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

[Beekissed]

im thinking about trying this, bujt have no idea where to get a heating pad that says on all the time. id also have to talk my husband and mother in law into helping

Walmart...Sunbeam brand. It has an option for a 2 hr shutoff or to stay on all the time. Cheap too!

My incubator for down to 80* during a power outage on day 5 ... I still have 80% developing, due to hatch around the 5th.. Wait and see.

That gives me reassurances, thank you! Someone else earlier had told me about having a similar good outcome from a cold nest in a broody hatch, so I'm much relieved. Nest temps are up to normal now and all is well.

Let us know how you hatch goes? Would love to see the pics and hear of the outcome.

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

Walmart...Sunbeam brand.  It has an option for a 2 hr shutoff or to stay on all the time.  Cheap too! 

I'll look when I get off work. Now to try to get some eggs. Mine are all less then a month old so no eggs from them, but the lady that brings us eggs to eat has a roo. So we'll see.

 

[Beekissed]

Was watching a NatGeo documentary last night and there was this part about caymans and their nesting. They said if the nest was on the hot side it would produce more males and on the cooler side it would produce more females. I wonder if this also influences chicken eggs in some way and those who use cooler temps get a majority of females and so on?

Would be interesting to try something like that if one were an experienced incubator and had the right controls. One article I read said that chicken eggs hatch better at 98.6 degrees, so that left me pondering also.

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

Bee what temp are you holding inside your water wiggle?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bee, being a science junkie I can answer this! In some reptiles the heat changes the way the chromosomes in the egg develop. The egg simply contains all the right things to develop into either gender and the temperature controls how it develops. Some reptiles can even have they typical chromosones and have them reversed by the temperature to develop into another gender. Gender is extremely fluid in some animals.

This is is not so in birds. In birds the gender of the egg is decided by the mother's reproductive system the day it gets fertilized. Male birds produce a ZZ chromeosone and the mother bird releases either a z or a w into the egg to make it a boy (z) or a girl(w). However, while the embryos of both genders of egg have a similar ideal temperature girls can handle a different extreme than males. So incubating too warm/cold for one gender than the other COULD influence the ratio of boys to girls in the hatch but only in the sense that you hatch out fewer total eggs in the first place by killing off some of the others.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee what temp are you holding inside your water wiggle?

A range of 99.5-100.5 seems to be where it wants to stay...sort of levels off there and stays at that temp when it finally gets the nest up to the right temps. I think this heating pad is remarkable in holding a steady temp. I had an ancient heating pad in the back of my cupboard that I experimented with first on my thermometer and it couldn't hold temps at all...it only had three settings and none of them seemed to be the right one and on one setting the temps would waffle back and forth.

I'm glad I had access to this variable setting, digital heating pad of a newer sort to finally do the nesting with...it's been very steady and reliable.

Bee, being a science junkie I can answer this! In some reptiles the heat changes the way the chromosomes in the egg develop. The egg simply contains all the right things to develop into either gender and the temperature controls how it develops. Some reptiles can even have they typical chromosones and have them reversed by the temperature to develop into another gender. Gender is extremely fluid in some animals.

This is is not so in birds. In birds the gender of the egg is decided by the mother's reproductive system the day it gets fertilized. Male birds produce a ZZ chromeosone and the mother bird releases either a z or a w into the egg to make it a boy (z) or a girl(w). However, while the embryos of both genders of egg have a similar ideal temperature girls can handle a different extreme than males. So incubating too warm/cold for one gender than the other COULD influence the ratio of boys to girls in the hatch but only in the sense that you hatch out fewer total eggs in the first place by killing off some of the others.

Thanks! That would explain it, then. And so typical...girls can always handle more extremes than guys...

Just funnin'...don't burn me at the stake for that one!

 

[bdfive]

Was watching a NatGeo documentary last night and there was this part about caymans and their nesting.  They said if the nest was on the hot side it would produce more males and on the cooler side it would produce more females.  I wonder if this also influences chicken eggs in some way and those who use cooler temps get a majority of females and so on? 

Would be interesting to try something like that if one were an experienced incubator and had the right controls.  One article I read said that chicken eggs hatch better at 98.6 degrees, so that left me pondering also. 

OH MY GOODNESS! wonder if this is true for all birds. I hatch Peafowl (baby peacocks) and always get more males. It would be best to get more females. I wonder if I have the guts to turn my temp down a little from 99.5. I have a GQF Sportsman Cabinet Incubator. Not sure how to do it. Thanks for sharing this Beekissed.

 

[Beekissed]

OH MY GOODNESS! wonder if this is true for all birds. I hatch Peafowl (baby peacocks) and always get more males. It would be best to get more females. I wonder if I have the guts to turn my temp down a little from 99.5. I have a GQF Sportsman Cabinet Incubator. Not sure how to do it. Thanks for sharing this Beekissed.

Better check out the info from the Choco Mouse first...she says it doesn't work for birdies! I am tempted to tweak internal temps down to 98.6 or so on a future nest to see if anything good happens.

 

[bdfive]

A range of 99.5-100.5 seems to be where it wants to stay...sort of levels off there and stays at that temp when it finally gets the nest up to the right temps.  I think this heating pad is remarkable in holding a steady temp.  I had an ancient heating pad in the back of my cupboard that I experimented with first on my thermometer and it couldn't hold temps at all...it only had three settings and none of them seemed to be the right one and on one setting the temps would waffle back and forth.

I'm glad I had access to this variable setting, digital heating pad of a newer sort to finally do the nesting with...it's been very steady and reliable. 


Thanks!  That would explain it, then.  And so typical...girls can always handle more extremes than guys...           Just funnin'...don't burn me at the stake for that one! 

Waaaaaaaaaaa, I liked what Beekissed had to say better, LOL!!! So......ChocolateMouse, your saying I can get more females in a hatch by changing temps that will kill off the males? Reading all this quickly so hope I didn't misunderstand and making a fool of myself.

 

[Beekissed]

Waaaaaaaaaaa, I liked what Beekissed had to say better, LOL!!! So......ChocolateMouse, your saying I can get more females in a hatch by changing temps that will kill off the males? Reading all this quickly so hope I didn't misunderstand and making a fool of myself.

To me it makes a lot of sense..does it to you? Don't want unwanted roosters anyway? Turn down the temps. Want females that are tough little survivors? Turn down the temps. It's something to ponder.....