Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

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 intend to read it today (together with one ManueB linked to); yesterday was a day at the beach with family, while today the road is closed for a triathlon so we're stuck in till the afternoon! So I'll get back to you later on that

 

[GregnLety]

@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.

Viejito, Blackie.

Doesn't look like a fair fight does it?

 

[BDutch]

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

The cosmetic industrie puts more crab into sun protectors. Some contain micro-plastics without clearly telling in the ingredients list.
More info:
https://moralfibres.co.uk/does-your-sunscreen-contain-microplastic/ . Or
https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/mi...nscreen-can-be-more-dangerous-than-you-think/

 

[BDutch]

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.

I think chickens don’t sleep as deep like we do. When I check on them at midnight they are often slightly awake.
Maybe the keep on turning as wel?

 

[Perris]

So my initial response to the Brazilian article on incubation (https://www.scielo.br/j/rbca/a/ZFYLhJkZ8VSVpXZSJmCcKvr/?lang=en# ) is that it reminds me of most modern papers on nutrition, insofar as it's clearly a complex topic, and there may be a theoretical ideal for each and every moment of a fetus'/chicken's life.

But hens manage incubation without thinking, the process under a broody survives most variations in the weather and other environmental factors, and there is lots of wiggle room for success. Focusing on the theoretical ideal on an almost minute-by-minute scale just strikes me as overkill (unless you're a manufacturer of innovative incubation products).

 

[Marie2020]

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.

Could you get an incubator that would turn more regularly?

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

So my initial response to the Brazilian article on incubation (https://www.scielo.br/j/rbca/a/ZFYLhJkZ8VSVpXZSJmCcKvr/?lang=en# ) is that it reminds me of most modern papers on nutrition, insofar as it's clearly a complex topic, and there may be a theoretical ideal for each and every moment of a fetus'/chicken's life.

But hens manage incubation without thinking, the process under a broody survives most variations in the weather and other environmental factors, and there is lots of wiggle room for success. Focusing on the theoretical ideal on an almost minute-by-minute scale just strikes me as overkill (unless you're a manufacturer of innovative incubation products).

I'm allllmost finished reading it. That's pretty much what I think too, mostly that it's clearly complicated (for little human brains), and I'm best to leave it to the hens. What I DO know is that eggs are tough, they can take a whole bunch of sub-optimal conditions in the nest and still hatch healthy chicks. (Hens leaving the nest for ages, eggs getting knocked around by other hens etc). That doesn't seem to be the case when they're in the incubator.

I found the point made about epigenetic factors in-egg very interesting. That the embryo is already adapting to the conditions while developing. Makes the case for hen-raising in your intended environment even more compelling.

That said, I've still got eggs in my incubator right now! In true flock-life fashion however, I now haven't got a broody, because once I decided the only way to get her to stop was to let her sit, she decided she was done. Chickens!

 

[Marie2020]

I didn't know sun lotion killed coral

I would use coconut oil but the problem is they eat that so may well cause problems

 

[Marie2020]

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

What's the make of the incubator?

 

[Marie2020]

Tina is molting