Hands on hatching and help

[AmyLynn2374]

Another crappy day here. Rain rain rain. So the chicks will have to wait until tomorrow to go out to the pen. I sooooo want to get pics. They are growing so gorgeous. I fear that 5/6 of the paints (all the whites ended up with at least a small touch of paint) are males and I think Blooie is a male too. I am fairly confidant that 4 are females and two I'm still going back and forth on.

Now it is my understanding that you can't or shouldn't breed paint to paint because that's where you get the pink pigmentation in the skin color, (if I understand Ruby correctly.) So if that is the case, without a separate pen for my one girl that is paint, away from a paint male. It would be in my best interest not to keep a male paint. That leaves me with my gray that I believe is a roo and possibly the one that is showing some partridge. Oh silkies need to be easier to sex!

 

[2crazyflockers]

So I'm on day 4 of incubating cortunix quail and every night my Bator is dropping to 97 I tried wrapping a blanket and tried turning up the temp a little last night and it still dropped! I'm going to put a couple rocks in there because I heard they help hold heat is there any other advice? Its a hovabator still air and unfortunately my house is under construction so stable temps are an issue!

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Another crappy day here. Rain rain rain. So the chicks will have to wait until tomorrow to go out to the pen. I sooooo want to get pics. They are growing so gorgeous. I fear that 5/6 of the paints (all the whites ended up with at least a small touch of paint) are males and I think Blooie is a male too. I am fairly confidant that 4 are females and two I'm still going back and forth on. 

Now it is my understanding that you can't or shouldn't breed paint to paint because that's where you get the pink pigmentation in the skin color, (if I understand Ruby correctly.) So if that is the case, without a separate pen for my one girl that is paint, away from a paint male. It would be in my best interest not to keep a male paint. That leaves me with my gray that I believe is a roo and possibly the one that is showing some partridge.  Oh silkies need to be easier to sex!

We have the opposite problem. Our temps have been in the 100s. Keeping my chicks/chickens cool is always my biggest problem. Good luck I hope the rain ends soon.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We have the opposite problem. Our temps have been in the 100s. Keeping my chicks/chickens cool is always my biggest problem. Good luck I hope the rain ends soon.

It's supposed to be nice and clear the rest of the week, so once they are out there I'll probably be complaining about figureing out a way to provide shade...lol

 

[babychicks7]

Hallo! Is there a sipmle way to identify a fertile egg suitable for hatching before placing it in the incubation process?

dont know if any one answered yet but i do believe you have to incubate for at least 5 days to see if they are fertile then you go from there

 

[Laurel Meadows]

How do you all feel about auto turners vs hand turning? Ive also read about a tilt method in bad air cell situations. This last round i used the auto turner from day 2 up to day 17. (I quit bc the silkie had already internally pipped by day 17). And yes, fat end was up

I hand turn mine 5x a day. I don't own any auto turners but If I did buy one- I like the IncuTurn. The eggs lay on their sides and roll side to side rather than the upright tilt of most turners.
If I have loose or rolling detached air cells, I use paper egg cartons cut out to sit the eggs upright. Saddled air cells get turned on their sides just like the good air cells.

Another crappy day here. Rain rain rain. So the chicks will have to wait until tomorrow to go out to the pen. I sooooo want to get pics. They are growing so gorgeous. I fear that 5/6 of the paints (all the whites ended up with at least a small touch of paint) are males and I think Blooie is a male too. I am fairly confidant that 4 are females and two I'm still going back and forth on. 

Now it is my understanding that you can't or shouldn't breed paint to paint because that's where you get the pink pigmentation in the skin color, (if I understand Ruby correctly.) So if that is the case, without a separate pen for my one girl that is paint, away from a paint male. It would be in my best interest not to keep a male paint. That leaves me with my gray that I believe is a roo and possibly the one that is showing some partridge.  Oh silkies need to be easier to sex!

Can't wait to see the new pics after the weather clears!

So I'm on day 4 of incubating cortunix quail and every night my Bator is dropping to 97 I tried wrapping a blanket and tried turning up the temp a little last night and it still dropped! I'm going to put a couple rocks in there because I heard they help hold heat is there any other advice? Its a hovabator still air and unfortunately my house is under construction so stable temps are an issue!

When I had a power outage, I heated uncooked rice in a pan (on my wood stove) and put the warm rice in baggies and put them in my Hova still air. It worked well short-term for a few hours until the power came back on. Hope you're able to figure something out! My Hovabator gives me issues too, although mine likes to drive the temp up.

 

[PD-Riverman]

So I'm on day 4 of incubating cortunix quail and every night my Bator is dropping to 97 I tried wrapping a blanket and tried turning up the temp a little last night and it still dropped! I'm going to put a couple rocks in there because I heard they help hold heat is there any other advice? Its a hovabator still air and unfortunately my house is under construction so stable temps are an issue!

If you turn it up at night do you have to turn it down during the day?

You are not going by a built in thermometer are you? If so it probably not correct.

Most of those incubators have enough heat to keep up with a some-what cooled room.

You can add a little heat if you want----use one of those candle lights like a lot of people put in their windows during Christmas. Knotch the edge of the incubator for the cord or remove the cord and stick through a vent hole and then hook it back to the light or cut the cord and stick it through a hole and put it back together with wire nuts. You can plug it in only at night if that's the only time you will need more heat. Or if you got one of the older heating pad that stays on you can place I on your table and use a cooling rack or similar to set the incubator on---so it does not sit directly on the heat pad---turn the heat pad on low at night.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So, I couldn't get the "kids" outside today, but I had to clean out the pens and wash dishes, so I decided to take pics anyway. I still plan on getting some outside with all of them- spitz and the 3 mixes too, but I couldn't wait to take some pics so here are the 12 babies hatched from Ruby's eggs:

#1





#2




#3




#4




#5




#6




#7




#8




#9




#10




#11




#12 (my fav)

 

[BantyChooks]

Just locked down my eggs, 2/3 are still alive!
I'm having a beastly time getting humidity up. I have four bowls of hot water in there and it reads 40%....

It is a DIY bator, so maybe I need to block some holes up? I think I gave it too much ventilation.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

So, I couldn't get the "kids" outside today, but I had to clean out the pens and wash dishes, so I decided to take pics anyway. I still plan on getting some outside with all of them- spitz and the 3 mixes too, but I couldn't wait to take some pics so here are the 12 babies hatched from Ruby's eggs: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 (my fav)

Oh what cute little fluff balls!!!