so ... i am working with my church for their crisis prevention expo and they have asked me to talk about the benefits of raising backyard chickens and how it is beneficial in a crisis situation (i.e. hurricane comes through the area and knocks out the power grid so there is no source of fresh...
found a local place to buy fertilized eggs ... put them under my silkie, who has been brrody for 3/4 of her life, and it looks like her butt just isn't big enough to completely cover them all
i tried to reshape her nest to make it more "bowl shaped" but here and there you can see an egg...
Saturday was day 21
today is day 23 and there are no cracks or anything to indicate that any more are going to hatch
how long do i give them until either cracking them open myself or tossing them?
how long do i keep the hatched one in the incubator before i have to give it food and water?
Eggs are from a BR roo and a RIR hen
if i finish my insulation tonight - i will be setting them in the incubator
... first hatch ever ... first homemade incubator
wife will not be happy when i tell her that i need to hatch indoors
.... unless the humidity goes down in the incubator when i finish building it and get the heat up to 100
normal temp in the garage at 9pm is 80 degree's
So, I borrowed a friends incubator which she hasn't used in 5 years or more. The temperature control is off, not working, or non-existent. I went to buy a hot water heater thermostat yesterday and after wiring it up to see how it works i got the "i need to make my own bator" fever. So I will use...
so ... i have to get rid of my rooster tonight
i have start gathering eggs to hatch --- how long do i have before the eggs are no longer fertile?
i.e. will she still be laying fertile eggs in 5-10 days?
just curious ... i have a hard time keeping up with how many weeks old they are
months seems much easier
i.e. most recent chicks i got were in early april ... april - oct = 6 and a half months
6.5 * 30 / 7 = 27.8 .... counting back on the calendar comes out to 28 weeks ... so it is not...
i picked up some chicks in april one of them was a barred rock rooster --- the hens look like they are finally getting ready to lay
currently all i have laying is a 14 month old RIR. she is laying every other day.
my friend has an incubator but i have never used one or ever hatched eggs. none...
so my younger chickens have matured ... we kept 1 barred rock rooster
since the rooster has started to do his business ... the silkie has been hiding out in the coop ... will not come out
lost one of my hens this weekend to one of my dogs
so me and my wife have decided to order a few more
the thing is that we do not want to keep the day old chicks in the house for 6-8 weeks. so we want to force a hen to go broody so she will raise them
also ... what would be a better choice...
already had one blessing this morning ... first time i have ever gotten an egg that was still warm
another hen is on the nest and doing her work
... always something to be thankful for
happy turkey day everyone
leave it to my chickens to lay on a rainy day
she is in the nest box right now .... they never hang out in the nest box --- never
they usually run away when i try to reach out and pet them --- she didn't move
so i put a bowl of feed in the coop nearby .... shut the coop and all i hear is...
28 weeks down --- i am getting less patient
right now the theory in my house is to go bite the bullet and buy a hen that is already laying and introduce it to the flock ---- kind of a monkey-see monkey-do type of thing
any other suggestions?
Mouse is the red one in the background
20 weeks old .....
7 weeks later
27 weeks old
i think she is getting close to laying .... much closer than my buff orpingtons
i have been waiting for 27 weeks .... semi-patiently
my wife is convinced that the chickens are barren .... so my question is ... what is the longest anyone has had to wait for eggs?
first time i have had chickens in almost 20 years .... and back then i bought them full grown and only kept...