The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[ocap]

No pips. Day 21. First time EVER I sat a batch of eggs in a still air LG and not one pip on day 21. 10 fully formed embryos went into lockdown. I had 63% humidity, and a steady 100 degree air temp reading until that weird high spike at 3:30 pm yesterday. It happened while I was standing there. The temp rapidly climbed to 105 degrees and the humidity jumped to 70%! I have no idea why. I logged the temp and humidity every single hour I was awake. I don't know if this has happened before while I was sleeping. I haven't opened the bator or messed with the adjuster at all. I got the temp and humidity back on track as fast as I could by opening my back door in the same room as the bator to let cold air in the room and added cold water drop by drop through tubing and a syringe through ventilation holes onto sponges. I find it completely weird that that lowered the humidity back to 63% and brought the temp back exactly where it was before at 100 degrees. I don't know what else I could have done to incubate these eggs. I'm not giving up on them for a couple more days. If I have lost this batch, it was by no faulty process of mine. I will blame it on an anomaly of incubator malfunction. My still air LG was new.

I ordered the Genesis 1588 this morning. Free shipping. It should arrive in time for the Catdance eggs.

Found it here. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genesis-Hov...285?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7dea6c2d

I noticed your new incubator is 12 volt DC, let us know if you can figure a way to back up the power supply with a car battery in case your home's electricity goes out. I think the electric poultry fence net uses a 12 volt dc battery and solar charger.

 

[aoxa]

I noticed your new incubator is 12 volt DC, let us know if you can figure a way to back up the power supply with a car battery in case your home's electricity goes out. I think the electric poultry fence net uses a 12 volt dc battery and solar charger.

Hmm.. Interesting thought!

 

[atmaclean]

My cats LOVED catnip fresh out of the garden. It's the only way they liked it.

You both need the Genesis.

Those LGs are terrible.. just sayin'..

I love my LG. I've been hatching shipped eggs in it for 6 years with an extremely high success rate. Mine has the fan in it. I am constantly opening doors near it, forgetting to add water, kids bumping it and it has hatched many, many eggs from geese to guineas to LF and now bantams! Just had 6 out of 7 shipped mille fleur d'uccle eggs hatch in the past 24 hrs. This is the first year that I purchased and used a digital thermometer and a turner for it and I don't know that my percentage of hatched eggs was any higher with them.

My worst hatch ever was some shipped BLRW last month. Only 3 out of 6 hatched so I was very disappointed (but thankful for the 3 I got).

I've got my second batch of eggs in the new Brinsea so I can't say how successful it will be. First hatch was 4 out of 5 shipped Isbar eggs. Right now I have 7 blue ameraucana eggs in it that were also shipped. And they were shipped during a really cold spell so not sure if they will hatch or not.

I got a new Brinsea egg candler thing a couple months ago and have been candling eggs but not sure exactly what I am seeing all the time. I refer to pictures and charts but I still am not good at identifying all the parts. I can identify the veins and embryo at the 5-7 day mark and I can see if something moves and/or has an air pocket on day 18. I guess I just need more practice with candling and studying pictures and stages.....

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I've had pretty good success with the 'ol LG. On the funny side, I have the incubator next to the cage that I have my little BCMs in and yesterday I noticed that they had been pecking at the styrofoam on it and had really made a good dent in it!!! I was more worried about the BCMs eating the styrofoam than I was with the damage to the 'ol LG. Luckily, they seem to be fine and the LG survived the attack not too much worse for the wear. I guess it will survive for another season

Angela

 

[Mumsy]

I noticed your new incubator is 12 volt DC, let us know if you can figure a way to back up the power supply with a car battery in case your home's electricity goes out. I think the electric poultry fence net uses a 12 volt dc battery and solar charger.

That was a selling point for me. Power goes out when the wind blows hard here. Can put this Genesis into my van and keep them going.

 

[Arkansas81]

Ok, finally got caught up! Ok the latest in my neck of the woods.

Got my broody back, going to let her sit on around 5 or so eggs. Everyone is loving their ff, less water consumption - less worry they are running out of water. I have noticed the red legs, so glad everyone talked about it otherwise I would have been worried. Noticed they are laying much better, I like to think it is because of the ff and warmer - longer days. They seem to be all way around much healthier.

I am going to look into a genesis 1588 bator, I'm ready to start the hatching game. I'm going both ways bator and broody. Off to finish the chicken playpen, took my daughter's swimming pool frame wrapped in chicken wire tarp on top. Ive noticed lots of bald eagle's, hawks around.

Ive gotten a new job, so now I can have enough money for my silkie / polish breeding pens e my life is finally falling into place!

Ive enjoyed reading everyone's comments. Sorry to hear about current loses, hatching woes. Glad to hear about all the happy news too

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: So...help my ignorance

Will it run on normal household current also? (Is it dual?) Th was one thing I was trying to figure out the last time I looked at those but I think I'm electric illiterate.

 

[ocap]

That was a selling point for me. Power goes out when the wind blows hard here. Can put this Genesis into my van and keep them going.

did you cut the wires on a cigarette lighter wire or does the incubator come with DC charger wires?

 

[Mumsy]

I love my LG. I've been hatching shipped eggs in it for 6 years with an extremely high success rate.


Angela

I have loved the LG too. For a very long time. I have hatched a few hundred chicks out of my old one from 1989 until 1996. I just bought my second one two months ago. This is my second time using it. This is a test run on barn yard pullet eggs before I set expensive eggs in two weeks and then again very rare eggs in March. I've been on a waiting list for those rare eggs and this will be my only chance at hatching them for another year! It is time I upgrade with a better machine. I won't chuck my LG. I will give it one more try with more Johnny eggs this Summer. Maybe.

 

[Mumsy]

did you cut the wires on a cigarette lighter wire or does the incubator come with DC charger wires?

I just ordered it a couple hours ago. I'll have it next week. The Genesis 1588 has volt DC power supply (included) plugs into a 110 volt outlet. Van has an adapter.

 

[PeepsCA]

BDM, congrats on the horse trailer coop! I've been using a 2-horse '73 Miley horse trailer for an intermediate brooder for the past 3 hatching seasons, this will be year 4 that it goes into service. I took the center divider out so the entire floor area and the manger area is usable floor space for the birds. I have hardware cloth over all the door openings so I can open it all up during the day. It gets wickedly hot here each summer tho and the trailer is dark brown so I park it in the shade, and I also have a big box fan that gets ziptied onto the wire to keep the air moving when the summer temps really kick in. When I need to clean it out between batches of keets I just unplug my power cords, hook my truck to it, haul it over to my burn pile and just sweep it out (LOVE that part!). I also love that it's reliably predator and rodent proof. I added some roosts at different levels and the keets (and poults) are usually up in the manger area (that I bed with straw) as soon as they discover that they can hop from the roosts over to the mangers (wire over the openings, and I close the doors at night). I use the tack compartment under the mangers for feed and brooding supply storage, but I did have an old ancient metal chick brooder in there for my newly hatched keets my first season (can't remember the brand but it was a good one, back in it's day). I did not trust that ancient brooder contraption thing tho, or that the baby keets would get enough airflow at night with the door closed (plus it was hard to watch them or reach in and catch them, so that only lasted a little while... lol.


Congrats again on your mobile coop score, can't wait to see it once you get it all decked out and filled with birds.