Setting eggs today...20th May...anyone else?

[ashem0]

Loopy - do you add another thermometer inside your Brinsea or have faith in it alone?

 

[loopy12]

I have a 'spot-check' themometer that brinsea also sells that is really reliable, and the two always agree, I also have a digital hygrometer inside to double check humidity too - I'm a belt-and-braces kind of gal!

My Brinsea wasn't that much - bought in the UK from Ebay. That are pricier elsewhere though. I just sold my old brinsea octagon on ebay in the US for I think US$130 plus shipping, so there are cheaper used options. I don't know about in Australia though...I'm lucky because although we live in Italy we have a US PO box address, and UK places often ship to Italy too, so I can often source things from Europe, UK and the US to get the best deal.

My chicken with the broken hip/leg...well, I think I mentioned (maybe I didn't), our garden is on the side of a steep hill. It is mostly terraced. The first tier is about 12 to 15 feet up from the driveway level and that's where the chicken house is. Sometimes they fly off the wall, but mostly they jump down the steps if they want to come down to visit us.
I didn't see it happen, but we found the hen on the driveway, I presume she stumbled over the edge of the tier and was facing backwards so couldn't flap enough to break her fall by flying. (I've seen her fly off there and land no problem in the past, so must have been bad positioning)
I put her in a nest box with food and water to see if her leg would heal, and it was doing great - she was at the point where she could stand for a minute on it, then would sit down and rest. Then we went away to florida leaving her in the care of my housesitter, and she said she got worse while we were gone, and now won't stand at all, so her time has come, sadly.

Things going from bad to worse this weekend - one of my 6 week olds just did a bloody poop. Seems fine in every other way, so now I'm searching frantically for info on that.

Seriously, I can't lose a 5th this weekend can I? They are all separated - the adults are up the hill, the 6 week olds right by the house in the front garden and the chicks are in the house in their brooder...really, really bad luck going on here!

 

[Alaskan]

Oh loopy! How awful!

And Ashem, I can't help you with the incubator, remember mind didn't work.

I keep trying to figure out which one i should buy, since I want a new one, and simply can't decide.

 

[ashem0]

Oh dear Loopy!

That's bad luck about the bloody-poo. Coccidiosis?


My only lonely chicky pipped internally then didn't get any further. So none this time round. I don't think I'll do anymore until Spring now.

 

[loopy12]

So sad on your eggs, particularly the internal pipper...so close.
I think you need to incubate more eggs at once to improve your chances...???

Yep, presume coccidiosis - have had them on the appropriate locally available medicine for 3 days, no more blood today or yesterday, so am hopeful it'll be ok. Was scary though...

 

[CAjerseychick]

My only lonely chicky pipped internally then didn't get any further. So none this time round. I don't think I'll do anymore until Spring now.

Oh so sorry to hear that. You started the July hatch thread afterall!!! Maybe try getting a Broody? We have Craigslist here you could advertise for one in the Spring?....

I have one chick out for sure-- just worried now (raising chickens is nerve wracking !) that it wont survive the 3 days I am back out of town-- the mama is sure to set longer and I am not back til Sat....

OOPs I am all mixed up on the threads-- I have been following your July Hatchalong thread and was trying to figure out what happened, Ashem0...

 

[ashem0]

CAJerseychick - G'day!

I opted out of the July thread I had started, it got a little overwhelming... not sure of the etiquette required as the 'thread beginner', but there were so many layers of conversations I could not keep up with it. And last time I checked there had been over 175 responses. Been rather busy at this end too, so didn't have as much time to devote to it.

Right now I have just unpacked another incubator. Another cheapie, but holds 60 eggs. Loopy12 - I agree, I need to increase numbers to increase hatching rate. Hopefully this will do it....hubby is gonna freak out when he sees it though...Lol! Also, glad to hear the Coccidiosis appears to be disappearing.

 

[loopy12]

Sounds good though - get yourself a couple of dozen barnyard mix cheap eggs and fling them in for your first go with the new incubator...its a numbers game if conditions aren't ideal, or you have new equipment. If you have enough eggs, chances are, even if there's a incubator problem along the way at least a few will make it through. Or, it go perfectly and you end up with more chicks than you know what to do with...good luck!

 

[ashem0]

Well, I'm off again! Just set this morning; 4 Light Rock Plymouth, 15 French Wheaten Marans, 2 Black Copper Marans and wait for it... 3 Khaki Campbells! 24 altogether.

Story behind these babies... found a new advert on Gumtree (a little like ebay here) where a lady was advertising a doz FWM's. I could not believe my luck because not only did she have FWM's, turns out she also has BCM's (not supposed to be in Australia)... and on top of all that she only lives an hour away. Holy cow, I couldn't get in the car fast enough!

The BCM's are 'fair-dinkum' enough for Australia, but not the genuine one's you have over your way.. these girls will only lay on the scale, around 5-6, sometimes 7. But fun to try out until the Guru here for Maran's gets his imported ones through later next year.

I have the Khaki's in my baby bator and the chooks in the new bigger one. Problem with it is that it is so noisy and vibrates so much the eggs roll around inside! I have placed a couple of bricks on top to weigh it down and slow the vibration, but this could be a real problem if I don't think of a solution shortly. At this rate even the electric frying pan is looking a little more reliable than this thing. I guess you get what you pay for in the way of bators.

 

[loopy12]

Why don't you put the KC's in with the rest until you need to lockdown, then move them to the little one?
I regularly incubate duck with chicken until lockdown...
I would worry about the vibration when the embies are just a bunch of fragile blood vessels....