The Old Folks Home

[bamadude]

No. It looks depressing to me

 

[bamadude]

Hennible: what type of incubator did u get?

 

[Double Kindness]

We had quite a few trick or treaters come by on Halloween, which is unusual for us. In the 8 years we've lived here, this is the most trick or treaters we've ever had all years combined. My bf answered the door to hand out candy as I had just had that molar pulled. It still hurts. I go back Friday to get fitted for a partial and get my other molars pulled on my upper left side.

I suppose this is the price paid in the aftermath of finally getting diagnosed Celiac disease and finding out that gluten is in absolutely everything, but in "secret" words, like maltodextrin, caramel color or flavor, modified food or vegetable starch, or natural flavoring. Lol. Spending 3.5 years of my life vomiting violently in the hospital every other week for a week has really weakened my molars. I'm surprised they lasted this long. But still, chewing food is usually a good thing, but lately when I chew, teeth break. My dad had full sets of dentures before I was born, so maybe it was inevitable? I used to have such nice teeth. This is very depressing.

I finally decided which muscovy ducks I'm over wintering. Freezer camp is set for tomorrow. All roosters and 5 ducks go to freezer camp. Yay. I'm going through so much feed, it's going to be so nice to not have to go through all that feed and mucking out the duck/meatie pen daily.

Next to address, I need to go get a custom feed milled for me that's gluten-free, but won't affect my layers productivity and the taste of their eggs. I found a feed that I really like the way their eggs taste, and I probably tried 6 different feeds before I found the Ranch Way feed that's 18% protein, soy free, non gmo organic, local, blah blah blah. It smells really "green" & "grassy", which I like as my ladies can't free range and well, winter is coming here Wednesday from what I hear.

My haffie roo Nugget started crowing yesterday. OMG. He's been with held from food since early yesterday evening, he's slated to be caponized tonight/tomorrow morning. I love him so much

this is Nugget my half ayam cemani and mottled orpington. I have 2 pullets too, named Oreo and Cookie. He is so incredibly sweet and friendly, loves his wattles rubbed.

And my bf informed me this morning one of my decrowed ayam cemani roosters crowed, I had thought maybe it was "superfan" the speckled sussex roo that was making that noise and sent my bf Duck to snatch him up to with hold him from food to caponize him tomorrow. Nope, he said babe, that came out of the cemani pen, as he was crouching in front of Nugget when it happened. He can't tell Boss & Reginald apart, and by the time I went outside, they had stopped. Egads.

We started to work on the cemani/bresse/haffie coop. It didn't go very well. I lost my temper. I screamed, I cried. I cried more. Then had to chase 8 muscovy ducks into the meatie coop (only the dark chocolate one goes in there, the rest are terrified of the coop for some reason), which took me 75 minutes to do, covered in mud and scratches. A duck escaped, I had to further chase it all over my backyard in the dark. As the top is off the pen, and we had to move the current coop and work on it today. After we go pick up Grace, my nzw x sf meat doe, she just got breed yesterday by a 16lb nzw buck. I hope she's going to be a good mommy. My bf has the next 2 days off to process ducks, chickens, caponize, and get these dang haffies, cemani and bresse a coop to go into.

Hopefully we don't end up killing each other in this process this week.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I hate cold weather. Supposed to have frost tonight. Bummer

I picked all the tomatoes that were ripe or turning, all the chilies, tomatillos and cut down all the basil day before yesterday. I planned to pull all the tomato stakes, lay down the vines and cover them but didn't get it done before dark. I think some survived Halloween night but it was cold a bit longer last night. About 12 warmer nights coming so I could milk some more tomatoes out of the patch before it's gone.

What a shame that a friend's dog is the murderer - " et tu Becky," with apologies to Julius Caesar

My neighbor's husky/malamute crosses from across the field have been a big predator of mine. Not as bad as mink or coons but still.

Does anybody in here use an incubator?

I have a homemade cabinet incubator/hatcher combination and a little giant for backup or temporary storage of incubated eggs.
I designed the cabinet with 3 shelves for all size eggs from quail to ratites. Currently, I can incubate at least 125 chicken eggs and then hold another 50 in the separate hatcher. If I built my own turner racks I could probably incubate as many as 180 at a time but have found no need at this time.
The incubator and hatcher each have redundant heat sources and controllers.
The hatcher has a fairly small door with a slide out hatching drawer. The air is drawn across the eggs/hatchlings with a bank of 4 fans up through a channel on the left side of the incubator past a low set point heat source, across a water reservoir above the incubator and down across the high set point heat source down to another water reservoir and back across the eggs. I lose very little moisture when I open the hatcher since the volume of humid heated air is so great in relation to what can escape the door.
I have an aquarium air pump blowing a small amount of fresh air into both the incubator and hatcher.
The floors of both units are large quarry tile for ease of cleaning and the walls are all reflective material that cleans easily.
The first iteration of the hatcher used the cheapest computer fans I could buy and no filters. They lasted about 3 hatchings till they started to die off. I replaced the completely dead ones and made it through a few more hatchings.
I now have the most powerful 4" fans I could find with filters so I'll see how long they last.

Chickens and ducks
Why two? (incubators)

A lot of people like a separate place to hatch. It helps with staggered settings.
I prefer not to use a Styrofoam incubator for hatching since they're hard to clean.

...


I wish(see there I go again too....) I could make money at it though.

X2
I think I was on the verge till the mink wiped out about $2-3,000 worth of chickens. I can't even keep myself in eating eggs right now much less any of them or hatching eggs to sell.

I put tarps around my coop today. I've been having mice problems, so I'm waiting to see what the combination of cold weather, and tarps does with the situation. They cleared a big parcel of land across the street from the coop to put in a subdivision. I've never had problems before, but when they cleared the land, some of the mice found their way to my coop. I have contemplated the best way to go about getting rid of them, and had decided on a twofold plan. 1. is an electronic mouse killer for $20.00, takes 2 AA batteries, and of 150 reviews, almost everyone really likes them. I will start with one, to make sure I like it, and that it works as well as the reviews claim. I will get another, if it does the job. 2. cap one end of a length of pvc pipe, and put bait in it, and set them further away from the coop.

Build a better mouse trap.
The repeater bucket trap is the best thing I've come up with.

In winter, I keep one in the basement, in the garage and in the brooder house.
There are various designs and work for rats and mice. I use my old 5 gallon buckets that are past the point of being able to store feed and seed.
I go to restaurants and get their empty one use pickle buckets to replace those that go the mouse trap route.

I have one and it is not enough to get them.

I use a liquid rat poison. Mice might be ok in the trap though.

For using poison, the homemade inverted Tee PVC bait station work well.
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=633

There are a few tips, the first one being to invest in a real incubator thermometer--not one from walmart--and make sure the temperature is correct. The Brinsea spot check is very good.

Toss the vent plug.

Work on getting humidity to 30% during incubation and 65% to 70% during hatching(day 18 to hatch--we call it lockdown on BYC).

Using the above, you should get good hatches. Working on air cell development, using a two hour cool down cycle from day 10 to 18 and hand turning for the first couple of weeks can get a bit better hatch rates but also leads to:

X2 on the real thermometer advice.
I have the Spot Check and this one
http://thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt301wa.html
It does one's heart good to have 2 known accurate thermometers that agree.

Understanding the delay with the reading and whether one has a fan or not help tremendously in deciphering the data.
In all but the simplest homemade incubators, the heat element isn't always on so you have to watch the instant reads for when the controller clicks on. That should be your set point.

... And quails, and pheasants maybe some peafowl and geese too... Oh and more ducks... Oh and turkey's
Bwaa ha ha ha ~laughs hysterically~
.... And more bantams

I had plans to hatch all species, hence the accommodation for all sizes of eggs. Then the ordinance was written to allow me to continue business as usual but strictly omits having other types of poultry.

My honey took this at work today

Pretty...

NIce.
How far are you from Whistler or Calgary?

I have a few.....

2 farm innovators with digital and can conversions.
1 hovabator Genesis
2 hovabator 1602N with fan kits
A home made wooden wine box incubator
A 600 egg home made
A 150 egg home made hatcher
A 400 egg home made


The cheap farm innovators with an stc1000 thermostat and a fan kit are as reliable as anything.

I assume you are using different ones for different species?

In your homemade ones, what types of things are you using for turners?

I'm about to replace the Incubator Warehouse unit with a STC MH1210 A

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

And my bf informed me this morning one of my decrowed ayam cemani roosters crowed, I had thought maybe it was "superfan" the speckled sussex roo that was making that noise and sent my bf Duck to snatch him up to with hold him from food to caponize him tomorrow. Nope, he said babe, that came out of the cemani pen, as he was crouching in front of Nugget when it happened. He can't tell Boss & Reginald apart, and by the time I went outside, they had stopped. Egads.
...

My understanding is that they will still crow, just not at the same decibel level.

 

[casportpony]

Just to be clear, I don't have much experience incubating eggs, so I cannot recommend any incubators, but if one has about $100 US to play with, the Janoel 48 *might* be worth looking into. Here are some pictures.

These pictures are from an ebay ad:








These are pictures I just took:








-Kathy

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote:
Last time i asked she charges a dollar an egg. Her only requirement is you come and get them as soon as they hatch. but even at twice that I would be good.

Is that $1 per egg set, or per chick hatched?

I was thinking of charging .25c per set egg and then another $1 per chick hatched. So, if someone brought me two dozen eggs, and I got a 90% hatch rate

they would give me $6 up front, then another $21 for the 21 chicks. That would be $1.30 per chick. On the other hand, if they were having fertility issues, and only half hatched, they would pay $18 for 12 chicks or $1.50 per chick.

That seems fair to me. What do y'all think?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is that $1 per egg set, or per chick hatched?

I was thinking of charging .25c per set egg and then another $1 per chick hatched. So, if someone brought me two dozen eggs, and I got a 90% hatch rate

they would give me $6 up front, then another $21 for the 21 chicks. That would be $1.30 per chick. On the other hand, if they were having fertility issues, and only half hatched, they would pay $18 for 12 chicks or $1.50 per chick.

That seems fair to me. What do y'all think?

That is the best arrangement. You're charging up front for your electricity and equipment use. Then you're charging for your skill (egg fertility notwithstanding).
There's a guy around here that does that.

I think I'll wait till I get my flocks back up to par and then may do the same thing. I will have to get a better fumigation system before I do that. I'll do an all in all out method to avoid contamination from others' flocks that may have a vertically transmitted disease.

 

[hennible]

No. It looks depressing to me

Lol, it is....

Hennible: what type of incubator did u get?

I think after endless reading and the tip everyone has given me that the Brinsea oct. 20 is what I will get... I'd like the brinsea oct. 40 but at more than double the price... Naaah

I picked all the tomatoes that were ripe or turning, all the chilies, tomatillos and cut down all the basil day before yesterday. I planned to pull all the tomato stakes, lay down the vines and cover them but didn't get it done before dark. I think some survived Halloween night but it was cold a bit longer last night. About 12 warmer nights coming so I could milk some more tomatoes out of the patch before it's gone.

My neighbor's husky/malamute crosses from across the field have been a big predator of mine. Not as bad as mink or coons but still.

I have a homemade cabinet incubator/hatcher combination and a little giant for backup or temporary storage of incubated eggs.
I designed the cabinet with 3 shelves for all size eggs from quail to ratites. Currently, I can incubate at least 125 chicken eggs and then hold another 50 in the separate hatcher. If I built my own turner racks I could probably incubate as many as 180 at a time but have found no need at this time.
The incubator and hatcher each have redundant heat sources and controllers.
The hatcher has a fairly small door with a slide out hatching drawer. The air is drawn across the eggs/hatchlings with a bank of 4 fans up through a channel on the left side of the incubator past a low set point heat source, across a water reservoir above the incubator and down across the high set point heat source down to another water reservoir and back across the eggs. I lose very little moisture when I open the hatcher since the volume of humid heated air is so great in relation to what can escape the door.
I have an aquarium air pump blowing a small amount of fresh air into both the incubator and hatcher.
The floors of both units are large quarry tile for ease of cleaning and the walls are all reflective material that cleans easily.
The first iteration of the hatcher used the cheapest computer fans I could buy and no filters. They lasted about 3 hatchings till they started to die off. I replaced the completely dead ones and made it through a few more hatchings.
I now have the most powerful 4" fans I could find with filters so I'll see how long they last.

A lot of people like a separate place to hatch. It helps with staggered settings.
I prefer not to use a Styrofoam incubator for hatching since they're hard to clean.

X2
I think I was on the verge till the mink wiped out about $2-3,000 worth of chickens. I can't even keep myself in eating eggs right now much less any of them or hatching eggs to sell.

Build a better mouse trap.
The repeater bucket trap is the best thing I've come up with.

In winter, I keep one in the basement, in the garage and in the brooder house.
There are various designs and work for rats and mice.  I use my old 5 gallon buckets that are past the point of being able to store feed and seed.
I go to restaurants and get their empty one use pickle buckets to replace those that go the mouse trap route.

fan and turner are great


For using poison, the homemade inverted Tee PVC bait station work well.
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=633


X2 on the real thermometer advice.
I have the Spot Check and this one
http://thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt301wa.html
It does one's heart good to have 2 known accurate thermometers that agree.

Understanding the delay with the reading and whether one has a fan or not help tremendously in deciphering the data.
In all but the simplest homemade incubators, the heat element isn't always on so you have to watch the instant reads for when the controller clicks on. That should be your set point.

I had plans to hatch all species, hence the accommodation for all sizes of eggs. Then the ordinance was written to allow me to continue business as usual but strictly omits having other types of poultry.

NIce.
How far are you from Whistler or Calgary?

I assume you are using different ones for different species?

In your homemade ones, what types of things are you using for turners?

I'm about to replace the Incubator Warehouse unit with a STC MH1210 A

I'll definitely take The advice on the back up thermometers thanks, i'll be using one incubator to hatch both species but at separate times... I will look into something else for after lock down once I get more experience...

When I get further along in my incubating career I'll be bugging you for advice on building a big one

Seems so weird that you can't have other kinds of birds....chickens are the loudest ones, aren't they?

I live nowhere near Whistler or Calgary...BC is just one big bunch of mountains... Not sure what range that pictures of, it's near Williston lake, out in the serious middle of nowhere boonies where DH works at a logging camp.

And as for dogs out of the 15 chickens and ducks I've lost in the last 3 1/2 years all but four have been to dogs! Stupid dogs....
Three of those dog losses were my fault though.... Stupid me.

 

[ronott1]

Lol, it is....
I think after endless reading and the tip everyone has given me that the Brinsea oct. 20 is what I will get... I'd like the brinsea oct. 40 but at more than double the price... Naaah
I'll definitely take The advice on the back up thermometers thanks, i'll be using one incubator to hatch both species but at separate times... I will look into something else for after lock down once I get more experience...

When I get further along in my incubating career I'll be bugging you for advice on building a big one

Seems so weird that you can't have other kinds of birds....chickens are the loudest ones, aren't they?

I live nowhere near Whistler or Calgary...BC is just one big bunch of mountains... Not sure what range that pictures of, it's near Williston lake, out in the serious middle of nowhere boonies where DH works at a logging camp.

And as for dogs out of the 15 chickens and ducks I've lost in the last 3 1/2 years all but four have been to dogs! Stupid dogs....
Three of those dog losses were my fault though.... Stupid me.

One of the best things for learning is to join a hatch a long.

The first official BYC hatch a long will be the New Years day hatch a long.

You already know the host for that one.