* Pippin's advice *

[aart]

Sometimes eggs just quit for no apparent reason, it's not necessarily anyone's fault. Where the eggs are from and the incubator that you use are factors that can affect a hatch, for example, shipped eggs have lower hatch rates, and high quality incubators are more reliable than cheap ones.
What incubator do you have?

No mention of calibrated thermometers?
Incorrect temps are the number one reason embryos do not develop properly.

 

[Mrsar2004]

Lots of people ask me about the things I know a lot about so I've decided ot make a thread where you can ask me questions about any of these things:

• Broody hens
• Hatching
• Helping to hatch
• Raising chicks
• Saving weak chicks
• Sexing silkies

Please ask away! You can also post links to threads (your threads or someone else's) about any of those topics so I can find them and help out!

If you know about these stuff too, feel free to answer some as well. @Silkie Princess you know about broodies, and @LadiesAndJane you know about silkie sexing.

Hopefully we can end up with a large gathering of information so newbies can stop by and learn!

I have a baby duck that got shrink wrapped. After leaving him for almost 10 hrs i could tell i needed to take a closer look. I didnt want to assist(bad experience before) but there was mucus drying and hardening over his beak. Hes out now but has some thick gunk all over him which is hardening, do i need to get that off? If so how without him getting too cold? Thank you.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I have a baby duck that got shrink wrapped. After leaving him for almost 10 hrs i could tell i needed to take a closer look. I didnt want to assist(bad experience before) but there was mucus drying and hardening over his beak. Hes out now but has some thick gunk all over him which is hardening, do i need to get that off? If so how without him getting too cold? Thank you.

Wait for him to strengthen up then prepare a bowl of warm water and a soft toothbrush. Dip the toothbrush in the water and gently scrub the gunk off.

 

[Mrsar2004]

Ok, thank you.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I'm sure I will have a couple questions...eagerly waiting for my lil lovelies in 8 weeks.

 

[aart]

Wait for him to strengthen up then prepare a bowl of warm water and a soft toothbrush. Dip the toothbrush in the water and gently scrub the gunk off.

You can also use a dry toothbrush, and your finger tips to gently preen the dried gunk off.

 

[chickengr]

No mention of calibrated thermometers?
Incorrect temps are the number one reason embryos do not develop properly.

my incubator is not digital and thermometer is ok. I wonder if humidity can cause death in the shells.

 

[aart]

my incubator is not digital and thermometer is ok

Either digital or analog thermometers can be inaccurate.

 

[629864]

First of all, thank you SOOOOOOO much for starting this thread and being so generous with your time and knowledge!!!!!

I have two buff orpington hens who hopefully will hold off going broody until March. The rest of my flock are production reds (16 hens), easter eggers (9 hens, 1 rooster), and 6 brown leghorns (3 pullets, 3 roosters). We live on 36 acres and the flock free ranges the 1.5 fenced acres surrounding our house. Sometimes they venture further afield, but that's their basic range. We have two coops: reds and 1 BL rooster roost in one, everyine else plus 3 guineas roost in the other. The "other" coop has a large attached enclosed run. In that run I have (in addition to the rest of the run clutter) a 53"x36" dog crate where i had the BO hens for the first few days before integrating them. The flock uses the crate throughout the day, so they're all quite used to it. We have LGDs in all of the surrounding pens, so the chickens have fairly good protection from predators except for snakes.

Ok, so that's our set up.

I've been trying to figure out where/how to set up the broody/broodies for quite a while and I think I finally figured out what to do. So here's my plan:

Use the dog crate covered in a tarp in the corner of the run so as to separate them from the rest of the flock and be able to give them a mini run of their own without wasting too much of the run space. Take 1/2" hardware cloth to create a barrier all around, on top and on the bottom and to create the mini run for them with a layer of straw and a box dor dust bathing....and food/water of course. I'll configure an opening in order for me to be able to feed and water them, but that I can also close to keep snakes out of the area.

My hope and plan is to have a completely natural broody process where I interfere as little as possible and trust the hens to do what they know how to do. The set up above would simply give them a safe place to do so.

My questions are:

1) Do you see any flaws in the set up I've planned?
2) How/when to re-integrate mama and chicks?

Sorry this is so long, but I know you can't really answer if you dont know enough details.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

First of all, thank you SOOOOOOO much for starting this thread and being so generous with your time and knowledge!!!!!

I have two buff orpington hens who hopefully will hold off going broody until March. The rest of my flock are production reds (16 hens), easter eggers (9 hens, 1 rooster), and 6 brown leghorns (3 pullets, 3 roosters). We live on 36 acres and the flock free ranges the 1.5 fenced acres surrounding our house. Sometimes they venture further afield, but that's their basic range. We have two coops: reds and 1 BL rooster roost in one, everyine else plus 3 guineas roost in the other. The "other" coop has a large attached enclosed run. In that run I have (in addition to the rest of the run clutter) a 53"x36" dog crate where i had the BO hens for the first few days before integrating them. The flock uses the crate throughout the day, so they're all quite used to it. We have LGDs in all of the surrounding pens, so the chickens have fairly good protection from predators except for snakes.

Ok, so that's our set up.

I've been trying to figure out where/how to set up the broody/broodies for quite a while and I think I finally figured out what to do. So here's my plan:

Use the dog crate covered in a tarp in the corner of the run so as to separate them from the rest of the flock and be able to give them a mini run of their own without wasting too much of the run space. Take 1/2" hardware cloth to create a barrier all around, on top and on the bottom and to create the mini run for them with a layer of straw and a box dor dust bathing....and food/water of course. I'll configure an opening in order for me to be able to feed and water them, but that I can also close to keep snakes out of the area.

My hope and plan is to have a completely natural broody process where I interfere as little as possible and trust the hens to do what they know how to do. The set up above would simply give them a safe place to do so.

My questions are:

1) Do you see any flaws in the set up I've planned?
2) How/when to re-integrate mama and chicks?

Sorry this is so long, but I know you can't really answer if you dont know enough details.

1) it seems like a good set up. It depends on the weather where you are. Here in England it wouldn't work because of the cold and wind. So it's your call.
2) I never separate my broodies, but wait for mama to wean the chicks off then integrate