Incubators Anonymous

[mcclucker]

Hey so I am not sure I am a total addict yet (haha), just on my 3rd hatch. However this is my first with my own eggs - the batches I set before were shipped eggs and I got measley hatch rates. So I set 9 (my incubator is small) and all 9 are on track to hatch on Sunday.

My birds are different breeds and I chose specific hens to try to get olive egger babies so I’m really keen to know which chick hatched out of which egg. I need to know who the mom is. I have no idea what these chicks will look like either - golden cuckoo Marans mom + Easter egger dad= ?? Also breeding blue cuckoo Marans mom and a few others of different breeds. It will be a motley crew.

Do you vets have any tricks to keep track of that? Any that persist into Monday I won’t see hatch and I really need to know who’s who so I can keep track of their genetics. I’m hoping to make reliable olive Eggers to sell but it might take a few generations so I really need accurate data.

Chicken math plus incubator addiction is real

 

[WVduckchick]

Hey so I am not sure I am a total addict yet (haha), just on my 3rd hatch. However this is my first with my own eggs - the batches I set before were shipped eggs and I got measley hatch rates. So I set 9 (my incubator is small) and all 9 are on track to hatch on Sunday.

My birds are different breeds and I chose specific hens to try to get olive egger babies so I’m really keen to know which chick hatched out of which egg. I need to know who the mom is. I have no idea what these chicks will look like either - golden cuckoo Marans mom + Easter egger dad= ?? Also breeding blue cuckoo Marans mom and a few others of different breeds. It will be a motley crew.

Do you vets have any tricks to keep track of that? Any that persist into Monday I won’t see hatch and I really need to know who’s who so I can keep track of their genetics. I’m hoping to make reliable olive Eggers to sell but it might take a few generations so I really need accurate data.

Chicken math plus incubator addiction is real

Some folks make dividers, but if your bator is small, that may not be an option. Some use mesh bags, like the laundry bags for delicates. The chick will stay with its shell.
If you can watch the hatch, maybe just labeling the eggs and taking pics and writing down descriptions. You could also remove them as they hatch to tag them. Colored zip ties, or similar ways to tag the chicks.

 

[danceswithronin]

I am going to start my first hatch in a few months after my chicken house is completed. I'm trying to decide on a rare breed to hatch out for sale and I think I'm going to go with silver laced barnevelders and/or tolbunt Polish, since crested breeds seem very popular with hobbyists where I live.

 

[mcclucker]

Some folks make dividers, but if your bator is small, that may not be an option. Some use mesh bags, like the laundry bags for delicates. The chick will stay with its shell.
If you can watch the hatch, maybe just labeling the eggs and taking pics and writing down descriptions. You could also remove them as they hatch to tag them. Colored zip ties, or similar ways to tag the chicks.

Yeah the 9 are going to be pretty crowded. I hadn’t even thought of the mesh bag thing. I guess it depends on how many hatch Sunday when I can watch. I hate opening the bator before they have all hatched because I feel like I lost one once because of that. Maybe I will try to set up a webcam so I can watch from work Monday lol. Thanks!

 

[Faraday40]

Hey so I am not sure I am a total addict yet (haha), just on my 3rd hatch. However this is my first with my own eggs - the batches I set before were shipped eggs and I got measley hatch rates. So I set 9 (my incubator is small) and all 9 are on track to hatch on Sunday.

My birds are different breeds and I chose specific hens to try to get olive egger babies so I’m really keen to know which chick hatched out of which egg. I need to know who the mom is. I have no idea what these chicks will look like either - golden cuckoo Marans mom + Easter egger dad= ?? Also breeding blue cuckoo Marans mom and a few others of different breeds. It will be a motley crew.

Do you vets have any tricks to keep track of that? Any that persist into Monday I won’t see hatch and I really need to know who’s who so I can keep track of their genetics. I’m hoping to make reliable olive Eggers to sell but it might take a few generations so I really need accurate data.

Chicken math plus incubator addiction is real

I've made dividers & little hatching jails made from modified strawberry containers. One easy thing to do is hatch eggs upright in an egg carton (and be present during hatch). That way you know the exact location of each hen's egg and they won't move around. When you see a new wet chick, you can easily identify from which egg it came.

Cut out the bottoms and the lid of the egg carton so eggs can still breathe.

 

[mcclucker]

Ooh I do have some leftover unused blueberry containers from last summer. I will play around with them. I am not sure I could fit 9 though. I can’t be sure I can be present for the entire hatch either. I might be able to make smaller paper towel origami boxes though.

 

[Faraday40]

I cut out the bottoms & tops out for ventilation. I hot glued some mesh on top. It's basically what we had around that day. You could easily use some sort of basket.

 

[WVduckchick]

I bought a pack of crafting grid and made some dividers for my cabinet.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I use the mesh laundry bags. I used to use strawberry containers but they took up too much room

 

[Coffeebean1947]

The last egg from my broody hatched, day 30