Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Farmerboy16]

Question... I just picked up an incubator from my parents house. Dad bought it a few years ago at a yard sale. It is one of those little giant foam ones. This is my first time incubating... Wondered if/where I would add water to it. I have it plugged in now checking the therm. to be sure it holds temp correctly... Any help is appreciated. 

I don't add water in my incubators until 3 days before the chicks are due to hatch. It prevent chicks from drowning in the eggs.

 

[1muttsfan]

If the humidity is very low in your house, you may need to add water for the entire incubation.

 

[RaZ]

My chickens think it is Oester. They are hiding eggs and making me search for them.
Except for the BSL who exploded feathers in a serious moult. Moulting now when it has turned cold? Silly bird is half naked yet spent all day outside.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I did a dry hatch, added water at the end with good results.

I have all kinds of medicine dosing charts, and a run down of my hatch in the siggy link. Idk offhand about the ivermectin dosing, i haven't been able to use the good stuff yet but have read many good accounts of others using it, very good stuff! I hear it lasts a very long time too so it is worth the expense if you can save for it. I am unsure if the accounts were the pour-on type, or if they used the "injectable" type as a drop/ or oral dose??? I will look it up tomorrow after work, clear up the mystery unless someone else knows? I think it was wynette who suggested the "ivomec" version.

I used a LG too, you really have to watch the room temperature! I ended up doing an "egg carton hatch" and tipped the bator side to side to "turn" the eggs. Worked great, kept the temp and humidity nearly rock steady! Details are in the link, as well as how to check and adjust your thermometer and hydrogemeter, and a link to the LG thread, where there are tons of tips and tricks to sift through

 

[tjbeckman]

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I did end up getting one of those cast iron loop style stock tank de-icers to use with my chicken's water buckets, supposed to be ok with plastic........ it is supposed to be 250 watts, so hopefully cheap to run; I used a heated dog dish last year and loved it but i have more birds this year!

At some point i may try to figure out a nipple system for the birds with it, like was suggested a few weeks ago. I don't remember who had done it this way; is it still working with the now colder temps?

 

[1muttsfan]

Once your furnace (or other heat source) comes on for the winter the house tends to dry out to very low humidity. Add that to the heat element in the incubator, and you can dehyrate eggs very quickly. A calibrated hygrometer can be a invaluable aid in keeping your humidity around 20% for the first 18 days.

 

[NovaAman]

I used the zimecterin paste, and I must say that it worked very well for me. Just saying.

I forget who it is that made a drop using permethrin(SP?) liquid and water. I used it on my Mr. Fluffers with his leg mites following those directions. Real good clearing them up.

 

[gladahmae]

Hmmmmm. Maybe I should worm everyone right now since we're only getting 2 or 3 eggs per day. The new ladies are already out of the basement. After just one hour it was starting to smell down there so DH rigged up underneath the chick coop for them and out they went. He was also concerned about them having to adjust to 2 big temp switches, and that was echoed in here already.

As crazy as it sounds, I really like DS1's silky. I'm kind of wishing we had gotten 2 of them. Never thought I'd say that.

 

[chickendales]

i am moving out michigan and well be selling my birds silkies showgirls and polish