4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[cochins1088]

I just went to the neighbors and they gave me 3 dozen fertile barnyard mixes to go along with my 17 buff barred bantam cochins. The incubator just felt so empty before, but now with the other 3 dozen, I won't be able to fix them all. Maybe 2 of the dozens if I try hard? hahaha.

 

[mzstre]

 Have fun with those olive eggers!!

I swapped somebody for olive eggers and they arent even olive. they are EEs 

If those are the blue eggs in your pic from earlier, that just means your chicks are going to be "first generation" olive eggers. Many people use a Marans roo (or other breed known to produce dark choc eggs) over Amerauana or EE hens to produce the OEs. Your chicks should give you some nicely colored olive eggs when they're all grown up.

 

[aka Rachel]

Just when you think you have it alllllllll under control....

My homemade 'bator was holding temp PERFECT!! So I put the eggs in without too much worry. What I didn't realise was the weight of the eggs pushed the thermostat closer to the light bulb thus lowering the temperature of the 'bator!

Now I have to fiddle with the temp while the eggs are in it, lol. It's never easy!!! I can't wait to save up and buy the brinsea octagon 20 adv.!

At least i have over 20 pages to read to get caught up while i stabilize my 'bator

 

[Brechin]

This thread slowed down a bit. Hope everyone's eggs are doing well and that we can all hang in there until Hatch Day!!

 

[chiqita]

If those are the blue eggs in your pic from earlier, that just means your chicks are going to be "first generation" olive eggers. Many people use a Marans roo (or other breed known to produce dark choc eggs) over Amerauana or EE hens to produce the OEs. Your chicks should give you some nicely colored olive eggs when they're all grown up.

Yep, F1 olive eggers come from a blue or brown egg. I'm working on making my oe's look like ee's with Marans BCM coloring. I hatched about 50 and got 5 that were what I wanted. I kept a hen and a roo out of those 5 and am going for f2's.

I got a tip early on about this combo, if they get color in their necks, they are boys. They don't get the "chicken" ee look from their mother, they will just get a couple of flecks of color later as if they were copper marans hens.



The Olive ones in there are f2's. You cant see how khaki they are in that light, but I was pleased with the color. Some of those blue ones are f1's and some are shipped eggs ( arkansas blues I think?? was reading the thread, very exciting!)

The exciting things about olive eggers is they can be a lot of combinations to produce a lot of different eggs? do you know what went into making yours?

 

[Coffeemama7]

Wow! I have read all 2294 posts, some more than once!
Kelly, you are really chucky!! Those eggs were coveted by many!

I am really asking, not being sarcastic;
If the hen is broody, lays eggs over several days, gets up to eat and drink, socialize and go back to tending the eggs...do you think the temperature of the eggs fluctuates, and the humidity varies? If this is true, why do we obsess over the slightest fluctuations?

I am a stirrer...yes my mother always told me to leave the gravy alone, STOP STIRRING! she'd yell. Yes, I've checked my temp/humidity 7 times in 6 hours! ARRRGGGG!!

I want it to be hatch day!!
But if it were, then my older children would already have come and gone for the holidays and the younger ones would be moody and missing them, hummmmm, I guess I'll wait till the 28th to start wishing the hatch day was here!
Good luck everyone!!

 

[TMNfarm]

I guess we do have Christmas to look forward to while we're waiting for the hatch, don't we??

 

[Coffeemama7]

I guess we do have Christmas to look forward to while we're waiting for the hatch, don't we??

HEHEHEHeeee

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

We have ducks and geese due for Christmas and then NYD, oh yeah and there are presents in there too.

 

[Brechin]

Wow! I have read all 2294 posts, some more than once!
Kelly, you are really chucky!! Those eggs were coveted by many!

I am really asking, not being sarcastic;
If the hen is broody, lays eggs over several days, gets up to eat and drink, socialize and go back to tending the eggs...do you think the temperature of the eggs fluctuates, and the humidity varies? If this is true, why do we obsess over the slightest fluctuations?

I am a stirrer...yes my mother always told me to leave the gravy alone, STOP STIRRING! she'd yell. Yes, I've checked my temp/humidity 7 times in 6 hours! ARRRGGGG!!

I want it to be hatch day!!
But if it were, then my older children would already have come and gone for the holidays and the younger ones would be moody and missing them, hummmmm, I guess I'll wait till the 28th to start wishing the hatch day was here!
Good luck everyone!!

First Off -GOOD ON YOU FOR READING EVERY POST!!- I don't have the strength, altough I do suffer slightly from FOBLO (fear of being left out)

Second! I am in the "go with the flow" camp who try to mimic the micro environment of a hen's underneaths. That being said, I do keep my incubator at steady temp/humidity, but I candle every day and let the lid stay slightly ajar so the incubator cools to about 88 degrees F. Each egg spends about 3-4 minutes with me getting examined and candled. Now I will point out that this is my first hatch, but I did lots of research and came to my own conclusions. So far I have 100% viable eggs and very strong little active chicks. I just had one kick so hard he/she made a smack noise on the side of the shell!

I believe that a small amount of time cooled and handled is not going to hurt the eggies and I would even go so far as to say it can help! But I will not know for sure until I have done more than the two hatches I have going right now. After I have collected enough data I might be able to form a solid opinion based on my current thought process.

We will just wait and see!