Nicole Merrill

One has hatched!!! But still no sign of anything going on in the other ones

That's so encouraging to hear, CJ!
Actually, a few minutes ago I noticed our first little crack on one egg! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!!!

Yes, two days ago, when I did my second candling and removed the dead/non viable eggs, I placed the remaining eggs on the wire mesh of the incubator. I did take them out of the auto-turning thing.

Is it normal that there have been no internal pips, if tomorrow is the 28th day?

Thank you for your response, by the way

Hi folks,
A little help/advice, please?
This is my first time hatching anything, I've got one of those styrofoam incubators I'm borrowing from a friend. I started out with 27 fertilized turkey eggs. Everything has been going great so far. After candling, I'm down to 8 good looking eggs with a good air sack and a little bit of movement inside. Tomorrow is day 28 and I've been in lockdown for a couple days (since Friday), but I have stil not heard any scratching or internal pips. Is this okay?
My temperature gauges show close to 100 (I can't be super accurate because it's not digital) and the humidity is about 78 or so.
When can I expect to hear scratching, pips and/or when can I see some progress with this?
Thank you!!

Here's the link:

https://merrillfamilyfarm.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/grand-tour-of-our-greenhouse/

Thank you!!

Ok, I added my location. I'm in Helena, MT.

I have looked at the Alaska Grow Buckets, and that is one of the systems I would love to try. My hubby is very handy and usually able to whip up these contraptions for me relatively easily. He told me he understands the mechanics of this type of self watering system, and putty one together is on his to-do list . I keep adding to my pike of buckets, as I get them for free from local food businesses. Yay!

Thanks for the answer on the Pro Mix. I didn't realize that it was compacted. Knowing that, it makes more sense now. I would like to grow inside my greenhouse bus to protect the plants from our almost constant wind. I envisioned a 55-gallon drum to be used as a reservoir, and a whole mess of buckets connected into an array, so that they would all have a constant supply of water in their respective reservoirs.

I suppose the plant spacing requirements for each type of vegetable would determine how many plants I can grow per bucket. So, for example, I could probably fit three lettuce heads in one bucket, versus just one tomato plant, for example (thinking aloud, here, sorry).

I will post a link with pictures of my greenhouse bus...

I thought it would be fun to share what our chicken coop looks like. It's a refurbished school bus
https://merrillfamilyfarm.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/grand-tour-of-our-chicken-coop-and-run/
The link to the second part of the "tour" is at the very bottom of this first page.
Comments would be lovely
Nicole

Hi all!
I'm looking into whether growing our veggies in containers would yield more than out in the garden. We've got pretty bad soil, LOTS of weeds that just keep coming back, strong winds, grasshoppers, prairie dogs...
We have recently turned a school bus into a "greenhouse" and I've got a bunch of food grade 5 gallon buckets that I would love to turn into self-watering, wicking systems. Has anyone tried growing lots of different veggies in these types of containers?
I currently have tomatoes growing in grow boxes (the ones with the water reservoir in the bottom) and they're doing great. But when I do Google searches on this, I get conflicting information. Some say it's best to use growing medium like the type for hydroponics, and not to use regular potting mix. I looked up Pro-Mix BX and although it looks like a good product, it's a bit pricey . Can it be reused from one year to the next? Also, does anyone know how many 5-gallon buckets a package of that Pro-Mix would fill?
Thank you!!

Thanks, Scott!! I'm just happy to be part of something bigger than just little ol me

In case anyone is following this thread, here's a link to the blog post
https://merrillfamilyfarm.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/one-itty-bitty-click-can-change-the-world-or-a-corner-of-it-and-how-you-can-improve-soil-conditions/