Incubators Anonymous

[DMRippy]

Quote:
if you want to homebrew something like brinsea's, you could go with the flexwatt heat tape. comes in a variety of widths and appears to be fairly safe. I was contemplating that myself here recently, one of my ceramic heat emitters died. well, it was only 10 years old.

Is it easy on electricity too? Can you get that at a local pet store in small amounts or do you have to buy 50-100 ft? What kind a thermostat do you use? WHT or something better? More info... more info... I could do that now if I can get it. Just spent $10 on bulbs. Could even take them back.... hum

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
if you want to homebrew something like brinsea's, you could go with the flexwatt heat tape. comes in a variety of widths and appears to be fairly safe. I was contemplating that myself here recently, one of my ceramic heat emitters died. well, it was only 10 years old.

Is it easy on electricity too? Can you get that at a local pet store in small amounts or do you have to buy 50-100 ft? What kind a thermostat do you use? WHT or something better? More info... more info... I could do that now if I can get it. Just spent $10 on bulbs. Could even take them back.... hum

don't know that you'd put a thermostat on it for a brooder. i haven't played with it yet, but you can buy it by the foot off ebay. it's not very expensive. I'll be buying some to do a brooder and for the incubator too if the brooder thingy works well. no idea how hot it gets, or how fast it gets there. maybe i should plan on that sooner than later... was planning on doing the incubator over the winter.

and a side note along those lines, looks like i won't be incubating any more dorking eggs for a bit. the last 7 i put in are all clear, and i think one of the girls has gone broody under the deck (aka 'the heap')... gives me a reason to sort thru hubby's packrat stash LOL

 

[CapricornFarm]

What's hatching, folks? I need to put more eggs into the bator, most of them have moved into the hatcher and I have an empty shelf....gasp! I need to go fix that right now!

OK, I put 48 eggs in, I feel much better now.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
if you want to homebrew something like brinsea's, you could go with the flexwatt heat tape. comes in a variety of widths and appears to be fairly safe. I was contemplating that myself here recently, one of my ceramic heat emitters died. well, it was only 10 years old.

Is it easy on electricity too? Can you get that at a local pet store in small amounts or do you have to buy 50-100 ft? What kind a thermostat do you use? WHT or something better? More info... more info... I could do that now if I can get it. Just spent $10 on bulbs. Could even take them back.... hum

I've burned out 2 250 red bulbs !!!! None of them close to 5000 hours--felt cheated. Ceramic emitters sound like a good investment!

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
Is it easy on electricity too? Can you get that at a local pet store in small amounts or do you have to buy 50-100 ft? What kind a thermostat do you use? WHT or something better? More info... more info... I could do that now if I can get it. Just spent $10 on bulbs. Could even take them back.... hum

I've burned out 2 250 red bulbs !!!! None of them close to 5000 hours--felt cheated. Ceramic emitters sound like a good investment!

do you need the full 250 watt rating? if you could make do with half of that, you can wire 2 in series, and 250w bulbs (in series) will put out about 125w but will last potentially longer than your birds you're hatching. and their grandchicks too probably.

bulbs run at half their given wattage have the potential to run for 20+ years. one i know of (from researching this) is claimed to have been running now for almost 100 years! the downside to series wired lights is if one goes out they both do (until the bad one is replaced), but given the advantages, I'm thinking it's worth a try. I have 2 tubs with chicks, soon to be 3 with the quail, and i'm running short on light bulbs LOL. I tried a 'night black' reptile bulb, but the chickies chose to sleep as far away as they could get. no idea why. and the regular 100w bulb they stay awake all night/day it seems...

here's a post i started about that... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=579822 with supporting references as to why i think it's a good idea. but like every idea some people have their own. that's why there's pepsi and coke.

 

[AlienChick]

Pepsi

 

[ki4got]

well i've got some

and

of the last 11 dorking eggs set, 6 were fertile, 4 have hatched and the last is pipped and starting to zip. so not counting the clear eggs, that's over 80% for this group.

i sat 7 more eggs on the 11th. ALL clear. but i did figure something out too... the big guy is lavishing all his attention on my bantams. especially the cochin and rir hens.

once i start getting some eggs from them I'll try hatching a few, see what happens with a HUGE roo vs small hen. you know, for research sake.

so far he's got (counting the zipper) 12 chicks on the ground. 7 pullets, 4 cockerels and 1 ??.

and i've seen a bunch of people looking for bantam dorkings, i wonder if i shouldn't start trying to shrink one line and stretch the other. my oegb silver duckwing girl is FAR from correct for an oegb, but she IS close to dorking body shape/conformation... so that might be an idea. but she's so tiny the big guy tries to hop on and she just sits down.

ETA: ok he's out. and a he, but i guess I can live with that. so it's 7 pullets to 5 cockerels. *knock on wood* i've been lucky so far.

 

[DMRippy]

6 FBCM have pipped last check when I left the farm! 22 I think have a shot at hatching. 6 I think are clear, but since I can't see very well.... they are in the hatcher.

 

[gryeyes]

The last hatch I had was the Easter Hatch-a-long. Then I bought a house and just didn't have time to spend incubating.

Well, I got geared up for the 3rd Annual NYD Hatch, set 77 eggs a few days late (oh well) and ......

JUST WON AN AUCTION for a dozen White crested Black Polish eggs. What the heck? Nobody outbid me???

Once I got the incubators set up with the 77 eggs in 'em, the addiction kicked right back in again. Luckily, I have more incubators so I can start these new WCB Polish eggs as soon as they arrive.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
I've burned out 2 250 red bulbs !!!! None of them close to 5000 hours--felt cheated. Ceramic emitters sound like a good investment!

do you need the full 250 watt rating? if you could make do with half of that, you can wire 2 in series, and 250w bulbs (in series) will put out about 125w but will last potentially longer than your birds you're hatching. and their grandchicks too probably.

bulbs run at half their given wattage have the potential to run for 20+ years. one i know of (from researching this) is claimed to have been running now for almost 100 years! the downside to series wired lights is if one goes out they both do (until the bad one is replaced), but given the advantages, I'm thinking it's worth a try. I have 2 tubs with chicks, soon to be 3 with the quail, and i'm running short on light bulbs LOL. I tried a 'night black' reptile bulb, but the chickies chose to sleep as far away as they could get. no idea why. and the regular 100w bulb they stay awake all night/day it seems...

here's a post i started about that... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=579822 with supporting references as to why i think it's a good idea. but like every idea some people have their own. that's why there's pepsi and coke.

Very intersting. WIll definitely think it over. THe 250's are reserved for outside coop heating. When I move young ones outside when it is much colder than in my house, like late winter and late fall. During the summer --very easy, no heat needed.

Planning to move the remaining 50 chicks to the basement for the winter, and as I don't have a boiler, it gets very cold there, so I wanted a reliable heat source they could use.

I had a slew of chicks hatch this last week. I go check one to see how one is progressing and TWO are waiting for delivery to the brooder. THe next day I check and another is all fluffed up and ready to go. Just when I thought the remaining eggs where finished--will wait til the weekend to clean it out for the winter.

Winter is setting in with a vengence and the 20 degree nights freezes their waters solid. (the outside birds)