September 2023 Hatch-A-Long

[AusHen]

I just expanded my brooders so now I have to fill them
I'm hatching as many of my Bella's eggs as I can but since she doesn't lay that often I have started with 4, will hopefully get another 4+ before she goes broody. I'm taking eggs daily but she will try and hatch a rock, stick, cup well anything she can get into a nest. Also have 3 leghorn eggs.

 

[casportpony]

Following!

 

[AusHen]

The leghorns and one of Bella's eggs are clear, so I have three developing. I'll be adding another 3 or 4 of Bella's eggs tomorrow
*edit for spelling. I shouldn't be posting at almost 1am

 

[AusHen]

Down to 2 of Bella's original eggs as one quit. I have another 4 in there that are developing and 4 Araucana. The rooster will most likely be my frizzle polish cross as he's always dancing and we'll yeah, other possible dad is a barnyard mix that's low on the pecking order. I'll be able to tell who is the dad once they hatch since the bym has feathered legs. Will be adding a dozen purchased Marans and a dozen purchased Silkies next week and maybe some more of my mixes

 

[gimmie birdies]

September 2023 need to hatch.
I bought 4 doz from a farm feed store fridge. I have hatched from before.

All have been candled. the eggs to the far right I will not set because of cracks, or they look older. the 3 rows to the left look fine. (Possibly a double yolker egg on the top. Just getting to room temp to set. I fed some of the cracked eggs to my dog, some were not fertile, some were. (I think diff farms bring in eggs.)
Pretty good though for just $5 a doz. I don't expect all to hatch, but last year I hatched 34/36, when I didn't think all would hatch.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Not even one whole day and 10 love dots spotted!

 

[impr3]

We set 18 eggs from Meyer Hatchery last night:
4 Black Sumatran
3 Blue Andalusian
2 Buckeye
2 Black Australorp
2 Black Copper Maran
2 Light Brown Leghorn
2 Rhode Island Red
1 Barred Rock

We're using the same DIY incubator that gave us a 100% hatch rate on our last batch a few years ago. It's an old cooler with a 12v bulb for heating and a computer fan for air movement. All controlled with a cheap temperature relay. Humidity from a small dish in the bottom, size of dish adjusted based on weight loss of the eggs each week.

It used to have an automatic turner made from a linear actuator, but that seems to be dead so we're just tilting the whole cooler until we can get a new actuator delivered. Since they're shipped eggs this may be a better idea anyway to allow the air cells to stabilize with the large end up for a while. That said, I candled before setting them and the air cells that were visible mostly looked good.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Nice I have used DIY incubators many times.

 

[gimmie birdies]

It is good to not roll those shipped eggs about. For a few days.

 

[AusHen]

My Silkie eggs arrived today. Arrived in one day!. Ordered a dozen and got a bakers dozen. most aircells are looking pretty good, only 2 with saddled ones.