Washingtonians

[LaSombra]

Quote:
wouldn't momma keep them just as warm as a brooder?

 

[Chickielady]

I have a question for you Washingtonians:
Our humidity here is at about 89%, all by itself, right now ! and has not gotten below 70% in the last week due to one storm after another with today the windy whopper of them all...so, my humidity in the incubator has shot up to 87%, and I am at day 16, ready to stop turning soon...so my question is, think I should take the wet sponge out completely from the incubator as the air holes are opened a little, and the humidity is so high in our air already ?
Tell me what you would do~

 

[Chickielady]

I believe Momma hen will keep the chicks warm, as long as they stay under her, but they will get curious, and hungry, and want to run around, and that is what I am worried about.
Will they get cold and come back ?
Will they stray too far and end up in a corner freezing ?
I am a more worried mama hen then the hen is !

 

[LaSombra]

Quote:
I see what you mean... Well, I have my broody in a big plastic tub with a wire rack for a lid and towel over that for darkness/noise reduction. It's like a 50 gallon tub or something so she has room to have the nest at one end and food/water at the other end. The pine shavings and sides of the bin keep the heat in for her and will keep the babies close also. Can you do something like that? I got my bin at walmart for $10 a couple months ago.

 

[Zgoatlady]

Chickielady
I would see if you can put her in something like that or a dog crate so the chicks wont get cold. Last month we had a hen that had chicks in gravel and when it was snowing my husband found her due to the chicks talking one was dead and we lost one more that was out of the next so we took the others and got the eggs in the incubator to save the rest. Felt bad for the hen but it was a bad place for all of them.. Good luck

 

[LaSombra]

Quote:
I don't think there's a problem with momma eating the chick starter... just not good when they're laying... I thought that, anyway...

 

[Chickielady]

OK. we went out in the henhouse, where half of it is wired off with pultry netting and has had Lucille (11 mo old Buff Orp) with her nest of eggs from 'gamebirdsonly' and I had set up a brooder already, it is 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 25" tall, and bought a professional brooder element complete with wafer thermostat...all installed it was great, then we moved the brooder element to the incubator which is now full of more eggs !
So, the brooder outside now has a 250-watt red lamp, and Lucille has been placed in one corner, with food and water, and 3 feet square of space under the red lamp.
I have a sensor directly under the light, and another halfway to the nest, and now my cheeky einstein man is hooking up a spy cam so we can watch without running out there and disturbing the hens every ten minutes.
The temperatures I can read outside, still, I have to glove up and put on a coat in my jammies every hour of the night !

We also have a wildlife cam that takes a picture everytime there is movement, but that does not commute to the house, and the spy cam is a direct feed, from radio shack~

 

[T Hi]

Quote:
I believe that the one in Chehalis is a farmers market that you are allowed to sell poultry at. As Zgoatlady stated there is a auction held every Saturday at 11:00am in Enumclaw for poultry. I attend this one every weekend and sometimes there are ALOT of chicks. People usually box them in counts of 10 or 12 and they sell pretty quick! As to why would someone hatch that many when they don't need or want them that I do not know! Seems like a little bit of a waste.

'

 

[T Hi]

So for those who have runner ducks.......

Is it easy to decipher runner ducklings from other breeds when they are only a day old?
Do they stand significantly taller than the others?

I went to a feed store that told me they had some runners come in with their "assorted" batch. I drove up there and watched the little guys for about 45 minutes and could not pick out a more upright stance from any others. The gal pointed out some that she had thought were runners and I just wasn't convinced enough to buy them. They all looked Pekinish to me. I have spent ALOT of time staring at ducklings in any store that I can find them and drooling over youtube videos but I'm confused I guess. '

'

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
The runner eggs are incubating; I think they will hatch for the show in Stevenson...................

Maybe some sebastopol goslings too!