When I get my 'bator.....

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
How many silkie eggs fit in an LG again?!

The LG I have holds about 80 eggs without a turner, or 41 (I think) with...

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Quote:
How many silkie eggs fit in an LG again?!

The LG I have holds about 80 eggs without a turner, or 41 (I think) with...

Um, yea I don't think I want to put 80 eggs in for my first attempt!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have still not had mine full at one time. not like it matters. I still have 31 babies that are under 2 weeks old!! Don't know why anyone would fill them up...or how for that matter!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
...um...because we can?

 

[shelleyd2008]

But where would you get THAT many??? You would have to set every egg you could find!!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Ever looked at some of the gamebird suppliers? You can get THOUSANDS of eggs... bwahahahahaha!!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I think my dad, and neighbors, and anyone within 5 miles would kill me if I got that many!!!

 

[Heather J]

My LG holds 41 eggs with the turner, I just ordered a HB Genesis (which though ordered Thursday morning, I still haven't received shipping confirmation on it, so I'm going to have to use the LG to hatch out the chicks under my muscovy.

) I've had tons of problems regulation the temps ont he LG. They'll float along beautifully for 18-20 hours, then suddenly drop or spike for no reason. Drives me crazy. I'm only going to use it as a hatcher from now on (if I can stand leaving it mostly empty, that is) so I only have to obsess over it for a couple of days at a time. I rigged up a CPU fan, which my dh is going to put on a control so I can lower the speed, and I have the auto turner, but the dang thing stresses me out. I had over 20 eggs start developing on the last batch and only 1 hatched.

I keep thinking I'm going to settle down on the hatching until spring because I've run out of *planned* space (yeah, my second coop isn't even done yet, and it's full), but then there are these chicks, that I put under the muscovy just for fun because her eggs weren't fertile, oh and siz was going to send me half a dozen eggs for guessing which of hers would lay first, and then someone wanted hatching eggs from my barred rocks, which theoretically will start laying about the time siz's eggs hatch, and I'll *have* to try hatching just a few of them to make sure they're fertile first, right?

At this rate I'll be cramming the babies into every available space in my house until February--when i will plan a coop that can be built by just me because waiting on my dh is going to kill me. (I hate his work schedule--we haven't gotten a single piece of osb on the walls in 2 weeks, my silkies and cochins are stinking up the house (they're stinking cute, too, but still smell) and my juvies and adults are all sleeping on top of each other in the first coop because the boys I'm raising for the freezer still need a bit of fattening up.)

 

[Mrs MIA]

Heather... I'm cramming too... I need to go out and finish the coop while the sun is shining (we had frost this morning!!!

) and make a few more grow-out pens...

With the LG ~ do you have it plugged into a power strip with a surge-protector? That can help with the spikes. Also, the best placement is in a small draft-free room with no windows. I "appropriated" our hot-tub room, covered the window with black fleece, and it stays a constant temp in there. I have had really good luck with the LG/turner in there.

 

[Heather J]

I had mine down in the pantry plugged into a UPS until just a couple of days before the hatch. That room is pretty constant temps, and the cats can't get into it.

The window faces north and is under the deck so it doesn't get any direct sunlight. I've been trying to figure out where else I can put the bator when I bring these eggs in later this week because the room is so far away from the rest of the house, I'd be running up and down the stairs twenty-five times a day (though from an exercise standpoint, maybe that's a good thing. lol) I'm not sure which day my muscovy started to sit on the eggs because she would pop up every time I fed the birds (they free range, but I give them layer feed several times a day to supplement), so three weeks could be Thursday, for all I know, or it could be Monday, which is when I started noticing that she was coming from her nesting area. I haven't seen her off the nest in days now--I had to kick her off and shut her out of the run until saw her drink something this afternoon since I've slid food into her, but water is another matter all together.

She chose a very secluded area in the old straw-bale lean-to I made for the birds last year, but I'm constantly having to fix it when the wind comes up and tears the roof off, so I decided to make something more permanent, but i have to wait for her to finish nesting before I can tear it apart. My rabbit hutch has been sitting half complete for several weeks while I wait for the pieces we're cutting out of the coop walls for the windows and such to build the walls for the hutch. My poor rabbit is in a cramped little cage, and when this is done he'll have a lot more privacy when he wants it, and some run space--think chicken tractor for rabbits. It'll be bunny heaven--eventually.

I blame you entirely for showing all of those fabulous pictures of your big roomy coop. Mine is a bit more grandiose than it would have been if I hadn't been impressed with your feeders and waterers and the simplicity of it all. It's 8x12 with space for three separate coop areas and somewhere to store feed out of the weather, and hang a few gardening tools. I'm also adding a loft (we went really tall on one side) over the coop area so I can keep all of my fencing ties and tools, and empty bators, partial bags of pine shavings, etc out there. I bought those little watering cups, but I think I'll wait until spring to fill the system and give it a go as I totally don't want to mess with broken pipes the first winter. I'm playing with an A-frame coop for the babies I'll incubate this fall placed in the existing run--I should be able to build nearly the whole thing by myself if I go really simple (I've been surprised at how handy I can be with a nail gun and circular saw).