Skippersnh
Songster
- Oct 14, 2019
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my roosters have been laying huge eggs since i put them on layer feed
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I have only had access to one breeder feed in the past. Currently, I adjust nutrient intake by supplementing store feed with some essential amino acids and enhanced vitamins.What do you recommend for breeder feed?
My flock eats the all flock by nutrena. It seems to be working well since every chick I've hatched from my flock has been in excellent health.
my roosters have been laying huge eggs since i put them on layer feed
I'm honestly thinking it's the incubator itself. Everything you've described seems like you were doing everything perfectly. I'm hoping adding ventilation works.
Did you set the eggs yet?
That was just my 2 cents worth. Take it with a grain of salt. Let us know when you figure out what the problem has been.I have not set the eggs yet. I will do so this evening. I am also curious to check the humidity. This morning I filled 1 of the trays full of water (the incubator has 3 small trays in the middle). With the previous ventilation of the 4 small holes, 1 tray would last most of the week and would keep the humidity around 50%. If humidity is holding when I get home, I will set the eggs. I suspect the tray will be visibly reduced. I’ll probably have to replenish the tray more often than before I drilled in expanded ventilation holes.
As I already have 10 eggs set aside from this week off of my Cracker games (my RJF or American game bantam type), I’ll try them and see what happens.
My chickens get most of their nutrition from free ranging. My farm is large and is in the middle of the woods. The land is rich in wild browse and insects. Their diet should be quiet varied. The laying crumbles are just a supplement I give them. I would suspect them eating something poisonous before I’d suspect them having a deficiency. The flora and fauna is too diverse on the farm to narrow down a list of suspected sources for toxic foods. If they’re eating something that’s killing the embryos, the chances of finding it will be remote. And I have too many different breeds for it to likely be a genetic issue. The two Cracker game roosters that breed all of my free range flock are brothers but the OEGB rooster is unrelated to them and there is no cross breeding between the OEGB flock and the free range game/leghorn/wyandotte flock. Which as I type that out, I realize that should suggest against it being something they’re eating from the wild. The OEGBs don’t free range. The OEGBs are the only flock that eat exclusively laying crumble except for treats I give them. So if there’s a problem with their nutrition, the only common denominator across the flocks is the laying crumbles. My crumbles are packaged by the local feed store.
Hi Florida Bullfrog! Glad you figured out what was wrong, I was just going to go out and drill holes in my incubator!I have the answer.
I was wrong, it was not ventilation. It was the automatic turner on the unit. Turning them too fast constantly in 1 direction. Apparently quail can take it but chickens cannot. I've had multiple natural hatches with broody hens off my eggs in the months since my last post here (hens hatch year round in Florida). So I ruled out an egg problem. And I had another 2 hatches fail with the improved ventilation. So it wasn't that. I bought a second incubator that was also round and turned the eggs counter clockwise as the unit in question does and I got a good hatch off the second incubator. Instead of constantly turning the eggs, the second incubator turns them in increments ever 8 hours and keeps them stationary in between. I started thinking that turning was probably the problem.
My final test was to take the original unit, remove the automatic turning tray, and hand turn the eggs. I started with 13 jungle fowl hybrid eggs. Removed 3 the first week for lack of development (although I was in error on one and accidentally removed a good egg as I saw after cracking it open), removed a 4th egg on week 2. All 9 of the remaining eggs hatched yesterday. I turned them twice a day by hand. I had no precise method of turning them except that I drew a "X" and an "O" on each side of the eggs and turned them all to one letter or the other roughly every 12 hours.
So if anyone in the thread suggested the turner, give yourself a pat on the back.
I'm actually so pleased with how my hand turning worked that I'm going to pack the little incubator to capacity and do it again. As where the unit could only hold 10 eggs with the turner without doubling up slots, I think I can fit near 30 eggs in packed tight. 13 eggs was less than half the incubator.
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Hi Florida Bullfrog! Glad you figured out what was wrong, I was just going to go out and drill holes in my incubator!
Hoping you can help me. I have one of those Janoel 10 incubators. I have trouble keeping the temp high enough. I have 9 gorgeous maran eggs that I need to move in to it, as my top of the line Brinsea is full. They will be dry incubated, per the breeders recommendations, though I live in Hawaii, so limited how low I can get the humidity to go.
Any suggestions with this incubator? I will be hand turning as you did.
I find I have to keep a towel wrapped around the base to keep the heat from seeping out. My last hatch three years ago with this incubator was 2 out of 6.
Thanks for any advice you have, I read your whole thread.