Our First Broody and Incubator Hatch: a Diary

[igorsMistress]

It might, as long as you can wrap your fingers around to stop the light from 'leaking' between light and egg. Fresh batteries are always good idea. Candling in as dark a place as possible really helps, and be careful not to 'light blind' yourself by looking at the light.

I candle in a windowless room(lavatory) that is conveniently close to the incubator, so can do it anytime of day, I put a ~dozen in a foam carton to take in there. With a broody ya gotta wait until way after dark(yawn) and douse any lights the may brighten the coop ambiance.

You know, the coop does get light from a street lamp, that's a great point! I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll take her eggs when she's off the nest and bring them inside to try again. Also, the light leakage was a huge problem. These eggs aren't as big as what I get from my girls and I used those to practice with so I'd have an idea of how it all works.

Thank you again! I very much appreciate the help.

 

[aart]

Maybe I'll take her eggs when she's off the nest and bring them inside to try again.

I'd not take them all at once...don't want to freak her out with an empty nest.
How tolerant is she of you messing with the nest?
It's good to get her used to you 'inspecting' things,
then if a problem pops up your 'management' won't be a traumatic catastrophe for her.

 

[igorsMistress]

I'd not take them all at once...don't want to freak her out with an empty nest.
How tolerant is she of you messing with the nest?
It's good to get her used to you 'inspecting' things,
then if a problem pops up your 'management' won't be a traumatic catastrophe for her.

I'd just take the blues, half her clutch, to get a better look. The brown eggs I could see into, just not sure what I'm seeing in all cases.

She pecks my hand when I reach in but it's not particularly vicious, no broken skin. I leave her alone for the most part, just peek in to see how she's doing a few times each day.

 

[aart]

I'd just take the blues, half her clutch, to get a better look. The brown eggs I could see into, just not sure what I'm seeing in all cases.

She pecks my hand when I reach in but it's not particularly vicious, no broken skin. I leave her alone for the most part, just peek in to see how she's doing a few times each day.

Some of my blues I cannot see into at all...others are OK.
The olive and dark marans I can hardly see the air cells to mark them.

I touch my broodies at least every couple days, they get used to it pretty quick and don't mind at all.

 

[igorsMistress]

Some of my blues I cannot see into at all...others are OK.
The olive and dark marans I can hardly see the air cells to mark them.

I touch my broodies at least every couple days, they get used to it pretty quick and don't mind at all.

Is there a purpose behind touching regularly? I just say hello and as long as I get a screetch in return I know she's ok.

 

[aart]

Is there a purpose behind touching regularly? I just say hello and as long as I get a screetch in return I know she's ok.

I touch them to get them used to it , I stroke their face/wattles, lift her belly a bit to look underneath, so in case I need to intervene she won't be freaked out. I like to take a peek under hen to make sure all is kosher during incubation(no poops or rotten eggs or...?).
This paid off big time when one of the chicks became entangled tightly around the neck in mama breast feathers, she let me cut the chick away and take her inside to remove the 'noose'.

 

[igorsMistress]

I touch them to get them used to it , I stroke their face/wattles, lift her belly a bit to look underneath, so in case I need to intervene she won't be freaked out. I like to take a peek under hen to make sure all is kosher during incubation(no poops or rotten eggs or...?).
This paid off big time when one of the chicks became entangled tightly around the neck in mama breast feathers, she let me cut the chick away and take her inside to remove the 'noose'.

Very good point, I'll definitely start putting my hands on her a bit. She already likes her wattles scratched and I do pick everyone off the roost for inspection once a month so she's used to being handled.

Once again, thank you much for all you're help!

 

[tjo804]

The weather has been in the low 100's with lots of cloud cover. Our rain chances are decreasing so the temperature is going up, 112* in the 7 day forecast.
Currently exploring possible options to cool the nesting area in late afternoon.

I was thinking with the nesting box being plastic, you might be able to strap one of those reuseable flexible ice packs to the top or side. I wouldn't do it to the bottom with eggs under her. Just an idea.

* on the outside of box so it won't fall on her.

Think this one might be good, looks like veins in there. Brown egg.
View attachment 1476071

The next two pics are the same egg, brown also and not sure about status

View attachment 1476073 View attachment 1476074

Last brown egg

View attachment 1476076

And the only blue egg I could see through

View attachment 1476077

Make sure you have the brightest light you can find on your candler. I saw a pic where someone send 3 flashlights to try to see in a dark color egg. Make sure egg is on a secure surface if you try this.

Best of luck to you and Ruby!

 

[tjo804]

i added 6 incubator chicks to my coop this year we brooded them in the breakfast nook in a prefab coop. However I did not want to just put them in the coop and cross my fingers. So DH helped me redo under the nest boxes as a see no touch. (I saw your poo board you could do this easy peasy)

Please don't look at the mess I scrape my coop and wash it once a year.

We took the panels off the prefab run added a magnet on top and a window lock on bottom so they could come out really easy. Put a pop door to a small run inside the run so they shared all space.

I plan to use this for future chicks and possibly Brodie's.

Ok looking at picks with the littles added I will be doing some scrubbing if they can be outside, so can I.

 

[igorsMistress]

@tjo804

Thanks for the pics/suggestions! Notice I didn't add a full pic of my poop board, it needed cleaning too I was already thinking about how I could bungee ice packs to the nest box I was thinking I could also put a brick on the ground next to it and put a frozen gallon of water there touching the side since it would last longer. I'm going to try it on a different box first to see how cold the plastic gets and if it'll even help. I'm worried about the heat for all my chickens. It's actually a couple of degrees cooler in her box than it is outside, but we are expecting 116 next week