She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[RubyNala97]

Owl.  The long filaments make for silent flight.

I was just reading about how owls are high on the predator list for guineas. I wonder for chickens too?

How flippin cute! The little chipmunk stripes are just adorable.

Personally, I dont think what we have seen as shrink wrapped is really the cause of death. I think its the result, instead. I believe once they die, the membrane stops being pliable, and constricts around the dead chick. Not the reverse. But that's just my theory.
Congrats on the bunch of new babies!!

Interesting.

Actually, you're both correct... there was a bunch of research done about shrinkwrapping and what is actual shrinkwrap and what is not... I looked up a lot of info on it and that's one of the reasons I incubate the way I do...
In true shrinkwrap the membrane is pulled entirely away from the shell very far down past where you mark the aircell lines... it will literally be encased in the membrane separately inside the shell...
After death, the membrane naturally dries out as there is no longer circulation of any liquid inside anymore or body heat, thus causing it to be mistaken for shrinkwrapped...
Due to a mess up of myself earlier, I could've shown you a good example of shrinkwrapping if I'd thought to take a pic... :/

Please get pics if you ever get a chance!

As this is my 5000th post, I gotta dedicate it...

So I dedicate this post to...

SC!!!

Everyone, meet SC the BCM...

He earned the name since every time I looked in the bator he was sitting in the corner screaming his head off...

Perfect!! Too funny!

I believe your ambient humidity is similar to ours? Then I'd say yes, you probably should, lol... just don't incubate bantams at same time with them... I found my hatch rate for bantams mixed with lf during dry incubating is very low to nil... bantams need just a little water in the bator to keep them at steady moisture loss without overdoing it...

That's interesting too!

You all know I am going to chime in here, every season at every home, every bator, is a bit different, some with fast fans some slow fans, some bators hold humidity some dont, I personally hate saying dry incubation because people think that's exactly what it means.  Example here, if I use a styro I need to adjust humidity differently than my cooler bators, and then differently in the cabinet cooler bator.  And some people with big wooden cabinets with big fans fight to keep humidity in them.  

[COLOR=FF0000]Humidity is NEVER a set number be it HIGH or LOW,[/COLOR] humidity is ONLY a tool to get the best possible weight loss in the eggs for the eggs to be viable at hatch. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can tell you what that egg needs, it varies with what breed egg, what size egg, how old, ect...... NO ONE except you, be it by watching air cells or weighing your eggs, HOWEVER even weighing eggs you have to be careful, because shipped eggs have already lost tons of weight, and eggs sitting for a week or two already lost weight.  

The more you incubate the better we become at eyeing up our air cells.  The worst cases I have seen with incubating is too LOW temps and too much humidity, but that doesnt mean no humidity, your getting it from the humidity in your home or your adding water.  Its up to each hatcher to figure out what their eggs need humidity wise. 

Example, if you watch some of the vids from commercial hatcheries they run a much much higher humidity than we would, why? they have huge fans running in those rooms which dry out the eggs at a faster rate without added humidity and most times they set fresher eggs than we do. 

I'm trying to drill this into my head! There is so much advice about what humidity to run. It's so true, each batch is unique! Lots of variables to experiment with!

 

[firedragon1982]

Ugh, I had a serious question when I came into this thread, but catching up on the posts this morning made me forget it. Lesson learned: post first, read after

. If I remember what the question was I'll do that.

And no, I haven't finished my first cup of coffee yet. Maybe that's the problem...

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I understand, and thank you! I was just concurring that's what we have said all along here too. There are too many variables to give a set number.

yeppers! you have to understand,

if I dont give an explanation, I will have to give all the info later on, so after all this time I just learned to give what I can right off the bat, some take that the wrong way at times, someone called me spam one time LOL, yea ok I get paid to help others NOT, and its not my intention to give too much info, but I am just used to having to answer incubation and chick assistance a lot. Its just my way now. I have gotten more than inundated with PMs and when I wasnt on BYC during my illness I was getting them through FB, not that I minded and the thank you emails for my research have been so sweet and make me remember that I help people with my reasearch and writing. So my appologies if I seemed rude not my intentions ever, I just like helping people

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Perfect! Just keep him away from windows.

Another good one, you guys are filled with them!




had to edit the end

but this is how I feel when SC says I opened a window

 

[firedragon1982]

Ugh, I had a serious question when I came into this thread, but catching up on the posts this morning made me forget it. Lesson learned: post first, read after

. If I remember what the question was I'll do that.

And no, I haven't finished my first cup of coffee yet. Maybe that's the problem...

Ha! I remembered!! Ok, I was wondering going thru the BST for hatching eggs, I keep seeing BIN listed on some threads as well as thrown around on some facebook chicken pages. I thought I figured it out previously, but I honestly don't remember what it stands for now. Some days I feel like I need a translator for these things...

 

[FridayYet]

Buy It Now. That means it is a set price, not an auction

 

[firedragon1982]

Buy It Now. That means it is a set price, not an auction

So yes, at one time I did have it figured out on my own. Maybe I just need a caffeine IV in the mornings.

 

[FridayYet]

So yes, at one time I did have it figured out on my own. Maybe I just need a caffeine IV in the mornings. 

I hear you there. I'm worthless without my coffee!

 

[RubyNala97]

yeppers!  you have to understand,

if I dont give an explanation, I will have to give all the info later on, so after all this time I just learned to give what I can right off the bat, some take that the wrong way at times, someone called me spam one time LOL, yea ok I get paid to help others NOT, and its not my intention to give too much info,  but I am just used to having to answer incubation and chick assistance a lot. Its just my way now. I have gotten more than inundated with PMs and when I wasnt on BYC during my illness I was getting them through FB, not that I minded and the thank you emails for my research have been so sweet and make me remember that I help people with my reasearch and writing.  So my appologies if I seemed rude not my intentions ever, I just like helping people 

I get that! It's like talking to my kids. If I just tell them to do something without any explanations, they don't do it and instead ask me a million "why" questions. But if I just take an extra two minutes and say "I need you to do this because ....." Then it all clicks and they move into action. We're hatching "kids" in a sense and you've learned to put it all out there upfront to save yourself from all the "why's"!

 

[WalnutHill]

I get that! It's like talking to my kids. If I just tell them to do something without any explanations, they don't do it and instead ask me a million "why" questions. But if I just take an extra two minutes and say "I need you to do this because ....." Then it all clicks and they move into action. We're hatching "kids" in a sense and you've learned to put it all out there upfront to save yourself from all the "why's"!

My parents said I drove them nuts with "whys" because I always challenged the "because" or thought it insufficient. All these years later I am still the same way, and it makes me very good at what I do.