newbie in over her head.

[spickes8]

Oh the crazy things you'll do for your kids!!! Well, we are about to dive off head first into chickens abyss. I have 6 children and 5 of them are old enough to be in 4H. We have raised goats, and rabbits for 7 years but never chickens. Well it was our 4h leaders genius idea to get hatching eggs from the University of Arkansas's poultry program. Yeah, yippee, oh crap!!!! Let's do the math. 5 kids at 20 eggs each- I'm getting 100 hatching eggs!!!!
Needless to say, I'll be reading, lurking, and sweating until we get real chicks hatched. We are borrowing a friend's sportsman 1500 for the hatch. Fingers crossed.
Hubby went to an auction the other day and scored a Cadillac of an incubator (from what I googled). It is a 2 drawer Hatchrite, that originally sold for around 9k. Well, I'm gonna play with it today to see if it works or if I need to call NASA to help me figure it out.
Anyways, I'm here and hopefully I don't drive anyone nuts with my numerous dumb questions!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - glad that you have joined us, and boy - you sound like you need all the help you can get right now!! It's gonna be a steep learning curve, but if you check out the Learning Centre, your state thread and also search for incubation topics you'll do fine. In fact the make of incubator you mention DH got from an auction i saw mentioned yesterday - maybe type the make and model in the search bar and see if it comes up trumps? Lastly, and probably most importantly, our membership is both knowledgeable and friendly, so don't be shy in firing away with your posts (easy for me to say - I know diddly squat about incubators!!

)

All the best with your chicken avalanche!

CT

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on CTKen; if you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

You may want to give your youngsters a try. I have discovered young people are much better at figuring out tech stuff than I am. I wouldn't be surprised if they figure out the incubator in no time flat. Welcome to BYC.

 

[N F C]

100 hatching eggs to start off with?!?

Even with only a 50% success rate, you'd best be prepared for making a large brooder (or one for each child)! Sounds like a lot of fun and your kids are going to love watching the eggs hatch.

Experienced members are very good about sharing their knowledge here so if you need help, ask away!

 

[7littlegirls]

Hi welcome to BYC! Happy hatching

 

[spickes8]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. When they said we are getting hatching eggs I was guessing a few a piece, BUT nope, they get 20 each!!!! Easy math, 5-4H'ers equals bunches of eggs. My

100 hatching eggs to start off with?!?  Even with only a 50% success rate, you'd best be prepared for making a large brooder (or one for each child)! Sounds like a lot of fun and your kids are going to love watching the eggs hatch.

Experienced members are very good about sharing their knowledge here so if you need help, ask away!

3 yr old is begging for eggs too. Lol
She is gonna just have to steal some from her siblings.

 

[spickes8]

Well, I figured out I am missing the humidifier and the roller belt is dry rotted (easy fixes)

You may want to give your youngsters a try.  I have discovered young people are much better at figuring out tech stuff than I am. I wouldn't be surprised if they figure out the incubator in no time  flat.   Welcome to BYC.

Everything else seems to work, but it is way bigger than I need. It's a Cadillac and I need a minivan lol.

 

[N F C]

Well, I figured out I am missing the humidifier and the roller belt is dry rotted (easy fixes)
Everything else seems to work, but it is way bigger than I need. It's a Cadillac and I need a minivan lol.

You better keep that Cadillac, I hear incubating is addicting and once you start, you have to do more, and more, and more....