Hybrid incubation, feedback please

[Shadrach]

I found the nest was the most important factor.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I found the nest was the most important factor.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/

Thanks, I read that awhile back and it influenced the way I try to set up the boxes with lots of 'shapeable' bedding so the hens can make their nests the way they like.

In an update on the whole experiment, I took the eggs in the incubator to 13 days then terminated them as I ended up not having a broody hen to finish the job. They were all fertile and appeared to be developing correctly for their incubation age. I'm certainly no candling expert.

I've got a broody now, but I'll be setting eggs start to finish under her. She has chosen a nest in a plastic dog kennel (raised on bricks for airflow). The bedding is pine shavings with a thick layer of pea straw over the top that she has shaped into a nice big concave nest. I'm about to put out a wooden box with a mixture of pine shaving, peat moss and linseed straw. All the soil/grass on my property is absolutely sodden due to massive amounts of rain so this isn't an option for right now!

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Right well here is an update on this thread.
I tried out my idea. It did not end well. It's possible it would work if I did some things differently but I'm not currently willing to try again.

I set eggs in my incubator, discarded any quitters, and on lockdown day moved them to my broody hen. There were a total of 7 eggs put under her. She had been sitting on fake eggs for over a week, and was a very experienced broody hen so no fault lies with her in this.

6 of the eggs hatched. 5 chicks died essentially as soon as they hatched, from what I could tell. One egg didn't hatch. One chick lived for 3 days but was very different from any chicks I've had before. He was extremely quiet, and looked sort of odd - a normal front with a smaller butt. That chick just disappeared on day 3 and I never found his body.

Here is what I think went wrong:
1. My incubator was not good enough.
2. Chicks hatching from a less than excellent incubator must hatch weakly and need more time to get up and going than broody-hatched chicks.
3. The incubator chicks could not handle hatching under natural conditions.
4. I tried to circumvent nature and she spanked me.

If I ever tried this again, I would use a better incubator, and move the eggs to the hen much sooner - within the first 10 days. I didn't do that this time as I felt that the weather was fluctuating too much outside, in hindsight I think they would have been better off.

I might try again sometime in the distant future. I'm still facing very very bad summer hatches (as in, 4 total hatch failures this summer), and selling pullets is a part of my chicken keeping cost offsets.

I have kept one hen from a broody hatch, she was the only one to hatch from 8 eggs, set very early in the season. I'm hoping that means she has tough genetics, and eventually I might get my way to genetics that can handle variable environmental conditions with natural hatching.

I have a feeling that with so many birds for such a long time being hatched with incubators, perhaps something has been lost.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just read this from start to finish. Thank you for the update. I am sorry for your dismal results. I hope you have better results in the future, but I do understand your reluctance to try again right away. Hopefully, some of those who have been following your thread will have some useful suggestions for you. Please don't be discouraged. Edison found over a hundred substances that did not work as a filament for a light bulb before he found one that did.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Oh and on the nest type front:

Springtime: One hen set up under a bush in October and hatched 4 chicks from 8 eggs. One hen was in the usual plastic dog kennel and hatched 6 chicks from 8 eggs, one week after the first hen.

One hen showed up on Christmas day with 6 chicks. She was setup under an Ivy bush but on concrete, I found the nest several days after she showed up with the babies. I couldn't tell how many eggs she started with.

One hen set up under the Ivy bush, on soil, but in the summer. She had over 13 eggs by the time I found her. She hatched none of them. She was the same hen who had been successful in the springtime.

One hen hatched 3 chicks from 8 eggs, in a regular coop nesting box with shavings and linseed straw, they hatched in January, my only successful summer hatch. The same set-up resulted in a total failed hatch just a few weeks later.

I quite frankly haven't got a clue!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

quite frankly haven't got a clue!

Nor do I! I just hatched for the first time two weeks ago and I think it was pure luck we got 6 chicks out of 24 eggs. We kept our Little Giant incubator at about 45% humidity until just before lockdown, then went to 66%. We had one egg that pipped and chirped for four days but made no progress, sadly, but we agreed not to interfere or assist but let nature take its course. I can only imagine that 85% humidity must put hatching at pretty long odds, and wish you luck.