~ 5th Annual Cinco de Mayo Hatchathon! ~

[GerbilsOnToast]

I've had to shoo one of the bronze hens off the nest since Saturday (there was only one nest in that pen, seven hens)
Thought serious broody was imminent, So, today I...
Cancelled plans & got out my tractor,
gathered up pallets & boards & fasteners & tools,
raked out the whole floor so it's level and tidy,
created four LARGE (3x4 feet) 'private rooms' across the back wall,
placed a couple of empty 'lick tubs' on their sides in corners just in case someone wanted a snugger spot,
and filled them all with seriously overpriced emergency-run straw...
Of course, the response from said hen was - "thanks for straightening up the dust bath", and she's been nowhere near a nest.
There are now five moon craters in the floor.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Lol...you have an evil chicken, toying with you like that.

I think they like to make us suffer...lol!



I candled the eggs from my three broodies last night and although some eggs were not good; it looks like there's 15 viable, spider-filled eggs under the 3 girls. They're all first timers. It should be interesting if they make it and hatch chicks successfully...lol.

 

[Manningjw]

Psssst @Manningjw I slipped in on stealth mode on page 5...

Hello everyone!!!

I HOPE I'll have something to continue this HAL with....I'll be candling the eggs from my broodies tonight.

Crossing my fingers that something's developing.

Ah I missed it! Thanks I'll add you to the list!

 

[Manningjw]

I candled my eggs last night. I ended up setting 38 eggs on April 14th, last night I took out 2 clears, a third egg looked clear but it wasn't as easy to be certain so I left it in the bator. I'll remove it on day 7 if it still looks clear at that point. All 3 of the clears were from the same hen's eggs too so I think the rooster just isn't as into her

. She is also going through a molt too but is still laying eggs 6 days a week which I am impressed with.

35 of 38 eggs developing so far.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Lol...you have an evil chicken, toying with you like that.

I think they like to make us suffer...lol!



I candled the eggs from my three broodies last night and although some eggs were not good; it looks like there's 15 viable, spider-filled eggs under the 3 girls. They're all first timers. It should be interesting if they make it and hatch chicks successfully...lol.

Is a turkey... my chickens are perfect little sweethearts whose only flaw is a love of garden destruction...

Congratulations on your spiders!

Thanks for the kudos on my incubator build - only took me a year, LOL. Most of that time was frozen in fear of messing it up. Really neat thing, IMHO, is that it's dual-purpose... I can also make yogurt in it! That was actually the first trial run.

 

[Manningjw]

Candled my eggs yesterday, here is one of my White Leghorn eggs. I accidently cracked one of them by dropping an egg on it it was still alive and the membrane is intact so I used the advice of other threads and used candle wax to seal the crack.

Hoping I didn't kill it but we will see at day 18.

Out of 38 eggs set, I had 3 clears (infertile) and 1 quitter so far, possibly will lose the cracked one from having butter fingers too but we will see.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Candled my eggs yesterday, here is one of my White Leghorn eggs. I accidently cracked one of them by dropping an egg on it it was still alive and the membrane is intact so I used the advice of other threads and used candle wax to seal the crack.

Hoping I didn't kill it but we will see at day 18.

Out of 38 eggs set, I had 3 clears (infertile) and 1 quitter so far, possibly will lose the cracked one from having butter fingers too but we will see.

If you look at the middle shelf in my incubator... front row, in tray, first egg on the left... then at the egg laying in the carton to the left of the LG in the previous pic I posted - you'll see I had butter fingers, too. Mine did not make it. but I have had two that did in past years, so I always give them a chance. Hope it goes well!

 

[gevshiba]

 

[Manningjw]

If you look at the middle shelf in my incubator... front row, in tray, first egg on the left... then at the egg laying in the carton to the left of the LG in the previous pic I posted - you'll see I had butter fingers, too. Mine did not make it. but I have had two that did in past years, so I always give them a chance. Hope it goes well!

So far so good! I candled that egg again 2 days after I cracked it and it was still very active and normal vein patterns. 4 days until lockdown on the chicken eggs, Monday morning when I get home from work they will be going into their respective hatching compartments.

 

[Manningjw]

Here are the dividers i made so that I can keep the eggs separate at hatch. From each hen I will be keeping different colors for future breeding so it was important for me to know which hen they came from. With these I have 4 different compartments, I could always add another as well but I wont need it for this hatch.



I am hoping the holes drilled through the plastic material is enough so that they do not disturb the airflow in the incubator. I imagine when it's all closed up there shouldn't be much variance in temperature in the bator.