Time of year for incubating

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

We have a 250 gal propane gas generator for most things, but we were without power for over 90 hours after Helene. It’s fine if you’re out of power for 36 hrs or so, if you don’t have your generator hooked up to your AC… but after that it gets painful. We bought a new generator for this hurricane season. For the our AC & possibly our oven. (AC is all I care about) Those are the only two appliances that are not hooked up to our generator back-up

We have a generator that can run our refrigerator and freezers, two small back up a/c units used for storms, well pump and electric outlets. We cannot run our electric range though as it is too much of a draw. We lost electric during Helene for a full day but with Irma we lost it for 2 days. She delayed our moving to our home in 2017.

 

[CrystalAnon]

We have a generator that can run our refrigerator and freezers, two small back up a/c units used for storms, well pump and electric outlets. We cannot run our electric range though as it is too much of a draw. We lost electric during Helene for a full day but with Irma we lost it for 2 days. She delayed our moving to our home in 2017.

Dang! You are set up. Good job.

 

[CrystalAnon]

We have a generator that can run our refrigerator and freezers, two small back up a/c units used for storms, well pump and electric outlets. We cannot run our electric range though as it is too much of a draw. We lost electric during Helene for a full day but with Irma we lost it for 2 days. She delayed our moving to our home in 2017.

I let my husband know that you said this about the electric oven. He really wants to be able to use the electric oven while our power is out. Not sure why. Maybe just wants to feel as “normal” as possible?
I don’t really care. I’m fine with just the BBQ & propane gas stove tops outside. I think it’s kinda fun actually.
Hopefully he won’t persist in wanting that. If we have AC, power to our fridge, well pump, water heater & outlets… I’m more than good!

 

[CrystalAnon]

We have a generator that can run our refrigerator and freezers, two small back up a/c units used for storms, well pump and electric outlets. We cannot run our electric range though as it is too much of a draw. We lost electric during Helene for a full day but with Irma we lost it for 2 days. She delayed our moving to our home in 2017.

I don’t need our dish washer or range.
If he can get the washer to run when we have the power off, that would be good. Because he does need to wash his work clothes if we’re out of power for 90+ hours. But his work has their own huge generators with laundry facilities… so even if we didn’t have that, we could get by.

 

[SourRoses]

In central FL here, and tend to hatch all year the last 3 years running. So I really understand your concern.

Last year I had eggs in the incubator during a heatwave, the temp kept rising above 100F so we had to keep taking the incubator lid off to cool them down.
This is what an experienced broody does when it's hot, she stands up. But a lot of first-timers, or broodies just lacking a full set of instincts, they won't stand up and they cook the eggs.
We've learned not to have the incubator inside during summer because the way we run the AC makes it too hard for it to compensate (the "drafts" not just the temp). So I have it on the porch once the cool weather passes. If we had an indoor room without an AC vent, that would be better.
That heat-wave brood had 4 crossbeak chicks in the batch, though I hadn't had any pop up in my line in the years before or in the hatches since. So I put it down to heat damage.

Winter is a much better time for us to brood chicks. I try to do a lot of winter hatching when the hens are cooperating with eggs. We get those last intense heat waves in October, but in November they don't spike as high and that's a good month to begin (with an incubator, broodies won't usually comply that time of year).
When you're providing artificial heat with brooding, the harder thing to manage is overheating. So we make sure we have a nice long brooder and the heat source at one end so the other end can be cool. During warm months the heat sometimes has to be cycled off and on so that's a lot of extra monitoring of the chicks and what I consider "hard" (relatively) brooder care.

Although broodies can be a lot easier, they can also make it harder. I just did a big spring push to make up for the upcoming summer off, had 4 broodies going at once, and I'm telling you it's not like just fixing one more plate at dinner. It's like having 4 separate meals going. I didn't have the same great results with them this year that I've had previously. Even my most experienced broody crushed a hatching chick. I lost 3 more under various hens. And a bunch of eggs that candled as developing never hatched. It was unusually stressful.

In the past I've enjoyed letting broodies do all the work. But if the time of year doesn't work, I say just stick 'em in the incubator and raise them yourself. In June the real heat starts so I think you still have time if you start now.

* You mentioned a concern about rain. Is the area you would brood sheltered?

 

[CrystalAnon]

In central FL here, and tend to hatch all year the last 3 years running. So I really understand your concern.

Last year I had eggs in the incubator during a heatwave, the temp kept rising above 100F so we had to keep taking the incubator lid off to cool them down.
This is what an experienced broody does when it's hot, she stands up. But a lot of first-timers, or broodies just lacking a full set of instincts, they won't stand up and they cook the eggs.
We've learned not to have the incubator inside during summer because the way we run the AC makes it too hard for it to compensate (the "drafts" not just the temp). So I have it on the porch once the cool weather passes. If we had an indoor room without an AC vent, that would be better.
That heat-wave brood had 4 crossbeak chicks in the batch, though I hadn't had any pop up in my line in the years before or in the hatches since. So I put it down to heat damage.

Winter is a much better time for us to brood chicks. I try to do a lot of winter hatching when the hens are cooperating with eggs. We get those last intense heat waves in October, but in November they don't spike as high and that's a good month to begin (with an incubator, broodies won't usually comply that time of year).
When you're providing artificial heat with brooding, the harder thing to manage is overheating. So we make sure we have a nice long brooder and the heat source at one end so the other end can be cool. During warm months the heat sometimes has to be cycled off and on so that's a lot of extra monitoring of the chicks and what I consider "hard" (relatively) brooder care.

Although broodies can be a lot easier, they can also make it harder. I just did a big spring push to make up for the upcoming summer off, had 4 broodies going at once, and I'm telling you it's not like just fixing one more plate at dinner. It's like having 4 separate meals going. I didn't have the same great results with them this year that I've had previously. Even my most experienced broody crushed a hatching chick. I lost 3 more under various hens. And a bunch of eggs that candled as developing never hatched. It was unusually stressful.

In the past I've enjoyed letting broodies do all the work. But if the time of year doesn't work, I say just stick 'em in the incubator and raise them yourself. In June the real heat starts so I think you still have time if you start now.

* You mentioned a concern about rain. Is the area you would brood sheltered?

Thank you for all this Florida-specific info!! Exactly the kind of experience I was hoping to hear about!
The place we would have the broody hen sit is covered on the sides, which is where rain would come in with the larger summer storms. (Splash-rain) The bottom of our coop is mostly hardware cloth, so it gets plenty of ventilation in the summer, but to put the broody-crate in there, I had to wrap it with feed bags so the broody crate doesn’t get soaked when it rains. It’s in the coop, so no rain would come down from the top.
I would love to incubate so I could actually see which chick came from which hen! I’m completely fascinated by genetics! I know that’s not always possible with broody hens. I just thought it might be more difficult when it came to integration, because we have such a tight-knit, small flock. (7 2yr hens & 1 2yr roo)

 

[CrystalAnon]

In central FL here, and tend to hatch all year the last 3 years running. So I really understand your concern.

Last year I had eggs in the incubator during a heatwave, the temp kept rising above 100F so we had to keep taking the incubator lid off to cool them down.
This is what an experienced broody does when it's hot, she stands up. But a lot of first-timers, or broodies just lacking a full set of instincts, they won't stand up and they cook the eggs.
We've learned not to have the incubator inside during summer because the way we run the AC makes it too hard for it to compensate (the "drafts" not just the temp). So I have it on the porch once the cool weather passes. If we had an indoor room without an AC vent, that would be better.
That heat-wave brood had 4 crossbeak chicks in the batch, though I hadn't had any pop up in my line in the years before or in the hatches since. So I put it down to heat damage.

Winter is a much better time for us to brood chicks. I try to do a lot of winter hatching when the hens are cooperating with eggs. We get those last intense heat waves in October, but in November they don't spike as high and that's a good month to begin (with an incubator, broodies won't usually comply that time of year).
When you're providing artificial heat with brooding, the harder thing to manage is overheating. So we make sure we have a nice long brooder and the heat source at one end so the other end can be cool. During warm months the heat sometimes has to be cycled off and on so that's a lot of extra monitoring of the chicks and what I consider "hard" (relatively) brooder care.

Although broodies can be a lot easier, they can also make it harder. I just did a big spring push to make up for the upcoming summer off, had 4 broodies going at once, and I'm telling you it's not like just fixing one more plate at dinner. It's like having 4 separate meals going. I didn't have the same great results with them this year that I've had previously. Even my most experienced broody crushed a hatching chick. I lost 3 more under various hens. And a bunch of eggs that candled as developing never hatched. It was unusually stressful.

In the past I've enjoyed letting broodies do all the work. But if the time of year doesn't work, I say just stick 'em in the incubator and raise them yourself. In June the real heat starts so I think you still have time if you start now.

* You mentioned a concern about rain. Is the area you would brood sheltered?

Out of curiosity, how many chickens do you have in your flock?

 

[NatJ]

I would love to incubate so I could actually see which chick came from which hen! I’m completely fascinated by genetics! I know that’s not always possible with broody hens.

If you want to know which chicks come from which hens, I agree an incubator is typically easier, but you can put eggs from just one hen under the broody. Or from two hens that will give different-colored chicks. That lets you know who is the mother of each chick.

If you want to hatch just one or a few eggs from each hen, and you only have one broody, that obviously does not work as well.

 

[NatJ]

I let my husband know that you said this about the electric oven. He really wants to be able to use the electric oven while our power is out. Not sure why. Maybe just wants to feel as “normal” as possible?

I think you should be able to check how much power would be needed for the stovetop burners and the oven you have.

The breaker size and wires are probably sized for running everything at once (all burners plus the oven), but using just one burner or just the oven would use less than that. I can't say how much less, just that the answer probably can be found either by looking it up or by getting one of those meters that measures how much power something uses.

Once you know how much power is required, you can compare that with what your generator produces. If the generator is just barely big enough, you may be able to unplug or turn off everything else to let the oven work right. Just remember to plug in or turn on any important things afterward (fridge, freezer, water heater, AC or heat, well pump, etc.) If the generator is providing power to the whole house, turning off the breakers is often the fastest way to "turn off" the other things. In a pinch, you might turn off absolutely all of them except for the oven, if that's what it takes to get enough power.

It's a bit of a nuisance to have to think before running the oven, but when you really want pizza or cookies or whatever, sometimes it is worth the effort (usually not the first day, but several days into an outage...) And if what he really wants is the knowledge that he CAN do it, then figuring it out in advance might provide some valuable peace of mind!

 

[CrystalAnon]

If you want to know which chicks come from which hens, I agree an incubator is typically easier, but you can put eggs from just one hen under the broody. Or from two hens that will give different-colored chicks. That lets you know who is the mother of each chick.

If you want to hatch just one or a few eggs from each hen, and you only have one broody, that obviously does not work as well.

Exactly!! I don’t have enough soace to do eggs from just one hen, every year. I lost one hen last year to a very bad yeast infection. I hope to stay on any possible illness, so I don’t lose any more chickens for a while. I only have enough room for maybe 5 more hens, at most, with my set-up. (Ideally 3) And if I added that many, I would have to let them forage more hours during the day. We have a pretty decent-sized run, but not big enough for 13 chickens to be pooping constantly in there, without foraging more hours of the day.