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

[Beekissed]

Question 1: Since you are trying to emulate a broody hen (at least I think that's what you mentioned at the beginning of the thread), why are you using temperatures for an artificial incubator? I don't know and I'm wondering what you think ... do you think that the tops of the eggs should be warmer than 100F if the bottom of the eggs are cooler than that? If they're sitting on stuff that is less than 100F, then they are losing heat out of the bottom side, right? I don't know much about heat transfer, so I may have my thinking all goofed up.

Question 2: How are you heating the bottom of the eggs? Do you think the middle of the eggs are getting to 100F (or whatever it needs to be)?

Question 3: I guess I'm not sure where you are measuring the temperature at. Are you measuring the temp of the air? The eggs? The nest? What do you think is the best idea? Or am I just complicating it too much?

I tell you what, having broodies is like livin' the dream. I can't imagine chickenkeeping without them. They make incubating look effortless, and that surely simplifies my life. I hope one of your hens switches over to broodiness soon.

The study I read about the broody brood patch measured it at 95.0 and the study showed that under a cold stimulus to the brood patch the circulation of the broody instantly responded by increasing the area under the stimulus to a steady 95.0. That was confusing for me because of everything else I've read about incubation...much like the things you have read. In light of all these conflicting studies and documentations, I'm trying to keep it around 100.0-100.5 if I can. That's about smack dab in the middle of things.

That's the nature of an experiment, especially when one is not working from a scientific process but just using instinct...it may fail, it may succeed, and I will never know how to tweak it to make it succeed without a more scientific approach, I imagine.

I'm trying not to get too bogged down into complications...those seriously irk my hide and I won't entertain the panicky feeling they induce. What if I'm doing it wrong? What if I fail? What if the world suddenly goes flat and my house rolls over because of it? Those are all things that may or may not happen, cannot be anticipated with the information I currently possess and, therefore, cannot be the focus of this experiment.

I'm measuring the temps of the eggs and the nest...I'm thinking that if this produces eggs for everyone else in an incubator situation, then it may do so in a nest situation, but I could be wrong...that's why I'm doing the experiment, to see if it will work or if it will not.

I guess we will know in a matter of days!

I love all these questions, though, because it makes one think and could possibly cause one to rethink what they had originally thought about the process. All in all, I'm just winging it.

 

[Spangled]

The study I read about the broody brood patch measured it at 95.0 and the study showed that under a cold stimulus to the brood patch the circulation of the broody instantly responded by increasing the area under the stimulus to a steady 95.0. That was confusing for me because of everything else I've read about incubation...much like the things you have read. In light of all these conflicting studies and documentations, I'm trying to keep it around 100.0-100.5 if I can. That's about smack dab in the middle of things.

95? Wow. Interesting. Yeah, I have any read much of anything very recently, so what little I know of has hidden itself in inaccessible regions of my gray matter.

It's all very intriguing. I look forward to reading/seeing what happens.

Fingers crossed that you'll have a broody available to raise your batch of chickies in a couple of weeks.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm kind of hoping I won't...at first...I want to utilize the heating pad as a broody for a bit to see how that works.

 

[ocap]

I think the BYC member who used a feather duster as a broody was "Kasandra", she mentioned keeping temperatures a lot colder in the brooding area, might be because the chicks all went "under the broody".

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...I'll be brooding them in the coop where the ambient temps are anywhere from the teens to the 50s right now, depending on weather trends.

 

[Meinertzhagens]

I have to say again, this thread is so fascinating! I feel like I am learning a ton as well. I am really rooting for you. It gives me hope for a more natural way of hatching eggs in the classroom rather than scraping together reliable incubator money on a teacher's salary. And it would be cool for the kids to see the different elements that go into simulating a hen's nest! Thank you for this!

 

[Beekissed]

This is an interesting read about natural incubation using rice hulls: http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5169e/y5169e06.htm

More interesting reading:

Quote:

 

[elorraine52]

This is an interesting read about natural incubation using rice hulls: http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5169e/y5169e06.htm

More interesting reading:

good to know!!

 

[ronott1]

This is a candling picture of a New Heritage Delaware egg on Day 12. I took the picture tonight along with a video. I will post the video when it is ready on Vimeo.


The Dark spot in the middle is the chick. You can see some of the veins st the bottom very easily.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you! I'll be looking for this. So far, nothing much and I get the feeling this sissy roo has been shooting blanks or just not connecting the dots. I made a water bag water wiggler today to put my thermometer inside so that I could get a better reading on egg temps. I'm hoping that will give me a better idea on where they should be. Could be that I haven't been providing enough heat due to my thermometer being just next to the eggs, as one member pointed out.