The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[desertmarcy]

Ok... I apologize if this is not the right place for this question but no one else seems to have the answer.
I do staggered hatchings, setting eggs every week in a gqf. I'm trying to come up with a better way of separating the hatching tray into 4 distinct sections for tracking breeding pens. I'm sure there is an easier way than my makeshift partitions. What does everyone else do?

I bought a GQF hatcher and that pretty much solved the problem but for the hatching tray, I made some squares/rectangles out of 1/4" hardware cloth. They are like baskets turned upside down, wire top but no bottom. There is no way a chick can get out to another section and you can cut the wire to exactly fit the tray.

 

[RedRidge]

Ok... I apologize if this is not the right place for this question but no one else seems to have the answer.

I do staggered hatchings, setting eggs every week in a gqf. I'm trying to come up with a better way of separating the hatching tray into 4 distinct sections for tracking breeding pens. I'm sure there is an easier way than my makeshift partitions. What does everyone else do?

I bought a GQF hatcher and that pretty much solved the problem but for the hatching tray, I made some squares/rectangles out of 1/4" hardware cloth. They are like baskets turned upside down, wire top but no bottom. There is no way a chick can get out to another section and you can cut the wire to exactly fit the tray.

Mine's a gqf. I love it except for that. Great idea about the hardware cloth. I always have extra laying around. I will try that. Thx

 

[cmom]

Ok... I apologize if this is not the right place for this question but no one else seems to have the answer.
I do staggered hatchings, setting eggs every week in a gqf. I'm trying to come up with a better way of separating the hatching tray into 4 distinct sections for tracking breeding pens. I'm sure there is an easier way than my makeshift partitions. What does everyone else do?

This is just what I do. I do staggered hatches too. I incubate in my cabinet but I hatch in my styrofoam incubators. I can keep everyone separate.

 

[RedRidge]

Lol. My husband would kill me.
I'm pushing it right now with just 2 rabbits temporarily in the basement. But they came from the other side of the country and 75 degrees down to 14 in just a few days would be asking a little much of their little furry bodies - even he agreed.

I used to actually do the opposite... I had 4 Styrofoam that I set eggs in and a brinsea 24 that I hatched in. I set eggs every 5 days. I only set eggs from one pen at a time. Since the same pen didn't get set again for another 20 days we simply ate the eggs from the first 10 days after a set. Each pen, egg carton and bator were color coordinated to help track. The method to that madness was that the brinsea held humidity much better (for all our high humidity here in the southeast in the summer we are very dry in the winter months). I had a pretty decent hatch rate but it took up a lot of space and required some serious organization.
This year i dropped back to only setting eggs once a week once I got the used gqf. And of course I set all four pens each week and was able to hatch a lot more chicks. It's an old solid door 1202 but I got a deal on it and it works great. I love it and haven't used the Styrofoam or the brinsea ever since. Great hatch rates and easy to organize. I keep the brinsea around just to have something to send to my sisters school once a year (she's a principal/teacher) so the science department there can hatch some each year.

 

[One Chick Two]

Ok... I apologize if this is not the right place for this question but no one else seems to have the answer.
I do staggered hatchings, setting eggs every week in a gqf. I'm trying to come up with a better way of separating the hatching tray into 4 distinct sections for tracking breeding pens. I'm sure there is an easier way than my makeshift partitions. What does everyone else do?

We use the 4" dollar store plastic trays that have lots of ventilation. Fits in the Sportsman 1202 hatching tray very well. Very inexpensive and easy to clean.

Just for the heck of it, here's another handy trick I use when separating out our BCM chicks for tracking...food color dots on lighter areas. This will stay on until the feathers come in.

 

[RedRidge]

Tracking from hatch on is easy since I use toe punches. For individual tracking I use colored vet wrap on the amble until they ate feathered and then colored spirals until they get their actual numbers leg band.

It's the egg to hatch I'd like to refine. I'm thinking inverted wire or plastic baskets may do the trick. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[ronott1]

Lol. My husband would kill me.
I'm pushing it right now with just 2 rabbits temporarily in the basement. But they came from the other side of the country and 75 degrees down to 14 in just a few days would be asking a little much of their little furry bodies - even he agreed.

I used to actually do the opposite... I had 4 Styrofoam that I set eggs in and a brinsea 24 that I hatched in. I set eggs every 5 days. I only set eggs from one pen at a time. Since the same pen didn't get set again for another 20 days we simply ate the eggs from the first 10 days after a set. Each pen, egg carton and bator were color coordinated to help track. The method to that madness was that the brinsea held humidity much better (for all our high humidity here in the southeast in the summer we are very dry in the winter months). I had a pretty decent hatch rate but it took up a lot of space and required some serious organization.
This year i dropped back to only setting eggs once a week once I got the used gqf. And of course I set all four pens each week and was able to hatch a lot more chicks. It's an old solid door 1202 but I got a deal on it and it works great. I love it and haven't used the Styrofoam or the brinsea ever since. Great hatch rates and easy to organize. I keep the brinsea around just to have something to send to my sisters school once a year (she's a principal/teacher) so the science department there can hatch some each year.

I use tomato clam shells.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I have also used magic markers and when they loose their down they loose the magic marker mark.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I never thought of that but that is a great idea.

The funny part is we buy cases of them in different sizes for various vegies we sell.

 

[RedRidge]

Ok. Next question. ..
Best show transport you have found?
I've seen everything from dog cages to Rubbermaid containers. What is your preference and why? I'm trying to determine the best way to maintain feather quality and reduce stress during transport