Incubator loaded for First Time

[Floof]

Yeah, seems like I will be doing some searching about how to go about making something homemade or keep an eye out for something used. I'm curious what you did for turners because I feel like most of the outlet plug in type I see seem to be $65 for each turner. Also if you followed a particular plan or just made it.

Basically you need a light, a fan, a thermostat, and some plan for turning the eggs. You could always hand turn but I am incredibly lazy/unreliable/forgetful haha! If you want links to the products I ended up using just let me know. Most of it came from amazon because I like their return policy (more reliable than Ebay).

Edit to add a hard earned lesson: I no longer use a cup with any liquid at the bottom during lock down. I had a quail somehow get through the basket I was using and it fell into the cup of water and drowned. I STILL feel terrible about that. Now I put a food to go container at the bottom with very wet wash clothes but no standing water.

 

[MDBird]

Thank you for all the tips and suggestions about going homemade. I'll be looking more at it this weekend. I few like I always look for a strong return policy too, unless of course I already knew I was buying junk lol. I found a few more hatched this morning. Seems like most are staying near the lamp and not the plate. I got nervous when they were chirping a lot with just the plate so I added the lamp. I am up to 10 hatched now

 

[FloorCandy]

Thank you for all the tips and suggestions about going homemade. I'll be looking more at it this weekend. I few like I always look for a strong return policy too, unless of course I already knew I was buying junk lol. I found a few more hatched this morning. Seems like most are staying near the lamp and not the plate. I got nervous when they were chirping a lot with just the plate so I added the lamp. I am up to 10 hatched now

Congrats! They are so cute!

 

[StAugustineSeramas]

Thank you for all the tips and suggestions about going homemade. I'll be looking more at it this weekend. I few like I always look for a strong return policy too, unless of course I already knew I was buying junk lol. I found a few more hatched this morning. Seems like most are staying near the lamp and not the plate. I got nervous when they were chirping a lot with just the plate so I added the lamp. I am up to 10 hatched now

Very cute! What breed are those? I mainly raise Serama. But, I have some Turken also

 

[MDBird]

Very cute! What breed are those? I mainly raise Serama. But, I have some Turken also

They are Coturnix Quail, some are Pharaoh and the others I'm not too sure about because the birds were all mixed colors. They are cuter then I expected, my first quail were all at least 4 weeks old. It's interesting how when you are raising meat and do the processing you are there for the first and last day. I'm not sure yet if that is going to bother me.

 

[StAugustineSeramas]

They are Coturnix Quail, some are Pharaoh and the others I'm not too sure about because the birds were all mixed colors. They are cuter then I expected, my first quail were all at least 4 weeks old. It's interesting how when you are raising meat and do the processing you are there for the first and last day. I'm not sure yet if that is going to bother me.

I can’t do it, I get attached. I can consume the eggs because I have ate eggs all my life. I just can’t bring myself to “clean” a bird for consumption. I can’t do fish either, . All my birds have names and they come to me when I call them just to sit in my lap no treats required....

 

[FloorCandy]

They are Coturnix Quail, some are Pharaoh and the others I'm not too sure about because the birds were all mixed colors. They are cuter then I expected, my first quail were all at least 4 weeks old. It's interesting how when you are raising meat and do the processing you are there for the first and last day. I'm not sure yet if that is going to bother me.

I try to approach the whole thing like they will all be culled so I’m not heartbroken and keeping a bunch of males around. I find it isn’t too bad as long as you don’t look at the head in the bucket. For some reason the eyes bother me more than even removing the guts. I also remind myself that they had a great life compared to the chicken we normally buy and eat, and they only had one bad day. Commercial poultry have a short life of all bad days, and then one really bad one. I usually take them out of the pen before my husband gets home, so we are ready and not chasing birds all night. I put them in a brooder usually, and I give them some high value treats (earthworms, seeds, bugs etc), as well as food and water. We have everything ready, we take them out, And then it’s over in seconds.

 

[FloorCandy]

I’ve got pips all over the place in the last hour! Day 17 is right on point.

 

[MDBird]

I’ve got pips all over the place in the last hour! Day 17 is right on point.

Congratulations on the Pips! I'm up to 9 chicks. Unfortunately it looks like two didn't make it out of their shells. I have had the humidity pretty much at 60 so I'm not sure what happened or if they just weren't meant to make it. I'm hoping to have some more hatch, I still have about a dozen left.

 

[FloorCandy]

Congratulations on the Pips! I'm up to 9 chicks. Unfortunately it looks like two didn't make it out of their shells. I have had the humidity pretty much at 60 so I'm not sure what happened or if they just weren't meant to make it. I'm hoping to have some more hatch, I still have about a dozen left.

That one was mal positioned. It could be that one of the chicks who hatched banged it and the chick got moved around, or maybe it just didn’t turn all the way. I have been playing with lockdown times and also I made tracks out of shelf liner for them to lay in. I used the tracks 2 times ago, not last time tho, and I’m using them this time. Last time I had 100% hatch with no help so the tracks wouldn’t have mattered lol.