Incubators Anonymous

[kfelton0002]

Lawn mower good, Snow bad!

I like the fingernail polish on the head, I am going to do that.  I have been trying bands on the legs and they fall off all the time, I end up with 20 chicks that look alike with 7 bands of different colors on the floor.

I have larger brooders, in the house I have  18'36, 24'x36" and 3'x5'.  In the shed I have 4- 6'x6 brooders, 2-3'x8  and 5 stock tanks of various sizes.   My wife thinks I have too many brooders, chicks and incubators.

I will get some fingernail polish.

You can get the small zip ties of different colors extremely cheap on ebay. You get like 100 per pack and they are very handy to mark chickens from newborns to adult size. On the newborns you do have to make sure you put them on tight enough so they dont slip out of them and change them as they outgrow them. We use a toe puncher to permantly mark chicks but the zip ties work good temporarily. We also wing band our breeders.

 

[Jessimom]

Good morning all.

We are currently at 29 chicks out of 37 (I think) locked down, and they are still hatching! We're only on day 21 (with a couple on day 19). These were ALL shipped eggs. @Jerryse (EE's) and @Kahlua (Frizzled EE's) shipped their eggs perfectly! I only lost 1 from each during incubation.

I had some silkie eggs I got from ebay that got totally beat up by the post office. They sent me replacements that seemed to come through ok. I set the first beat up eggs that weren't cracked at the same time as the BYC eggs, then I set the replacement silkies 2 days later. Most of the clears I pulled before lock down were silkies. Most of the eggs still waiting to hatch, are the silkies. So, I'm leaving everything for at least 2 more days! I'll have a final count for the EE and Frizzled EEs at that time!\

I only made a few changes to my lock down incubator and I went from hatching NOTHING to hatching at an 81% or higher hatch rate. I was calling it the Death Bator now I need to change it to what???? I need a new name! Any suggestions?

 

[feedman77]

Good morning all.  

We are currently at 29 chicks out of 37 (I think) locked down, and they are still hatching!  We're only on day 21 (with a couple on day 19).   These were ALL shipped eggs.   @Jerryse (EE's) and @Kahlua (Frizzled EE's) shipped their eggs perfectly!  I only lost 1 from each during incubation.  

I had some silkie eggs I got from ebay that got totally beat up by the post office.  They sent me replacements that seemed to come through ok.  I set the first beat up eggs that weren't cracked at the same time as the BYC eggs, then I set the replacement silkies 2 days later.  Most of the clears I pulled before lock down were silkies.    Most of the eggs still waiting to hatch, are the silkies.  So, I'm leaving everything for at least 2 more days!  I'll have a final count for the EE and Frizzled EEs at that time!\

I only made a few changes to my lock down incubator and I went from hatching NOTHING to hatching at an 81% or higher hatch rate.  I was calling it the Death Bator now I need to change it to what????  I need a new name!  Any suggestions?

Awesome.

Congrats on a great hatch.

 

[duluthralphie]

You can get the small zip ties of different colors extremely cheap on ebay. You get like 100 per pack and they are very handy to mark chickens from newborns to adult size. On the newborns you do have to make sure you put them on tight enough so they dont slip out of them and change them as they outgrow them. We use a toe puncher to permantly mark chicks but the zip ties work good temporarily. We also wing band our breeders.

'
I tried the zip ties. They did not work so well. I had chicks with no bands and bands all over the floor of the pen.

I put finger nail polish on today.

 

[feedman77]

'
I tried the zip ties. They did not work so well.   I had chicks with no bands and bands all over the floor of the pen.

I put finger nail polish on today.

Hope it doesn't create any gender identity issues.

Let us know if you notice any.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hope it doesn't create any gender identity issues.

Let us know if you notice any.

I painted my Doms Twice! Wanted to make sure they did not get sold. But I did see one "girl" using the boys bathroom..

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Look what i found on my local yard sale site today for $75! The pictures don't do it justice. The lady stained and lacquered it. I see some outdoor brooder space, small breeding pen, integration pen, broody hut.... ect..... lol

 

[javim]

Hi, Im Javi and I am a hatchaholic. I have 16 eggs from a friends flock in lockdown. Two hatched today on day 19. I have 16 more eggs due to hatch next week. I had an incuator and then decided to upgrade to the Farm Innovators and then added a Little giant to be a hatcher. I now need to start setting more eggs up for incubation and get some more eggs from my friend. And of course I am buying chicks of breeds I dont have. I will be waking up through the nites to check on any possible new babies and see if more are pipping.
On a side note. I place the eggs in lock down on day 19. It seems that I have chicks starting to hatch on day 19 with every clutch. Should I change lock down to day 18?

 

[javim]

Woke up in the middle of the night to 4 more early hatchers. That is six babies for on day 19. All seem to be well. I dip their beaks every so often till they get the hang of it. I just put the food in there and they started pecking at it.

 

[kfelton0002]

Woke up in the middle of the night to 4 more early hatchers. That is six babies for on day 19. All seem to be well. I dip their  beaks every so often till they get the hang of  it. I just put the food in there and they started pecking at it.

Sounds like your temp may be too high if you are having chicks hatch on day 19 consistently. Get some good calibrated thermometers and check your temp. I had to lower the temp on my genesis because the digital temp display was not accurate. But yes, I would lockdown on day 18. Its not really going to hurt the chicks to hatch early but they can be born with bloody open navals and they can also be born with partially absorbed yolks. Keep a check on your temp. Congrats on your babies.