Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[OneMountainAcres]

Thanks! They're just about a month old.

Wow they grow fast! I'm really going to have my hands full in a couple weeks lol

 

[My peeps]

I was cleaning the coop today and noticed two of my hens appear to have leg mites I treated them and will have to treat the rest of the flock when hubby is home to help. This is my first time dealing with something like this.

 

[Reyvaughn]

Rey:

You just shot that over my head...I dunno ........?

Do you have a separate hatcher, or do you hatch in the bottom of your Sportsman?
I'm working on a separate hatcher because while raising the humidity to hatch is easy, I think it's detrimental to the rest of eggs to have the 70% RH for a few days until the hatch is complete.

I guess I'm also curious about how having the water bucket makes the staggered hatches easier.

I should have gave a bit more of a back story since it's been a year since I posted about it.
Yes, I use the hatcher at the bottom of the incubator.
I don't know who else has a Sportsman, but mine gives me a lot of shrink wrapped chicks while they are on their way out. They take a bit to long and the powerful fans dry their membranes right to them mid-hatch. I try to keep the humidity around 70% during hatches but my Sportsman goes through a lot of water. It drys out that humidity tray in less than 2 days. I usually have to open the incubator and refill the tray. I run the 'bator dry the rest of the time (16-26% humidity) to try and compensate for the every 3-5 days I have to lock it down.

This year has been really bad for shrink wrapped babies because I am setting every 3-4 days instead of once a week like last year. And yes, I intervene. Many have leg issues that I can't fix that is caused by their struggling. I had 2 hatch with their heads deformed from twisting and trying to get free of the dried on membrane. The one had lost it's eye due to drying out (it had it's self pulled so tight that it couldn't close it's eye) and the other eye was bulged. It died, obviously. The other one returned to normal after a couple of hours.

I have been trying to be more merciful and euthanize the chicks with bad leg issues (most have dislocated hips, some with slipped hock tendons that I do try to fix and some with spraddle plus any of the before mentioned issues). I hate putting chicks down. It's not easy with adult birds, either, but chicks break my heart.

If I had known that I would actually fill all 288 spots in my Sportsman, I think I would have sprung for the separate incubator and hatcher. I personally think the 1502 is a great incubator... not really so great for hatching. Maybe next year I can get myself a hatcher.

 

[PAchickenlover]

Hey Folks:

Having some issues re-integrating a hen with the group...she was hurt in the first Fox attack....well, the problem isn't with the hens, its the boys...the baby roo has the back of her neck bloody and a mess....and since thats his only 'score', he's after her quite a bit(she is about as submissive as possible at this point for a number of reasons)....more of a problem is that the main roo has become aggressive with her. If she gets too close he attacks her....as a result she is a nervous wreck....I escorted her back to the grow out pen and she's inside....I know she won't come out to eat or drink if I don't  'move her'...any suggestions...

I would leave her with the younger birds until she can join the pen with them after they grow out.

Question to all of you dual bird folks (chicken and duck)...... do any of you house them together?  I just read two different threads, and it seems to go both ways.... and some said they feed the same feed to both.... any input, I am considering adding 2 ducks to our little abode.  I think I might have BIRD FEVER!!  Or mid life crisis... lol.

Mine all eat the same feed. I have housed them together but do not permit them pools in the chicken area or water inside the coop. They will need something deep enough to dunk their heads but not climb into, a 1-2 gallon bucket works well. Allow them pool time in an area not shared with the chickens a couple times per week, does not have to be daily.

I have had my chickens, ducks and goose in the same area now for years. They have a swimming area in there too. Now mind you, I have approximately 200 ft of fence around this area. So there is plenty of room for my chickens to do what they want and for my ducks and goose to play in the water if they please. I have not had any problems with this setup yet. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me.

 

[PAchickenlover]

Just got back from the ER. My son came home from a birthday party in Baltimore, it was a roller skating party, anyhow he injured his ankle. It was really swelled up so we decided it was best to get it checked. Dr said possible fracture, have to get ahold of the orthopedics in the morning. Ugh..... Not at all what I had planned to do tonight..

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Just got back from the ER. My son came home from a birthday party in Baltimore, it was a roller skating party, anyhow he injured his ankle. It was really swelled up so we decided it was best to get it checked. Dr said possible fracture, have to get ahold of the orthopedics in the morning. Ugh..... Not at all what I had planned to do tonight..

I'm sorry to hear that skating is one of those fun but dangerous things. I remember my mom fracturing her elbow when I was little because she fell doing the Mexican hat dance at sir skate and then I fell when I was in 7 th grade, roller blading down an alley (a stick got caught in my wheels) and broke my arm trying to catch myself. Hope he feels better and heals up quickly and smoothly.

 

[dheltzel]

I should have gave a bit more of a back story since it's been a year since I posted about it.
Yes, I use the hatcher at the bottom of the incubator.
I don't know who else has a Sportsman, but mine gives me a lot of shrink wrapped chicks while they are on their way out. They take a bit to long and the powerful fans dry their membranes right to them mid-hatch. I try to keep the humidity around 70% during hatches but my Sportsman goes through a lot of water. It drys out that humidity tray in less than 2 days. I usually have to open the incubator and refill the tray. I run the 'bator dry the rest of the time (16-26% humidity) to try and compensate for the every 3-5 days I have to lock it down.

This year has been really bad for shrink wrapped babies because I am setting every 3-4 days instead of once a week like last year. And yes, I intervene. Many have leg issues that I can't fix that is caused by their struggling. I had 2 hatch with their heads deformed from twisting and trying to get free of the dried on membrane. The one had lost it's eye due to drying out (it had it's self pulled so tight that it couldn't close it's eye) and the other eye was bulged. It died, obviously. The other one returned to normal after a couple of hours.

I have been trying to be more merciful and euthanize the chicks with bad leg issues (most have dislocated hips, some with slipped hock tendons that I do try to fix and some with spraddle plus any of the before mentioned issues). I hate putting chicks down. It's not easy with adult birds, either, but chicks break my heart.

If I had known that I would actually fill all 288 spots in my Sportsman, I think I would have sprung for the separate incubator and hatcher. I personally think the 1502 is a great incubator... not really so great for hatching. Maybe next year I can get myself a hatcher.

That is exactly how I'm running my Sportsman and your experience mirrors mine. The nice thing about them is that the temp and humidity is easy to control (compared to my experience with the styrofoam ones). When I run dry, the humidity is 16%, when I fill the tray and add the humidity pad, it shoots to 60% within 5 minutes! over 70% if I prop up the humidity pad. So, 2 -3 days out of 7 (I set weekly), the humidity is 60+ and the other days it is 16%. If I were setting every 3-4 days, it would have to be high all the time!

I weigh the eggs and they are generally not losing enough weight, so I want to move the eggs to a separate hatcher, then I can run the incubator dry all the time. I'm working on building the hatcher now. I think the styros are especially bad as hatchers, I can't control the humidity well at all in there.

If I were you, I'd save my money and not buy the bucket add on (I have one, it does work fine). Rather, I'd spend that building a separate hatcher. If we lived closer, I'd give you my bucket attachment, I hope this is the last week I'll be using it.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Quote: Ummmmmm hello? I did not see mention of 'Hot Tub' on here....which was my very first thought..

Hey Folks:

Having some issues re-integrating a hen with the group...she was hurt in the first Fox attack....well, the problem isn't with the hens, its the boys...the baby roo has the back of her neck bloody and a mess....and since thats his only 'score', he's after her quite a bit(she is about as submissive as possible at this point for a number of reasons)....more of a problem is that the main roo has become aggressive with her. If she gets too close he attacks her....as a result she is a nervous wreck....I escorted her back to the grow out pen and she's inside....I know she won't come out to eat or drink if I don't 'move her'...any suggestions...

Wish I had advice for you Stake. Keeping up several different houses is a pain, but watching the others chickens kill one of your babies is rough too.

Quote: and by home you mean.....PA? Welcome back. Looks like you did not quite escape the snow.

Finally got my ducks, er, chicks in a row.

Wow! They look content. Do you still need the heat light? They look well feathered in as well as inside...

 

[sharron]

Ummmmmm hello? I did not see mention of 'Hot Tub' on here....which was my very first thought..

Wish I had advice for you Stake. Keeping up several different houses is a pain, but watching the others chickens kill one of your babies is rough too.

and by home you mean.....PA? Welcome back. Looks like you did not quite escape the snow.

Wow! They look content. Do you still need the heat light? They look well feathered in as well as inside...

well, that too but i meant since we retired this past jan., its heaven , as for snow, can't say that i like the stuff but it was more the cold that we were trying to get away from, hard on my husband and his bad knee's but thanks

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Just got back from the ER. My son came home from a birthday party in Baltimore, it was a roller skating party, anyhow he injured his ankle. It was really swelled up so we decided it was best to get it checked. Dr said possible fracture, have to get ahold of the orthopedics in the morning. Ugh..... Not at all what I had planned to do tonight..

Oh no! Hope all goes well at the Ortho.