Incubators Anonymous

[duluthralphie]

I actually have very good hatch rates believe it or not. This method is only temporary until our new sportsman gets here today. We had to sell our old Sportsman because it was about to give out so Ive had to resort to less than ideal methods of hatching for now until the new one gets here. I will post pics when I get it set up.

When I said "this will not end well for you, I was not referring to your hatch rate, I was referring to your obvious addiction and implying you would need to get more incubators...little did I know you already were..

 

[mothergoose]

duluthralphie,
My husband has been threatening to sell that third one if I am not going to use it. I have been telling him he cannot sell it because
"I Might use it!" Pathetic, aren't I?

Confessions of a true addict.
Christie

 

[duluthralphie]

duluthralphie,
My husband has been threatening to sell that third one if I am not going to use it. I have been telling him he cannot sell it because
"I Might use it!" Pathetic, aren't I?

Confessions of a true addict.
Christie

LOL LOL next you will tell us you keep a bottle of whiskey hid in the closet, just in case and a cartoon of cigarettes right next to the secret stash of heroin under the bed.

 

[mothergoose]

Heck No, I have 6 kids I can't afford those addictions...we can only afford the kind you can eat. See, there is justification.( another sign of an addict!)

 

[OneMountainAcres]

MY spousal unit asked the question we all dread hearing and know all spouses want to ask..


"When do you think you will have enough birds"   Followed by  " when are you going to stop hatching?"



I am like Aurora Brooding space is the problem, I keep making more.  Then, of course, there is the expense. I went through 2 bags of feed yesterday!  (50# bags)....
they are going to eat me out of house and home...

I have a bit of an opposite problem here. I told hubby the other day that I want song anymore eggs until I for some of these babies sold since I'm running out of brooder space. At first he said, yeah, that's a good idea. But then he was like, BUT if you get a lot of customers, you need to have them available lol. I don't think he cares either way lol. Last year he would've been like, ok, enough is enough.

He was compatibility about the feed bill though. It's not as high as yours. It takes us 3-4 days to go through 50 lbs of feed.

So if I understand this right you have a free sportsman you need to give away to help control your addiction and Aurora or I have to race to your house to get it before the temptation overcomes you,,,,DId I get that correct?

I get a head start since I'm farther away! At least I think I am lol

 

[BillJ]

So far, there have been no complaints about my rooster crowing competition we have every afternoon.

I need to muzzle them somehow.

I've considered melatonin to calm down roo's but haven't tried it yet. Suppresses testosterone.

 

[BillJ]

I just had #11 hatch had to move 8 dry fuzzie ones to brooder found a flaw in my DIY bator the ones that are moving around were stretching to try and peck the fan no one got it but were coming close so I had to add a guard. We are popping out on a regular basis!!!! 9 eggs left 4 are piped go turkeys!!!

I saw in an earlier post - using an Ardurio? I'm toying with making a hatcher. For brooding the young chicks I put a heating pad under a plastic box. All the heating pads now shut off after an hour so I drive the heating pad with a typical solid state relay and have that drive interrupted and restarted every 58 minutes. Couldn't hack the reduced instruction set heating pad control.

 

[BillJ]

I started hatching eggs back in 2010. Didn't think it would be difficult. A slap-dash approach didn't work well with one chick sticking to its shell. Hand rotated eggs. Guessed humidity.

Next I built a better incubator and did two hatches in 2011. Typical inexpensive plastic bin 20"x14", insides and bottom having half inch foam home wall insulation and insulated top having a two pane viewing window, inside divided into 2/3rds for an egg shifter and 1/3 for electronics, warming 60 watt bulb, fan, divider between the hatching area and the back third, Circuitry keeps the temperature fairly stable. Cup of distilled water in incubator section for first 18 days then a pan of water for the last 5, pan of water having on top a wire mesh for the eggs to sit those last days.

Six egg shifter rocks every 2½ hours for the first 9 days then every 5 hours for the next 9. Has alarms for: a) failure to shift eggs, b) take data notification beep if wanted.

I'm presently wondering about humidity. To get a more even temperature distribution among the eggs, which I shift daily, I'm going to increase the fan rate. But, I'm worried that I might dry out the eggs with the increased air movement.

I have an IC (LM34) at the air intake before the warming lamp which dictates the lamp off/on and feeds a digital temperature reading on the external electronics enclosure. I also use Springfield Precisetemp temperature/humidity meters, of which I have a few (they seem to read temperature a bit high). Their humidity sensors seem to go bad easily. I have one where I removed the temperature sensor and humidity sensor and put those in the incubator on 28 AWG single strand wires twisted. The humidity sensor failed again and I've just ordered a replacement from Digikey. The meters are no longer available and I pretty much like them so I will keep repairing.

As I mentioned I hatched eggs in 2010 and 2011, mostly BFCM and some RIR. In 2013 I bought 4 RIR hens from TSC. All four turned out hens thankfully but only laid eggs for about 2 years. Meanwhile two of the BFCMs were still laying as the RIRs egg rate fell to a very few. Understandable, a store would want to sell chicks as often as possible. Last year one of my feed stores had sex-linked chicks all the same color so I mistakenly assumed they were all hens, but no, it was a straight run and wasn't told. I bought 2 but they turned out to be cockerels as did 3 more I bought from another source. Bought 5 chicks and all cockerels. I have only one hen laying now, a BFCM, older than any of the RIRs. She's been my absolutely most dependable hen. Old as she is, I'm going to try hatching her eggs. The old man roo, one of the original BFCM,s tends the hens well but I'm putting the one hen in with a young sex-linked roo - that one keeps trying to screw my foot. It's a gamble. The laying BFCM hen showed a white feather late last year.

I've tried candling without success as the BFCM eggs are so dark.

I live alone and keep my eggs. When I was getting too many I'd take 3, put them in a Handy Chopper, osterize them well and pour into cleaned Boost Supplement jugs, date and freeze. I started consuming them last winter and ran out earlier this year.

Right now I'm debugging my incubator and egg shifter electronics - they got knocked around a little these last few years. I'll start eggs in a week or 10 days.

BillJ

 

[BertandMary]

We've got FBCMs in the bator now. Using a Tac light with over 200 lumens we were able to see veining at 4 days. It is a 20 some odd dollar light. They are a pain to see in though and some eggs we still couldn't make much out in.

 

[BillJ]

Yes. And back then when I tried I had only used a flashlight. Might try a 100 watt bulb in a coffee can this time.