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

[Triple Willow]

Would that make her a Bumble BEE.....   sorry I couldnt help it.... 

Deb, ur funny! LOL

 

[Lacy Blues]

That gives me hope that even when things go wrong the chicks can still progress, even in conventional incubators. I would like to do this same experiment again to see if I can get a better hatch rate.

I'm not keeping track of humidity and the air cells look great compared to many I've seen...perfectly round and centered on the tip of the eggs and very well defined on two of the eggs in development but for some reason one cannot be visualized. That egg is very dark and I'm not sure what is going on in it but it could be that egg is rotten instead of full of chick....I can't smell anything, so I'm leaving it in place.

This is the way I keep track of humidity....I lift up the nest material, feel the soil...if it doesn't feel like the ground outside to me, I'll take a cup of water and add it to the soil. That's it.

For the last three days, I'll add even more water to the soil. I guess that's how you folks do in incubators that use a sponge..just add more water?

Bee, I think your humidity might be too high. The air cell needs to get bigger because when it comes time for the chicks to pip, they break into the air cell first and breathe the air in there while they rest. Then they pip the shell which is a lot more work and they rest longer. If the air cell is too small, when they pip into it they're going to get a flood of liquid from below the air cell and they will drown. Ask me how I know.

The earth underneath a broody, I think is going to be a bit dryer than what it is out in an open field. She will shed the rain that falls on her and her body heat will keep the earth a bit dryer than what surrounds her so moisture seeping in from the sides will add just a little bit of humidity.

Just trying to help, not offend in any way.

 

[subhanalah]

Will Bee mark her air cells to see if they are growing?

 

[Judy]

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[lazy gardener]

thank you.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I apologize. I took it off the thread as soon as I could. I won't be participating in anything like that again.

 

[enola]

I put 8 more eggs in the incubator tonight. 5 brown leghorn eggs, 2 that will hatch 7/8 araucana chicks and a green egg for a chick for snake food. If they hatch!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, RE: Humidity, I'd just watch air cells. If there's too much moisture in the nest, not much can be done about it at lock down. But, if the aircells are not growing well, you could stop adding moisture at this time. I wish you the best of luck, and hope this thread can move on in a positive direction, Your sister in Christ.

The air cells are growing well...they are between a quarter and 50 cent piece size and very clearly defined and perfectly round and centered...not off to the side like some of the pics I've seen. Is that good or bad?

I too would love to have enough property for all the different species birds you mention. I love birds. We only have 5 acres and neighbors so have to curb my desires. I do try so hard to find good homes for my chicks too. I discourage some from getting them. What I do to "discourage" is to find flaws in how they intend to keep them in which case they will get killed or die. I manage to word things where I can pull out of a sale by saying chicks are promised but I'll call them if buyer doesn't come through. I refuse to sell one chick by itself.....won't do it unless it's being put in with chicks it's own age. I'm pretty picky who I see to and stress again.....that's why I have too many peafowl now.

I'm so busy it's getting difficult to even scan all the postings coming in on this thread so I'm going to drop off it tomorrow. Have so enjoyed chatting with everyone and have learned some good things. Thank You!!!! Regarding the experiment. I hope it's profected to becoming an accepted new way of incubating eggs. Waaaaaaaaaa, I'm going to miss you all!!!

Don't go away.....come back to play when you can!

Hey Bee....have you set up your brooder heater yet....or are you going to use the same heating pad that is now incubating?

I'm going to use the same heating pad and will be putting it up on one end as soon as I get a pip, sort of like a hen raises up a little to tend to the chick and to let the moisture of the hatch escape. Then it will be attached to the underside of a piece of fencing wire, cut to fit, and I'll be able to manipulate it to the desired height according to the chick's needs. I'll post a pic of that as soon as I can.

If embryos died every time a mama bird got spooked off a nest or had to lure a predator away, there sure wouldn't be as many birds out there. Nature allows for some random cooling. It's the artificial temperature spikes that are killers.

Happy to hear you may try a 4th time. From the beginning I've thought yours was a viability problem and that your incubating technique is quite good. (FoxValleyFarm is proving that too.) My 3-button heating pad is old and does not hold a steady temp well. Have to make the trip over to Walmart to look for a new one, unless I get a broody first!

Thank you! That is so good of you to say... I was thinking the same thing. It's more the eggs than the method because it's working.....saw THREE CHICKS MOVING IN THOSE REMAINING EGGS TONIGHT!!!!!

The other is, of course, a quitter I'm keeping for the heat factor.

Bee, I think your humidity might be too high. The air cell needs to get bigger because when it comes time for the chicks to pip, they break into the air cell first and breathe the air in there while they rest. Then they pip the shell which is a lot more work and they rest longer. If the air cell is too small, when they pip into it they're going to get a flood of liquid from below the air cell and they will drown. Ask me how I know.

The earth underneath a broody, I think is going to be a bit dryer than what it is out in an open field. She will shed the rain that falls on her and her body heat will keep the earth a bit dryer than what surrounds her so moisture seeping in from the sides will add just a little bit of humidity.

Just trying to help, not offend in any way.

They are getting bigger, as described above. They are somewhere between a quarter and a fifty cent piece...more towards the bigger coin...and centered on the end of the eggs, no slanting to one side yet. The one egg that I couldn't see an air cell on I was able to visualize tonight and the air cell is exactly the size of the others and exactly centered on the end of the eggs. Movement in all three of the viable eggs!!!!

Yep..only adding water around the sides but not directly under the nest...if you put your finger down in the middle of the nest it's only a little humid but not moist. I think it's doing okay but only time will tell!

No offense taken...I'm soaking in everyone's advice like a sponge! Tee hee...get it? A sponge! I kill myself!!

 

[lazy gardener]

Bee, I just read a fantastic blow-by-blow about chick development and assisted hatches. It was incredible... of course didn't mark it so I could find it again, but it even went into detail about changing arterial blood gasses and the effect on the chick, and how that initiates the hatching process. also mentioned was how the air cell starts out centered like you describe, and then takes on the slanty position, which can be an indicator of how soon the egg will hatch. (kind of a parallel to when a woman's pregnant uterus "drops") Yeah, your air cells sound good.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I just read a fantastic blow-by-blow about chick development and assisted hatches. It was incredible... of course didn't mark it so I could find it again, but it even went into detail about changing arterial blood gasses and the effect on the chick, and how that initiates the hatching process. also mentioned was how the air cell starts out centered like you describe, and then takes on the slanty position, which can be an indicator of how soon the egg will hatch. (kind of a parallel to when a woman's pregnant uterus "drops") Yeah, your air cells sound good.

So they will start to slant off to the side later as the chick develops...I'll be watching for that. They all seem to be developing at the same rate as I saw the same amount of mass and similar movements in them all. I'm so relieved that I may not have a lone chick...that would have been bad and I would have had to go to TSC and get her a friend or two.

I'm also glad that I can now visualize the chicks....they don't seem to like the light, so I'll try not to shine them any longer. It's enough to know they are growing and developing along together. I'll try to put off candling now until they get much further along and will try to see the aircell development at that time.

Eggs 11, 7, and 6 were the winners in this nest!