The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[waddles99]

Of course you may ask! I may not tell you, but you certainly can ask...    

Just kidding!!! I got my eggs from cmom (Hilltop Farms) and hatched these. Looks like there are going to be some nice birds in this group, and I'll be starting my breeding program in the spring. I'll keep evaluating them throughout the year, but won't make my final decision(s) until breeding time...

They're really nice looking birds. I was wanting to get some eggs from HillTop but don't have an incubator . Sooner or later I'll have to get one, it opens up so many more opportunities. A guy at a show once had his reserve grand champion of the entire show lay an egg at the show and asked if I wanted to take it home and hatch it. It was painful to say no, but I didn't have an incubator. I really need one. By the way, I love your setup. How are they able to go outside like that? Around here they would be hawk food. I have to keep my poor babies in a dirt run.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

They're really nice looking birds. I was wanting to get some eggs from HillTop but don't have an incubator . Sooner or later I'll have to get one, it opens up so many more opportunities. A guy at a show once had his reserve grand champion of the entire show lay an egg at the show and asked if I wanted to take it home and hatch it. It was painful to say no, but I didn't have an incubator. I really need one. By the way, I love your setup. How are they able to go outside like that? Around here they would be hawk food. I have to keep my poor babies in a dirt run.

You will need to seriously consider an incubator if you plan to breed birds. That was my first purchase when I began searching for RIR. I didn 't plan to hatch my first birds, but knew I would need one (or more) once breeding begins. I built my second incubator...

They chicks are in a temporary pen and have access to my basement where the brooder is located. That's where they sleep every night... for now. I have a large coop and will have a large pen just for them once it's completed. My BR cockerel keeps a close eye on the sky and warns everyone when a suspicious bird flies over. The new RIR pen will have aviary netting over it just to be safe.

 

[waddles99]

You will need to seriously consider an incubator if you plan to breed birds. That was my first purchase when I began searching for RIR. I didn 't plan to hatch my first birds, but knew I would need one (or more) once breeding begins. I built my second incubator...

They chicks are in a temporary pen and have access to my basement where the brooder is located. That's where they sleep every night... for now. I have a large coop and will have a large pen just for them once it's completed. My BR cockerel keeps a close eye on the sky and warns everyone when a suspicious bird flies over. The new RIR pen will have aviary netting over it just to be safe.

Yeah, I've been looking at Brinsea's line of incubators. I want to get the 20 egg incubator just for the added capacity, but it is expensive. I don't want to get the 10 egg one and need more space in the future.

My chicks stay inside until they are about 3 months old, then they go to the outside run. It is completely closed, top, sides, and bottom, since there are a bunch of hawks in the area and the rooster is lazy and good for nothing. I will have to get a different setup when we move. This is just temporary. Ideally, I would like to build large enclosed runs, but that would be very expensive.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Yeah, I've been looking at Brinsea's line of incubators. I want to get the 20 egg incubator just for the added capacity, but it is expensive. I don't want to get the 10 egg one and need more space in the future.

My chicks stay inside until they are about 3 months old, then they go to the outside run. It is completely closed, top, sides, and bottom, since there are a bunch of hawks in the area and the rooster is lazy and good for nothing. I will have to get a different setup when we move. This is just temporary. Ideally, I would like to build large enclosed runs, but that would be very expensive.

Look at it this way... you can hatch 10 eggs in a 20 egg incubator, but you can't hatch 20 eggs in a 10 egg incubator. In this case, bigger is always better. If you can afford a Brinsea, go for it... it's like the Cadillac of desktop incubators. While they're nice, most people can/and do just fine with less expensive incubators. You can find incubators for $200 (or less) that can hold up to 41 eggs and give great hatch rates. I was torn between the Hovabator 1588 and the IncuView from Incubator Warehouse. The IV only holds up to 27 eggs, but what sold me was the plastic construction, which is easier to clean and keep sterile as opposed to styrofoam. Building your own incubator out of an ice chest, old mini fridge, etc., is another option if you're even remotely mechanically inclined. These can save you a little money over pre-built units, but can be a little more fidgety.

Runs don't have to be built like Fort Knox to be safe. If hawks are a problem, nylon aviary netting will suffice, and it's not nearly as expensive as wiring or building a large roof. I don't even have wire buried in the ground around my pens/coops. I've been using Solar Nite Eyes since I got my first chickens, and nothing has attempted to get into the runs/coops. Mounting 4 of them in the corners of the runs and coops is lot faster and easier than burying wire...

 

[cmom]

Quote:
You can make an incubator out of a cooler. I made one and total cost was about $10.00. It has 2 /15 watt bulbs as a heat source and an AC fan that blows across the light bulbs to circulate the heat. It works great.





This was the homemade incubator where originally I mounted a light fixture in the bottom with one bulb. I did have a bulb fail and when I modified it I put in a second light fixture and bulb in and mounted them on the side with a wafer thermostat in between them.

Taken today. The hatchers are in the garage because it is so warm in there. Warmer than the room I usually use.

 

[cmom]

My first incubator was a Little Giant circulated air. The second one I bought was a Still air that I bought on sale but did eventually installed a fan in it. The same with my old Hova-Bators that I bought many years ago. One had a fan and one didn't but I also put a fan in it. If you can incubate and hatch in one of them you can do it in any incubator. The newer styrofoam incubators are now made with a harder plastic than just styrofoam like the old ones. I bought a cabinet incubator some years ago that I incubate in but still use the styrofoams to hatch in.

 

[cmom]

I put eggs in the hatchers this morning and I have some pips. These eggs are from Wallace a male I got from Matt a couple of years ago who is the father to Champ. Eggs from a male I got from Matt last January, Skipper and a few more eggs from a Rose Comb Red, Junior. I already hatched out some eggs from my other boy Dexter, Juniors father. I would like to buy another nice RC RIR male.

 

[cmom]

I was quite pleasantly surprised that most of the eggs were good. I had very few blanks and quitters. Mostly surprised because the boys have quite a few females with them, more than I usually put into my breeding pens so I thought I would get more infertile eggs than fertile because of the number of females. I don't know exactly how many females with each male since I recently moved the birds around but probably around 20 plus with each male. When I moved the males I kept the same females with each male so there could be no cross breeding. Also I was surprised because it has been very hot here.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

I was quite pleasantly surprised that most of the eggs were good. I had very few blanks and quitters. Mostly surprised because the boys have quite a few females with them, more than I usually put into my breeding pens so I thought I would get more infertile eggs than fertile because of the number of females. I don't know exactly how many females with each male since I recently moved the birds around but probably around 20 plus with each male. When I moved the males I kept the same females with each male so there could be no cross breeding. Also I was surprised because it has been very hot here.

Since poultry can store sperm in SSTs (sperm storage tubules) for 2 or more weeks, the cockerel/cock theoretically may only have to mate a pullet/hen once every week or so in order to fertilize her eggs. Of course there are variables that can lengthen or shorten the viability state of sperm storage... such as health and fertility of the male, closeness to time of ovulation, amount of sperm cells uptaken, etc...

 

[waddles99]

All these incubator setups are making me jealous! I really need nothing fancy, so I am probably going to steer clear of the brinsea only because of cost. I am a complete beginner at incubating, so the easiest setup is the best setup for me. I have no idea what my incubating needs would be in the future, so I think that Ur's point about being able to incubate 10 eggs in a 20 but not 20 eggs in a 10 is a good one. In that case Im probably just going to see what is out there around the 30-40 egg range. I want to be able to hatch out enough birds that I can have some nice results. Some people raise 200-300 birds in a season, and while I probably wont raise nearly that amount, I do need to raise up a decent amount.