Incubating Ringnecks

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

This will be the first time for me, any tricks of the trade? I will probably be using a brinsea octogon 40 since I won't be setting a lot of eggs at one time. These will probably all go to the freezer which brings another question, how long can you keep breeders for?

Thanks
Steve in NC

 

[turkaholic]

Great incubator Steve, I have two Octogon 40's going at the present. The only thing I've found with Ringnecks that you need to keep a watch on is picking. They tend to be canabalistic in tight quarters, such as the brooder. The more room they have the less of a problem it becomes. I usually end up putting blinders on the birds when they get to the outdoor runs or fight pens. As for keeping breeders, I rotate hens out every two or three years and Roosters every year or two. As you know, older birds tend to loose fertility. If you are looking for meat birds, go with the Jumbos. They are a large breasted bird and seem to be less nervous and flighty. Good Luck!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Thanks turk, We got ours as chicks last year and they did great growing out. Once they got older we had the hens scalping the males... figured out how to solve that. Had one young cock fly up to the frame of the brooder box and crack his skull... fixed that. They did fine last fall and all winter right up to spring.... then I had to figure out how to put peepers on. lol If they didn't taste so good

Anyway, what about temp and rh? We don't really use the brinsea much, 99.8% of all we hatch is done in a Sportsman and i'm looking forward to shuting them down.

Steve

 

[JJMR794]

HERES a lil tip Steve...

Brinseas-- LOve them! they are super for this or anything else that comes in an egg

BUT are you planning on hatching them in the brinsea? If so watch them very very closely as the fan has a tendancy to dry them out and "shrink wrap" then before they get completely zipped and hatch. Really jack the humidity for the last 3 days and I have had folks use damp diapers or femine napkins over the fan to help greatly decrease air currents in the brinsea. For folks not familiar with these octagon incubators the smaller forced air incubation space is absolutely the bomb for rock solid temp and humidity maintenance--- nill fluctations due to the design and function of these units. The drawback is high air flow through a small space which has a tendancy to "shrink wrap the egg membranes(dispite proper or even high humidity levels) around a pokey zipper or otherwise dawdling hatcher...

I use brinseas in large numbers, but I personally have accepted this minor flaw and ammended my routine--- 3 days before hatch i move my eggs to a still air hovabator that serves as the residence "hatcher" For me at least this system works like charm

 

[turkaholic]

Quote:
I discovered this also, and I too use a still air Little Giant as a hatcher for the last 3 days. Plus using the Brinsea as a hatcher will damage your sensitive internal works over time and get fuzz and chick dust into it. Not easy to clean either.

As for temp and RH, I go with the standard 99.5 and 50-55 %during incubation, 70% during last three days andhatch. Has always worked for me.

 

[JD]

I have 11 ringnecks in bator on their 18 day today. What is the acual incubation period 24 or 28 days. I'm a little confused. I have them in a r-com suro at the 99.8 temp and looks by what your saying I need to increase the humidity to 50 to 55%. I now have it at 45%. I do have some other eggs I'm pulling tonight to put on lockdown. Can I increase the humidity for the ringnecks then?

 

[turkaholic]

Quote:
You probably will be fine at 45%. I run mine just a tad higher because of the incubator I use. To low and my chicks dry out in the shell and have a hard time hatching. I'd keep it at 45 and see how the hatch goes. If all goes well, stick with it, if not, next time bump it up 5% or so. Once you know how your incubator runs, hatching becomes a breeze!

Ringnecks hatch in 24-25 days.

 

[JD]

Thank you so much turkaholic. I did run the humidity up to 48% and I stay with. Now just hoping the electricity doesn't go out. Bad storms are coming my way with tornado warnings.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Thanks everybody, I'll probably be setting eggs this week. I'll let you know how it works out.

Steve

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Just set the eggs yesterday........ here we go again! (I knocked over the first batch I had to start again)

Steve