INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[mlm Mike]

Quote: Oh no. Any reason you think that? I hope it isn't so.
Unfortunately, 'cause I can't seem to upload pictures anymore, I'll be flying 1/2 solo on this hatch. I'll definitely be monitoring air cells & referencing Sally's illustrations, just no pics. I just set them 15 min. ago; got the 12 I've been collecting all week since 5/3, so no reason to wait any longer. Been storing them in a styro egg carton, hopefully large end up (on some the ends are indistinguishable from one another) ; I'll have to verify next week. All are various shades of brown, but none so dark that seeing inside should be an issue.
No idea why you can't upload pictures? Any error?

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: Oh no. Any reason you think that? I hope it isn't so.
Unfortunately, 'cause I can't seem to upload pictures anymore, I'll be flying 1/2 solo on this hatch. I'll definitely be monitoring air cells & referencing Sally's illustrations, just no pics. I just set them 15 min. ago; got the 12 I've been collecting all week since 5/3, so no reason to wait any longer. Been storing them in a styro egg carton, hopefully large end up (on some the ends are indistinguishable from one another) ; I'll have to verify next week. All are various shades of brown, but none so dark that seeing inside should be an issue.
No idea why you can't upload pictures? Any error?
Not a clue, Mike. I had no problem a few months ago, but no luck since. Software glitch of some kind, I suppose. Maybe a virus, maybe operator error. I really need to replace this thing; just don't want to get up off the green stuff. I'll be taking picture, in case I have an aha moment at some point.

 

[h2oratt]

I've only done freedom rangers, Cornish X and heritage breeds, including egg varieties like leghorns.

I do Cornish X at 3 weeks for Cornish Game Hens. 6-7 weeks for broilers.
Freedom Rangers are only about 2 weeks longer. 3.5-4 weeks for game hens. 7-9 weeks for broilers. By 9 weeks, half of the cockerels are too big to fit into a large vacuum seal bag.

That is so true. A fan helps a lot with high to low thermal stratification in a single level table top incubator. There will still be dead spaces if it is square.
In a tall cabinet, unless it's very well designed, will still have high to low thermal stratification. However, that will be from shelf to shelf rather than from top to bottom of each egg.

My personal opinion - don't try to go back through the whole thread. You'll quickly find that there can be 20 or 30 pages in a row with nothing about incubation or poultry

Chatty people here.
Well under 10% of threads are about incubation and that valuable/useful information is mostly in links on the first page.

I totally agree. The most valuable info is at the beginning. I love my incubator. I got a reptilepro 6000
I have had two good hatches. Of course the broody is the best if you are just doing barnyard mutts.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

. I am hoping I can use some of my graduation gift money to buy me a better candler (one of those ovascope high intensity ones)... I just am having such a hard time with a flashlight to be sure of what looks right.

I have an OvaScope (got it at the same time as my incubator), and while it's really neat to be able to see the egg that way, there are a number of limitations - I actually had to buy a very bright flashlight as well and use that almost all the time in addition/instead.

The issue is that with the OvaScope, you put the egg air cell down to view it. This means (1) you can't mark air cells, and (2), you can't use it with eggs that should be kept upright (e.g., shipped eggs). I instead had to put the egg in a carton air cell up (after weighing), mark the air cell, and then pick it up and hold the egg while candling to see if there is development. If I was feeling curious, maybe I'd put it in the OvaScope to see what it looked like (if it wasn't a shipped egg with a loose air cell), but it was pretty unnecessary.

I got this one (recommended in this thread), VERY bright - I cut a foam "doughnut" and taped it to the top to cushion it:

http://www.amazon.com/APG-Lumens-Zo...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

I actually got more than one, for when I need to candle dark eggs down the road.

Speaking of pullet eggs, I got one yesterday, the likes of which I haven't seen since my now 2 yr. old birds were just starting to lay; an egg with no shell, just membrane. Weird.

Yeah, I've gotten one like that before - it was freaky - ALIEN EGG!!!

I also got two attached where one was like this and the other had an attempt at a shell. Pullet hadn't gotten her reproductive system in order yet...

Clementine (silkie) and Quackers (khaki campbell duck) were killed by a raccoon (most likely) last night. My mom was heartbroken when she found out. Our bredas were mourning all morning

I'm so sorry!!!!! Raccoons are evil. Is the coop secure? (They could come back if they know they can get in.) They are clever and can undo all sorts of latches - I actually use a combination lock. I also have a 2 ft apron of HW cloth all around the edge so nothing can dig in.

I realized this morning that I really don't want to process a bunch of my birds. Their coloring really came out well, and different than their relatives (parents, aunts, cousins...).

Yeah, I am struggling with this right now with the Aloha NNs. I got 5 boys and 2 girls out of that hatch, and the boys are really starting to cause trouble and I'm running out of time. But they are so PRETTY! I also have 6 Cream Legbar boys to cull (who are actually even bigger jerks, at least to the girls). Once I finish my coffee, I'm going to finish setting up the "boy" pen to move them in there. The CLs have to go (though it will have to be next weekend), but I'm considering keeping one of the Aloha boys - but I need to observe them more, and get weights.

Quote:
These animals (from which the grocery store meat comes) usually have pretty miserable lives and deaths. I know all my boys (it's usually boys) have happily run around eating grass and bugs - they have a good life and then one bad day at the end. I certainly understand doing it yourself or with your own birds is not for everyone (and yes, it's hard to do), but you may want to consider instead finding a local farmers market where you can know where the meat comes from and how the animals were treated - and also support those farmers directly. I started doing that for a number of years earlier. Just a thought.

It's even worse for pigs - I can't raise them myself here, so I get my pork/bacon/etc., from a local pig farmer (name of his farm is "Peaceful Pork").

At 72 years young, I'm the oldest one here, & I'm not super-excited about processing birds, either. I've done it, but I'd rather not. However, you'll get to the point where you have too many roosters that you need to do something with. You can sell them, or give them away, but 9 times out of 10 they're destined for someone's pot, anyway. That's just the way life works.

This is the other point - with a lot of cockerels, it is NOT kind to keep them until they are fighting and injuring each other (or the pullets), etc. At least in my experience, every single adult rooster has separate housing (with his girls) at my place. Which is why I really need to get on the stick and get these boys processed...

For every backyard meat or egg bird, there is one less living a miserable life in a commercial operation.

+1000

OK, this was a timely discussion, I really DO need to get off my duff and get that frat house pen ready.

BTW - here are two tips:

1) A Super Soaker Zombie Strike Dreadshot Blaster is an EXCELLENT tool to be able to get a cockerel chasing and harassing a pullet to stop, from 20 feet away.

2) BluKote is a great way to mark very young chicks. I learned this by accident - a shipped chick had an abrasion on his leg due to something in the box - put on BluKote, he squirmed, and got some over his eye in addition to his leg. The leg marking persisted several weeks, and the over-eye bit is STILL there (at six weeks - looks like eyeliner). I'm going to do this next time when I need to mark chicks on the way out of the incubator.

Oh, bugger!!!! I just started raining. I'm glad I mowed yesterday, but I won't be working on that frat pen today, apparently. Looks like indoor chores instead (not nearly as fun).

- Ant Farm

 

[Chaos18]

One of my eggs just rocked!! I can't remember the last time I saw an egg rock!! So cool!

What's an egg rock look like?

 

[kwhites634]

Quote: It's like Jingle Bell Rock, but quieter

 

[Chaos18]

It's like Jingle Bell Rock, but quieter

Makes sense.

 

[mlm Mike]

Quote: It's like Jingle Bell Rock, but quieter

 

[BullChick]

What's an egg rock look like?

I've been waiting for someone to ask something like that! It was disappointing that no one had!

 

[BullChick]

I didn't think about gloves until after I had a few splinters. I am charging the screwdriver now.

The frame is secured to the fencing on the other side. Too bad I forgot that I had to put a wall on that side! I can still put one there, just not the way I wanted to.
I said earlier that my pumpkins grow like crazy. In one hour, I saw growth. When Duckling gets older, I will be sure to let her plant pumpkins.