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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

When we remodeled, we did away with our bathtub and now only have a 
shower! But yeah, bathtubs are great for that purpose.  I have one out 
at the barn that I might set up for future use in chick raising.
I had an incubator and found that I did not use it much because the hens 
were setting.  Not thinking about the future, I sold it when someone 
offered to buy it.  Then, I lost my good broody hens to predators and 
eventually a good rooster, too.  If I had had an incubator I could have 
scarfed up some eggs quickly and incubated them(eggs are fertile for up 
to 3 weeks after the rooster is removed, or so I'm told), but no, I had 
to buy more chicks, pay shipping, and like you already know because you 
have that magic 25 number, there is a minimum...so it's a small fortune. 
   If you have enough broody hens, or few predators, not incubating 
makes more sense(that is, after all, why I sold my incubator to begin 
with), BUT, if you live in a high predator area, an incubator will pay 
for itself in a couple of hatches. That is my lesson anyway.
YMMV

B


eureka AT hctc.net wrote:
> We bought ours through the mail as day old chicks and 
> raised 26 of them in our guest bathtub on cheap beach 
> towels (keeps them from mistaking bedding for food) with a 
> light for warmth. However, we bought them in July, and by 
> the time we'd backed the light off to 75 degrees, it was 
> about 100 degrees in the coop. So we had to aircondition 
> the coop!  We learned that if you live in a hot climate 
> you need to order your birds earlier. Since we don't eat 
> the birds, just their eggs, it made sense for us not to 
> invest in an incubator. We now hope to breed our own and 
> let the broody hens rear the chicks when we need 
> more.--Sage
>
> On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:00:36 -0800 (PST)
>   bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> > So the incubator cost you.....in rent ? ... or in 
> > electricity?
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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