How well did your first ever hatch turn out?

[Cowgirl71]

My very first hatch was summer 2008. I set 48 guinea eggs in a LG 9200 incubator. I didn't do any research, candle, or anything. I just followed my neighbor's instructions (he loaned us the incubator and gave us the eggs). I really didn't try to get a good hatch rate. My parents wanted guineas, but I was really concerned that those ugly, wild, noisy birds would replace the chickens I hadn't gotten yet, but really wanted (because the guineas would lay fresh eggs without needing to be fed, because they're excellent foragers). But anyway, I got 26/48, which I'm pretty impressed with, considering what I know now. For example, during hatching, I opened that incubator every 30 minutes or so, including during the night. That's right, I stayed up all night watching them hatch!

I couldn't help but get very excited when they started hatching! I'd keep on opening it to position a hatching egg so that I could easily see it through the window. Every time one hatched, I HAD to open the incubator and pick it up and hold it, to make sure it was okay.

I lost many to shrink wrap (low humidity). If I had left the darn lid closed, I probably would have gotten 36-40/48.

BTW, I love those guineas now. Excellent tick eaters! I no longer mind the noise, I don't mind that they're un-pettable, and I think they're absolutely beautiful (at least from the neck down anyway

). We even still have a few of the originals from this hatch! And I did get my chickens... I now have 94 of them in fact!

 

[gryeyes]

My very first hatch was in September, 2010. I bought a Brinsea MiniAdvance incubator, holds 7 eggs. I won an auction for 8+ eggs, received 9, set 7 in mid-August. Hatched 6 olive egger chicks twenty-one days later. My next hatch was also 6/7. I have been hatching ever since, sometimes with worse luck, but always hatching at least two chicks, usually more. I now have three (3) Octagon20 Advance EX units, two MiniAdvance EX units, and the original MiniAdvance. Plus a Reptipro5000 incubator.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

My first hatch went great!

Set 12.

7 Fertile.
7 hatched!

Sadly I had to cull one chick with a deformed leg but the others are happy and healthy and growing like weeds.

Good luck with your hatch, it's so exciting!

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

My first hatch wasn't that great. 1 of 6 hatched... but he is a big, strong, healthy, beautiful rooster now.

 

[conroy]

We bought 4 fertile eggs and put them under a broody hen...1 hatched.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

91% first time ever using my own chicken and turkey eggs. I'd swear that Dickey could hatch a stone.

 

[Lark Rise]

Our first hatch was 1/28/11. We set 10 shipped eggs and 4 hatched.
We also set 4 of our own backyard eggs, but 3 were infertile, so only hatched one chick from our own eggs.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Cant remember exact numbers that far back but it was something like 80%.

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

I'll let you know early next week--lockdown is Wednesday. I've got 20 eggs from my hens (2 looked clear when candled day 10) '

' and 10 shipped FBCM's. The Marans eggs are so dark, I'm not sure what I was looking at--so they're all probably going to stay. '

' This last 10 days is gonna be tuff! '

'

 

[wbruder17]

Out of 6, 1 hatched and 1 is still waiting.

2 were pushed out right away. 1 was pushed out slightly developped. 1 was pushed out with a dead chick.