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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

So the incubator cost you.....in rent ? ... or in electricity?

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--- On Sun, 11/23/08, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:

> From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Eggs are hatching-UPDATE
> To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 12:52 PM
> No, they would be killed.
> I have 3 groups(technically 4)...
> A) the adult birds and rooster (5 hens, 1 rooster)---they
> are in the new
> coop
> B) the juniors, 8 free chicks that are now right at 6 weeks
> old, which I
> moved from the greenhouse to the chicken tractor yesterday.
>  We modified
> the tractor, adding plastic, some hay, and a light.  It was
> like 25 last
> night and they survived all happy and chirpy this morning.
> C) the chicks, which we won't officially count before
> they hatch
> D) the eggs of soon to be chicks, of which there are 28. :)
> 
> Whatever chicks hatch will be kept inside the house for at
> least a week,
> in a box with a light and some hay.  Assuming all is well,
> I will move
> them to the cage in the greenhouse at one week, where they
> will still be
> under lights for warmth.  The morning that we saw 16 here,
> it was 38 in
> the greenhouse.  It is hard to keep it above freezing if
> there are
> several nights in the teens, which is typical in winter.
> After 4-6 weeks in the greenhouse(more time if fewer
> chicks, less if
> more chicks), I will play "move the chickens"
> around Jan 1.
> The new chicks will go to the chicken tractor(4x5), and the
> juniors will
> go to the old coop(10x10).  In the spring, I separate
> roosters and will
> allow all adult birds to unify by allowing them to range in
> the same
> area, then coop them all together at night.
> 
> If you put birds of different sizes together, the big ones
> will pick on
> and kill the little ones, unless there is a mother to
> protect them.  If
> a hen is not broody, she is unlikely to foster/protect
> chicks not her
> own, at least at this age in this season.
> 
> This is round 1 of chicks.  I am already collecting eggs
> for round 2 of
> incubation, which, if I can get enough eggs, should start
> next weekend.
>  As long as I have use of the incubator, I'm going to
> hatch as many as I
> can.  If my girls stop laying, then I am dead in the water.
>   There's an
> economy of scale here, it makes no sense to run the
> incubator(and then
> lights) for a dozen eggs...at least, that is my break
> point, but I
> haven't done the math on it.  I should.
> 
> Bev
> 
> bob ford wrote:
> > So when they all hatch, do you take them to the coop
> for a chicken to
> > watch?
> 
> 
> -- “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to
> anger. Anger leads to
> hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda