INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

How fun! I've always wanted to try hanging a swing to see how they'd interact with it.

I see you have the light-weigh netting on the set. Is that for a daytime hangout? (I was wondering because that is not good for night time to lock them away from predators.)

I also used a swingset for a temporary outdoor pen when I was quarantining some new birds a couple years ago, then they'd go inside a predator proof enclosure for the night. I had some extra dog kennel panels that I leaned up against the sides then used the plastic netting on the ends. LOVE swingsets for that use! Here's what mine looked like:

 

[flyladyrocks]

Testing your chicken science knowledge! Could use your help. Want to explain this to my class of 6-12 year olds tomorrow!

Watched this cool video:

The text of this video can be found all over the internet, but with little explanation. Day 15 says: "Gut draws into abdomen"

So- does the chicks gut develop outside the abdomen and draw in through the umbilicus?

Seriously cannot find an explanation if what this means except in a highly technical vetrinary article full of words and concepts way to advanced for me or my kids in class!

Looking for a SIMPLE explanation! @Faraday40 maybe you can help- or anyone else?

 

[Nyla]

Testing your chicken science knowledge! Could use your help. Want to explain this to my class of 6-12 year olds tomorrow!

Watched this cool video:

The text of this video can be found all over the internet, but with little explanation. Day 15 says: "Gut draws into abdomen"

So- does the chicks gut develop outside the abdomen and draw in through the umbilicus?

Seriously cannot find an explanation if what this means except in a highly technical vetrinary article full of words and concepts way to advanced for me or my kids in class!

Looking for a SIMPLE explanation! @Faraday40 maybe you can help- or anyone else?

 

[redchicken25]

And here is my 1st hatch of the year! So far, 1 lavender orp, 1 black split to lavender orp and 1 partridge silkie hatched. You can see another silkie egg in the pic that's mostly zipped. Should be out soon, at least one more LO egg has externally popped. Fingers crossed!

Beautiful chicks! I have just started looking for lavender orphintons, do you happen to know anyone or any place that sells them?

 

[redchicken25]

How fun! I've always wanted to try hanging a swing to see how they'd interact with it. I see you have the light-weigh netting on the set. Is that for a daytime hangout? (I was wondering because that is not good for night time to lock them away from predators.) I also used a swingset for a temporary outdoor pen when I was quarantining some new birds a couple years ago, then they'd go inside a predator proof enclosure for the night. I had some extra dog kennel panels that I leaned up against the sides then used the plastic netting on the ends. LOVE swingsets for that use! Here's what mine looked like:

I have a coop at the one end with a door that swings shut I do have them in the yard with my livestock dog also. So they are extra protected

 

[Delawaremommy]

does anyone know what hatchery TSC uses for their chicks? Are all commercial hatcheries NPIP?

 

[hbrown322]

Oh man, I love it!!!! There are so many great chicken shirts out there!!
I'm so sorry you're dealing with a crazy neighbor, but I'm glad the police officer is on your side!

I NEED this shirt!! No I need to paint this on the side of my house! https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Chicken-Farmers-T-shirt-Medium/dp/B01N0JDXUP/ref=sr_1_77?ie=UTF8&qid=1491360592&sr=8-77&keywords=chicken+t-shirt 

@hbrown322
 here's another shirt for you to work on!

 

[Faraday40]

Testing your chicken science knowledge! Could use your help. Want to explain this to my class of 6-12 year olds tomorrow!

Watched this cool video:

The text of this video can be found all over the internet, but with little explanation. Day 15 says: "Gut draws into abdomen"

So- does the chicks gut develop outside the abdomen and draw in through the umbilicus?

Seriously cannot find an explanation if what this means except in a highly technical vetrinary article full of words and concepts way to advanced for me or my kids in class!

Looking for a SIMPLE explanation! @Faraday40 maybe you can help- or anyone else?

Yes, I believe that is the simple way to explain it. Also the yolk - which is their food - goes in, so the chicks are born with a full, happy tummy. That's why you don't have to worry about them eating for a day or two after hatching & also why day old chicks can be shipped. Kids always find that part cool.


BTW- I use the same video because it's short enough for all ages, looks realistic, & not gross like the ones that use real embryos.

 

[flyladyrocks]

does anyone know what hatchery TSC uses for their chicks? Are all commercial hatcheries NPIP?

 

[racinchickins]

Quote:
It is an Incuview. I do get pretty good results. Usually I incubate in a different bator and just hatch in the Incuview. But two of my hatches so far this year were in the Incuview the whole time. 100% on both of those! (I did assist with two on the second hatch.)
I'm glad to see someone else using these. I have two Incuviews that I hatch in and I am very happy with them. I use my cabinet incubator until lockdown then they go in the Incuview. I love how visible the hatching is and they stay very stable during the hatching process. When you have to assist hatching is it because the chicks get stuck? When I first got the Incuview, I put in extra water and sponges to up the humidity like I had to do in previous incubators, but I found that it made for too much humidity and sticky babies on hatching. Now I just fill the water channels underneath and let it go, it seems to work much better.
This year I've been doing things a little different than last year. Last year, my homemade cabinet bator was in my garage, and it worked fine until we had some really humid weather, and I couldn't reduce the RH in the bator. I found with the eggs from that period, there would be a lot of excess goo when the chicks pipped, and they would drown as soon as their zip line reached the goo. It was heartbreaking. Hatching them upright in cartons helped, but not completely. What helped was drilling more vents in the cabinet, and the eggs after that fared better. Well, and dry weather came.

This year I moved the cabinet to the basement, and I ran it at low humidity, only adding a little water if it dipped down into the teens, pretty much keeping it in the 20s, sometimes up in the 30s. Both years I did the hatching in the Incuview the same way. I always use my own, tested hygrometer, because the built in one on the Incuview doesn't have numbers- just a range, and I don't trust their ranges. So I always keep the lockdown humidity between 65-70, and that has seemed to work fine. I think the difference is that running a lower humidity during incubation means the eggs don't go into lockdown already too full of liquid. I think by lockdown, it's too late to try to dry them out anymore.

As far as maintaining 65-70 in the Incuview, I do use a sponge. I don't add water to the wells in the bottom, I just squirt some onto the sponge. I keep adding more until I get the RH up in the 60s, and then it doesn't take much to keep it there. I'm sure the excess that I squirt does go down into the wells though.

When you had your sticky chicks, do you know what the actual RH was in the Incuview? If you didn't have your own hygrometer in there, and you added enough water to get the incuview's needle up into the "hatching" range, then yeah, my guess is that you would have had way too high humidity. The needle on mine always points to a lower range than what my hygrometer tells me is correct.
I don't use a hygrometer. I agree that although humidity reading in the Incuview is off, I have found it to be consistent. On one of mine, if I keep the reading on the sensor just below the recommended line, everything is good. On the other incubator, I need to keep the humidity sensor reading significantly above the recommended line. But on that one, a totally dry incubator reads just barely below the line.

I forgot to answer about the chicks I assisted. One was mal positioned and pipped the wrong end and just zipped itself a window hole. So I thought it wouldn't progress and I opened up its hole a little. But it had blood vessels, so I put it back. I'm sure I shouldn't have interfered, because that one ended up hatching all by itself.

Then there were two other ones that had similar window holes. I assisted all 3 at the same time, saw blood vessels, put them all back. These 2 never did hatch all by themselves, and I helped them out the next day. I bet if I had left them alone in the first place, they would have done better and been fine. None of them seemed too gooey, but one did have membrane dried onto its back.

I need to learn to keep my hands off them. On a later hatch, I actually killed one, and I wish I hadn't messed with it.

We've all been there. It's hard not to assist.

Quote:
I also prefer broodies, but their timing never seems to work out for me. As a first incubator, I would recommend the Incuview. It's pretty much just follow the directions and go. I really only had issues when I didn't stick to the directions. That being said, as you've noted I only use them for hatching. The clear plastic top is the reason I went with it as I love to watch them hatch. I've also never hooked up the egg turner so I can't rate that either. One thing I have done is get some rubberized sheets that is normally put in drawers to keep things from sliding. I cut it out to match the size of the incubator and put it over the plastic grid that sits over the water channels. (make sure you use the kind that has small holes and is porous) I had some initial problems with chicks slipping on the plastic and had to fix a couple with straddle leg issues. Once I added the drawer pads, no more issues.