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

[Beekissed]

do a search on 'tin foil broody' and the article should be the first on the results.... it was on a banner on every page early this morning.

I'm wondering if the release of the 'study' has anything to do with it being April 1st????

Yep, it is!

Now, I read that study, and couldn't wrap my head around some of the details of it, especially talking about estradiol being excreted in the feathers and reflected back by the tinfoil... So, if it is an April fool's hoax, it's a mean one!! But, wouldn't it make sense that the tin foil would reflect some light, even in a fairy dark nest box, and perhaps the angle of that lighting might trick the hen's body into thinking it's later in the season than it really is??? Also, if anyone does try this, I'd recommend that you cover that foil with some heavy plastic to keep the hens from eating it. I'm not sure how tin foil in the diet affects broodiness.

Aren't all such jokes kinda mean? I've never let my kids participate in April Fool's because of this....we are not prankster kind of people. Just not our brand of humor to do mean things to people.

 

[Tomtommom]

Aren't all such jokes kinda mean? I've never let my kids participate in April Fool's because of this....we are not prankster kind of people. Just not our brand of humor to do mean things to people.

I'm not a real fan of pranks, period... Some are ok. My husband wrote 'April fools' on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and handed it to his supervisor at their meeting.. acting all serious, like it was his 2 week notice. That's alright, because he figured it out the moment he read the piece of paper. It got a giggle, but noone was made to look stupid. Spreading misinformation as truth is not all that funny, no matter how incredibly unbelievable the information is.. To me making people look dumb is not that funny.

If anything bad happens to a person on April 1st, it's hard... Imagine a loved one passes and everyone thinks it's a joke? That would be so hard to deal with

Nope, not a fan of this day.. at all.

 

[LindaB220]

I'm not a real fan of pranks, period... Some are ok. My husband wrote 'April fools' on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and handed it to his supervisor at their meeting.. acting all serious, like it was his 2 week notice. That's alright, because he figured it out the moment he read the piece of paper. It got a giggle, but noone was made to look stupid. Spreading misinformation as truth is not all that funny, no matter how incredibly unbelievable the information is.. To me making people look dumb is not that funny.

If anything bad happens to a person on April 1st, it's hard... Imagine a loved one passes and everyone thinks it's a joke? That would be so hard to deal with

Nope, not a fan of this day.. at all.

Yeah, I deleted it off my FB after I found out it was a spoof. Hum.......

 

[Beekissed]

On a happier note...this is the first day of April!!!!

Spring is here and I'll be planting seeds indoors any day now so that I can plant seedlings outside about mid-May. We still have to worry about frost clear up until then, so it's always a leap of faith to put the seedlings. And I'll be planting lettuce and spinach real soon! Garden time has come!!!!

New chicks, meat chicks, gardens, coop tweaks, green grass, blue sky, fruit trees in blossom, thunderstorms, baby farm animals, spring peepers, turkeys gobbling of a morning, fresh air and all that is lovely about spring is starting this month!!!

It's before the nuisance bugs arrive, before it gets too hot, baby birds are cheeping, and everything brown is turning to green....one of my favorite months of the year!

April, how I love thee!!!

 

[aussie pete]

Thanks, Pete!

I think my air cells are right on track...not as big as the 7 day mark but are well on their way to getting there. I have one egg, though, that shows lovely development inside but the air cell is larger than all the rest...almost looks like 7 day air cell on a 5 day egg....what does that mean for this egg? There was one egg I included in this clutch that was older than the others by at least 7 days and I think this one might be it, so if it is, will it cause a difficulty for this chick, you think?

all my air cells sizes varied ,& weights varied across the board ,no 2 eggs showed the same air cell size or weight loss %.

didn't take pics of every egg but did record weight loss for all.

day 7 weight loss varied from 3 to 8 %
day 14 varied from 6 to 12%
day 18 varied from 9 to 13 %
was aiming for 14% for day 21
this shows a variation of approx 5% across the eggs at each stage
actual egg starting weights ranged from 54 g to 67 g
x day 18 all eggs had showed a variance in % lost & air cell size visually , but all eggs had lost either 8 g or 9 g in actual weight regardless of starting weight
all eggs exposed to exactly same humidity & temp

so despite my attempts to be scientifically correct,

the eggs have varied thru out the first 18 days but have all aligned to where they need to be to hatch
seems each egg knows more than me where they need to be& adjusts itself accordingly
currently day 19 so a couple of days will see proof in the pudding of actual hatch

cheers
Pete

 

[Lacy Blues]

Pete, I think all those variations are due to shell porosity (?)

Also, I don't weigh my eggs individually. I weigh all of a certain group and do averages. I refuse to worry about the little details like individual eggs... drives me crazy so averages it is for me!

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I love this comment, Pete, because it confirms the thoughts I've always had about how most animals~if just given the time~ are pretty self adjusting on things we always try to meddle in. That was my first inclination about humidity in this natural nest setting because I was observing broodies and they don't do much about humidity and they always seem to have the best hatches.

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be on track with eggs that are developing...and not just a few....the whole nest is like they are working in sync, all breeds, all egg sizes, and shell differences are coming along pretty much the same as one another. Just that one egg with an air cell variance but I'm betting none of the other viable eggs are varying by more than a few millimeters. That's thrilling to me!

Pete, I want to thank you for getting me back on track about the humidity for this experiment....I was getting off to one side by trying to make it conform to controls done in other types of incubators. I can see now that letting things develop naturally is not only true to this experiment and my original intent, but also likely to result in success on this hatch.

 

[Beekissed]

Pete, I think all those variations are due to shell porosity (?)

Also, I don't weigh my eggs individually. I weigh all of a certain group and do averages. I refuse to worry about the little details like individual eggs... drives me crazy so averages it is for me!

I've marked my porous eggs and also noted porosity of those individual eggs as being low, moderate, or high, as I would class them. It will be interesting to see how their air cells stack up to the others on days 7, 14, and 18. I'll try to get a good mark on those so I can compare them to others with normal shells.

 

[aussie pete]

Pete, I think all those variations are due to shell porosity (?)

Also, I don't weigh my eggs individually. I weigh all of a certain group and do averages. I refuse to worry about the little details like individual eggs... drives me crazy so averages it is for me!

yes i agree it is shell porosity,just tickled my funny bone that despite all the variables that all these eggs ended up losing approx the same gram weight regardless of start weight or air cell size

this says to me that all these things, r only guides for us humans but the eggs know what they need to do without my interference,
i can only provide what i deem to be the optimum conditions for them to do what they need to do

 

[mlowen]

...

I'm not a real fan of pranks, period... Some are ok. My husband wrote 'April fools' on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and handed it to his supervisor at their meeting.. acting all serious, like it was his 2 week notice. That's alright, because he figured it out the moment he read the piece of paper. It got a giggle, but noone was made to look stupid. Spreading misinformation as truth is not all that funny, no matter how incredibly unbelievable the information is.. To me making people look dumb is not that funny.

Mlowen's quote:
I, too, have a really hard time with breaking someone's trust, making someone look like/feel like a fool. Just is not funny to me. Makes me sad so many people think hurting people's feelings is funny. But irony? Sarcasm? Self-deprecation? I'm all over it!