The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Stereo on December 19, 2014, 07:44:24 pm
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Just put some eggs on in a Brinsea Octagon 20. Any tips for success at this time of year? Location is a converted barn but with no heating.
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Fertility not that great at this time of year...
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You may have a problem getting the incubator to work properly Stereo. Most incubators say they need to be operated in a background air temperature of 20 degrees or above. What happens is the eggs closest to the outside don't warm properly and some of the hatch can be 3 days late, or not at all.
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agreed, apart from fertility not being great, fluctuations in background temp might be tricky. let us know how you get on though :D my earliest hatch ever was in March last year-undecided whether I'll repeat it next year.
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You may have a problem getting the incubator to work properly Stereo. Most incubators say they need to be operated in a background air temperature of 20 degrees or above. What happens is the eggs closest to the outside don't warm properly and some of the hatch can be 3 days late, or not at all.
At last I understand why our hatches are always 3 days or more! Even in summer our house isn't 20! Thank you. Must add that my super broody came back with a clutch of 5 a few weeks ago after doing the usual dissapear ing act! She didn't seem to get that it was a bad time of year!
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With the very low outside / room temp you may have trouble with humidity / condensation.
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I used to hatch at the end of november so stock redey for march spring sale .The stock need 4 houres light fed dog food eggs scraps to get them in condition .Then you will see cocks treding on a frostey day .I use a wood burner to brood .I have eggs in naw in 2 incubaters and they are 2014 stock .So we will see.
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Thanks for all the tips. It's mild here in South Devon but I guess will drop overnight and may drop in Jan. The temp reading seems to be stable around 37 but I guess as you say, the outer eggs may suffer. I haven't put any water in yet and I can't find my little humidity meter thing. Am I going to have too high or too low humidity in winter? Last summer we really suffered keeping the humidity up and had poor hatch rates.
I know fertility will not be the best but the guy I got the eggs from (RIR) has 7 boys running with 40 odd hens so I'm hoping for a few at least. I know I'm not going to get a top result. I need a few eggs in autumn / winter to keep the local customers going as they have been moaning this year. I thought about doing some hybrids but have decided to stick with pures if possible and the only way of getting autumn eggs is probably to hatch in Jan.
I'll be setting some of my own LS eggs next week once I have 24 together. So I'm hoping that between the 2, I get 10 or so hens that will lay through next winter.
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Youv got to get some morasons eggs they won't let you dawn and lay all winter
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Not sure you can predict when they come into lay and how well they lay based on hatching. My first hatch this year was March and they came into lay briefly in September time and then stopped - but my Easter hatch very conveniently started laying a few weeks ago and are now keeping us going through this normally dead period. Very hard to predict. Ducks are doing really well though - one of the Silver Appleyards carried on into December and then another one started just as she stopped (and young Cayugas have just started too).
H
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Not sure you can predict when they come into lay and how well they lay based on hatching. My first hatch this year was March and they came into lay briefly in September time and then stopped - but my Easter hatch very conveniently started laying a few weeks ago and are now keeping us going through this normally dead period. Very hard to predict. Ducks are doing really well though - one of the Silver Appleyards carried on into December and then another one started just as she stopped (and young Cayugas have just started too).
H
i'm hatching from here on with a mix of breeds so hope at least some will lay through winter 2015.