Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[chickadoodles]

I have had such a frustrating experience using incubators that I could see myself using a lot more broodies in the future. My broodies get WAY better hatch rates than I do. I'm just about ready to chuck the whole thing in the trash!

However, putting impulsiveness aside, I will keep trying. I think the incubator is the only way I will be able to get early hatches as the broodies wait til almost summer (in most cases) to start brooding. By the time it's almost summer here, we have about a week or two of spring left and then its hotter than blazes. This year though, is very odd! Rain... at least once a week. Not complaining... except for the MUD! Ugh!

I think I figured out my broody set up as I lay in bed this morning when I should have been up already. That seems to be one of the places I do my best thinking. Usually though, its at night when I'm trying to go to sleep I lay there instead, thinking of all kinds of things and building all manner of structures in my head.

Lacy honestly I was at that point before spring even started this year. After so many failed hatches last year. I bought two Genesis 1588's per Ron's recomendations. And I love them set them and forget them! Honestly! I do the dry hatch so with the humidity here I don't have to add any water till lock down. Then I put the eggs in our homemade hatcher.
I ordered some eggs back in Feb. and just got them two weeks ago they are in my incubator. But for these eggs they are going to stay in the same bator to hatch so I can be sure they all hatch!
Look for some online coupons for one.

 

[Beekissed]

The pens I posted pics of were for breeding trio's. So when I had some hens go broody we did the best we could. My DH had surgery on his neck a couple years ago and we both have leg problems so throwing up new pens is not an option for us. Our post auger nearly killed us both the last time we used it. lol I told DH to get rid of it!
Right now I have two Bourbon Red turkey hens sharing a nest and I will have to get some more chicken wire to put around their pen. I won't move them since this is their fist time going broody and turkey raise their young as a family anyway.

LOVE the broody nest and how cute they look brooding together! An old tire....perfect!

I have had such a frustrating experience using incubators that I could see myself using a lot more broodies in the future. My broodies get WAY better hatch rates than I do. I'm just about ready to chuck the whole thing in the trash!

I never incubated all these years and then finally did last year...did okay but still not enamored with the practice. Just as I had imagined, it feels all wrong. I think I'll be able to improve on a breed without hatching massive amounts of chicks, it just will take longer.... fast doesn't always win the race.



About incubating....I also don't know why folks want to hatch so early in the year...that's not natural either. That mystifies me. Why not follow the rhythm of nature and have chicks when there is the most food abundance and the temps are warm? I'd venture to say most broodies go broody when it's natural to do so and when it's the most conducive for raising chicks, by natural design. Wonder why everyone started going against that natural design?

 

[ronott1]

It would be hard to beat a good cabinet incubator with electronic controls when needing to hatch quantities of birds. They are worth the money. They pay for themselves. I would not breed birds without one.

This Dicky's incubator that I have is great, and they are not as pricey as some are. I turn it on, load it, and fill the water reservoir. Candle once, maybe twice, and put them in the hatching tray when it is time. That is it. They hatch like popcorn.

Dicky's seems to be a great incubator! The Dorking breeder has one now.

Lacy honestly I was at that point before spring even started this year. After so many failed hatches last year. I bought two Genesis 1588's per Ron's recomendations. And I love them set them and forget them! Honestly! I do the dry hatch so with the humidity here I don't have to add any water till lock down. Then I put the eggs in our homemade hatcher.
I ordered some eggs back in Feb. and just got them two weeks ago they are in my incubator. But for these eggs they are going to stay in the same bator to hatch so I can be sure they all hatch!
Look for some online coupons for one.

The Genesis 1588's are great too. I have had a lot of awesome hatches with mine.

I use them as incubators and and hatchers along with a Brinsea octagon 40.

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks Bee we also believe in re-purposing everything we can.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: I have hatched every egg my 5 hens laid for 5 1/2 months. I only had to sell a few dozen when my bator's were full. Hopefully next I can add another 1588 this winter to be ready for my new hens next spring.

 

[gjensen]

LOVE the broody nest and how cute they look brooding together! An old tire....perfect!


I never incubated all these years and then finally did last year...did okay but still not enamored with the practice. Just as I had imagined, it feels all wrong. I think I'll be able to improve on a breed without hatching massive amounts of chicks, it just will take longer.... fast doesn't always win the race.



About incubating....I also don't know why folks want to hatch so early in the year...that's not natural either. That mystifies me. Why not follow the rhythm of nature and have chicks when there is the most food abundance and the temps are warm? I'd venture to say most broodies go broody when it's natural to do so and when it's the most conducive for raising chicks, by natural design. Wonder why everyone started going against that natural design?

It is not about speed, it is about variability. The numbers provide variability and encourage as a result some genetic diversity. The numbers also provide genetic depth.

Some with excellent exhibition strains can get away with 8-10 hens and only hatching 40 birds. The birds are already highly perfected, and they do not mind breeding especially tight (which is not good for production). So you can do it, but the birds need to be at an already high degree of excellence. Some gamecock breeders used to do the same when they had some individuals that were outstanding. They also were not concerned with color, and vigor as priority number one all of the time.

It is also depends on qty. of selection criteria. It is helpful to have an all black or white bird.

Running a few hens and hatching a few chicks is more perpetuating or replacing than it is improving. It can be done, but the birds need to be in excellent shape to start with.

So no, it is not a race. Progress is slow regardless. It is about variability, and pulling out birds that are genetically useful. It is about making progress rather than standing still, going backwards, or going in circles. It is about having a goal, and actively working towards getting there.

Concerning the timing of those hatches, many want to have there birds in there prime for show season. I do not like to hatch as early, and I will not perpetuate birds that require that much time to fully develop. I do on the other hand hatch earlier than mine go broody. I am more intelligent than the hen (some might debate that), and know I will get better growth rates and more steady growth if I get them to 75% of their weight by the time the real heat sets in. In the south it is best to "beat the heat".

You are also operating from a faulty position when you debate for what you perceive as natural design. There is nothing "natural" about raising poultry to begin with. Natural would be jungle fowl foraging the clearings in and around deciduous forests of Southeast Asia. We developed these birds for our own reasons and manage them for our own reasons. We domesticated and manipulated the genetics in a way that we got what we wanted from them. They are no longer natural and natural would not be a temperate climate to begin with. Our birds would not survive if we let them go in a wild place that they were originally native to. They no longer have eclipse molts or are built around the rainy and dry seasons. They instinctively come into "season" when the day light is long enough for them to do so. Where they are from the daylight is always long enough.
Natural would be making a bow and arrow and run the forests hunting Turkey. Not raising chickens that were at one point something else entirely, then developed as fighting fowl for thousands of years, or for religious reasons, and then laying fowl, and then dual purpose fowl, and then the commercial options etc. LOL. There is nothing natural about a Buff Orpington. LOL.

I think what we missed here was that no one was critical of using brooding hens. It was pointed out that it was not a practical option for some with the goals and reasons that they have. Everyone raises them for their own reasons and goals. What works for one may not work for another. There is no wrong or right. There are no natural laws or moral laws being broken. It is natural for us to do what we are doing. To do with what is my own as I please. They belong to me, and are a possession of mine. I do not belong to them, and am not subject to them. I manage them, and manage them well.

 

[Beekissed]

I, for one, don't believe that chickens evolved or were all originally descendants of jungle fowl. I believe God designed certain animals as domesticated animals, specifically. Yes, we humans took a hand in selecting certain traits and mixing different breeds to develop certain traits but I've never believed that all chicken genetics can be traced to jungle fowl, no more than I think that all dogs were descendants of wild dogs or wolves.

As such, I don't think that all chickens are supposed to be on "jungle time" and we just force them to live in temperate climates and perform at our convenience. I've not seen anything yet in my lifetime to convince me of that. There are distinct breeds that are designed for~not by man....you could work on a tropical breed for hundreds of generations and still not have a bird that lays well and thrives in the northern climates~different areas of the world, just like most other animal and bird species.

No one was being critical at all of those who hatch in incubators, I was merely stating why I don't like to do so and giving those reasons....I question the need for it and also the timing of some hatches and the problems that arise from all of that. For me, it's a personal choice and if that means I'm just going in circles or not getting anywhere with my breeding, that's okay with me too. I've found that life is much easier and productive all the way around if I just don't fight God's design in this world. You folks are free to do whatever you please with your chickens and I reserve the right to do the same with mine.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I just wanted to say Bee that I hatch earlier than my hens go broody because of mainly one thing...the heat.

Last year I got a valuable lesson in timing.

As you know, I raise Andalusians but perhaps you didn't know I'm also working on making bantam Andalusians. My last two or three large fowl hatches last year taught me something... not to hatch large fowl in June/July. Many of my large fowl birds that hatched in June/July are only about 1/3 the size of their full brothers/sisters that were hatched in February/March. As it is, I'm using them in my bantam pens but it really set me back for progress in the large fowl pens.

 

[3riverschick]

Yeah but, Lacey, don't they still carry the "large" genes ? Aren't they smaller just
because of when they were hatched, not genetically?
Best,
Karen

 

[Lacy Blues]

Yes, "technically" they are still large fowl. However, a lot of the Andalusians in the country are undersized. I don't have that issue in my flock... in new birds picked up? Definitely. I'll be crossing them with mine because they have what mine don't... fantastic lacing. Mine have size and in some cases, much better type. There are a couple of birds that had a late hatch but managed to still tower over their hatchmates. I'll be hanging on to them. I don't really want to use undersized birds in my large fowl pens unless I have to and I don't have to.

In fact, I have one procured cock that I cannot stand to look at him. The only reason he is still alive is for his lacing. As soon as I have a couple of hens to put in with him (likely in the fall) that will improve his type and size tremendously and he has some lovely chicks on the ground, he is history! I got three new lines in the last 6 months so I will use him one time with my birds. I've used him with the females he came with but now have one of my nice males in with his girls. I'll be doing a test hatch from them here shortly... last large fowl hatch for the year... except some in the fall.