EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[dan26552]

Well while I was in TSC this morning I resisted the chicks and ducklings. That is a good thing right?

No! That's bad! You should have rescued those poor duckies!

 

[jwlpoultry]

Well while I was in TSC this morning I resisted the chicks and ducklings. That is a good thing right?

No! That's bad! You should have rescued those poor duckies!

All they had were pekins and 2 khaki campbells.

 

[dan26552]

What's wrong with pekins? My five outlaid 20 hens so don't tell me they don't lay well!

 

[The Duck Ladie]

Well while I was in TSC this morning I resisted the chicks and ducklings. That is a good thing right?

No! That's bad! You should have rescued those poor duckies!

All they had were pekins and 2 khaki campbells.

What's wrong with pekins? My five outlaid 20 hens so don't tell me they don't lay well!

I feel bad for the ducklings at TSC and such places. Any person who walks by and thinks they are cute takes 'em home without knowing what to do with them. I'm not saying it's hard to learn to take care of them, but one should really study a LITTLE before picking them up. I mean they probably aren't likely to know ducklings need niacin!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Sorry about the chicky Kristin

Thanks. It's easier because I was expecting it, but still sad.

Quote: It would have to be Saturday or Sunday (I have work...). I probably have a cooler you can use if you don't have one. Chickens are a breeze. I'm nervous about the ducks. So we'll start with the chickens so I can demonstrate and get you used to the whole "killing" part before all the stupidness that I'm sure will come with the ducks on my part. (Probably best for kids to stay at home if that's possible...)

Quote: Thanks! I think this little fella would have died even if not shipped. His head was shaped sorta funny...

Hi everybody. Bill and I are both sick. He is throwing up and I have a sore throat. I have a long readback to do but will catch up after I wake up and do bird chores. Think I may have figured our something on the serama hatch!

Hello there, first of all let me apologize in advance. Ive been trying-and I think I'm missing something. I've been trying to read and educate myself as much as possible before we set our eggs. I've been playing with our Ovation 28 Brinsea incubator for a couple days trying to get the humidity level 45% as instructed in the book before we put eggs in. I have used the factory settings, and the humidity still keeps saying it's at 65%. What I don't understand is on the settings through the menu and the manual it says that the humidity should be set at 20%, but the way I understand it the humidity should be 45%, so do I need to go in there and change it? I realize it's a British product, but the humidity percent should be the same figure either way. All of the factory settings are regulating normal and it seems to be working just fine except for the fact that the humidity is 65%. I did have water in there, about 1/2 a cup, and I took a lot of it out this morning. The vent is open all the way.
Help!

I know the Brinsea info says 45-50% (I have one), but 30-35% is a much better place to start. Humidity is not any magic number, it's just a tool to get the right amount of weight loss in the egg by the time it hatches. In fact, different eggs will lose weight at different rates (color, porosity, size, etc.). If you have a good quality kitchen scale, I would recommend you weighing each egg and tracking weight loss (I have a spreadsheet you can use if you want - the goal is loss of 0.65% weight per day). If you don't want to do that, you'll monitor the size of the air cells by eye. It's usually harder to deal with too LITTLE weight lost than too MUCH weight lost, so it's better to start low, and bump it up if you need to.

So start at 30%, and when you candle at day 7, either weigh or look at air cells. If the size or weight loss is about right, leave it at 30%. If it's too much, up the humidity some. If too little, reduce. (By "increase humidity" - you increase the surface area for the water - sponges are good options.)

On the second post in this thread are a WHOLE lot of links. Take a look and find the ones about humidity - lots of fantastic info there. That's also where you'll find images of expected air cell size. If you want the spreadsheet, let me know. (@BantyChooks , @Article Editor - did that get added to the notes?)

ALSO - your hygrometer (the one built in to the incubator) may not be calibrated. I got a brand new Brinsea Octagon (which I love) - it read 6-10% too high (the temp was also off). ALL incubators must be calibrated. The temperature is more important to calibrate because there's not something you can track (like weight or air cell size) to help you adjust for what you need. For humidity, regardless of what the number says, if you need more weight loss you go down, and less, you go up.

@rasheika

sooooo

how does mc sing it


one two skip to malooo????


I cant read or focus but hello everyone, if I dont make sense you know I am back to normal again, if I make any sorta sense, please just bare with me, the old normal to return soon

Sally!!!!!!! SO good to see you!!!!!

(That was a gentle virtual hug, of course). Get some good rest!

@Fire Ant Farm

Hubby said I could come up there and butcher the ducks/chickens when you're ready to do it. He said we had to buy the stuff to butcher anyways, and he's not in a huge hurry. He's not looking forward to doing ducks. He'd looked up turkey's and chickens though.

Edited to add : He also told me he'll buy the stuff to do it himself once he saw I was going to cut him out of the picture and have a "Friend" help me. I think he got his feelings hurt.

I suspected that might happen. Do you still want to come up, or have you convinced him to do it there?

Guys, my fertile chicken eggs just arrived today, and my humidity is at 35%, it's supposed to be at 45-50%! I need it to go up soon, before the eggs get too cold! What should I do to make the humidity higher?

See my comments above - 30-35% is just fine, and you'll monitor the air cells (or weight) to get where you need to be. Make sure you're calibrated - if not, watch the weight loss or air cells to tell you where you need to be. DEFINITELY read the stuff at the beginning of this thread. It really helped me a lot when I first started hatching.

@Lucyluvchickens

@Sally Sunshine

Piggy is doing good - She got a bath and some cocoa butter oil rubbed onto her skin to help dryness. Goats are doing good. Piggy is slowly warming up to me.

​

Ummmmm.... How embarrassing is it that your tub is cleaner than mine, and you have a PIG in it?!?!?!?!?

I think I have more cleaning to do!!!! (Of course, the fact that the brooder was in that bathroom for a couple months might have something to do with that...)

ok here is my update, not sure how the rest of the day will treat me, but I was here


.


thats my spot, dont loose it


2 cervical anterior discectomy and then plates and fusion c3-7 my issue is currently that surgery has screwed up my ability to swallow solid foods, I choke on the simplest liquids too. A rare occurrence for this but if it is gonna happen it would be me of course. steroids and rest, time will heal.


with that, I am heading back into my cool wormhole to sleep the day away

Sleep well, sweetie!

Nvm. I opened the remaining eggs and all of them were dead. Most looked fully developed and one even internally pipped but all dead

I'm so sorry.

My 2 little chicks are doing well in the brooder.

I suppose I'm going to have to name them, at some point.

Quote:
Super!!!!

I might have just put 10 more eggs in my incubator, just to see what hatches.

Readback complete!

@DwayneNLiz

for texts
@Sally Sunshine prayers for healing and patience-so hard to "wait"
@daxigait and all the other hatchers, this is the hatch update-congrats on the kids
I cracked open a couple for eggtopsy and they were alive! One I will have to cull because the legs are severely malpoed. one is weak, 2 looked ok. Have to find out why. One was the stand up turner one was the black one. i am adding high nutritional vitamins and supplements to see if that makes a difference. about 1/2 from each batch made it to lockdown. I may try a higher temp and humidity during the 1st 18 days too to see if that helps. seems like bad legs are from hatches that take too long. oh and 1 died under the heater. the rest are running around like maniacs in the pack and play new brooder. grow outs are getting huge and moved to cages.
@Chaos18 congrats on the flowers

Bath time?? will you be cooking for them too??

@kajira sorry about the 2 but glad fertility is confirmed
@Fire Ant Farm sorry about the NN baby

for the ones on the way.
To anybody i missed

I'm sorry I feel

today. Bills stomach thing hit me so I am more "off" than usual

I don't know how anybody not from Michigan gets over being sick without Vernors (Michigan gingerale-tastes totally different and is my best friend)

I LOVE Vernors when I'm sick - amazing stuff. I was a camp counselor in Michigan one summer, so I first learned of it there, but they sell it in our big grocery stores here as well.

- Ant Farm

 

[Akrnaf2]

Who said that donkeys aren't useful anymore?


[VIDEO]

 

[jwlpoultry]

What's wrong with pekins? My five outlaid 20 hens so don't tell me they don't lay well!

I have had Perkins they are too loud for my liking and I am really not a fan of the way they look.

Well while I was in TSC this morning I resisted the chicks and ducklings. That is a good thing right?

No! That's bad! You should have rescued those poor duckies!

All they had were pekins and 2 khaki campbells.

What's wrong with pekins? My five outlaid 20 hens so don't tell me they don't lay well!

I feel bad for the ducklings at TSC and such places. Any person who walks by and thinks they are cute takes 'em home without knowing what to do with them. I'm not saying it's hard to learn to take care of them, but one should really study a LITTLE before picking them up. I mean they probably aren't likely to know ducklings need niacin!

I have raised several batches of ducklings before so I know how to care for them and I am the same as you I hate when uneducated people just pick up a cute duckling I have had several given to me cause they didn't know how to care for them or only wanted them while they were little and cute.

 

[jwlpoultry]

Does anyone here ferment their feed? I have heard it helps keep them healthier as it is like a natural probiotic and it also helps them to lay better. Any feedback would help. Thanks!!!!

 

[Akrnaf2]

Does anyone here ferment their feed? I have heard it helps keep them healthier as it is like a natural probiotic and it also helps them to lay better. Any feedback would help. Thanks!!!!

I ferment
What do you need to know?

 

[jwlpoultry]

Does anyone here ferment their feed? I have heard it helps keep them healthier as it is like a natural probiotic and it also helps them to lay better. Any feedback would help. Thanks!!!!

I ferment
What do you need to know?

How kind do you let it sit, what do you use to make it ferment, do you feed it all the time or just occasionally? That's all I can think of right now but there is probably more.