My friend Dr. Aaron Smith found a new donating pad for males. I used one this year. I cut a piece about 2.5 inches x 3 inches and put it over 3 fingers on my rubber glove hand with a rubber band. It gives the male a great edge to hit and if they donate on top of the pad the grid holds the semen so none is wiped off by tail. If they hit the edge of the pad the semen will fall down to fingers. I’ve been getting some large donations by using this and most or all of the semen is recovered. I highly recommend them.
Regarding incubation, I use a Roll-x incubator for most eggs set at 99F-max 99.5 average 30% humidity. At pip I move eggs to an RCOM at 99.8F-99 70-75% humidity and gos eggs go 24-60 hours until full hatch. I don’t help until about hour 48, then may slow hatch problem eggs (pip on small end). After hatch the baby goes into a Brinsea at 98F humidity 35% for up to 1 day, then into brooder at 92-95F humidity 35% (I like to put 2 chicks together) for another day. After that I use top light for main heat always on with backup heat pad for bottom heat which is connected to a Helix temp controller set to 90F, temp probe under hottest place. The bottom heat only comes on if the temp drops below 90F, as I prefer top heat onthe head/back of bird vs bottom heat on belly. Generally imprints are fed 5 times/day starting at 6AM and every 4 hours after with no food from 10PM – 6AM.
Below are some tips for starting chicks from day 1 and they are most applicable to the first week after hatch. Some of them I’ve learned in the hard way through failure over the years. I’ve found goshawks are much more sensitive than falcons when it comes to these items, but I’ve applied the concepts to all my birds.
1) If having trouble with fertility or chicks dying early after hatch, be sure that your breeders are clean and that bacteria isn’t passing from male to female, or from insemination tools to female and into egg. I don’t do or recommend annual antibiotic treatment, but if you can identify a problem then treating your breeders can make a big difference. In my case from 3-4 goshawks a year to 12-20.
2) At hatch be paranoid about touching the navel and put some neosporin or such ointment on navel. I use paper towels changed many times during first few days. If you see a scab develop on the navel as opposed to a pink belly button look, the chick probably has a bacterial infection.
3) Watch the mutes of the chick. You should see a blackish mute, proceeded by a greenish mute. This can happen from 4-18 hours after hatch while in dryer. Do not feed until you see that progression, as early food can kill a chick unless empty. Just a few pea size bites, then additional each feeding about 4 hours apart at first.
4) If you have a weak chick at hatch or you haven’t seen progression of mutes after about 12-18 hours of hatch, the first few meals should be drops of blood from the food with a little water. I add a couple grains of salt as well to simulate the parents saliva discharge from beak at feeding. The liquid is more important than solid food to get the system flowing and avoid early dehydration. I use my p/200 pipette with disposable tips, the same tool used for insemination.
5) Don’t re-use food, cut up fresh each time for feedings
6) When in air dryer and air brooder add some water as the chick can dehydrate. If you see head weaving or lack of coordination the chick is probably dehydrated. Take care of the hydration first (water in brooder and chick as above), then if it continues after 4-6 hours the chick may need antibiotics. I avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, after all the above tips do not work.
7) I try to keep 2 chicks together so they can cuddle or separate depending on heat requirement. This tells you a lot about their comfort level. They get cold after feeding so don’t adjust temps until they settle after a few minutes of being back in the brooding environment. I like to get the chick out of a closed brooder into open air brooder by 1-2 days at most.
8) My open air brooder provides some heat from below but light heat from above. I don’t want too much heat on gut. I use a quality reptile like heat pad and light from above, both connected to the same quality temp control unit such as a Helix. The heat pad is only partially under brooder box so the chick has the option to move away from top light and bottom heat to cooler side (aka “the dark side”).
My friend Dr. Aaron Smith found a new donating pad for males. I used one this year. I cut a piece about 2.5 inches x 3 inches and put it over 3 fingers on my rubber glove hand with a rubber band. It gives the male a great edge to hit and if they donate on top of the pad the grid holds the semen so none is wiped off by tail. If they hit the edge of the pad the semen will fall down to fingers. I’ve been getting some large donations by using this and most or all of the semen is recovered. I highly recommend them.
http://www.amazon.com/Siliconezone-Grid-Holder-White-Brown/dp/B009YE1IC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398121313&sr=8-1&keywords=silicone+grid+pot+holder
The tool I recommend for inseminations is a pipette such as the Gilson p200. You can buy them from VWR, Fisher Scientific, or on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=gilson+p200&_sacat=0&_from=R40
The tips I use are 100ul (microliters) and I set my tool to about 135ul. For capillary tubes I use glass plain non-heparinized tubes, both can be found on Ebay. I get CritoCaps to seal the ends and they can be found at http://www.krackeler.com/catalog/product/3336/Critocaps-Capillary-Tube-Closures. The extender I use is from Armthorpe Falcons http://armthorpe-falcons.co.uk/news/ai-products-now-available/
Regarding incubation, I use a Roll-x incubator for most eggs set at 99F-max 99.5 average 30% humidity. At pip I move eggs to an RCOM at 99.8F-99 70-75% humidity and gos eggs go 24-60 hours until full hatch. I don’t help until about hour 48, then may slow hatch problem eggs (pip on small end). After hatch the baby goes into a Brinsea at 98F humidity 35% for up to 1 day, then into brooder at 92-95F humidity 35% (I like to put 2 chicks together) for another day. After that I use top light for main heat always on with backup heat pad for bottom heat which is connected to a Helix temp controller set to 90F, temp probe under hottest place. The bottom heat only comes on if the temp drops below 90F, as I prefer top heat onthe head/back of bird vs bottom heat on belly. Generally imprints are fed 5 times/day starting at 6AM and every 4 hours after with no food from 10PM – 6AM.
Dan, Great tips and great website!
Below are some tips for starting chicks from day 1 and they are most applicable to the first week after hatch. Some of them I’ve learned in the hard way through failure over the years. I’ve found goshawks are much more sensitive than falcons when it comes to these items, but I’ve applied the concepts to all my birds.
1) If having trouble with fertility or chicks dying early after hatch, be sure that your breeders are clean and that bacteria isn’t passing from male to female, or from insemination tools to female and into egg. I don’t do or recommend annual antibiotic treatment, but if you can identify a problem then treating your breeders can make a big difference. In my case from 3-4 goshawks a year to 12-20.
2) At hatch be paranoid about touching the navel and put some neosporin or such ointment on navel. I use paper towels changed many times during first few days. If you see a scab develop on the navel as opposed to a pink belly button look, the chick probably has a bacterial infection.
3) Watch the mutes of the chick. You should see a blackish mute, proceeded by a greenish mute. This can happen from 4-18 hours after hatch while in dryer. Do not feed until you see that progression, as early food can kill a chick unless empty. Just a few pea size bites, then additional each feeding about 4 hours apart at first.
4) If you have a weak chick at hatch or you haven’t seen progression of mutes after about 12-18 hours of hatch, the first few meals should be drops of blood from the food with a little water. I add a couple grains of salt as well to simulate the parents saliva discharge from beak at feeding. The liquid is more important than solid food to get the system flowing and avoid early dehydration. I use my p/200 pipette with disposable tips, the same tool used for insemination.
5) Don’t re-use food, cut up fresh each time for feedings
6) When in air dryer and air brooder add some water as the chick can dehydrate. If you see head weaving or lack of coordination the chick is probably dehydrated. Take care of the hydration first (water in brooder and chick as above), then if it continues after 4-6 hours the chick may need antibiotics. I avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, after all the above tips do not work.
7) I try to keep 2 chicks together so they can cuddle or separate depending on heat requirement. This tells you a lot about their comfort level. They get cold after feeding so don’t adjust temps until they settle after a few minutes of being back in the brooding environment. I like to get the chick out of a closed brooder into open air brooder by 1-2 days at most.
8) My open air brooder provides some heat from below but light heat from above. I don’t want too much heat on gut. I use a quality reptile like heat pad and light from above, both connected to the same quality temp control unit such as a Helix. The heat pad is only partially under brooder box so the chick has the option to move away from top light and bottom heat to cooler side (aka “the dark side”).