Author: Anna & Mark

Haybox brooder raises chicks without electricity

April 8, 2010 Posts 2 Comments

Haybox brooder for chickensAfter
our chicks nearly bit the dust during a brooder
fire caused by the heat
lamp, I started pondering whether there is a better way to keep
chicks
warm during the first month of their life.  Heat lamps are widely
used but are extremely archaic — they are clearly unsafe and energy
inefficient.  Is there an alternative?

The haybox brooder works on the same concept as the haybox cooker — a
well-insulated container prevents the contents from losing heat to the
environment.  A
study in Ethiopia showed that chicks in a haybox
brooder grew more slowly than those in an electric brooder for the
first month of their life, but then caught up to mature at the same
time. 
Survival rates were the same for chicks in electric brooders and
for those in hayboxes in the city (although rural haybox chicks died
more
often, for various reasons largely unrelated to the haybox.)

Design for construction of a haybox brooder for chickens

The diagram above shows how to build a haybox brooder with a run
attached for easy feeding and watering.  The scientists had good
luck brooding 10 to 70 chicks in hayboxes ranging in size from 12 X 10
X 10 inches for 10 chicks to 10 X 27 X 27 inches for 70 chicks.

Before you run out and turn off your heat lamp, be aware that this
study was conducted in a tropical climate.  Perhaps chicks could
be raised in a haybox around here during the summer months, or inside a
heated home?  I’ll keep researching and experimenting and will
keep you
posted.

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Does chicken egg shape determine chick sex

April 7, 2010 Posts 3 Comments

Chicken egg shapesPerhaps you’ve heard the old wive’s tale that
you can determine the eventual sex of a chick by looking at the shape
of the egg?  A quick search of the internet will turn up
testimonials from dozens of chicken-keepers who are absolutely certain
that this method of sexing chicks works.  Here’s one
representative sample from Chicken
Keeping Secrets:

“My answer is yes you can tell the sex of an egg before it is even
placed in an incubator. Several years ago I was told that the more
pointed eggs would be roosters and the more rounded eggs would be hens.
So I decided to do an experiment. I set 24 eggs in an incubator and
hatched 20 of those eggs and they were all roosters except one. I
currently try to use only the more rounded eggs for hatching and have
about 75 % hens. This does not appear to be true for all breeds of
chickens but does seem to work for the large breeds but not as well on
bantams.” ~  Thanks, Donald R. Holbrook

I decided to dig a little deeper, and stumbled across this line from The History of Animals
by Aristotle:

“Long and pointed eggs are female; those that are round, or more
rounded at the narrow end, are male.”

It looks like the tale goes back to the fourth century BC…although
egg shape had the opposite meaning back then.  Does that make it
an old philosopher’s tale?

Despite what Aristotle thought, modern scientists poo-poo the notion
that egg shape is an indicator of chick sex.  After all, if egg
shape had any effect on sex, wouldn’t hatcheries incubate all female
eggs rather than risking public outrage by euthanizing unwanted
males?  The scientific literature suggests that egg shape is breed
specific, inherited from the hen’s father, and may vary
seasonally.  So don’t choose only round eggs to put in your
incubator and assume you won’t end up with a rooster — chances are
that 50% of those eggs will hatch into males.

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How to store eggs for hatching

April 6, 2010 Posts No Comments

A good egg for incubation is regularly sized and cleanI haven’t really decided what our eventual forage-friendly,
pure-bred egg-layer chicken
will be, but with three votes for Rhode Island Reds and with free
fertilized eggs available from my father, I decided to give them a
shot.  Time to read up on incubation!



I think that our biggest
cause of failure when we tried this last year was storing the eggs
improperly before incubation.  I honestly have no clue how my
friends saved eggs for me, but there is a right way.



First, choose good
eggs.  Don’t bother to incubate eggs that are abnormally large or
small, cracked, or dirty.  Chances are, they won’t hatch
right.  Finally, don’t wash your eggs — they come out of the hen
with a protective membrane that is damaged by water.



Once you’ve chosen your
eggs, put them in an open egg carton with the big end of the egg
up.  The eggs should be stored in a cool moist place, around 55
degrees Fahrenheit and 75% humidity — think root cellar.  You
might need to dampen a towel to keep the eggs moist enough.



Store eggs in an open egg carton, with one end raised up on a block of woodIf you’re storing your
eggs for more than four days before putting them in the incubator,
you’ll need to rotate the eggs once a day, while maintaining the large
end up.  Sounds impossible, right?  It’s not — just put a
block of wood under one side of the egg carton and move the block of
wood to the other side of the carton once a day.  This prevents
the embryo from sticking to the shell.



Be sure that your eggs
make it into the incubator by the time they’re a week old.  Older
eggs will have lower hatch rates.



Finally, let your eggs
warm up slowly rather than sticking them straight in the incubator to
prevent condensation on the eggshells.  More on incubation at a
later time!


While you’re preparing for
the hatch, check out our chicken waterer, the best way to get your
chicks off to a healthy start.