Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[BGMatt]

That could be really cool. I'd be interested to see a passive solar setup and see if it can be upscaled to larger setups. Anything that can help power bill stay down during breeding season. Hoping to go solar lighting for lights in breeding pens here this year too, mainly to avoid ~200 ft of trenching and conduit to get electricity out there.

 

[catelb]

I posted a reply, it's back a few pages.... here

1- Could be environmental factors, abrupt changes in weather and such (when we had that recent hot spell a friend's laying and fertility rates dropped down by half laying wise and went from 90% fertility to about 60%). With the age of the birds they might be nearing a molt as well.

2-The condensation is normal for styroform incubators like that after hatching begins. Did you candle or break out the eggs that did not hatch? That could be more helpful in figuring out what went wrong with them, although if the other eggs were hatching fine i would suspect either lack of fertility or some genetic issue (not a lethal gene though, as the other poster said Ameracaunas do not have a lethal gene, that is the Aracauna). After day 22 or 23 you should toss the eggs that didn't hatch.

Thank you everyone for your feedback! I am going to chalk up the lack of eggs to the change in weather, a possible molt-to-be, or diet issues. We feed our birds scratch and peck layer so I think they get oyster shell in that actually, and should be getting plenty of protein too. We don't, however, have our food out all of the time due to rats ... so maybe they aren't getting enough of it to meet their calcium / protein needs? We have upped their feed, put oyster shell out, and will supplement more often with high protein table scraps just to be sure.

As for the eggs, only one of the seven hatched. We went ahead and cracked the eggs and found 4 beautiful, completely formed chicks. Unfortunately they were already dead, but I wonder if we had peeled them sooner if we could have 'saved' them. They were smaller eggs with super thick shells so I wonder if that had something to do with it? Bummer!

Thank you again for all of your help. I really appreciate it!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

That could be really cool. I'd be interested to see a passive solar setup and see if it can be upscaled to larger setups. Anything that can help power bill stay down during breeding season. Hoping to go solar lighting for lights in breeding pens here this year too, mainly to avoid ~200 ft of trenching and conduit to get electricity out there.

Oh, believe me, I get that: I only have about sixty feet to go, and it's in sand, but really, I've dug enough ditches in my life.

 

[BGMatt]

Thank you everyone for your feedback! I am going to chalk up the lack of eggs to the change in weather, a possible molt-to-be, or diet issues. We feed our birds scratch and peck layer so I think they get oyster shell in that actually, and should be getting plenty of protein too. We don't, however, have our food out all of the time due to rats ... so maybe they aren't getting enough of it to meet their calcium / protein needs? We have upped their feed, put oyster shell out, and will supplement more often with high protein table scraps just to be sure.  

As for the eggs, only one of the seven hatched. We went ahead and cracked the eggs and found 4 beautiful, completely formed chicks. Unfortunately they were already dead, but I wonder if we had peeled them sooner if we could have 'saved' them. They were smaller eggs with super thick shells so I wonder if that had something to do with it? Bummer!

Thank you again for all of your help. I really appreciate it!  

Much better to lose the chicks than help them. Weak chicks that can't hatch that are "saved" will pass on the weakness and you'll end up with more problems in the coming years.

 

[mikeyb]

Long, long, long day, and it's not nearly over. Got the chicks into the second configuration, which isn't going to last long: ten Hamburgs in a 18X24 box is a tight fit even at three days old.

We have actually managed to get our son's 27th birthday present ready to get to Ellensburg before his birthday, even though the only gift sack I could find that was big enough and wasn't pink was a little boy's race car pattern, oh, well.

I need to go pick up eggs and make sure everyone has food and water- I'll have to deal with the terrible nest position in the Wyandotte run for another day, because I really need not to get soaked to the skin leaning over trying to build something- too likely to make a stupid mistake and create a raccoon entrance, or something.

And to think I was terribly worried about the dusty cow paths two weeks ago.

He'll always be your little boy, right?

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Long, long, long day, and it's not nearly over. Got the chicks into the second configuration, which isn't going to last long: ten Hamburgs in a 18X24 box is a tight fit even at three days old.


We have actually managed to get our son's 27th birthday present ready to get to Ellensburg before his birthday, even though the only gift sack I could find that was big enough and wasn't pink was a little boy's race car pattern, oh, well.


I need to go pick up eggs and make sure everyone has food and water- I'll have to deal with the terrible nest position in the Wyandotte run for another day, because I really need not to get soaked to the skin leaning over trying to build something- too likely to make a stupid mistake and create a raccoon entrance, or something.


And to think I was terribly worried about the dusty cow paths two weeks ago.

He'll always be your little boy, right?

Oh, no doubt, all six feet and a bit of him, even after moving out and supporting himself for a long while.

 

[Slinglings]

Just ordered this chicken coop and I hope it gets here soon as I'm ready for the chicks to be OUT of my laundry room.



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I think the slide out tray will be handy. I've been reading about what type of litter to use and I think with the tray I'll use a combo of sand and sweet pdz (hopefully can find it locally). Not sure what to use on the bottom level though. Maybe straw? I would like something that is easily compostable and can handle getting a little wet. Open to suggestions.


Also, I read on this thread about X-cel feed out of Tacoma. I'm almost through my bag of medicated purina start and grow. Does X-cel sell a feed that I should use for my chicks, or should I stick with the purina starter? And, is the X-cel stuff worth a separate drive?[/URL]

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That coop looks familiar, I think someone else in the area got one last year.  If you use sand, and clean it daily there's no need for pdz.  If straw gets wet you'll have problems.  I have about 5" of sand (coarse sand is best) and it works very well.  I clean both areas every morning, it takes about 10 min.  I use a cat litter scoop that has a long handle, about 14" maybe.  I dump the waste into a plastic trash can along with dry leaves from my yard.  After it sits in there for about 6 months (kept damp) it's great compost for my garden.   I got the sand from a pit, it was $15 cu. yard, which is 2 pickup truck loads.  I keep extra in a couple of rubbermaid tubs so I have some to supplement as needed. 

ETA:  I think you're going to have problems reaching underneath that coop to clean.  You might consider altering the wire on the front to be a hinged "screen door" so you can open it and reach in. 
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I don't have this coop but I haveone very similar. I did turn the end wire wall into a hinged door like carolyn suggested. r. And I made the whole thing mobile by mounting a piece of wood on each side and attaching lawn mower wheels, I don't put anything on the floor of the run. I just move it around whenever necessary. Wet straw is terrible and is hard to compost. Use wood shavings if you want something like that on the ground.

The idea of a pull out tray is nice, but the tray on mine isn't even close to deep enough. I tried sand once but it was far too heavy for the tray on mine. Yours might be better, but it looks the same.

Here is a pic showing the wheels, but before I changed the end to a door. The whole end panel is on hinges now. It's normally in the grass, and I move it around as needed.

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[LyleChickens]

Quote: I have 6 RIR's

 

[mikeyb]

Whoot, I just sold all of my JG chicks (down sizing my work load).

Arbuckle has her two chicks out in the yard so I came in to get my camera to take pics annnnnnnnnnnnd the dang battery is dead. I really need to buy a new camera. grrrrr
This was the first day she had them out of the run and into the grass. After they found out the grass wouldn't attack them they go through the wire back in forth into the yard and back again. Just like kids. lol They appear happy and healthy and Arbuckle is doing a good job of watching them. Rascal came over and was standing a bit off and watching his family. I need that camera.

 

[SadieSue]

Quote: Thing is, I had the first set of chicks in a seven gallon fish tank with a 60 watt bulb and they were doing fine but they were also going 24 hrs a day which means, more than anything, that they were making a mess for that long- there's a science fiction story around somewhere about a planet where nobody sleeps, and how low the birth rate is because nobody can handle toddlers who never sleep, and that's sort of what I was feeling like. I got a 150 watt IR (low visible light) bulb in the Herps section at Petsmart and looked longingly at the aquatic turtle set-ups, which look better for chickens than the lizard ones because they're water-proof. Not cheap, but less than the Ecoglo. The first bunch of chicks I incubated had a Reptile Rock and a flat-panel under desk heater, and grew out fine, but I didn't know what to worry about then.

Looking back on the photos I took of the broody-raised Hamburg chicks from this time last year, I'm astonished at how very little time they stayed under the hen after they were a couple of days old- and far from being at 80F at four weeks, they were on a 2X2 perch next to their mother by that time, with overnight lows around 60F, in a double plastic over wire run.

I'd be running a Brinsea Octogon like Sadie Sue's and an Ecoglo except for the whole "they're not free" part- I feel like it would work better for me to have more, smaller incubator batches right now. I'm itching to hatch the green eggs from the Ameraucana rooster/Ameraucana Australorp hen before I stick the other two hens -silver EEs- in with them, so I can pay my cousin back for swiping his hen, but I HATE the idea of running the Little Giant again because of the heat and humidity problems. I've got moments when I think I should just keep all the bantam pullets and go for natural small-batch hatching, but that's possibly just the "nonsleeping toddlers" effect talking.

I am quite happy with the Brinsea Octogon and with the Eco-glow brooders. So much, that I ended up getting another Eco-glow for when I have two brooders occupied. I've never tried any other incubators but for my purposes of seldom more than 12-18 eggs hatched at a time it works out just right for me. There is a 10% discount right now at Brinsea, but I know that still doesn't make it free!