Utah!

[La Casa de Pollo]

Ya it's a little frustrating only cause im trying so hard to get it right the first time so I get the best chance possible with my first time hatching. I'll cry if I loose all or most of them. I tried to calibrate the new one I just got (with the wire probe) by using one of our digital oral thermometers. I filled a glass of water and sticked them both in there. A couple times they ran up to the same number and a few times the wire probe thermometer was off by a degree. It works alot faster though then the first one I got. I put the new one (with probe) down through the vent whole and dangled it right next to the fatter one I got before, and compared the two and they are very different. I turned up the incubator just to see if the other one would rise and it wont. The new one went up to 105 and the first one I got stayed at 95. So I turned it back down and got the new one to 95 just to see if the other would would drop and is hasent. The humidity is totally off also. The first one is saying 30 and the new one is saying 45. Soo.. I am not sure which is more accurate. I feel more confident with the newer one I got simply because it reads faster then the first one and it read very close to what the oral thermometer does. So would it be safest to try to leave the over all temperature at 100 during the entire incubation to give it a little head room incase it drops a little or raises a little?

I have learned, better to err on the low side than the high side. Hens get off the eggs now and then, and the average temp is not always 99.5, the eggs cool off periodically (the hen never heat spikes though lol)....so i figure if I can get them rolling at 99.5 and it dips down a little here and there I do not worry. My last hatch I ran at 98 after the first 4 days because I was so worried about heat spikes while we were in and out and I got a lot more to hatch than I thought I would. I think about 80 percent, which kind of surprised me. I figured I would lose some but not as many as if it spiked, and instead the hatch was about the same as usual. Super surprised me!

 

[Cynthia12]

I agree, better lower than higher!!

And Lisa, when you hit the 3 yr. point of hatching, we will see how much you will be wanting to hatch...lol. I am going to sell another hen, then be down to 7, that's close enough to the right number .. right? It will be best for the big coop in the winter. I will however...ahem, have those new future layer babies in the nursery for a while, then in a grow out pen. When they start laying come Jan. and Feb..I will sell another bird or two. This is going to be a bit easier than hatching. I have too much going on right now anyway. Family, puppy, Austin coming home soon. Don't want to be in the middle of hatching with all that is going on.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

I agree, better lower than higher!!  

And Lisa, when you hit the 3 yr. point of hatching, we will see how much you will be wanting to hatch...lol.    I am going to sell another hen, then be down to 7, that's close enough to the right number .. right?   It will be best for the big coop in the winter.    I will however...ahem, have those new future layer babies in the nursery for a while, then in a grow out pen.   When they start laying come Jan. and Feb..I will sell another bird or two.  This is going to be a bit easier than hatching.       I have too much going on right now anyway.  Family, puppy, Austin coming home soon.  Don't want to be in the middle of hatching with all that is going on.  

So we will post chickie pics to keep you happy I need to stop too, I hope this is the last batch. Trying to get those frizzle SG females, so I can put them back with that pretty Yoshi you gave me. Yummy babies in the Spring then! And...Can't wait for your boy to get back home to you!

 

[Cynthia12]

OCT. 23rd!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

OCT. 23rd!  

What a happy day that will be! Seems like far too long

 

[RedIII]

OCT. 23rd!  

For Austin? No way. He just went out!

 

[sillycmoy]

Cute babies everyone. I just looked at the calendar, and I think those 3 LF eggs I gave me Silkie are at day 18 today. I candled them over the weekend and all 3 looked great. So I guess tonight after everyone goes to bed, I guess I'm going to have to officially kick everyone out of the large shipping crate coop. Because that is where she is. I will lock her up there by herself with food and water till after they hatch out, and then I will move her and babies out to the grow out pen/coop in a week or so. Boy are the girls going to be mad about this. For some reason 1/2 of them have been sleeping in there and not the main coop.

 

[bitsyhorse]

Hey everyone. I have a dilemma. Yesterday 2 guys came to buy some roosters from me. I sold them 4 but they really liked my bleeding rooster. I come home tonight and my jubile orphington rooster is gone . I've looked everywhere . It's a 75 dollar bird . Do I get the cops involved?

I would for sure get the cops involved... if it wasn't them... it will cost you nothing... if they catch them (and who knows, maybe they're doing cock fighting...) then you get your bird back, and two thieves off the streets...

 

[Cynthia12]

For Austin? No way. He just went out!

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

Hope I'm doing this correctly. This is 4 1/2hrs into calibrating these two digital temp/hydro meters. Both are the acurite brands from walmart. One with a wire probe and one without. The one without seems to be exactly two degrees below the other one with both temp & humidity. It's also the slowest. The one with probe works a lot faster and seems to be right on or one below my oral thermometer when placed in warm water. Which should I rely on? Should I use both of these in the incubator and just stay in the middle of both readings? Both seem to be 7-10 off of what the humidity is suppose to be reading for this test, but i'll leave it in there a couple more hrs to be sure. So i'll just have to take note of how much its off when it's in the incubator.
Im not sure how reliable these are, so should I just keep humidity reading between 20-40, and be fine? I know temp is more critical then humidity and since they are off by two, should I leave one temp at 100 and the other at 98? I have read that when using a fan (which I am) that it should be 99.5. I hate not knowing which thermometer to count on. Any thoughts? What would you do? Thanks