The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Yard full o' rocks]

I was wanting this contraption for my incubator that I need to build over the summer.

For my hovabator I was wondering about the night lights because the heater only will heat to the mid 90s and as you know, we need at least 99.5

Lacy Blues,

The unit Fred linked to (the 40w incukit) is a complete setup (thermostat/heater/fan).....it would fix your hovabator in a snap....

This is the same unit I have in the "wine cooler" I posted a few posts back. I had to add a 15W bulb to insure I had enough heat, but you will need nothing else. EASY to hook up and very easy to program/change as need be

 

[CluckyJay]

Who is a good breeder of white rocks on BYC (or elsewhere)? After I get the reds and dominiques squared away I will be looking for proper white rock hatching eggs. I want good meat birds that lay pretty well.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Who is a good breeder of white rocks on BYC (or elsewhere)? After I get the reds and dominiques squared away I will be looking for proper white rock hatching eggs. I want good meat birds that lay pretty well.

CluckyJ....try Weavers Rocks here on BYC....he is in Tn also (not exactly sure where) but he has Bob Blosl's old line of WRs (LF)....very nice, great feather quality, true to standard

 

[CluckyJay]

Thanks guys! That's who I am buying from.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Following ...

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Evening all

Here are 2 quick shots of my first hatch of 2014 that are now in the grow out pen....pardon the mess, its been raining like crazy here. These chicks are 5 1/2 weeks old and fully feathered!! Look at the size of these rascals. New feeding regime seems to have helped




Rip Stalvey (Ripster here in BYC), a licensed poultry judge, came by last night on his way back to Fla after judging a show in Ohio. He had some very complimentary things to say and gave me some insight on the feather quality issue Wynette and Fred were discussing a few posts back. When I asked for areas that I needed to improve, of course "top line" was at the head of the list.Overall, headed in the right direction.....I very much appreciated him stopping by, delaying his drive back to Fla, to give me a bit of advise from the perspective of a judge.

I hope everyone's hatches are coming along. I have 1 due Saturday, 1 the following Saturday and then I'm done. Already have about 3 dozen hatched and about 5 dozen more in the "cooker"

 

[Fred's Hens]

Scott, those chicks look so incredibly chunky. What a hoot to look at.


Thought I mention again that there are those things that you can only judge by handling the birds. I like to get my pre-breeders used to my handling them. After breeding season, they can go back to being left alone. LOL

I have a sort of routine I go through. I check the wings for any deformities. I check the vent area, feel the abdomen, examine the major feather groups for quality, run my hand down the neck and back feeling for anything unusual and also feel the keel bone for strength, protrusion and straightness. Yes, I enjoy doing this.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Scott, those chicks look so incredibly chunky. What a hoot to look at.


Thought I mention again that there are those things that you can only judge by handling the birds. I like to get my pre-breeders used to my handling them. After breeding season, they can go back to being left alone. LOL

I have a sort of routine I go through. I check the wings for any deformities. I check the vent area, feel the abdomen, examine the major feather groups for quality, run my hand down the neck and back feeling for anything unusual and also feel the keel bone for strength, protrusion and straightness. Yes, I enjoy doing this.

I wish I could get my birds to hold still long enough to do that....I don't "handle" mine near enough

 

[Fred's Hens]

5 week old chicks and I'm already judging them. It is a sick disease.

Look at the chick top right. Nice wide tail and leg set.
Look at the chick bottom right. Nice head, wing set and just love the little bowl shape.
If you don't love Rock chicks, you probably don't like Rocks.

You've got to be ecstatic with what's hatching so far.

 

[desertmarcy]

There are folks who follow this thread that might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the "build it yourself" gang that hangs here, or perhaps intimidated by the large scale nature of some of these various units.

Let me take this moment to say something simple, perhaps. The reason most of us have an incubator AND a hatcher is to keep the "flow" going. Two incubators allow you to incubate in one and hatch in the other. Incubation requires turning, while hatchers are essentially incubators with no turning required.

The hatcher also is better if it is easily cleaned. Hatching can be messy. Keeping your incubator clean by moving out all eggs on the 18th day and placing them into our hatcher keeps the incubator clean and allows for staggering your hatches.

This can be as simple or as intricate as you desire. This doesn't have to cost and arm and a leg to accomplish.

I totally agree on the hatcher. I got one last year and it is so nice not having all the mess in the incubators. So far, there is enough space to separate breeds and hatches from different pens if I get creative and mix eggs that won't be confused when the chicks hatch. Black Copper Marans with Rhode Island Reds, for instance. It can get REALLY confusing, so I print out a spreadsheet that has the breeds, different pens if applicable, and space to write how many eggs I moved to the hatcher, how many hatched, how many didn't hatch. On the left side, I write in colored marker what tray I put the eggs in as I set them in the hatcher. That has been critical to keeping things straight. I hatch a lot of different breeds at once and may be keeping track of specific pairings. I also used some scrap metal Ls that came off the edge of a roof. Cut them to fit tight across the width of the hatching tray, they are the same height so lid fits down tight and allows me to separate one tray into multiple mini compartments. I did not attempt to build my own, however, I am using GQF and they are expensive new, but I have had zero problems with it.

After keeping the eggs identified in the hatcher, the next step is keeping them identified when they hatch. I use colored zip ties and they are put on before they are put in the brooder. Just ordered some more, I will have 9 different colors, and with two legs, I can identify more than I would need. I also toe punch. This year, for the first time, I am using wing bands. I bought them last year but didn't use them. They were easy to put on once I figured it out. I am waiting for them to be 2 weeks old before applying, that way if there is a weak chick that dies, usually before they are 2 weeks, I am not wasting a wing band. I needed to add a column to my spreadsheet for wing band #