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

[Sally Sunshine]

I guess I get some beds made and some wash put away, maybe yall be chatty later

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Fox had PA in Clinton's column early on, then all at once it was wide open again.

 

[Lucky Lemon]

Could y'all please please please send me some of this rain you keep talking about???

 

[Pensmaster]

Could y'all please please please send me some of this rain you keep talking about???

Don't forget me. More rain and snow.

 

[Pensmaster]

Good
Morning
Everyone

 

[dan26552]

lol I wouldnt have a clue why she wasnt amused!

@BantyChooks lovely show off!

 

[Pensmaster]

Mornin Les, I keep wanting to ask, what do the roos weigh in for white giants?   And what size eggs do you get from your girls?

X2. Morning Sally
@Beer can
What size are the hens? How long for grow out? Hens lay well?

 

[Beer can]

Mornin Les, I keep wanting to ask, what do the roos weigh in for white giants?   And what size eggs do you get from your girls?

Not as heavy as I thought they were, haven't weighed them since winter. They just went through a hard molt so maybe lost some weight IDK, they look huge. Year old this July. Just got a little over ten for the cock and a little over seven for the hens. :-(
They average 100grams on the eggs and not double yolkers.
Laid non stop last winter with no extra light hopefully they do again. I have the lay down IncuTurn turner in my Hova-bator, no way could you put 42 of their eggs in it like it calls for.
I've only grown out three cockerels from the first batch, one we ate and one other my brother has. The cockerels I hatched we culled young.
I was wondering how the roosters would be as a protector being I've never seen any aggressiveness or excitement in them.
My brother's won't let their dog anywhere near the girls so it looks like they'll defend if need be Lol! :-D

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is anyone Else having problems with egg production? I have over 25 chickens, and I'm only getting 0-2 eggs a day. I Feed them regularly and I always make sure that they have good water and a clean living condition. Is there something else that I should be doing that will make their egg production rise?

Perfectly normal. It is a common complaint among first time chicken keepers when their flock reaches its second autumn.
Most breeds will lay like gangbusters for a year to 18 months when they are young. Then in their second autumn they'll molt and quit laying till they grow a new winter coat. They may resume after recovering or they may wait till after the winter solstice when days begin to lengthen. All other things being normal, they will always start up by spring and reward you with their hen fruit till the next autumn and this cycle will continue annually. Each year, the winter break will be longer and longer, summer laying will be shorter and shorter (although larger eggs).
Some breeds hatched very early in the year will molt their first autumn.

Aside from the molting thing, shorter days is a signal to stop producing, longer days is the signal to reproduce.

Since this is the educational thread and to take the mystery out of it, here's a brief rundown of the science.
Light exposure to the retina is first relayed to the nucleus of the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that coordinates biological clock signals. Fibers from there descend to the spinal cord and then project to the superior cervical ganglia, from which neurons ascend back to the pineal gland. The pineal gland translates signals from the nervous system into a hormonal signal.

When light periods are shorter, the gland produces serotonin and subsequently, melatonin. That's the hormone that affects the gonads for sperm production in males and ovulation in females. An increase in melatonin causes the gonads to become inactive.
Photoperiod, in relation to day vs. night, is the most important clue for animals to determine season. And by extension, when to reproduce.
Cold really has very little to do with egg production. The same thing happens whether it is a cold or warm climate.
As light lengthens, the gonads are rejuvenated. The duration of melatonin secretion each day is directly proportional to the length of the night because of the pineal gland's ability to measure daylength. Besides reproduction, it also affects sleep timing and blood pressure regulation.
So as the light period increases, in relation to the dark period, it stimulates reproduction and - voila - EGGS.

In addition to the day vs. night thing stimulation production, I wanted to add a few thing relating to light.
Chickens don't have to see the light. Blind chickens can also detect a change in day length. Light penetrates the skull and thereby is still detected by the pineal gland.

Chickens detect light in a broader wavelength than humans.
Humans detect light in a range of about 400-660 nm.
Chickens detect light from about 300-750 nm.
Human's peak response to light sensitivity is from 550-560 nm.
Chickens have 3 peaks of light perception at 440, 550 and 610 nm.

Spectrum wavelength determines the color of the light.
Humans have retinal cones that detect red, yellow and green.
Chickens have an additional double cone that is thought to allow tracking of movement.
This may be the reason chickens can see the slightest movement of prey (bugs) or predators from afar that we may miss.

Red light at about 650 nm penetrates the skull and eventually the hypothalamus at somewhere between 5 and 50 times more efficiently than blue, green or yellow/orange.
This makes red light vital for stimulation sexual maturity and egg production.
You've seen the sky at the horizon at dawn and dusk and have no doubt noticed it appears red because red penetrates the atmosphere greater than other colors of the spectrum.
So birds outside at dawn and dusk are stimulated more than those locked in the coop at those times without exposure to big openings to the east and west.

Incandescent light is good at producing light in the red spectrum.
CFLs, while efficient, produce little red light.
LEDs produce the most efficient light per watt used and, depending on phosphors used, can be designed to output in virtually any spectrum desired.
You can look for LEDs in the 650 nm range.

Citation:
Prescott, N. B., and C. M. Wathes. “Spectral sensitivity of the domestic fowl (Gallus g. domesticus).” British poultry Science 40.3 (1999): 332–339.

Anyone else watching "Escape the Election" on TWC?

I watched a replay of Stephen Colbert's election coverage on Showtime. He said it looked like we were voting on the apocalypse and people were picking the asteroid.

I just want this election to be OVER.

Finally is.

Did you see that Cheryl Crow started a petition to dramatically shorten the campaign season?
Most countries campaign seasons are under a month long.

I've got 23 chickens, six are pullets and two are roosters. Went from about 12 a day to zero for about three months, now I'm averaging about 8 a day now.

I got down to 10 layers and 1 egg a day. The one that was still laying had molted early in the summer so she eventually restarted. I now have 3 of them laying and a new pullet as well.

I hope I can get this leak fixed

And? What are you doing about it?

Oh the polls the polls........

Rough

That sounds like fun. I would rather go to school than my job. Not to mention the hours and vacation is better. The pay on the other hand would be a problem even of I taught again.

I was paid my hourly wage to go to school for 4 years. It was 2 semesters a year and usually about 8 hours a week. I sure missed when those checks quit coming. At the end of each semester, there was a pretty good check.
My first class was basically rudimentary math (shop math and blueprint reading). The first night I sat there about 10 minutes and started to get up to walk out thinking "I'm wasting my time here". As I was about to reach the standing position, I thought, "I'm getting paid to be here" and sat my butt right back down.

That was in addition to my 40 - 48 hour job and going to college at the same time.

 

[kajira]

Perfectly normal. It is a common complaint among first time chicken keepers when their flock reaches its second autumn.
Most breeds will lay like gangbusters for a year to 18 months when they are young. Then in their second autumn they'll molt and quit laying till they grow a new winter coat. They may resume after recovering or they may wait till after the winter solstice when days begin to lengthen. All other things being normal, they will always start up by spring and reward you with their hen fruit till the next autumn and this cycle will continue annually. Each year, the winter break will be longer and longer, summer laying will be shorter and shorter (although larger eggs).
Some breeds hatched very early in the year will molt their first autumn.

Aside from the molting thing, shorter days is a signal to stop producing, longer days is the signal to reproduce.

Since this is the educational thread and to take the mystery out of it, here's a brief rundown of the science.
Light exposure to the retina is first relayed to the nucleus of the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that coordinates biological clock signals. Fibers from there descend to the spinal cord and then project to the superior cervical ganglia, from which neurons ascend back to the pineal gland. The pineal gland translates signals from the nervous system into a hormonal signal.

When light periods are shorter, the gland produces serotonin and subsequently, melatonin. That's the hormone that affects the gonads for sperm production in males and ovulation in females. An increase in melatonin causes the gonads to become inactive.
Photoperiod, in relation to day vs. night, is the most important clue for animals to determine season. Cold really has very little to do with egg production.
As light lengthens, the gonads are rejuvenated. The duration of melatonin secretion each day is directly proportional to the length of the night because of the pineal gland's ability to measure daylength. Besides reproduction, it also affects sleep timing and blood pressure regulation.
So as the light period increases, in relation to the dark period, it stimulates reproduction and - voila - EGGS.

In addition to the day vs. night thing stimulation production, I wanted to add a few thing relating to light.
Chickens don't have to see the light. Blind chickens can also detect a change in day length. Light penetrates the skull and thereby is still detected by the pineal gland.


Chickens detect light in a broader wavelength than humans.
Humans detect light in a range of about 400 to 660 nm. Chickens detect light from about 300-750 nm.
Humans peak response to light sensitivity is from 550-560 nm. Chicken have 3 peaks of light perception at 440, 550 and 610 nm.
Spectrum wavelength determines the color of the light.
Humans have retinal cones that can detect red, yellow and green.
Chickens have an additional double cone that is thought to allow tracking of movement. Hence the reason chickens can see the slightest movement of prey (bugs) and predators from afar.
Red light at about 650 nm penetrates the skull and eventually the hypothalamus at somewhere between 5-50 times more efficiently than blue, green or yellow/orange. This makes red light vital for stimulating sexual maturity and egg production. If you've seen the sky at the horizon at dawn and dusk, it can appear red because red penetrates the atmosphere greater than other colors of the spectrum.
So birds, outside at dawn and dusk, are stimulated more than those locked in the coop at those times.
Incandescent light is good at producing light in the red spectrum.
CFLs, while efficient, produce little red light.
LEDs produce the most efficient light per wattage used and depending on phosphors used can be designed to output in virtually any spectrum desired.
You can look for LEDs in the 650nm range.

Citation:
Prescott, N. B., and C. M. Wathes. “Spectral sensitivity of the domestic fowl (Gallus g. domesticus).” British poultry Science 40.3 (1999): 332–339.

I watched a replay of Stephen Colbert's election coverage on Showtime. He said it looked like we were voting on the apocalypse and people were picking the asteroid.

Finally is.

Did you see that Cheryl Crow started a petition to dramatically shorten the campaign season?
Most countries campaign seasons are under a month long.

I got down to 10 layers and 1 egg a day. The one that was still laying had molted early in the summer so she eventually restarted. I now have 3 of them laying and a new pullet as well.

And? What are you doing about it?

Rough


I was paid my hourly wage to go to school for 4 years. It was 2 semesters a year and usually about 8 hours a week. I sure missed when those checks quit coming.
My first class was basically rudimentary math (shop math and blueprint reading). The first night I sat there about 10 minutes and started to get up to walk out thinking "I'm wasting my time here". As I was about to reach the standing position, I thought, "I'm getting paid to be here" and sat my butt right back down.

I did not see that, but campaign seasons under a month would make a lot more sense to me!