Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

poor Bernie has his birthday in the midst of our hatching dramas

 

[ozexpat]

Oz I'm sorry!! that sucks! did you lose all your eggs??

between a temp spike to 107 on day 18, 4 x 1.5hr power losses on day 19 an ant invasion on day 21 murdering chicks hatched and pippers, late deformed hatches on day 22. it looks like it

 

[Sally Sunshine]

oh oz! I am sorry! Stinks he didn't catch the issues soon enough, terrible I am sure he is so sad too!
The ants kill that fast? what kinda ants are they! Don't let them at your kids for petes! WOW! Poor Bernie and Mrs!

 

[hillfloweranch]

between a temp spike to 107 on day 18, 4 x 1.5hr power losses on day 19 an ant invasion on day 21 murdering chicks hatched and pippers, late deformed hatches on day 22. it looks like it

Oh no!! I will start collecting for you again!! No worries. We will all pitch in!!! Can't have GTFOH fail we will not give up so easily!!
Onward soldiers!! Lol

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Sorry Oz you are determined and will overcome this. The egg runs will continue!!!

 

[hillfloweranch]

Sorry Oz you are determined and will overcome this. The egg runs will continue!!!

ABSOLUTELY!!

 

[maryhysong]

Things have gone from bad to worse in this hatch.

The only thing to come out of it is lessons.

1. tighter control on temps - install a STC-1000 digital thermostat instead of the wafer style mechanical
2. humidity abatement is essential - I have a mini humidifier and a humidistat dehumidifier controller to reduce the humidity in the incubator to 30% during the hatch. eggtopsies show big wet chicks
3. power control - install a UPS with a marine battery to beat power outages. investigate generators.
4. ant control/bator ant proofing - we lost all the pipped/zipping eggs overnight from an ant invasion. it was pure carnage.

Time to brush off the disappointment/guilt and get moving.

My thanks and apologies to those who gave so much to this attempt. I am sure I can get past this and continue the fight.

oh OZ sorry to hear about that. I think you are getting a handle on the power and the humidity. For the ants, if your bators have legs or on a table with legs, set the legs into cans with some water and a thin film of oil on top. You will have to check frequently if the diameter of the cans is small as the ants can and will build a bridge of dead bodies, but if you had wide shallow pans, that might work. That and mosquito netting is what old timers did here to keep scorpions from crawling into baby cribs.

 

[el pollo rey]

If the ants are anything like here it can be a battle they can get up to a inch long and can strip a tree of it's leaves in a mater of days I have also seen them consistently cross creaks floating on the cut leaves like rafts they can be wicked bad left unchecked ,,,,,,,, sounds like war!

 

[thebirdguy]

I have used the same ST-1000 thermostats as Oz on my homemade bators for a couple of years now.. love them!!!

 

[Pancholoco]

I have used the same ST-1000 thermostats as Oz on my homemade bators for a couple of years now.. love them!!!

hatch percentage?????