4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[CelticOaksFarm]

Wingstone what type of ducks do you want?


Delisha - We set thousands of eggs a year, but we are a functioning farm too and supply local feed stores with hatchlings, sell direct to customers, ship all over the US, and some we raise are meat birds grown out for fall butchering. Our feed bills are modest right now 300-400 every two weeks, in spring it can easily be 500 every two weeks when we have the most hatchlings on the ground.

 

[wingstone]

Wingstone what type of ducks do you want?


Delisha - We set thousands of eggs a year, but we are a functioning farm too and supply local feed stores with hatchlings, sell direct to customers, ship all over the US, and some we raise are meat birds grown out for fall butchering. Our feed bills are modest right now 300-400 every two weeks, in spring it can easily be 500 every two weeks when we have the most hatchlings on the ground.

No specifics except no scovies, looking to start a pen that will be both meat and eggs, have not settled on a specific breed yet.....but I do like the looks of the black and white ancona's. (spelling).

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

The ancona are a nice medium bird, the Silver Appleyards are the best egg layers of all meat ducks. You may want to research them some too.

 

[champer]

I just signed up. I did this last year and it was fun, so why not do it again? Hope I can find some eggs.

 

[coldupnorth]

Muscovy (35 days) - 11/27/12 - One more day to go

(you should have these in hand)
Goose (31 days) - 12/1/12 - Five more days till set (looks like some of you may have some ready)
Duck, Turkey, Pheasant (28 days) - 12/4/12 - Eight more days till set (still have time if you are still looking but not much)
Guinea Fowl (26 days) - 12/6/12 - Ten more days till set
Chicken (21 days) - 12/11/12 - Fifteen more days till set
Coturnix Quail (18 days) - 12/14/12 - Twenty more days till set (I hear hatching these is like popcorn

)

If you still need to find eggs, look on the buy/sell/trade threads of BYC, ask around on your local state threads (if there is one), ask your local chicken friends, try some eggs from Trader Joe or local Whole Foods store or set your own eggs. Doesn't matter how many eggs are set, because we are just having fun with it. Of course, the more the merrier......

 

[mommaclucker]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I still have not received my shipped eggs the seller on Ebay wont respond to my emails asking them to check into it they were shipped on the 19th a week ago today how long are eggs viable for once they have been shipped? Ive seen anywhere from a week to 10 days up to 3 week really has me nerveous now to order eggs for the NYD hatch but I cant find any local eggs at all

 

[cluckitall]

Hi mommaclucker! I do know, having sold on ebay, that the "shipped" date is not necessarily the date something is sent -- it's the day the seller prints out the shipping label. It may be that he has printed out the shipping label and is now gathering fresh eggs as his hens lay them to send to you. (Or not, but hey, let's be optimistic!)

Once the post office has received it, there will be additional tracking information, saying "dispatched to sort facility" or "in transit" or something like that. From there, if he's sent them priority, it should be two days shipping time.

I've hatched eggs that were sitting on my counter for three weeks and had 100% hatch rates, but those were eggs from my own hens and hadn't been shipped.

I understand your worry, and agree that the seller should at least drop you an email letting you know what's going on! But I did want to let you know that just because they're marked as shipped, doesn't necessarily mean they're sitting in a post office or mail truck somewhere. Until the tracking information is updated with "in transit" or other information, the eggs probably aren't sent yet. The only thing I can suggest is to try emailing the seller again, and then contact ebay if you don't hear back! But if I had to guess, I'd guess he's still collecting eggs for you and hasn't sent them yet

 

[aoxa]

I have a Hovabator too, and it works really well other than the last 3 days. Holds humidity perfectly.

The older one I borrowed keeps temperatures better than the Genesis 1588

I actually wrap mine in towels to help it maintain temps, and I add a couple of containers of water (sealed with a dollop of bleach in them to keep anything from growing).  They act as heat sinks and slow down temp swings.

I fell behind, oops.

Just thought I'd say thanks for this. I'm going to try it

Seems the temp doesn't really bother the eggs/chicks from hatching so far. Though this morning my extra thermometer said 95.7 and I set my eggs last night :/ I bumped the temp on the bator to 100.5 for now.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

x2....... sometimes we will print a label and actually ship them the next day. Check the tracking number that is on your ebay page and see what the status is. If it reads electronic notice received, the shipper printed the label but has not yet dropped them off at the PO. Lets hope for the best that the seller is sending the freshest eggs and had to gather some before sending and they were avoiding the holiday so the eggs didnt sit for too long anywhere.

 

[wingstone]

The ancona are a nice medium bird, the Silver Appleyards are the best egg layers of all meat ducks. You may want to research them some too.

These are the 2 breeds we have been considering, we have also considering ordering a duckling assortment in the spring and going from there on which breeds we like the best,
since I seem to have problems with chicken math, do ducks fall into the math problems....5 does = 1 right..