Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

The half inch mesh didn't get delivered today. I guess that's it until Monday.
I'll start on the doorway tomorrow. I want to try to lean the doorway in at the top. The idea being that it will stay shut, or open and not wave about so easily in the wind. Not sure if I can get enough slope.

This is the other sick note.

Bad camera day. The zoom on the camera isn't all it could be.

 

[MaryJanet]

Oh yes. Some ingredient in it. You can now buy ones that are ‘coral safe’ but you have to look for it.
The irony of course is that people looking at coral are bringing it right up close.
https://news.stanford.edu/2022/05/05/coral-killing-sunscreens/

Thanks for mentioning it RC. I've just bought two bottles of reef safe sunblock for summer.

 

[MaryJanet]

The half inch mesh didn't get delivered today. I guess that's it until Monday.
I'll start on the doorway tomorrow. I want to try to lean the doorway in at the top. The idea being that it will stay shut, or open and not wave about so easily in the wind. Not sure if I can get enough slope.

This is the other sick note.
View attachment 3213938

Bad camera day. The zoom on the camera isn't all it could be.
View attachment 3213939View attachment 3213940

I like the idea of a leaning door.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach have you ever seen a tough Silkie rooster? Mine put a beating on a juvenile rooster a few days ago. I believe Viajito would have killed him if not for my wife.

I haven't no.
In fact, the only Silkie Chickens I've ever met are my elder sister's.
Mini, my sisters only surviving Silkie is obsessed with feet; mainly because she can't see anything higher.

 

[Shadrach]

Last tax for a few weeks. Tomorrow morning we pack the last bits and then: fahrn fahrn fahrn auf der Autobahn. .

View attachment 3213920

Three gatekeepers. Trying to withhold the bosses entering the house.

Pic was made this afternoon. One of the favourite spots to enjoy the sun!

And a happy perfect timing ⏱ I have a flock of 6 hens again. They all roost together with just a little fuss.

Have a safe trip.

 

[TropicalBabies]

My incubator turns every hour till the last 3 days unless I change the settings.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

For any of you who read the Brazilian study on incubation I linked to earlier, what do you think?
I timed a few hens turning their eggs when they sat and hatched in the house nest box. I've got every twenty minutes on average for the first three or four days. Then I've got a increase in time to between half an hour and an hour.
The study points out that the first three days are critical in encouraging problem free embryo development.
From what little I've read about the incubators used they turn two or three times a day.
Lots of information in the study I thought.

I am about 1/3 of the way through it. It's very interesting. So far it's just reinforcing my belief in the fact that the hens do it better. I'm now reconsidering if the hot water cupboard is the best location, as it's not very well ventilated for air quality. I suspect the eggs I have in the incubator will be 'test eggs' and I will discard them at about day 7. I don't know if I want to hatch chicks from eggs from my learning process with this incubator thing. At least it will allow me to check the fertility of my winter laid eggs.
I think it would be best to find a nesting solution to my poor summer hatch rates rather than this mechanical 'solution'. I am glad I have it though as it will let me set eggs in it to start while I 'graft' a broody to a suitable location for the long haul sitting, reducing her total sitting time to closer to the natural 21 days rather than the 26-30 days my hens sit on average at the moment.
It will also provide a place for any chicks that might run into trouble and need to be warmed up.

The incubator I have turns the eggs every 90 minutes, and that is adjustable however I haven't a clue how to adjust it as the manual is in English but everything on the incubator is in Chinese

 

[Shadrach]

My incubator turns every hour till the last 3 days unless I change the settings.

That's more like it.
There is a reason why hens turn their eggs. It may well be true an incubator that only turns twice a day for example hatches chicks, but then why would the mother bother doing it. I don't think hens have some strange work ethic. They could be sleeping.

Here's another thing. Do hens wake up (as come out of the broody trance) when they turn the eggs?
Imagine that one had to squat for the next 21 days! The brain would come up with a method of switching certain signals off. This is what in part I believe the trance is for. It enables them to lock their legs and switch off the brains receptors in some way. I can't see another way of managing it.
I think they are not fully awake when they turn the eggs. Having lifted a few broodies off nests you can feel the legs don't have full range of movement until the broody wakes up. You can slip your hand under the broody and lift her body up until the legs are no longer in contact with the ground and the legs stay bent. Take the hand away and they sick back into the squat.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm now reconsidering if the hot water cupboard is the best location, as it's not very well ventilated for air quality.

I have another study somewhere on the importance of daylight for developing eggs. I'll see if I can find it.
I built two broody coops with runs and left them open. Others would nest in the main coops and few outside more often than not. I rarely let the sit outside.
Much the same at my uncles although his didn't have runs attached.

 

[Molpet]

That's more like it.
There is a reason why hens turn their eggs. It may well be true an incubator that only turns twice a day for example hatches chicks, but then why would the mother bother doing it. I don't think hens have some strange work ethic. They could be sleeping.

Here's another thing. Do hens wake up (as come out of the broody trance) when they turn the eggs?
Imagine that one had to squat for the next 21 days! The brain would come up with a method of switching certain signals off. This is what in part I believe the trance is for. It enables them to lock their legs and switch off the brains receptors in some way. I can't see another way of managing it.
I think they are not fully awake when they turn the eggs. Having lifted a few broodies off nests you can feel the legs don't have full range of movement until the broody wakes up. You can slip your hand under the broody and lift her body up until the legs are no longer in contact with the ground and the legs stay bent. Take the hand away and they sick back into the squat.

Some of my broodies are like that, the friendly ones. I have a couple that will take a chunk out of me if I try to check for added eggs. A few of the half dark Cornish will panic, knocking eggs every where, as they bounce off the walls trying to get away from me.