Good trouble-shooting ideas & awesome incubator.
I was afraid of that too and then didn't feel so frantically rushed to perfect everything right away as I was researching and read Emu eggs are viable for a good 45 days!! Maybe 92 but that was my mind BLOWN!Those are QT jars!! Wow that's a big incubator! I thought they were baby food jars - which don't always seal well when reused. You'll have to take a pic of the giant eggs next to a ruler It's a tough call you'll have to make There's a possible risk with the odor but the chance of success goes down as the eggs age. I've only hatched chickens. To bad you can't slip them under her:
If anyone is interested, I called Orscheln (in Greenfield and Shelbyville) and Rural King (in Shelbyville) today. I may have mixed up which ones are which hatchery, but I bleive it was Orsheln is coming from Estes Hatchery in MO http://www.esteshatchery.com/ and Rural King is Townline Hatchery in MI http://townlinehatchery.com/
I called TS here by my in Indy yesterday and they don't know yet. I swore I wasn't going to get any hatchery this year but we really want Easter Eggers and I want them sexed. Agrian is where I got my birds last year and they use Meyer Hatchery in OH https://www.meyerhatchery.com/. Since I am happy with their birds that may be the route I go. Agrarian tends to be a little higher in prince than RK or TC so I'd be excited if TC uses them!
I had one flock from Mt Healthy, they are 2 years old now (my BA girls). I won't buy there again due to the repeated salmonella issues they have, but I can say the girls I got from them as chicks were very healthy, thriving and all lived to adulthood.
Can the vents be removed and reattached, we have to do it here too. We get them in our buildings on occasion. I net em with a big minnow net and out they go. I have used a coffee can and a piece or cardboard too if they are hanging! Nasty lil buggers, will show their teeth in a heartbeat! I really value them for the insect control, but be aware they are a moderate rabies risk for our state. Last i knew they are protected.
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I would love to get a pic of a silkie brooding an emu egg
Its more common to see this is the crested breeds, my white silkie hen had an issue with some of the other birds, as did my GL polish hen. Its worse with the silkies if they have a vaulted skull too, puts them at great risk. I started to trim crests and it seem to help. Not as attractive tho.I'm still going back and forth to Louisville while my sister recovers from surgery. While snowed-in there, I worried about my hens. My DH works hard to take care of them while I'm away. Before I got home yesterday, he noticed that my Splash Silkie, Ditzy, had been pecked in the back of the head. The same thing happened to my other Silkie, Smalty, two months ago --only she was pecked in the front of the head-- by my two gigantic Orpingtons who didn't want her snuggling up next to them on the perch. So I am guessing that Ditzy was cold and wanted to snuggle up next to the big, fluffy Orps. Unfortunately, the Silkies don't like to snuggle with each other. Because of Ditzy's injury and the frigid temps, I am housing the two Silkies in a spare bedroom. It's too cold for two Silkies with bald heads! I put a tiny bit of Rooster Booster Pick No More on Ditzy's head, so the photo of her wound looks even worse. It's too bad that their feathers won't grow back until their first molt.
This is how they looked at 6 months. So healthy and fluffy. I hope that @bradselig (who gave me the babies a year ago this month) doesn't report me to the authorities! The problem with Silkies is that they don't realize that they are Silkies. They think they're just like the Big Barnyard Girls!
I've hatched all my eggs upright and have very good hatch rates. I use egg cartons with holes cut in the bottom of each cup for air circulation. One bonus is that when one chick hatches, it doesn't roll all the other eggs around as it lurches around the incubator. The chicks like to sleep in the empty cups too.I have put off setting my Emu eggs because of my incubator construction.
Well it's complete but I'm in desperate need of someone providing any feedback or advice!! Please! My goal is to have them set by Friday morning the absolute latest!
Pics provided. I know @birdman55 has built one or several. Not sure who else.
1st and most important at this time is the smell! I have checked over and over that it isn't something melting and it was there the moment I turned the lights and fans on. It surprises me how strong the smell is and makes me concerned that it will cause issues with the development of the embryos.
I know plenty of these coolerbators hatch chick's. Is it the cooler I got or is it truly Normal.
Temps are stable.
In the meantime I candle the shipped eggs. They are day 14 tomorrow and of the 15 NN shipped I have 12 alive and well. I do have 3 of those with funky air cells. They dip pretty far down on one side. I am going to turn the turner off at day 16 and hatch upright which I've never done before. 2 of the 8 set silkie eggs are still alive too which were pullet eggs.
Now one of those girls decided to sit so I stuck about 8 more silkie eggs under her!Lol!
I had major problems with polish. The other chickens loved to de-crest them. I ended up re-homing them to places where they could avoid that. I hope your silkies heal up quickly.I'm still going back and forth to Louisville while my sister recovers from surgery. While snowed-in there, I worried about my hens. My DH works hard to take care of them while I'm away. Before I got home yesterday, he noticed that my Splash Silkie, Ditzy, had been pecked in the back of the head. The same thing happened to my other Silkie, Smalty, two months ago --only she was pecked in the front of the head-- by my two gigantic Orpingtons who didn't want her snuggling up next to them on the perch. So I am guessing that Ditzy was cold and wanted to snuggle up next to the big, fluffy Orps. Unfortunately, the Silkies don't like to snuggle with each other. Because of Ditzy's injury and the frigid temps, I am housing the two Silkies in a spare bedroom. It's too cold for two Silkies with bald heads! I put a tiny bit of Rooster Booster Pick No More on Ditzy's head, so the photo of her wound looks even worse. It's too bad that their feathers won't grow back until their first molt.
This is how they looked at 6 months. So healthy and fluffy. I hope that @bradselig (who gave me the babies a year ago this month) doesn't report me to the authorities! The problem with Silkies is that they don't realize that they are Silkies. They think they're just like the Big Barnyard Girls!
