INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

@Mother2Hens I'm so sorry for your loss. It's not easy to lose a pet let alone 3 in such a short time.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, no, not Screech! I am so sorry, M2H, she was such a cutie!

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thank you everyone for the condolences re Screech! I am crushed.

However, it's been so helpful to have a project to focus on—my new Bantam Birchen Cochin named Lacy from @chick rookie . I fell in love with Lacy immediately — she is so sweet. She eats daintily like Bonbon. lol She especially loved sunflower kernels and breaks them into smaller pieces to eat them. I had to cut up grapes smaller than I usually do, and I don't think she's used to pellet food (she's used to better grade feed mill food!) I had to break up the pellets into crumbles.

Originally Posted by kittydoc
@ellymayRans caught my error — I corrected the birth year which was 2014! I don't think egg binding is the issue because I found an egg she laid the day before that DH hadn't collected. I saved it in case it helps and I also have some of her poop. I'm supposed to call vet back after 2:00pm today to find out if he will do a necropsy. I'm guessing he will.

Yes! I saw your Oliver! He is SO handsome! @chick rookie has a lot of gorgeous chickens and other animals. I could go on and on! I wanted to steal one of her darker colored EEs that had double laced feathers with a similar look of a silver barnevelder. She had a part BR and part (forgot) roo that had random colored feathers mixed in with black and white barred feathers. Michelle has pens with a variety of chickens, dogs, goats, and horses. It would make a great petting zoo if it weren't for biosecurity concerns. (I washed/sanitized my boots and when I returned home, I showered, washed my hair, etc.)

QUESTION
Since I have my new Lacy in quarantine inside, would it be okay if I took her outside for a little bit to a neighbor's yard where my chickens haven't been? I know that I am the only one in our subdivision that's ever had chickens. It's sunny today and almost 50 degrees.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Here's short video of my new Lacy from @chick rookie
Bantam Birchin Cochin Hen

 

[ellymayRans]

@Mother2Hens

Tears in my eyes as I read about Screech.  It's really hard to lose a pet and especially one that was special to you.

You'll have to let us know if she was really 12 yo as I'm guessing that was a typing error.   

I know she corrected it but she hatched her from my cochins so i knew she was only a few years old.

 

[wheezy50]

I think there are a few here who have built and use "coolerbators" so I'll as this question here....

If I build one coolerbator and have my Styrofoam incubator as well, would you use the cooler to incubate and the Styrofoam to hatch or Styrofoam to incubate and cooler to hatch? I feel like my Styrofoam does fine for the incubation process but when it comes to lock down I have a hard time keeping the humidity up high enough (shooting for 70%). I don't think my auto turner will fit into the cooler so it would be nice to keep incubating the eggs in the Styrofoam and switch them to cooler to hatch. my humidity typically runs around 25-30% for the first 18 days naturally, I don't add water/sponges until lockdown. Do I need my humidity higher during the first 18 days?

I just got done with a hatch, started with 18 silkie eggs and 8 LF barnyard mixes. The lady I got the silkie eggs from had a problem with fertility, she's already offered more eggs, and only 5 of the 18 were fertile at lockdown. Most of the barnyard mixes were fertile and growing at lockdown but a couple had dark shells that I couldn't see through. 6 of 8 mixes hatched, 2 seemed to get somewhat shrink wrapped and I had to help a little with tweezers and wet paper towel. Only 2 of the 5 silkies hatched. When I broke the others open they were fully formed and appeared to be shrink wrapped inside the shell. I have to assume this happened during lockdown since they were fully developed. This all makes me think that the first 18 days is going ok for the eggs and then I have problems during lockdown. I understand that the Styrofoam incubators are tough to use but I feel like the temp and humidity stay constant until hatching starts.

In your opinion, is a Styrofoam decent enough to incubate for the first 18 days and then switch to cooler for lockdown?

Thanks!

 

[ellymayRans]

I think there are a few here who have built and use "coolerbators" so I'll as this question here....

If I build one coolerbator and have my Styrofoam incubator as well, would you use the cooler to incubate and the Styrofoam to hatch or Styrofoam to incubate and cooler to hatch?  I feel like my Styrofoam does fine for the incubation process but when it comes to lock down I have a hard time keeping the humidity up high enough (shooting for 70%).  I don't think my auto turner will fit into the cooler so it would be nice to keep incubating the eggs in the Styrofoam and switch them to cooler to hatch.  my humidity typically runs around 25-30% for the first 18 days naturally, I don't add water/sponges until lockdown.  Do I need my humidity higher during the first 18 days? 

I just got done with a hatch, started with 18 silkie eggs and 8 LF barnyard mixes.  The lady I got the silkie eggs from had a problem with fertility, she's already offered more eggs, and only 5 of the 18 were fertile at lockdown.  Most of the barnyard mixes were fertile and growing at lockdown but a couple had dark shells that I couldn't see through.   6 of 8 mixes hatched, 2 seemed to get somewhat shrink wrapped and I had to help a little with tweezers and wet paper towel.  Only 2 of the 5 silkies hatched.  When I broke the others open they were fully formed and appeared to be shrink wrapped inside the shell.  I have to assume this happened during lockdown since they were fully developed.  This all makes me think that the first 18 days is going ok for the eggs and then I have problems during lockdown.  I understand that the Styrofoam incubators are tough to use but I feel like the temp and humidity stay constant until hatching starts.

In your opinion, is a Styrofoam decent enough to incubate for the first 18 days and then switch to cooler for lockdown?

Thanks!

Personally I have found using the coolerbator for both is best. My auto turner doesn't fit either but the cooler holds temps and humidity so well that i just use an egg carton or two ..etc... (styrofoam ) cut the bottoms out and prop/tilt and just rotating at min 3x's a day sometimes 5, but always an odd #. The styro bator i would use as a hatcher and I have with staggered hatches..you may think they are being shrink wrapped but in actuality they are drowning. My experience with the styrofoam incubator has been even when doing a dry hatch they just don't lose enough weight/moisture.

My 2 cents.

 

[Faraday40]

I think there are a few here who have built and use "coolerbators" so I'll as this question here....

If I build one coolerbator and have my Styrofoam incubator as well, would you use the cooler to incubate and the Styrofoam to hatch or Styrofoam to incubate and cooler to hatch? I feel like my Styrofoam does fine for the incubation process but when it comes to lock down I have a hard time keeping the humidity up high enough (shooting for 70%). I don't think my auto turner will fit into the cooler so it would be nice to keep incubating the eggs in the Styrofoam and switch them to cooler to hatch. my humidity typically runs around 25-30% for the first 18 days naturally, I don't add water/sponges until lockdown. Do I need my humidity higher during the first 18 days?

I just got done with a hatch, started with 18 silkie eggs and 8 LF barnyard mixes. The lady I got the silkie eggs from had a problem with fertility, she's already offered more eggs, and only 5 of the 18 were fertile at lockdown. Most of the barnyard mixes were fertile and growing at lockdown but a couple had dark shells that I couldn't see through. 6 of 8 mixes hatched, 2 seemed to get somewhat shrink wrapped and I had to help a little with tweezers and wet paper towel. Only 2 of the 5 silkies hatched. When I broke the others open they were fully formed and appeared to be shrink wrapped inside the shell. I have to assume this happened during lockdown since they were fully developed. This all makes me think that the first 18 days is going ok for the eggs and then I have problems during lockdown. I understand that the Styrofoam incubators are tough to use but I feel like the temp and humidity stay constant until hatching starts.

In your opinion, is a Styrofoam decent enough to incubate for the first 18 days and then switch to cooler for lockdown?

Thanks!

You could do it either way.

For me, the Coolerbator keeps better temps & humidity. Very stable! It's also easier to clean out thoroughly. I had very good results using it for all 21 days. The biggest downside is that my auto egg turner doesn't fit! Because of this, last year I added a computer fan to an old stryrofoam Hovabator incubator (20-30% humidity) and used my cooler as a hatcher (60-70% humidity). My coolerbator has a giant viewing window, so we get to make eye contact as soon as chicks hatch.

Here's DD watching the egg channel on our Cooler-bator TV.

Last year's experiment was to compare hatch rates of a broody vs. an incubator. Her results were inconclusive because the broody changed her mind for one trial (0%), they tied for another trial, and in the last trial, the bantam eggs did not do well in the incubator but all hatched perfectly under the broody.

 

[wheezy50]

You could do it either way. For me, the Coolerbator keeps better temps & humidity. Very stable! It's also easier to clean out thoroughly. I had very good results using it for all 21 days. The biggest downside is that my auto egg turner doesn't fit! Because of this, last year I added a computer fan to an old stryrofoam Hovabator incubator (20-30% humidity) and used my cooler as a hatcher (60-70% humidity). My coolerbator has a giant viewing window, so we get to make eye contact as soon as chicks hatch. Here's DD watching the egg channel on our Cooler-bator TV. Last year's experiment was to compare hatch rates of a broody vs. an incubator. Her results were inconclusive because the broody changed her mind for one trial (0%), they tied for another trial, and in the last trial, the bantam eggs did not do well in the incubator but all hatched perfectly under the broody.

Do you by chance have a picture of how you setup the computer fan in the styrofoam incubator? That was another thought/plan I had. Maybe add a fan to my Styrofoam bator, I'm starting to figure out that it definitely has hot spots as well.

 

[amwchickin]

@Mother2Hens - so sorry about the loss! She looked like a sweetie! Hopefully your new addition (so cute!) will bring you some joy.