okay, newbie to chick and duck hatching

[ladyh]

Okay...

When I find a chicken or duck egg, and my goal is to incubate and hatch:

1) how long do I let the egg(s) stay in the nest before gathering?


2) how many does she need to lay before I gather them up, or maybe just get one?


3) After I gather them up and bring them inside, how long to let them sit before I put them in the incubator?


4) How long after (or before) can I candle them to find out which ones are fertile?


5) confused about towards the end of incubation, do you let them sit and do nothing?

6) I was told I can put a duck eggs under a hen to hatch, however chickens take 21days and if I put duck eggs
under her, the duck egg takes 28 days? So what to do for that extra 7 days after the chicks hatch?

Thank you if you can answer and help with my questions from experience hatchers .

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Okay...

When I find a chicken or duck egg, and my goal is to incubate and hatch:

1) how long do I let the egg(s) stay in the nest before gathering?


2) how many does she need to lay before I gather them up, or maybe just get one?


3) After I gather them up and bring them inside, how long to let them sit before I put them in the incubator?


4) How long after (or before) can I candle them to find out which ones are fertile?


5) confused about towards the end of incubation, do you let them sit and do nothing?

6) I was told I can put a duck eggs under a hen to hatch, however chickens take 21days and if I put duck eggs
under her, the duck egg takes 28 days? So what to do for that extra 7 days after the chicks hatch?

Thank you if you can answer and help with my questions from experience hatchers .

1) You can gather them daily and store them in cartons in a cool area. (A good share of hatchers will only collect and set eggs a week or less, 10 and under is the recommended.)

2) I think #1 answers this too.

3) If you collect the eggs until you get the number you want or for the recommended time, you can incubate when you are ready. Eggs should be at room temp before going in the incubator.

4) Depending on what kind of eggs will depend on how much you see how fast you see it when candling. White eggs & light colored eggs you can usually see the first development between day 3-5 with the viening almost like a spider web. Many people don't believe in candling before 7 days, many of us candle more frequently. I don't remove clears until day 10 though to be sure.

5) For chicken eggs at day 18 you stop turning (if you are still turning), remove the turner if you are using them. Do your "last" candle and mark air cells if you are marking them and lay them on their sides. (Some people do hatch out in cut don cartons.) This is also when you up your humidity to hatch levels.

6)If you incubate duck and chicken eggs together, the best thing to do (either in the incubator or with broody) is to set the duck eggs a week before setting the chicken eggs that will put them on the same hatch schedule.

Hope this helps.

 

[ladyh]

Yes thank you! I bought a good incubator and am excited to try it ...it turns the eggs and is forced air w/a fan.
.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes thank you! I bought a good incubator and am excited to try it ...it turns the eggs and is forced air w/a fan.
.

Hovabator is one of the better styro bators. I am looking at a couple different models myself to replace my LG. Can I give you a couple tips with styro bators?? I will anyway...

1) And this is with any bator- Always double check any thermometer/hygrometer you use for accuracy -never trust a thermometer that hasn't been checked, even a brand new one.

2) If you haven't, read the hatching 101 page on here, there's a lot of good stuff there.

3) If you are not in a high elevation or a real arid climate consider a low humidity incubation and monitor your air cells to guide you on how to adjust your humidity. Low humidity, sometimes called dry incubation has shown time and time again to be more successful especially in the styrofoam bators. This is the method I use: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Good luck. I hope you have a successfull hatch.

 

[ladyh]

ok thank you...I need all the advice I can get. I really appreciate it!