My search for an incubator

I’ve put so much thought about hatching eggs for a while now.  And I’ve been researching various incubator features (i.e. automated or non-automated, still air or with fan, with or without rotating trays).  And for ease and hopefully less stress, I’ve decided of course on the automated, with fan and with rotating trays.  But I can only afford the low-cost no name incubator manufactured in China.  

Now the next thing I had to decide was whether to buy it locally or directly from China through Ebay. If I bought it directly from China through Ebay, I will have to pay the import tax plus shipping costs.  And if it's defective, I can't possibly get my money back.  I decided to buy it in person yesterday from someone near us.  I found the seller through Kijiji and is located just about 20 km from us.  And if anything happens, he is guaranteeing it for one year.  So this cost me just extra $20 compared to the one from Ebay so I’m happy.  It's not a lot of price difference and I get to test the product before I took it home to make sure it actually powers on.  I also got a discount after I asked for it.  

Overall, it looks cheap but what the heck, I'm just testing my luck in hatching eggs.  I've put up with all my roosters for so long so now is the time to put them to use.

It looks like a big shoe box.  It has digital thermometer and hygrometer (for measuring humidity).

I removed the cover and these are the rotating trays.  It automatically rotates every 2 hours and can also be removed starting day 19 (3 days before expected hatching).

Underneath the yellow cover is the fan.  Everything is made of plastic which is fine for me as it will be easier to clean.

The motor for rotating the egg trays.  The wire is detachable and will be connected to the top cover where the main controls are located.

At the very bottom is the hatching tray.  On day 19, I'm supposed to remove the rotating trays in preparation for the chicks to hatch.

This is where the water is stored.  It is needed to maintain the desired humidity throughout incubation process.  It needs to be refilled as needed.

If I were to buy the branded one with similar features like Brinsea it will cost me around $700.  That’s more than 4 times the cost of the one made in China.  This is not going to be a profitable endeavor and I’m doing this mainly for fun and entertainment so it's more like a hobby.  I’m a bit concerned with my decision but I have to factor in my budget.  It would be nice to see life come out of the egg.  Wish me luck. I’m hoping this low-cost incubator will last more than a year.

And why do I want to hatch some chicks?  I know this is not a profitable venture but I’d like to do it just for fun and entertainment.  It’s really therapeutic to see baby chicks.  I’ve purchased our first set of chicks around end of March last year.  And it will be fascinating to actually incubate and hatch my own chicks from my own flock.  I might as well take advantage of my roosters now before I cull them.  Now is the time.  I will probably just do it once.  We’ll see.

I’ve been reading the book Hatching & Brodding Your Own Chicks by Gail Demerow and it’s very helpful for a first-timer like me.  I have to collect fertile eggs over the next 5 days.  I have 48-egg capacity incubator so I’m crossing my fingers, if the hens lay 10 a day I should be fine.  But there’s always small or cracked eggs which is not suitable for incubation.  So I hope within a week I can get started with incubation of eggs.  It’s too bad today, there were 2 eggs that broke due to my fault.  I temporarily put it on a ledge inside the coop while I was replacing the straws on the floor.  But somehow the hens managed to push it and it fell on to the floor.  What a waste.  It would have been perfect for incubation.  

There’s no way to identify fertile eggs so I hope most of the eggs I collect this week will be fertile (with that many roosters, I darn hope so).   Only after day 5 of incubation I will be able to find out which eggs are progressing just fine.  I’m excited.  This process is like a gamble.  I've read the reasonable hatching rate is 80 to 85%.  So out of the 48 eggs, I should expect 38 to 40 chicks.  If so, I may sell some and it will pay for the incubator itself :)  They sell for $5 a chick on Kijiji.  But then there's a saying not to count the chicks before they hatch, right?

Bloody Hen, Howling Wolves and Peanut Butter Rice

As I was closing up the coop at around quarter to 8 which is a bit late to do it, I heard a pack of wolves howling pretty close.  My dogs were outside.  I let come out with me whenever I head out to the coop.  So the dogs were barking and barking.  And the howling disappeared.  Proof that the dogs do scare off wolves.  They are on invisible fence collar system so they cannot go beyond their designated boundaries which make them safe in case they actually ran and chase off the wolves.

The main reason for this blog is actually to discuss why I was late closing up the chicken coop.  I had one hen separated in the smaller coop for a while now and I must have forgotten to lock it up after I was feeding her late this afternoon.  While I was inside the house, the dogs were barking so loud and had gone psychotic so I decided to let them out and I went check the chickens.  Usually when they go on this unusual barking mode, something weird is going on outside.  And to my disappointment, the hen that was in the separate coop must have gone out her separate cage.  And I saw our biggest rooster mounted on top of her doing nothing, just standing on top of her.  She’s so badly bleeding and the wounds that were already healing had been ripped open again and gotten worst.  Her bone on the back is slightly showing up.  I hope she will survive.  I couldn't take a picture of her because my hands were full of blood and poo.  

I bet it was multiple roosters who ripped her back and sides open.  These roosters are just like gang raping weaker hens in general.  I was tempted to put her back in the separate smaller coop but I’m afraid her bloody back and wings will just attract predators. This is one of my nightmares.  I have no choice but to bring back that poor hen inside the house and I had to play doctor again.  I put hydrogen peroxide and saline solution on the wounds.  So I'm back to stinky bathroom again.

He's the one who ripped the back of the injured bloody hen today.  I will be selling or giving him away free.  Too bad he's so fancy, beautiful and big with feathers on its feet.  But what a bully!

Violent roosters have been a big problem for me and the hens.  One day, we had to leave them locked up inside the coop because it was extremely cold and we won't be home in time to close the chicken house. When we came back that night, one dead rooster on the floor.  Definitely died from fighting with other roosters. I know I've been warned by a lot of people but I never really expected that they will kill each other or even roughly mount a hen.  You learn from your own mistake indeed.

He died because other roosters attacked him. He was one of the gentle ones.

Unfortunately the slaughterhouse won’t start their first kill until end of May now.  So I better sell these roosters or give away free if I want my hens to survive.  There are only about 5 or 6 really nasty roosters out of the 15 I have.

Back to the howling wolves, the dogs were agitated again later in the evening and wanted to go outside so I let them with their invisible fence collar activated of course.  They love to bark whenever there are strange animals or strangers around.  They can never thrive in the city and will be best suited in the country.

I know my title is a bit misleading.  No, the bloody chicken wasn’t due to the wolves but rather my fault for not remembering to close her small coop where she recuperates from her previous injuries from the rooster attacks.

On a brighter side, I gave the chickens left-over rice with peanut butter. 

I let the dogs lick my hand covered with peanut butter.

They love it.

They eat like vultures. The hens feathers are in rough shape due to rooster's brutal way of breeding.

I hand-fed these shy hens who are at the lowest of the pecking order.

Do you see something wrong with these pictures?

Really, there's something odd about this older rooster who loves to sit on the nesting boxes (bottom picture).  But he's the most gentle rooster among the 15 I have right now.  He was given to us free last year.

Baloo and Louie enjoying the warmer weather today

It's been in the single plus Celsius and the dogs didn't mind staying outside most of the day.  This is them resting after their wrestle play.  They are great watchdogs.

Eggs Baked in Avocado

This is really cool.  I followed this recipe but I split the portion in half.

Baked Eggs Avocado Recipe 

I should have scooped a lot more avocado as the egg did not fit into the hole.  Good thing I placed the avocados in a bowl.

And here’s the final product.