Barncast 53 -- Solo and in the barn

Hey John G!

I didn't talk about the brands since on the cheap ones I can't remember their names. Hovabator comes to mind but that's about it. So far with the two types I've used from Brower and Lyon Electric I don't have that many great things to say.

In general the price of incubators vs their cost/quality/etc is just out of line. The Lyon TX-7 that a neighbor gave me retails for ~$500. That's just insane. There's a few molded plastic parts and for low volumes those are expensive, but it's just too much. Internal temps vary 1f to 2f if the house changes 10f. With modern (aka cheap) electronics that's just unacceptable.

You know, maybe I should rant about this on next weeks podcast. :)

I use what ever linux distro works. At home I use debian, but I don't like some their ideas, it's just not realistic. That said it does work well. At work I use some redhats, etc. Overall I don't care all that much, though I've been known to curse the distro i'm using at that moment. ;)

Hi Misty, Hi Andrew,

Just a quick note hoping all is well on the farm after the snowstorm that went through yesterday in your part of IN. We rec'd only freezing rain and a dusting of snow here in SW IN.

Happy one year Podcast Anniversary. Keep up the great podcast! I look forward to Sunday evenings and listening to the show.

On another note...do you have any predators in your area that you have to protect the animals from? On the farm we have foxes and coyotoes that are a nuisance to the livestock, hence the reason for not having chickens any longer.

Condolences to Misty on her loss.

Hey, Andrew, we are winners! I'm sure you've got the Hoosier Geeks download for this week http://hoosiergeeks.com/.

Good tips on turkey eggs and duck eggs. Thanks for the pdf. That is a good resource. I do wish you would name the brands YOU are using--your listeners have an affinity with you are are more willing to embark on new ventures if their variables are more informed. If it works for you, and you are willing to provide a little feedback, then we are more likely to work from more similar conditions.

New series! CSI:Incubator. Why good eggs go bad.

What linux distro are you using?

Hope Misty has a safe and uneventful journey back. I think my really bad mic doesn't add anything to the sound quality - it cost about ?10... I used to be a school technician a number of years ago ( too many to mention) and had to hatch out some chicks for the biology teacher. It went quite well, but that was definitely down to good luck. I keep laughing when you remind folk about the eggs from the shops being infertile, but probably because it's one of those things that us 'townies' just don't think about. At least I know that milk comes from an animal, not a carton !! What I didn't know until you mentioned it a few 'casts ago, was that the fertilised eggs are in a kind of 'suspended animation' until the whole clutch is laid. Again, makes sense when I think about it. Anyway, I'll stop rambling on. Best wishes to Misty at this sad time. Not sure whether to subject you to another 'voice mail', so congratulations on the first year of GeekFarmLife, hope there's many more 'casts in the future, India

Hey India!

Both mics we use are $20 (what ?11?) head sets. We do the whole podcast on the cheap. The trick is to have the mic within an inch or two of your mouth and speak into it.

Anyways, the audio was munged by me. I didn't realize it till I played it since before that I only played it on speakers and it was ok.

Please send us more audio!! It was great. :)