Hatching for display at the county fair

[Minniechickmama]

The brooder they have has been there for a few years, it is a plywood box about 2 feet wide by 12 inches deep by 8 feet long and divided into 4 sections. There is a light bulb in the back of each to provide heat. I don't even know what the wattage is, but you could add vent holes that could be uncovered if it heats up too much. I may build a new one this year for putting them in. The one they have is getting old enough it needs replacing.

I always rely on my nose to tell me about the rotting ones, I just had so many things going on last summer, I forgot to stop and smell the roses, I mean rotting eggs.

Good luck. I am sure it will be a hit.
Theri

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Well, for better or worse it's set up and running. The fair opens today at 4 p.m.

The Kinder Major and I went by the fair grounds last night to get it all set up. The usual difficulties but we got past them. The incubator came up to temperature just like it should. Got the display board set up after we did some jerry rigging to protect it from wind. The brooder is set up. We were just finishing up when the fair folks came over and invited all the 4-H folks in the livestock tent setting up to come eat with them which was nice. Met some nice folks.

Then had to go home and candle the ninety or so eggs in the incubator. Sixty nine or so for the fair the next day and twenty five turkey eggs due to hatch next weekend. This was their Day 18 candling so last night was their second time, but still to our surprise we found not a one that was a quitter. Not sure about the Maran eggs though as my candler wasn't built with them in mind. Still, all the others are viable so they likely are as well. Nevertheless we both gave them a good sniff to make sure we weren't setting any stink bombs.

This is the general layout. It's in one of the stalls in the livestock tent. This morning I decided it really needed more light so tonight I'll add a clamp light to the top of the board to illuminate it and the incubator.

Eric and Le at Happy Pullets Farm generously donated half the hatching eggs so we put a little sign for their business on the board there on the right and one for mine on the left towards the bottom and, of course, had to get a word in for Backyard Chickens!

Had some problems with the paper on the board wanting to curl from the nighttime humidity, but we came prepared and fixed it. The Kinder Major did all the cutting and the wife and I the general layout.

A close-up of the brooder. I made it from a Sterilite tub. May have to cover the side vents to keep the temps up but I'll wait until the chicks are in before deciding. Next year I hope to have a purpose built display brooder made of plywood with a plexiglass front. When the fair is over I'll use this one to carry chicks and poults to the swaps.

And here's the incubator itself. I had just misted the eggs after putting them in thus the little bit of fogging. It's a Model 1583 Hovabator with the picture glass window that I borrowed from the Extension office and ran for a couple of days at the house function testing it and getting a feel for the way it ran. Not sure how it's going to cope with nighttime lows in the fifties so I'll probably cover it with a towel at night when the fair closes.

We candled the eggs last night and this morning put in thirty six eggs - white, blue/green, and every shade of brown I could come up with. They were set by thirds over the course of three days so hopefully they'll hatch over the four days of the fair. The other half of the eggs are still at the house in my cabinet incubator for just-in-case. I've been angsting over this hatch more than any others I've ever done since my first one because it's just so doggone public! The turkeys I hatched last week came two days early but the chickens that were set with them came right on time so I'm hoping these will too.

I managed to drop one as I was putting them into their transport cartons. Upset the K. Major with the gory mess. Sigh... fortunes of war I suppose.

We hauled them to the fair grounds this morning and put them in. Hung around long enough to make sure the incubator was going to come up to temperature like it should and that the humidity was going to be OK. Had to add some sponges so hopefully it'll still be right this afternoon when I check it again.

Wish us luck!

 

[Gypsy07]

Oooh, wishing nyou the very best of luck and a good, and TIMELY, hatch! Your whole setup looks great btw

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

A.T. Hagan :

I've been angsting over this hatch more than any others I've ever done since my first one because it's just so doggone public!

I know how that is. I have been hatching for years an the first time I hatched live online I was stresses. But now that I have done it for 2 years I dont stress till something actually goes wrong.​

 

[A.T. Hagan]

If this comes off without disaster I'll probably relax a lot too. IF.

Sure hope at least one of them has pipped by the time I go check on them this evening!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Well, the fair is over. What an adventure it turned out to be but in the end it was pretty darn successful so we're all happy.

As I said above we set everything up last Wednesday night for a Thursday afternoon fair opening. A front had come through two days before and Tuesday night had gone down to 40 degrees. Wednesday night was pleasantly cool as we were getting things ready. Thursday morning I took the about-to-hatch eggs out of my Dickey cabinet incubator and put them in a pre-warmed cooler to take them to the fair grounds to put them in the incubator that we'd set up and turned on the night before. Hung around two hours to make sure it was going to stay at the right temperature and humidity. Everything was solid so I went on about my business.

That was the last time that anything went right.

The fair opened at four and I came back about 5:30 to check on things. Temperature and humidity was still good but nothing had hatched yet. I began to worry but figured that moving the eggs at the critical point had set them back a bit. One did begin to pip before I left. I came back early Friday morning and two more had pipped but nothing had zipped yet. Ran errands and came back about noon. Four pipped but still nothing had zipped and the humidity had sky rocketed as the daytime temperature rose. Finally decided there was nothing for it but to take the eggs out and pull the sponges that I'd found necessary when I'd been running the box at the house. That dropped the humidity back to an acceptable range so I put everything back in and waited for it to come back up to temperature.

Friday night is a big night so I was concerned about not having any chicks in the brooder yet what with the eggs running behind schedule. Fortunately the feed store in town had just gotten a shipment of new chicks in that day so I picked up two each Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire, and Easter Eggers to "prime the pump" so to speak while my eggs did their thing. Went back to the fair grounds to put them in and found the humidity in the incubator had sky rocketed again. Once again I took all the eggs out and dried up one of the water channels. Put the eggs back in and waited on the box to come back up to temperature. Outside air temperature was in the high eighties and by the time the incubator had come back up to temp the humidity was on the high edge of acceptable. Decided not to mess with it any more as the day would begin to cool off soon. The eggs that had been pipping finally started to hatch as a steady stream of people came in to oohh and ahh over them. This surprised me as on Friday night there wasn't much going on in the livestock tent. One couple had some myotonic goats (fainters) on display and there was some sheep shearing going on, but the tent was otherwise empty and the lights inside were pretty dim compared to what was coming from the midway. Still, folks would see the goats, then they'd see the lights from the brooder and display board then come in to see the chicks hatch and word began to spread. Ended up staying to fair close at ten p.m. answering questions. Covered the brooder to keep them warm and went home.

Came back Saturday morning and the humidity in the incubator was barely within the acceptable range, but when I came back at midday it was over 90%. Took the eggs out for the third time, completely dried up all of the water inside then put them back in. Closed up the incubator and turned it back on. Outside temperature was in the high eighties and eventually peaked at 90. By one in the afternoon the temperature in the incubator hit 105 and the humidity was over 80% so I took the lid off to let some out until the temp fell to 97. Put the lid back on. 20-30 minutes later I had to do it again. The incubator heater did not come on the entire afternoon until after five o'clock. But with thirty six ready to hatch eggs inside they were making plenty (too much!) of their own heat and humidity. They were a day late, but once they started hatching they came on steadily and it drew folks in. Finally after five the temperature stayed below 102 without having to open the box, but even with having dried up all the water the humidity stayed on the high side. Ended up staying nearly to fair close again babysitting it. Put all the dry, fluffy chicks into the brooder, covered it up again, then went home.

Sunday was essentially a repeat of Saturday except that it went to 92 by mid-afternoon. Both days there was plenty of livestock events going on in the tent so it drew steady interest. I could not stay all day as I had Saturday but came by several times to check on things. About one in the afternoon we were back to having to open the box every 15-20 minutes to let out excess heat and humidity to keep them from cooking. Still they continued to hatch out! Come four Sunday afternoon I took it all down as they were breaking down the pens and stalls and took them home. The pipped and/or unhatched eggs went back into the cabinet incubator at the house and as of this morning there were still a few from the last phase that I set hatching out.

It's too soon to say what the final hatch percentage will be. I should know by tomorrow morning I expect. I can say though that when I took them home on Sunday afternoon of the thirty six eggs we took to the fair they'd already achieved a 60% hatch rate! I had to break every rule of hatching but life will find a way! We learned a lot from all this so next year's exhibit will be better still. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative so we won't have to go to extreme measures to keep the eggs going. It's A LOT easier to hatch eggs inside of a climate controlled house than it is out doors when it's cool and foggy in the morning and hot and dry in the afternoons.

Many thanks to Eric and Le at Happy Pullets Farm for providing half the eggs for the display.

The about-to-hatch eggs when we first put them into the incubator at the fair grounds.

The first chick is out

More coming!

The brooder begins to fill

Top view

Young or old chick hatching draws them in.

All told I ended up spending twenty five hours at the fair morning, noon, and night from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon which was about sixteen more than I had planned on, but that's what it took to babysit that incubator. It was the most challenging hatch I've ever had. Still, it was worth it. We'll be back again next year with an even better set-up than the one we had for this year.

 

[ChixMama]

Way to go

What a great thing to share with everyone! You know you've probably hatched some chicken-a-holics, too!!! Someone there saw them & probably got bit by the bug...shame on you

 

[thunderwagn]

What an excellent display! What we do for our 4-h kids lol. I think it is great all the efforts you went through to make it what sounds to be a great success. I know it was tough and stressful at times. But seeing kids and even adults at the fair who really never get to experience things like this and the smiles and interest is well worth it in my opinion. That's what its all about. And what the kids learn is invaluable as well whether they realize it at the time or not.
Good job! Most impressive.

 

[Cattitude]

That's the exact magnetized bumper sticker that I have! I'm glad your hatch went well, and sad that you had so much difficulty. But it sounds like it was worth it! A tremendous experience!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

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Yep. With any luck I'll draw in a few kids that want to get into poultry. I'd really love to get enough that we can start a dedicated poultry club!