking my spreadsheet (one I got from someone else and then modified) this hatching season to make it easier with formulas embedded. Remind me later and I'll clean it up and share so you can enter and it will calculate for you.
Turn a minimum of 3 times a day. People say more is better, but if you have to open the incubator to turn, that's a down side to that. I just turn before work (~7-8) after work (~5-6), and late at bedtime (~11)..
Sally says to start at 30-35% - I have found that that is indeed a good place to start (as have others). Then on Day 7 you can see where you are and go from there.
That is way to anal for me. I am not a detail person. I would love to have you do that to my eggs for me. Just for the fun of it.
I find the more times I touch the egg, the more chances it has to bounce off the floor. Most eggs do not survive the first bounce...and clear fingernail polish does not always seal the cracks....specially if the yolk is leaking out.
Well, today, the excuse was, "But Mommy, I found a spot where you dumped out some old potting soil, and the dust bathing is so much better out here!!!! What's the big deal?!"
I've got bored pullets in Goodwin's coop - now that he's gone, I think they're starting to get unruly. Specifically, the 3 cream legbars, previously well behaved are being a pain and now bullying the others, esp. the OE Arbequina (who is an AMAZING layer, BTW). I am not attached to them, they are not laying, I don't plan on ever hatching their babies, and they are sort of ticking me off... I'm not ready to process them - yet (I think that's an over-reaction - I have lots of hens that aren't laying yet, and pecking order is pecking order). So, I have two choices - what would you do?
1) Put them back in with their parents - I have a CL coop with Dumbledore, their mother Lissa, and Jenny (who is nearly blind and has ocular Mareks). It's comfortable (if a little extravagant) for the three. That is actually the plan whenever Jenny finally dies anyway. Downside to this is that it would make that coop a little cramped compared to before for the older three, and I'm thinking it wouldn't be pleasant for Jenny at all. (I think I've talked myself out of this option).
2) Go ahead and put Monkey in there with them. Monkey was already going to be their rooster, I was just considering waiting until the coop was built. I'm thinking he can get them under control. It'll be a little hard at first, as it always is introducing a new rooster/cockerel, and a little more snug to keep them locked up for a while compared to if they were in a bigger tractor, but it's gotta be done some time. And it'll decompress the Frat house a bit. I'm leaning toward this option.
3) Suck it up and cull the mean little freeloaders. (Their brothers were SUPER mean as well - meanest little chickens I ever raised, picked fights with everyone form a very early age.) This is the first thing I thought when watching them going after Arbequina. But if I can get them laying again, I do enjoy the blue eggs, and they were well behaved with a cockerel around.
This is the only group I have with no cockerel or rooster. I think I'm gonna do option #2... I need to put fresh bedding in there (if I'm going to lock them up together for a little while). Thanks for listening.
Well, today, the excuse was, "But Mommy, I found a spot where you dumped out some old potting soil, and the dust bathing is so much better out here!!!! What's the big deal?!"
I've got bored pullets in Goodwin's coop - now that he's gone, I think they're starting to get unruly. Specifically, the 3 cream legbars, previously well behaved are being a pain and now bullying the others, esp. the OE Arbequina (who is an AMAZING layer, BTW). I am not attached to them, they are not laying, I don't plan on ever hatching their babies, and they are sort of ticking me off... I'm not ready to process them - yet (I think that's an over-reaction - I have lots of hens that aren't laying yet, and pecking order is pecking order). So, I have two choices - what would you do?
1) Put them back in with their parents - I have a CL coop with Dumbledore, their mother Lissa, and Jenny (who is nearly blind and has ocular Mareks). It's comfortable (if a little extravagant) for the three. That is actually the plan whenever Jenny finally dies anyway. Downside to this is that it would make that coop a little cramped compared to before for the older three, and I'm thinking it wouldn't be pleasant for Jenny at all. (I think I've talked myself out of this option).
2) Go ahead and put Monkey in there with them. Monkey was already going to be their rooster, I was just considering waiting until the coop was built. I'm thinking he can get them under control. It'll be a little hard at first, as it always is introducing a new rooster/cockerel, and a little more snug to keep them locked up for a while compared to if they were in a bigger tractor, but it's gotta be done some time. And it'll decompress the Frat house a bit. I'm leaning toward this option.
3) Suck it up and cull the mean little freeloaders. (Their brothers were SUPER mean as well - meanest little chickens I ever raised, picked fights with everyone form a very early age.) This is the first thing I thought when watching them going after Arbequina. But if I can get them laying again, I do enjoy the blue eggs, and they were well behaved with a cockerel around.
This is the only group I have with no cockerel or rooster. I think I'm gonna do option #2... I need to put fresh bedding in there (if I'm going to lock them up together for a little while). Thanks for listening.
I know people will think I am more crazy than they already do,,,,,BUT
I find with the legbar girls they need rooster to keep them calm. If they have enough roosters they are calm, not flighty and I can pick most of them up. If they do not have roosters they are flighty, like a little road runner and mean as double hockey sticks.
Seriously, though, I TRULY prefer to have at least one rooster with each and every group of pullet for hens. Socially it really seems to work so much better. (And the alerts and protection are good, too...)
I'm gonna got get it set up RIGHT NOW. (I think I'll dump and refill the oyster shell while I'm at it, in case water and/or something stinky got in there and they're avoiding it.)
I weigh eggs. Make yourself a spreadsheet, and weigh the eggs when they are set. You are expecting the eggs to lose 0.65% of their weight per day, so you multiply that times the number of days (with the day you set being Day 0 unless you set early in the morning) to get expected % weight loss.
I have been tweaking my spreadsheet (one I got from someone else and then modified) this hatching season to make it easier with formulas embedded. Remind me later and I'll clean it up and share so you can enter and it will calculate for you.
Turn a minimum of 3 times a day. People say more is better, but if you have to open the incubator to turn, that's a down side to that. I just turn before work (~7-8) after work (~5-6), and late at bedtime (~11)..
Sally says to start at 30-35% - I have found that that is indeed a good place to start (as have others). Then on Day 7 you can see where you are and go from there.
