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

[chickiedoodahs]

You seriously need to incubate eggs in your house, in a small plastic Brinsea incubator! You get to pull up a chair and watch every single thing that happens with a full view! It's amazing!! You will love it! And you won't have to keep going outside wishing your broody was transparent!! I can feel your excitement!...it's addicting...time to start shopping for an incubator!

I know... If only I could persuade the OH, It may have to go on the Xmas list!

 

[cppeace]

I made my own cause I couldn't afford one and spent a grand total of $18+ thermometers so all together around $35. I can have about 30 duck eggs in it. Plan on making another couple once I really start going.

 

[cppeace]

Hey SC,

I wanted your opinion on this Marans Roo before I ask on the "Marans crock pot recipe" thread.

Anything that would DQ him (when he's older) that you can see? He has white bottom feet and feathered shanks. I'm just not sure about the comb an eye color. Not really going for a show Marans, but this guy came from a very dark egg and I think he's headed in a good direction. Honest feedback won't hurt my feelings.

I don't know a ton about the breed but he looks good to me, like pictures I see advertised of them.

 

[RubyNala97]

I would love to learn something from this thread as it was recommended reading, but after reading up to page 3, I noticed I have 4100+ unread posts...WHOA!! Can anyone recommend a couple of post numbers to get through the noise to the signal?

Hey, I just read your post on the hatch along thread. And I just tried to respond here but the computer ate my response, I guess. So I'll re-type it all. I'm sorry to hear your hatch didn't go so well. I would make a post on this thread and give all the details you can about the hatch. What incubator you use, your temps & humidity, and your results. There are a lot of very experienced hatchers on here. Amy just got 100% hate rate in an LG last week. They can definitely help you fine tune your practices so you can increase your hatch rate. I just finished my hatch as well. The longest I let a chick stay in the incubator is 24 hours. I hope this helps.

Haha.... yada.... yada.... yada.... . Quote: Oh yes, they can crack very loudly! Wrong side!! Notice the lines drawn on it (yes, I believe I may have had a "chocolate milk" or two when those were drawn) but imagine it extended almost half way further toward the pointy end! Its still working on it though. The little chip laying on the floor was the piece I could barely see under it, before I rolled it. So glad that story had a happy ending. John was so obviously devastated. Tear-jerking for sure.

Oh no! I hope he's okay. Stay close incase you need to help!! Any more pips?

 

[scflock]

I would love to learn something from this thread as it was recommended reading, but after reading up to page 3, I noticed I have 4100+ unread posts...WHOA!!

Can anyone recommend a couple of post numbers to get through the noise to the signal?

There's a lot of nonsense on this thread, but it stops and gets serious quickly when someone asks a real question. No one will fuss at you for asking a question that has been asked before, either, so unless you have a week or two to read all the posts, feel free to ask anything you want. I saw you a little bit in the HAL and I think Amy could help you a lot with your incubating

 

[NTBugtraq]

I've just finished my 2nd hatch ever (I'm doing my project breed of chickens), and my results this time were worse than my 1st hatch.

1st Hatch set 41 in a Hovabator 1588 with fan and turning tray. Candling didn't work well (was trying to use a flashlight with too few lumens) and I did not know about weight loss vs. humidity. Followed the instructions in the bator box, kept humidity ~50% till Day 18 then increased it to 75%. I was very hands on after Day 18, removing shells, and chicks, as they were ready (dry). I got 19/41...no idea really how many were infertile but I suspect it was 8 or so.

2nd Hatch set 41 again, candled (with Ova Scope HI) and weighed Day 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, and 18. Removed 7 infertile by Day 10, the rest I thought were viable. 14 hatch on Day 20, and 8 more by the morning of Day 21. I candle a couple of the eggs, and while no movement, they didn't appear dead. So I left everything in the bator and took Sally Sunshine's advice, left them be. Nothing happened Day 22, but on the morning of Day 23 (this morning) I find 11 dead chicks in the bator. 2 more die within 10 minutes of being placed in the brooder. So 9/41 this time. Temps appeared appropriate ~100F, maybe a little high) and humidity was 53% this morning.

Clearly I am crushed at this massive failure...but I thought they would be ok in the bator for 3 days. This makes me want to go back to my previously Amy-ish behavior.

Set 41 more this morning with the plan of not touching anything (adding no water, it runs around 25-30% humidity) until Day 10, then again on Day 16, and 18. Candling and Weighing on each of those days, and adjusting humidity as required. Also, will drop the temperature on each day after Day 18 by 0.5F each day. This time I will take out the dry chicks and shells when they are available. I will also have a 2nd bator by the time this set goes into lockdown (a Brinsea Octogon 40 ADV EX), and plan to put eggs which have not achieved enough weight loss into it on lockdown day so they can be handled separate from the rest.

Any post numbers you can point me to that you think I should read?

 

[sideWing]

I would love to learn something from this thread as it was recommended reading, but after reading up to page 3, I noticed I have 4100+ unread posts...WHOA!!

Can anyone recommend a couple of post numbers to get through the noise to the signal?

I should have mentioned that. You won't get better or faster incubation help in any other thread. SC, Amy, WVduckchuck and others are amazing.

 

[cppeace]

Your 50% humidity sounds a bit high to me for the norm .I believe it's best to aim between 35-45% overall. I started mine the first 5-7 days with around 30% and then figured out how to get it higher so keeping it in "the range" now. Also 100 degrees is too hot from what I've heard at hatch. I believe you're supposed to aim around 98-99 degrees. The ones yo ulost I believe were just to hot for too long and used up their stored food. Again very sorry about your losses here but I have a good feeling about your next hatch.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Your 50% humidity sounds a bit high to me for the norm .I believe it's best to aim between 35-45% overall. I started mine the first 5-7 days with around 30% and then figured out how to get it higher so keeping it in "the range" now. Also 100 degrees is too hot from what I've heard at hatch. I believe you're supposed to aim around 98-99 degrees. The ones yo ulost I believe were just to hot for too long and used up their stored food. Again very sorry about your losses here but I have a good feeling about your next hatch.

This last hatch I started Day 1 with ~50% humidity, and let it drop naturally (vent open) over the rest of the incubation till day 18, when it was ~25% (which is house humidity). Then I brought it up to 75% on Day 20 (since there were no pips on Day 19) after I saw pips. It dropped naturally down to 53% by the morning of Day 23.

 

[scflock]

That's good to know! Do you brood inside or outside?

Inside for 3-5 days in a tub brooder, then outside to one of 3 large brooders that will house them until they make the move to the grow out pen

Love that movie.

Where's Amy?
Down by the creek, walkin' on water

Hey SC,

I wanted your opinion on this Marans Roo before I ask on the "Marans crock pot recipe" thread.

Anything that would DQ him (when he's older) that you can see? He has white bottom feet and feathered shanks. I'm just not sure about the comb an eye color. Not really going for a show Marans, but this guy came from a very dark egg and I think he's headed in a good direction. Honest feedback won't hurt my feelings.

I will give you my very limited experience opinion, and it is based only on what I have read on the Black Copper Marans Discussion thread. He is a beautiful rooster, and looks almost exactly like mine at that age. Eye color is good, crest looks good, just watch and make sure he doesn't develop any extra points at the rear base. Mine did, and that's what a carnation comb is. That's a DQ if you are showing. I don't know enough to comment on body type, but he also looks like he may be a little "mossy". That's when you get copper bleeding into the areas that should be totally black, like the breast. The ear muffs are copper, and that's good. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the soles of his feet are still slate colored like the shanks aren't they? One of my first roos had yellow feet, and that's another automatic DQ. From all I have read, this is an extremely difficult breed to breed to SOP, with only 10% or so surviving the cut. If you want brutally honest opinions, and have a thick skin, post on the other thread. You will learn a ton about the breed, but they don't suffer fools lightly. There are some serious breeders on that thread, and they will point out every single fault in your birds. They told me to eat mine

I wuill never be showing birds, so I will probably breed them as close to SOP as I can, but in the end will advertise them as "pet quality". 95% of the people looking for BCM just want the darkest eggs, anyway.
I think yours is gorgeous, and honestly looks exactly like my keeper at that age

Here he is at 5 months. See the extra points at the rear base? That's a DQ for showing. It was bred into Marans by people crossing them with penedesencas trying to get a darker egg, but the pens have a different comb and it has carried down. See the copper flecking in his chest? That's not desireable either, but he is an awesome bird with a great personality, so I'm going to see what I can get from him. He and the hens came from eggs that were solid 7-8 on the Marans scale