Will a parrot incubator works with silkie eggs?

[danischi24]

Does anybody know if the settings for temperature etc etc are the same for parrots & silkies? I'm bringing some eggs from the USA to Israel soon & my friend has a few parrot incubators so I'm wondering if I would have to change the settings or not.

 

[monarc23]

not sure about these specific incubators but if your friend can change the temps on the incubator to 99.5-102 F then he should be fine.

 

[jimnjay]

I would think that the incubator has an adjustable temperature control. Most incubators are used for various types of eggs. Like Monarc23 said you just need to keep it between 99.5 F if it is a circulated air type or 101 F if still air. Your friend will most likely have insturctions for the incubator and you can check the specs if it is a preset model. I would imagine the temperature would be very close.

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

good luck with your eggs

 

[injunjoe]

Quote:

I was thinking, how are you going to get the eggs there?
They will go through at least one X-Ray machine.

Wont that kill any chance of hatching them?

 

[danischi24]

I don't know but I don't think so because a previous Israeli brought some with him & actually stuck them in his clothes so I'm sure they went through the X-ray & he had a good hatch rate even though he had them for 2 weeks before he even flew! Any advice on the X-ray too? I have lots of questions.
This would never be possible to do in South Africa where I come from so I'm so excited that I can at last make one of my greatest dreams come true & get a proper SQ silkie as a pet. My biggest problem is that I can't see any way to bring a tiny sexed female chick over which essentially what I want. The only solution I can come up with is bringing some eggs over, hatching them, DNA testing the chicks & selecting a female...WHEW! I can only keep one here on the kibbutz or 2 at most but no roosters as my neighbors would go nuts. Does anyone have any input?

 

[chickenfanatic]

wow u really like silkies dont cha hahaha good luck and yes a parrot bator will work if u adjust it they are all pretty much standard just because it had been used to hatch parrot type birds doesnt mean u cant hatch chickens or something else in it wish u all the luck u need

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck and welcome!

A parrot bator should work with the right temps and humidity set no problem. Shoot, parrots are "valuable" compared to most chickens so bators made for them have lots of finer details and controls in their base models vs the base models of chicken bators.

However.

Just because eggs are from show quality prize winning grand champion parents at the largest shows in the world, there is NO gaurentee that the chicks will be show quality. They'll have some traits of their parents, but could have "disqualifications" and such, with recessive genes or undesirable traits. The standards for "perfection" that define show quality also vary country to country too so what is champion in country A could be disqualified in country B.

Second, you don't need to DNA test the chicks. I don't even know if they do that for things other than "exotic" birds. Just wait 3 months or so and you'll be able to see secondary sex characteristics such as comb/wattle development, and sickle/hackle development. Might take 4 months, but no blood work necessary. On my leghorns, I can pick out nearly all boys from girls as early as 10 days old!

Also, I recommend keeping two girls. They are social animals and do the best with other chickens. It's good for their mental health as they are flock birds.

Best of luck!

 

[danischi24]

Yes, I love silkies to pieces! I got my 1st one when I was 3 years old & begged my dad to let me keep a pullet I caught at an animal farm. I don't need a show bird as it will never see a show. I need a bird with serious fluff, a huge topnot, dark skin & 5 toes. Fluff is the ultimate! Don't know if that's a show bird or not as in South Africa the silkies I saw in the ring were of poor quality-I had a few that would have beat them

. It will have to be an inside bird as it wont last 2 seconds outside here & will have me for 24hr companionship. That's why I'd rather have only one as more than one bird prefers its own species for company. I am a true bird addict who has loved birds with a slightly abnormal passion since I was a toddler. People think I'm so weird when I start talking birds...like I give a darn! I don't want to keep a bunch of chicks which is why I want to DNA test them so I can tell which is which & pick a chick before they are a week old (A friend of the family is a vet so he will do it for me). Plus quality silkies are notorious for being very hard to sex until mature & even sometimes then. I had a bird which I was totally unsure of because it tried to crow at the right age & then went on to lay (at over a year just to make me miserable)

It was a silly little hand raised thing. Anyone still have advice or suggestions? All comments are much appreciated.

P.S. This was me as a kid with one of my 1st silkies-I know it looks like I'm strangling her but I'm not, I promise!

It's a photo of a photo so quality isn't great.

 

[English Chick]

Hi Dani,

Am sure the parrot bator will work and have read everyone elses comments and agree with them. Sad that you can only have two birds at the Kibbutz! Glad to see photobucket worked for you. Your comments where interesting on Silkie sexing, I have Silkies, only two the Mother and a chick now growing rapidly, thought it was a little hen, turned out Doris is a Boris who started crowing and was trying to "tread" my other girls arghhhh unfortunately due to his size he has now been separated as I was worried he could break the backs of my little bantams! Gosh am rambling as usual....Good Luck and keep the forum posted as to your hatch.....