***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[faerielady]

Quote:
Oh man, I forgot how GOOD the Okies are at enabling...

I don't have an incubator for 2 reasons. 1 is that I had 15 hatch out of... 3 tries, over 90 eggs. Those 15 were from p&b's easter egger flock. One batch went the way of a curious cat (i.e. the entire incubator hit the floor). One batch, the entire incubator full failed. I know it wasn't the 'bator because p&b successfully hatched before and after me using the same 'bator.

Then I got hoodwinked in the course of "buying" a bigger 'bator by a con man (yes, I can say that, he's been convicted AND he cons people out of money for things he'll never provide AND I have a judgment against him), and completely lost the desire to hatch. Now I'm waffling about it, but I dunno if I want to set myself up for failure again.

If I would have just bought the birds that I wanted instead of trying to hatch them, I'd've saved myself a ton of money.

 

[jcatblum]

I think everyone needs at least 1 incubator & a back up as well. For times when that one incubator is full of course! I personally fail miserably when I try to use a foam bator but I know others can use them with no problems.

I never lost a batch to the cat (I am allergic) but I did loose a batch to dh moving furniture. Not sure what he was thinking or how it happened!

My birds have to stay in their coops today. They are grounded. The guineas have discovered my pen of EE. They spend the entire day hanging out in the pen! Then the EE won't go back in to lay there eggs so they are laying them in the yard. So I will get the EE retrained on nesting boxes. Considering moving the coop the EE are in & maybe the guineas won't mess with it. Or if we are in fact finished hatching eggs I can even let the EE move to the barn with the RIR. Hope the guineas don't find there way down to the barn!

I have been going non- stop since Saturday. Now I am going to clean the barn to make room for some better organizing. Seems like everything got stuck in corners of what belongs to who. So I will focus on my corner of gardening pots & tools & all kinds of other surprises. Thinking I am going to sell my small lean-to greenhouse. We had it set up in town & I moved it out here. Guess I need to find some pictures of it set up & put it on craigslist. Hate to part w it, but I know I need something bigger for out here. Think dh is building me a large hoop house for Christmas -- since it is the only thing on my list.

 

[LynninOK]

Quote:
There is a woman here in Claremore who raises Marans and Lavender Orpingtons. Her name is Pam, and she's the kindest lady. Message me if you want her contact info. She has some pullets right now, but won't have chicks until the Spring. I think she said she said she could round up some hatching eggs.

Never mind! I think you already got her info from Chillun'.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Oh man, I forgot how GOOD the Okies are at enabling...

I don't have an incubator for 2 reasons. 1 is that I had 15 hatch out of... 3 tries, over 90 eggs. Those 15 were from p&b's easter egger flock. One batch went the way of a curious cat (i.e. the entire incubator hit the floor). One batch, the entire incubator full failed. I know it wasn't the 'bator because p&b successfully hatched before and after me using the same 'bator.

Then I got hoodwinked in the course of "buying" a bigger 'bator by a con man (yes, I can say that, he's been convicted AND he cons people out of money for things he'll never provide AND I have a judgment against him), and completely lost the desire to hatch. Now I'm waffling about it, but I dunno if I want to set myself up for failure again.

If I would have just bought the birds that I wanted instead of trying to hatch them, I'd've saved myself a ton of money.

I use a Brinsea Mini Advanced, a Hova-Bator 1588, and two Sportsmans. I've had super good hatches with shipped eggs from my Brinsea. The first batch of Seramas I got 5/7 to hatch, sadly one died. Then on my own eggs I've had 100% hatch rate. Trust me, if all you've ever had was a Little Giant, then no wonder you didn't have good hatch rates...trust me. My first incubator was a Little Giant, and it was a pice of JUNK! After doing some research I bough the Genesis Hova-Bator 1588. I've had AWESOME hatch rates with it. Well worth the money. Then I decided to get a Mini Brinsea Advanced for Seramas, and other small batches of eggs ( only holds 7 chicken eggs). Then I found an awesome deal on some old GQF Sportsmans, so I bought two of'em. Now I mainly use the Sportsmans up till day 18, then I move the eggs into lockdown in the Brinsea, and then once they hatch I move them over to the Hova-Bator to dry off. Or, if I have a large batch of eggs going into lockdown then I use the Hova-Bator.

~Aspen

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Aspen, do you raise your Seramas on sand or is that just from this desert-invoking summer

.... No, really, I have heard of people raising their birds on sand, but I've not tried it, and just wondered if you had?

Yes.
I raise my Seramas on sand, sort of. The top half of their hutch has a wooden room, that is where I have a plastic dog tray with sand on it. Then the other half the the top story is wire, that is were their food and water is. Then there is a ramp that goes down to a small run. We move it around every once in awhile, after they eat up all the grass. The sand really has no smell, and works great. When they lay their eggs in it I can just gentle brush off the sand and the egg is nice, clean, and shiney. However, when I used shavings, or hay the eggs were always soiled with poo and hay.

~Aspen

 

[Ksane]

Quote:
Oh man, I forgot how GOOD the Okies are at enabling...

I don't have an incubator for 2 reasons. 1 is that I had 15 hatch out of... 3 tries, over 90 eggs. Those 15 were from p&b's easter egger flock. One batch went the way of a curious cat (i.e. the entire incubator hit the floor). One batch, the entire incubator full failed. I know it wasn't the 'bator because p&b successfully hatched before and after me using the same 'bator.
Then I got hoodwinked in the course of "buying" a bigger 'bator by a con man (yes, I can say that, he's been convicted AND he cons people out of money for things he'll never provide AND I have a judgment against him), and completely lost the desire to hatch. Now I'm waffling about it, but I dunno if I want to set myself up for failure again.

If I would have just bought the birds that I wanted instead of trying to hatch them, I'd've saved myself a ton of money.

I had 31 shipped eggs (from Ebay) that I put in the incubator last June. 15 Polish and 16 LF Cochins (from Sands Poultry in NC). 4 Polish hatched, 1 died later and 8 Cochins hatched. 31 eggs and I ended up with only 11 chicks from them. That was my only attempt. I won't do it again for a different reason-I love these babies more than what's healthy and I'm constantly too scared something's going to happen to them . They're my tiny baby children

If I had it to do over again I'd get a group of chickens that all looked the same and were adults. That way I wouldn't get so attached. I'm one of those people who does NOT believe it's better to have loved and lost.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
I don't have an incubator.

I just bet I'd lend you mine

It's just a Little Giant but it has an automatic turner and I did hatch out the most perfect Cochin babies in the world in it.

Edit:

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

I do custom hatches..or sometime side trades!

~Aspen

But her way would be 100% more reliable than trying to hatch them yourself.​

*Alert* *Alert!!* Enabling!!! Code Red, Code Red!!

~Aspen

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
I just bet I'd lend you mine

It's just a Little Giant but it has an automatic turner and I did hatch out the most perfect Cochin babies in the world in it.

Edit:

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

I do custom hatches..or sometime side trades!

~Aspen

But her way would be 100% more reliable than trying to hatch them yourself.​

The little styrofoam incubators are best for serama....and I don't use my turners...just roll them around by hand 2X a day...no vibration that way...too late YOU'RE HOOKED...don't resist.

I have the 1588 HB, with the auto turners, and it works great for the Seramas. I never was good at hand turning.

~Aspen

 

[momma_raven]

Red Alert! Now that's funny!

 

[faerielady]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Yes.
I raise my Seramas on sand, sort of. The top half of their hutch has a wooden room, that is where I have a plastic dog tray with sand on it. Then the other half the the top story is wire, that is were their food and water is. Then there is a ramp that goes down to a small run. We move it around every once in awhile, after they eat up all the grass. The sand really has no smell, and works great. When they lay their eggs in it I can just gentle brush off the sand and the egg is nice, clean, and shiney. However, when I used shavings, or hay the eggs were always soiled with poo and hay.

~Aspen

I was considering using sand in the nesting boxes of my LF... I wonder if that would work?

Oh! Robin's cochins are *most definitely* laying...​