How do you get sick and/or dead birds out of brooder?

[skipper3905]

Look thru the board for and answer to this and haven't found anything. Probably too simple a question but I am new to this. Have 500 Bobwhites in the incubator now. Should hatch around Feb 28 or so. I have a GQF incubator and made a homebuilt about 3 times the size. Hopefully, I have enough space for 3 or 4 weeks (in Texas so temp should not be a problem in April) or so assuming I get a reasonable hatch. 

Problem is, I can't quite see how to get sick or dead birds out or even check to see how they are doing. Bound to lose some and I understand they are flying pretty quick. The only way to access the GQF brooder is to lift the top. Same with my homemade brooder. They can pop out quick it would seem. Have them in a inclosed room but sure don't want to have to be chasing them down. Occured to me at night with a red light might work. 

[wildergamebirds]

My brooder barn is dark at high noon.  Use a head lamp, and, yes, a red filter on the lens would probably help.  Move slowly, clucking like a hen Pheasant, or Turkey, will calm them, sometimes.  You may be able to install a small flap type, or sliding, door in the center of the top.

[hunter3015]

on the GQF Brooder it has to large top doors i simpley slide the top doors closest to the dead bird crack it a lil an slide hand in a retrieve the dead but also is how i ffed them an water them,  course I have 3 little girls there to help if one jumps out, how many brooders do you have, the most I put in my GQF is 70 to 80 quail course i only hatch 100 eggs at a time.

[skipper3905]

Hunter/Wilder,

Thanx for the info.

I was afraid there was no magic bullet for this. Keeping the room dark or removing at night with red light looks like the best that can be done. Regretably, I only have a 26 year old daughter that I don't think I will ever get out of Baylor that would not touch a quail. 

I have built a brooder in addition to the GQF brooder that is about 3 to 4 times the size. I have 500 eggs in the oven, no telling how many, if any, I get a hatch on. If I am successful in hatch, I hope I have enough space. I have talked to people that say you can really get a lot of chicks in a brooder if the red light is very dim so they don't peck at toes. Weather will be pretty warm here in Texas by early April or late March so I imagine I can get them in growout pens in two to three weeks. Weather permitting, was planning on putting them in growout pens about 75 at a time to see how they do. Have several pens so can put them in different pens. Not sure if the chicks woull fight or not if separated for a time. Have read something about that on the board.

I also have a 1502 GQF incubator. Am I correct that I quit turning the eggs three days before expected hatch day? I believe there is a change in humidity also.

I sure wish I knew more about all this but I would be in a real fix if I had not stumbled on this board. 

[labmancan]

The bottom of the Sportsman is the Hatcher, you can get up to 250 Quail eggs there at one time. By design  the Sportsman has less heat and humidity there already. Do you have the mesh tray c/w mesh lid? This is the Hatcher, I have also built an extra lid out of 1/4x1/4 hardware cloth for the pan second from the bottom, in case I need to use it for hatching also. I remove my eggs from the top  trays and place them in the bottom hatcher about 2 days before they are supposed to peep. I have just used it this year, and I am quite happy with the results so far. The thing I like the best is the fact that I have Chukar and Quail both going at the same time. The Quail peep 5 days before the Chukar, that gives me enough time to hatch the Quail and move them into the brooder before I need to put the Chukar eggs in the hatcher. Working SOOOOOO Far.

[skipper3905]

Labmancan,    Sort of confused on this. From the instructions it seems you turn off the egg turner three days before hatch and increase humidity. I got the idea from the manual you put the chicks in bottom when they hatch and leave them there until dry (read on board 24 hours). I don't have it right in front of me but something was said that indicates you put the eggs on bottom  just like you said. Just lay them on their side I suppose. Anyway, at the time I read that it seemed like a conflict.

I don't recall what type lid I have. As far as I remember there is just a black pan on bottom. 

Problem: The incubator holds 748 quail eggs (or thereabouts) and I have 529 in it. That bottom tray won't hold 1/3 of the eggs the incubator is built to hatch and certainly not anywhere near the chicks. I'm missing something here. May be that I have to move some of them out quicker than 24 hrs into brooder and just get it warmer, say 100 degress,  the first day.

That still does not answer the problem of not enough room on bottom for the number of eggs the incubator will hold. Again, the manual was just not clear to me on this but why would the manual say quit turning 3 days out if you were taking them out of the turner trays? Of course, the big question is why build a incubator that holds 748 quail eggs if it won't hatch but 250?  Pretty confused. 

[CharlieHorse]

Excerpt from GQF:

The No. 1502 “SPORTSMAN” is a complete incubator and hatcher. In addition to having three automatically turned racks, it has a hatching tray in the bottom of the incubator. So if you are just getting started with a small flock, all you need is this one incubator. Set the eggs each week or so and then hatch the oldest setting eggs at the same time. Settings are rotated among the three turning trays so that the hatching tray can accept the eggs from one of the setting trays each cycle.

Does that clarify any confusion as to why it will incubate more eggs than the hatcher can handle?  It was never meant to hatch a full load at once.  It was an added convenience so people could buy just one unit rather than the incubator and the hatcher units separately. Allot of hobbyist/beginners are willing to scrape up $600 towards the cause, but $1200-$1300 is a different story. Wives tend to frown on that.

I'd make some trays if it where me and just use the turner racks to set them on and use it as a hatcher.  Incubating and Hatching requires 2 different humidity levels, therefore, it is practically impossible to maintain either humidity level without effecting the other when doing both in the same cabinet. I just have an older hatcher that I incubate and then hatch with. Someone who is familiar with the use of a "Sportsman" incubator such as yours may chime in and give you some pointers, if you're going to be incubating and hatching simultaneously in the same cabinet.

On day 20, turn off the turner, take the eggs out of the turner trays and lay them on their side in a hatcher tray, whatever that may be. Increase humidity to specified levels.

[CharlieHorse]

As far as getting dead birds out of the brooder, just use a frog gig (fish spear), then you can just hold them over a fire like a hotdog, then dip them in your favorite sauce.     Just kiddin'!  

Honestly, I think that you're going to find out that 500 chicks.....is alot of birds!  Especially for your first time around, probably should have went with 100 or less the first time, so you'd know what to expect. Too many birds and not enough facilities, could discourage a person real fast.  I posted on here somewhere how much droppings a specific amount of chicks will produce in just a few weeks. (Something like 35 chicks up to 5 weeks produced 5 gallon)?  Overcrowding may be an issue with the amount of brooder space that you quoted, at least I think that it would/will be. You won't notice it at first, the when 3-4+ weeks of age rolls around, it's a whole different story than the 1st week. You'll figure out the "dead bird in the brooder" deal when the time comes, and then you'll know what changes you need to make to your setup for the next time. If you move that amount of birds to pens at the young age you quoted, you better have several heat sources out there for them even though you are in Texas. These birds will pile up at the slightest chill and you'll have abunch of dead birds the first night. They'll pile up right under a bulb trying to get warm. You're in for an experience, I would guess. If BW's are seperated for any length of time (adults, 2 days will sometimes do it) and then joined with others......somebody is going to die.

Good Luck! .....and keep us posted as to how it's goes!

[labmancan]

Hate to tell you this Skipper, but you are looking at buying another Sportsman or Hatcher.
 As C.H. said the top 3 racks are for incubating, bottom is hatcher. Yours should have come with 4-1/4 mesh baskets, one with a mesh lid,  that slide into the frames. Inside of the baskets you put the plastic or cardboard trays which hold the eggs.
WEEK 1)  Eggs in trays in #1 basket. Slide into top rack.
WEEK 2) Move #1 basket down 1 frame, fill #2 basket with trays and eggs.Put it in top rack.
Week 3) Move#1 & 2 baskets down 1 more frame.Slide #3 basket ,trays and eggs in top rack, Now all top baskets are full, at day 16 for Coturnix or 19 for the other Quails, remove eggs from #1 basket and trays, place them in the hatcher basket c/w mesh lid.On the mesh, small end down, Clean the empty basket and trays and your ready for another weeks worth of eggs.
The baskets hold 2 trays each, GQF sells the trays in sets of 6 for Quail.
The Sportsman, by design, has lower heat and higher humidity on the bottom hatcher.I have not had to re-adjust the humidity for hatching. 39 out of 48 Coturnix have hatched in the last 48hrs. (days 18-19)
The Sportsman, as C.H. has pointed out is for a continuous hatching based on a 7 day cycle. Where you would never have more than 250 eggs in the hatcher at one time.
Your best bet now, would be to get a Hatcher QUICKLY!

[skipper3905]

Labcanman,  I ordered a GQF 1550 hatcher today and getting next day delivery, should have it tomorrow. Just looked at your post but already decided I couldn't figure out a way around it. Suppose I will need it anyway. Boy, this hobby will blister your wallet!

Charliehorse, I am beginning to think you are right on the 500 birds being too much. When I was checking prices for eggs they got so cheap at 500 I couldn't resist. I guess I would buy a bucket of horse turds if I thought they were on sale. 35 chicks dumping 5 gallons of poop is staggering.   That is good info on the separation, even two days. That little tidbit of knowledge probably saved me some grief. Hopefully, someone on the board will know if this is true on 2 or 3 week old chicks. I will follow your advice on not putting them in growout pens until at least 5 weeks, will be letting some go then. I don't have heat in these pens. Building some larger pens that will have heat but not ready yet. I think I have enough brooder space now. Building another building that will have a brooder room in it so I hate to put together another homemade brooder but may have to.