The American Cemani Breeders Club...open forum

[Phage]

I have 3 R-coms that I do not use for incubation due to the higher incidence of malposition and failure to hatch due to the fact that the eggs are rolled not tilted. They are good incubators though if you have limited experience and want to hatch very precious eggs. Personally I prefer the Brinsea cabinet for incubation and hatch in the r-coms.

If you are hatching such valuable eggs it is worth sucking it up and buying a decent bator - not a styrofoam, as it will pay for itself in one decent hatch. The trick is set the eggs and then do not be tempted to mess with them. I usually candle eggs once at 10 days, remove the duds and let the bator do its thing. No messing with them - candeling/ weighing/ looking at air sacs -fun though it may be. I usually have excellent results.

 

[Steadfast]

I have 2 digital themometers and hygrometers and 1 analog hygrometer measuring my eggs.
the only problem is that NONE of them aggree... and they ar 1-2 full degrees F off in disagreement.

So, Im running on an average... which sucks ...

I just purchased a
IncuTherm Plus™ Hatch Monitor

What do you guys think of this product?

The other one I have is this one...
and it is Stupid SLOW, like hours slow, and I have no idea if it is correct...

 

[DCchicken]

I have 2 digital themometers and hygrometers and 1 analog hygrometer measuring my eggs.
the only problem is that NONE of them aggree... and they ar 1-2 full degrees F off in disagreement.

So, Im running on an average... which sucks ...

I just purchased a
IncuTherm Plus™ Hatch Monitor

What do you guys think of this product?

The other one I have is this one...
and it is Stupid SLOW, like hours slow, and I have no idea if it is correct...

I have the IncubatorWharehouse one you show. It is actually how I know that my Brinsea Octagon cooked my English Orpington eggs. I tested it against a high accurate medical thermometer and it was pretty accurate. Not sure about the humidity. I am not sure how much you need to constantly adjust humidity. Temperature seems to be more important during incubation. Humidity plays more of a role during hatching time.

 

[Steadfast]

Thanks.

 

[Steadfast]

Well, it's day 18
Time for lockdown for my 7 little eggs

Pulled out the egg turner.
Put down a sterilized green foam mat.
Raising the humidity to 65
Dropping the temp to 98f

My digital thermostat reads 98.5f. Look at what those crappy thermometers read.
(At least the humidity meter is spot on. )

 

[DCchicken]

Good luck on your hatch, Steadfast!

Remember...do not open the lid. Chicks can live for 3 days without food and water. So let all of the eggs hatch and give the chicks a chance to dry off before removing them.

 

[Steadfast]

Thanks I will.
Hopefully I'll have chick photos by Saturday evening.

 

[Steadfast]

This just in.

I spoke to mike aka wolfwhyte on the phone.
My birds are coming early next week.
Excellent!

He emailed me a technical conversation he had with a customer about how to breed for consistent black. And gave me permission to post it here.

Here is that explanation:

Mike, you had talked about using a Sumatra to darken the Cemani. Would you mind giving me a 10 second primer/breeding plan on how to do that?

wolfwhyte:

"There are plusses and minuses when crossing a Cemani with a Sumatra. The biggest plus is you can get an extraordinarily beautiful chicken, but it is then not a Cemani. The best, so called Cemani, have some Sumatra in them. Sumatras have black extender genes. One obvious one is in their comb. They have a black comb gene that blackens their comb. When this is crossed on to a Cemani you never get mahogany combs which is a big problem in Cemani. You also get very bright plumage and long beautiful tails. On the flip side, you reduce the size of the birds introduce pea comb and rose comb genes. In addition, horizontal tails and short legs can be a problem too. All of which are dominant genes and can be crossed out.

First you need a Sumartra with a black comb and white skin. Cross it with a large Cemani like mine. You will get basically Sumatra looking chickens. You can either cross them together and select for each trait, or breed them back to a Cemani. I would do the second and select for desired traits because all are dominant and you get a 50/50 chance of getting the genes you want. Once you get there, the bird will breed true. They are far better looking than anything you will find in the US. I have no desire to breed them except to see them. I am into quality egg production. I believe you have seen pictures of beautiful small Cemanis or rosecomb Cemanis. I believe all have been crossed with Sumatra. After all, Sumatra is just next door to Java home of the Cemani."

 

[Steadfast]

He also emailed me pictures of my chick's mom hen.

It was snowing when he took the photos so those slight grey spots are not spots. But rather, fuzzy unfocused snow flakes.

 

[DCchicken]

How funny! That was my conversation with Mike. I have since decided against outcrossing to a Sumatra at this time.