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

[Cowpoke]

There you go Beeing conservative again!

 

[Zombified]

There you go Beeing conservative again!

 

[Beekissed]

Well...I'm confident we'll be able to come up with a buzz word for this method.....

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Quote: Well these guys died last night within an hour of each other--about 8 hrs after hatch. They were pathetic,weak, deformed feet and neither could walk. They were as floppy as a dishrag and ould barely hold their heads up. The weirdest part was they had no normal chick fuzz, just a dog like oarse short hair. I'm ok with the loss.

I had 7 Plymouth Rocks hatch, 100% that made it to lockdown. They were in their own incubator (hacthed out 100% Delawares--all A OK in another incubator). Temps and humidity same for both bators. Here is how the 7 hatchlings went down:

1-3, no issues, quick zip, robust chicks
4-5, quick zip, weird down, weak, died 8 hrs later.
6, quick zip, normal down, robust
7, long, horrible zip (12 hrs) constant distress chirping in egg, feet sticking out free and clear in with eggshell gone,, head stuck in top half of eggshell, hatched with unabsorbed yolk. Weak, listless. I may cull it later.

This was my hatch from H---LL! Makes me want to stop hathing, but Im almost done. I will only use Broodys when this is over!

 

[Beekissed]

Well these guys died last night within an hour of each other--about 8 hrs after hatch. They were pathetic,weak, deformed feet and neither could walk. They were as floppy as a dishrag and ould barely hold their heads up. The weirdest part was they had no normal chick fuzz, just a dog like oarse short hair. I'm ok with the loss.

I had 7 Plymouth Rocks hatch, 100% that made it to lockdown. They were in their own incubator (hacthed out 100% Delawares--all A OK in another incubator). Temps and humidity same for both bators. Here is how the 7 hatchlings went down:

1-3, no issues, quick zip, robust chicks
4-5, quick zip, weird down, weak, died 8 hrs later.
6, quick zip, normal down, robust
7, long, horrible zip (12 hrs) constant distress chirping in egg, feet sticking out free and clear in with eggshell gone,, head stuck in top half of eggshell, hatched with unabsorbed yolk. Weak, listless. I may cull it later.

This was my hatch from H---LL! Makes me want to stop hathing, but Im almost done. I will only use Broodys when this is over!

I know how you feel about that reluctance to go through it again. I would sure love it if someone with a lot of experience with hatching were to chime in on the probable causes of your chick's problems. It almost sounds genetic or like a nutritional deficiency when you think of feet deformity and hair textures like that. Have you asked about this in the bigger hatching threads and gotten any good reasons this could have happened?

I'm so sorry about how this turned out and I feel wretched for you. I'm going to pray that the Lord will comfort you and renew your spirit like He did mine when I was so down-hearted over my incubation problems and results.

 

[Zombified]

Tumbleweed, that's so sad. ): I'm so sorry for your losses. But at least there are other little chicks to take up all your attention!

I'm trying so hard to be patient... I have three pips! But so far, no ducklings. All three pipped mid-late afternoon yesterday, and today, I can't hear or see anything. I haven't candled them at all because I want to mess with them as little as possible, but I'm also really curious about what could possibly be going on inside those shells... I do know that last night, the other eggs that hadn't pipped yet were moving around a lot.

Even if these three don't make it, I'm going to try and keep a positive attitude. The only thing is, the two girls who were sitting are starting to get a little restless.

 

[aart]

I think I'll call it the NN22 or the Nest22 method. Simple and describes the method pretty well....Natural Nest/22 day incubation(on average). Or I could go all vainglorious and use a double entendre and call it the Green Method.....Green is my last name and the method is sort of low energy, more natural and using more organic materials at hand, while recycling a cardboard box, using materials that can be used again for other things, etc.

We'll have to take a vote from all the good people who participated on this thread for a few of these options. When I write up the experiment conclusion I'll post the final options and let you all vote on them and explain why you wanted to call it that. How's that sound?

I don't think 'Natural' is accurate, not really any more natural than a foam incubator as far as the process itself...
.....artificial heat, temperature monitored and controlled by a human....
tho I guess you could use the word 'natural' as it applies to the leaves and dirt in the container.

It probably took just as much maintenance and attention as using any other bator.

Probably doesn't use a lot less power....
I've got numbers for both a foam incubator and the heating pad brooder 'plate'.
Used a kil-a-watt cause I was curious to know how much cost of power was spent on incubation, can't find 'em right now tho....
....but the LG really doesn't use a ton of wattage.

What I think is most unique about it is the way the heat is contained and applied to the eggs eliminating the need for a fan.

Fascinating experiment.....I predict you will be hatching more chicks if you need them and a real natural broody isn't available.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't think 'Natural' is accurate, not really any more natural than a foam incubator as far as the process itself...
.....artificial heat, temperature monitored and controlled by a human....
tho I guess you could use the word 'natural' as it applies to the leaves and dirt in the container.

It probably took just as much maintenance and attention as using any other bator.

Probably doesn't use a lot less power....
I've got numbers for both a foam incubator and the heating pad brooder 'plate'.
Used a kil-a-watt cause I was curious to know how much cost of power was spent on incubation, can't find 'em right now tho....
....but the LG really doesn't use a ton of wattage.

What I think is most unique about it is the way the heat is contained and applied to the eggs eliminating the need for a fan.

Fascinating experiment.....I predict you will be hatching more chicks if you need them and a real natural broody isn't available.

I think your missing the other aspects of this incubation that is natural...

1. It's open to the air and the natural and normal fluctuations of the ambient temps and a foam chest is not~that's about as natural as you can get and a foam chest is not...they advise one to locate the bator in the room with the least temp and humidity variances, don't they?

2. It's also open to variances in humidity that one will not see in a foam chest...it sits by a window that is open even a bit when it it's raining hard outside and when the night dew settles into the atmosphere. A foam chest has little holes in it that allows a certain airflow and humidity change but most of the humidity is supplied by a sponge or a bowl of water. The mass and humidity of the organic materials itself is incredibly natural as the heat from the pad warms the mass and releases the humidity there.

3. The type of heat is different and more natural as well...it's localized heat that is more like a broody supplies, unlike the heat supplied by a lightbulb or heating element in an open foam box with air circulating the heat and also evaporating the natural humidity.

4. The materials in the nest contain all the molds and bacteria one would find in a natural, outdoors setting, whereas a foam bator is a clean, smooth and controlled setting where the eggs do not come into contact with very many surfaces. This could very well provide some type of natural exposure to environmental microbial life that the chicks are already forming antibodies for while still inside the shell. We don't know the long reaching aspect of this type of natural exposure to the nesting materials just yet and it's likely something that cannot be measured but may have some significance....think of how folks are cautioned to wash their hands before handling the eggs, blah, blah, blah.

5. After the chicks are hatched they are on a textured surface(good footing for mobility) that has all those same qualities. Their very first exposure to an environment in life was to the natural materials and microbial life they will be forming antibodies to later on, so this early exposure could count for why so many broody hatch babies thrive more than bator babies.

6. Even the container is more natural...cardboard vs. foam. Cardboard is from an organic substance that breathes, absorbs moisture and allows air and moisture flow due to being porous...foam is not and does not. Which is why folks build bators from them, so as to control those two elements even further.

7. The darkness supplied by the heating pad vs. the always present light shining into the eggs in an incubator is another aspect of natural vs. unnatural....the melatonin uptake necessary for good immune, nervous and reproductive health that can only be obtained while a creature is in the darkness and cannot take place in an incubator with a light that is always shining.

No...I think this method has natural stamped all over it compared to other methods of incubation we use here in America.



I've never used a foam incubator but I've read plenty on them and they are way more fiddly than this last nest was. I think you are gauging the fiddliness of the nest on the evolution from the beginning of this thread as I learned different aspects of using this box, but if you just go on the last box and after I had learned what you don't or do have to do to maintain temps, it was much, much, much easier than what other people describe from foam incubators....seems every other day I read a thread asking for help in regulating temps and humidity on those things and I had no such trouble doing the same with this last nest....I had no unexpected spikes and I didn't have to measure or add humidity after the initial humidity added during the nest build.

Not only that, I drove clear across the state and placed the nest in a different home and in all that time, while using a hot water bottle and then the pad, the temperature didn't fluctuate even one degree either way. Find me a bator that is that stable and versatile that you can load it up in the back seat and drive 4 hrs one way over mountain terrain and potholes galore, stick it on the counter in the kitchen of the rental place, load it back up and make the trip back and never have a temp variance.

When you find that bator, you better patent it because I'm thinking there will be some money made there.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, BTW.....another chick out of a WR egg. It's another blondie and it's so loud and vigorous it's all over that nest...it pipped and zipped so quickly that it practically burst out of the shell. One egg left, a BA chick and I can already see that it's another Hootie, of course.

 

[Tomtommom]

Bee, you make me so excited listing all that. I so agree! I am a firm believer in exposure to build resistance.. this nest has GOT to be better than a styrofoam box.