Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[LeslieDJoyce]

This morning I used a pair of shoes.

After I uncovered the eggs to turn, the temps dropped and were slow coming up that few degrees, so I just placed my tennis shoes on top of Little Red Hen and it served nicely. That pad is so thick that there is no feeling anything through it...it has five layers of material. two layer forms a quilted pad filled with feathers, the next forms a pocket, the next two layers are fleece that forms the "back" of the chicken mama. The only thing those eggs will feel, way down there, are the feathers over them and the soft velour of the heating pad on top of those.

I think the rooster down is one of the more genius features of this setup. That and the moist bedding. I think this would be a really good way to brood duck eggs.

 

[Beekissed]

I think the rooster down is one of the more genius features of this setup. That and the moist bedding. I think this would be a really good way to brood duck eggs.

I was thinking the same thing, since they have to be misted with water all the time. If one could just mist the feathers really good instead it might hold in the humidity a little better than misting and then lying on a rack in a hot incubator.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a few comments made on a blog that seem to match my own thinking on this topic of humidity and makes me feel a bit better about coming to the same conclusion as others on it:

Quote:

Comment by anna — late Tuesday morning, May 17th, 2011

comment 5
Hens do better than incubators at getting humidity right, because their clutch of eggs sits on the ground and the moisture needed for humidifying the eggs comes from the earth. Let your hens set on their eggs on the good old firma terra and you'll see how mother nature improves her hatch rate. ~ old farmer


The feathers I am using have had all their natural oils washed away but I was thinking that their construction alone has the ability to conserve humidity, as well as the moisture in the bedding/soil under the hay holding humidity to contribute towards the general humidity of the nest in a slow, steady manner. That's why I added a few handfuls of snow onto that mix before bringing it into the house, so that it would melt evenly and distribute the added moisture more readily.

Then there is the hay...it more closely mimics the type of grasses one would find a hen pulling to make a nest with and has the ability to also hold moisture, as well as having some moisture of it's own to impart to the nest.

All in all, I'm going to have to trust to the fact that all the necessary elements to have humidity in a broody nest are in place except for the humidity generated by the hen herself, which I can mimic somewhat with the occasional spritz of water on the feathering....but I'm thinking that as time goes along for a broody that she may give out less and less humidity due to the fact that she is more and more dehydrated from being on the nest and away from a ready water source. Broodies that go out and nest in the bush do not have a stream of water close by for sipping and I doubt they leave their nest daily to go in search for it.... it's as if they dropped off the face of the Earth until you see them come in with a family of biddies.

 

[BoereMeisie]

Definitely following this... SO interesting!

 

[Beekissed]

I don't have any way to mimic this part, so I'm going to continue to roll and shuffle eggs at random, hoping to get them all equally a time in the middle of the nest:

Quote:

Vocalization is even important during the brooding process.

Scientists have discovered (using tiny microphones connected to eggs and placed in the nest) that the hen hears vocal responses from the embryos to her vocalizations.

These responses give her clues as to how the embryos are developing compared to each other. Based on that communication, she turns the eggs at different rates—moving one that is maturing a little more quickly out to the edge of the pile to cool off and slow down, while moving one that is maturing more slowly to the center of the nest to speed development.

 

[Beekissed]

I moved the box out of the windowsill and over to a chair next to it, to see if temps regulate a little more in that space when night falls and outside temps drop. I need to do that before I leave in a couple of days so I can leave for 2 days without worrying too much about variances in temp. I'm hoping two days of slight variances will not kill the hatch...if it varies, I'm thinking it will get more cold than hot for that period of time.

Right now temps are holding steady at 100* on #3 setting on the thermostat, with the Chickie Mama pad in place over the heating pad and a layer of feathers between heating pad and eggs.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bee, that sort of thing is why I suggested candling the eggs at least once. You could actually do this by moving the nest into a very dark room and placing a very bright and small flashlight against the eggs shell without lifting the eggs. I candle in my cedar closet, actually... You could then move the flashlight across the shell to try to spot veining, and even turn the eggs while you're at it.

I have trouble identifying developing eggs too, but around day 14 it becomes really obvious which eggs have nothing in them but yolk and which don't.

 

[ocap]

great news !!!
don't know what I will do when you are gone for two days and don't have any updates.

Pray. Praying would be good......

I'll never know if the temps had spiked or dropped in all that time and I'll just have to go on faith that they held steady in this system. I'll not be able to add water or turn eggs in that time either, so it could affect things but I'm counting on the fact that a broody's nest is not all that touchy and things will be fine.

I can do that:

Mark 11:24
Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

 

[Beekissed]

I can do that:

Mark 11:24
Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

Yes!

I've found this to be true so many times, though often the things came to me in quite a different manner than I had asked or imagined.

If you think about it, all who incubate eggs are exercising some manner of faith...faith in their eggs to be fertile, for the controls to work, for the power to stay on, for a successful hatch. I'm exercising faith too...that what I cannot control, He will and do so quite efficiently and whatever the outcome, He has determined it was the best one for my life and my future. I'm very content with that.

 

[aussie pete]

Hi Jules ,

i read an old item once that said - back before incubators ,u spayed the egg (misted)with water & u could see the eggs either absorbed the moisture or it beaded & rolled off depending if the egg required more moisture or not.

have had power outages up to 2 days without effect ,provided i used some form of insulation to stop temp drop
i think u r on the rite track re the broodie being "stuck" to the nest

from what little i know the internal temp of the egg takes a fair while to drop as against the variance in external temp

i'm guessing that's why ppl have success with water wigglers because it gives a more accurate reflection of the actual internal egg temp

my observation of my broodies is that they leave the nest at different times, dependent on the day, but usually when the weather is reasonably stable temp wise. so as to minimize temp fluctuations while she's away

guess what i'm saying & what we try to mimic with incubators is consistency of temp is key.

this is a great experiment ,thanks for sharing
cheers Pete