Musings of a twenty-something hobby hatcher: Whole Foods Fertile Chicken Eggs / Rock Island -- UPDAT

[ChookRanger]

@MisfitMarie Yay! for 25 eggs. It's neat that the largest eggs were also the most viable. Any hens that come from them should also be jumbo egg layers. It will be fun trying to determine their breed unless it is super obvious. I mean they are "Rock Island" eggs, maybe some type of "Rock" like a barred or white rock?

I am new to incubating. My question is this: is there any reason you are using the dry method? Just curious. There seems to be so many different ways to hatch eggs and it can be confusing at times. I made a styrofoam cooler incubator and I think it will be ok. I wanted some grocery store eggs to hatch because it is sort of a rescue mission for eggs that would otherwise be eaten by the people who shop at WF/TJ. Plus I would feel odd putting $30 worth of eggs into a device I built for $13. At least until I had proven that it would work.
A couple people on Craigslist have fertile eggs from $5-$7 a dozen for barnyard mix. I only plan to keep 2 or 3 pullets and sell or give away any others. What do you plan to do with your chicks?

 

[ChookRanger]

While you may not have the space or time for a beautiful flower garden, you can pack lots of beauty into your vegetable garden. My garden is not complete without Calendula, nasturtium, and marigolds. You can also easily tuck lots of other flowers in here and there: try gladiola, dahlia (especially the shorter ones), cosmos, (again, there's a short variety that grows about 12" tall.) How bout some sun flowers. They pack a lot of pleasure into a single plant. Flowers for you, seeds for the girls.

Hi Lazy Gardener! I do have calendula and marigolds now that you mention it. I am not familiar with nasturtium, but I will do some research and hopefully see if they will grow here. Sunflowers will go in as soon as I harvest the beets. I have not seen and dahlia or cosmos around (either growing or seeds) but gladiola grow like weeds, which I also have a lot of.

My garden is not lacking in flowers but in structure. There is no theme or logic just a mess of plants growing like a jungle. I also like to experiment and experiments don't always turn out well. I actually like it that way but it would not win any beauty contests.

 

[lazy gardener]

My garden is also a jungle. But, it's my happy little jungle! Very little rhyme or reason to it. Every year, when I'm trying to cram it as full as I can get it, I just shake my head, and say, "Next year, I'll have an organized garden!"

 

[MisfitMarie]

@MisfitMarie Yay! for 25 eggs. It's neat that the largest eggs were also the most viable. Any hens that come from them should also be jumbo egg layers. It will be fun trying to determine their breed unless it is super obvious. I mean they are "Rock Island" eggs, maybe some type of "Rock" like a barred or white rock?

I am new to incubating. My question is this: is there any reason you are using the dry method? Just curious. There seems to be so many different ways to hatch eggs and it can be confusing at times. I made a styrofoam cooler incubator and I think it will be ok. I wanted some grocery store eggs to hatch because it is sort of a rescue mission for eggs that would otherwise be eaten by the people who shop at WF/TJ. Plus I would feel odd putting $30 worth of eggs into a device I built for $13. At least until I had proven that it would work.
A couple people on Craigslist have fertile eggs from $5-$7 a dozen for barnyard mix. I only plan to keep 2 or 3 pullets and sell or give away any others. What do you plan to do with your chicks?

Do you have a picture of your incubator? I've been interested in trying to build my own for awhile. There's lots of great ideas online.

And yes, I plan on giving my chicks away to local BYC members. I might, however, keep one for myself.

 

[MisfitMarie]

My garden is also a jungle. But, it's my happy little jungle! Very little rhyme or reason to it. Every year, when I'm trying to cram it as full as I can get it, I just shake my head, and say, "Next year, I'll have an organized garden!"

I'm going to refer to my garden as my "happy little jungle" now! That's what my backyard is turning into, and I LOVE IT!

 

[MisfitMarie]

HATCH DAY IS IN ONE WEEK!

 

[ChookRanger]

Do you have a picture of your incubator? I've been interested in trying to build my own for awhile. There's lots of great ideas online.

And yes, I plan on giving my chicks away to local BYC members. I might, however, keep one for myself.

Actually, I did an instructable on my incubator here. Mine is small but you could scale it up pretty easily. The key is the electronic thermostat; it keeps temps between 37.5° C and 37.7°C. I would gladly help in any way that I can. I like building things. I got some eggs from Craigslist and put them in Saturday. The guy said they were Black Australorps and White Australorps, Easter Eggers , Frizzles and Silkies. I think I got one double yolker! So excited for hatching.

 

[MisfitMarie]

Actually, I did an instructable on my incubator here. Mine is small but you could scale it up pretty easily. The key is the electronic thermostat; it keeps temps between 37.5° C and 37.7°C. I would gladly help in any way that I can. I like building things. I got some eggs from Craigslist and put them in Saturday. The guy said they were Black Australorps and White Australorps, Easter Eggers , Frizzles and Silkies. I think I got one double yolker! So excited for hatching.

AWESOME incubator! That is too cool! Great instructions, too. I'm going to have to try them out.

I'm totally adding that to my list of things!

 

[ChookRanger]

AWESOME incubator! That is too cool! Great instructions, too. I'm going to have to try them out.

I'm totally adding that to my list of things!

Thank you! I hope it works out for hatching chicks. How are your whole foods eggs doing?

 

[ChookRanger]

Any babies yet?