5 Year Hiatus From Hatching....Today Is Day 1 (11/2/2014)

[VTHokieAg]

Well I am glad to say that I have found my way back to this forum after a several year departure. To give you a little brief background information about myself I raised chickens, quail, ducks, and geese on my parents hobby farm from 2005-2010. I was always on this site lurking but never posted very much. I was very into the hobby and liked all the different aspects of it such as incubating, butchering, and building coops and such. From 2007-2009 I was away in college studying Agriculture Economics but my dad took care of the birds for me and I would occasionally incubate during winter or summer break during this period. I met a fine lady in college who studied Animal & Poultry Sciences who is now my fiance and after we both graduated we rented a house in the town limits while we adjusted to our full-time jobs. We rented that house from 2010 until the summer of this year. It was always a lifelong dream of mine to have a hobby farm of my own like the one I was raised on and I am pleased to say that over the summer we went from a tiny house in town to a 15 acre hobby farm. We currently don't have any animals yet, other than dogs, as we are taking it slow but just last weekend we went to my parents house and moved one of my old coops down to the new house. Long story short we are going to start with chickens since I know a lot about the hobby already. We ordered 12(+1) Buff Orpington eggs off eBay and 12 Old English Game Bantams from a different seller on ebay as well. I always wanted Orpington's growing up due to their docile nature and I always had a few Old English over the years and really liked their personality. The eggs arrived Friday evening and after letting them rest we threw them in the incubator last night and are counting today (Sunday 11/2) as Day 1. My fiance is really excited because she did not grow up around chickens so she has been learning a lot from me and from lurking on this site over the last couple days.

Also, as you can tell in the pictures I have a Little Giant incubator with turner and fan that has been in storage for 5 years. When we were talking about incubating this go around I saw that Little Giant has a newer model of the incubator I have out now that has a digital thermostat. Does anybody know if it is easier to adjust temperatures and if it would be worth upgrading? I can't find many reviews of the new digital one.

Let the incubating commence!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Well I am glad to say that I have found my way back to this forum after a several year departure. To give you a little brief background information about myself I raised chickens, quail, ducks, and geese on my parents hobby farm from 2005-2010. I was always on this site lurking but never posted very much. I was very into the hobby and liked all the different aspects of it such as incubating, butchering, and building coops and such. From 2007-2009 I was away in college studying Agriculture Economics but my dad took care of the birds for me and I would occasionally incubate during winter or summer break during this period. I met a fine lady in college who studied Animal & Poultry Sciences who is now my fiance and after we both graduated we rented a house in the town limits while we adjusted to our full-time jobs. We rented that house from 2010 until the summer of this year. It was always a lifelong dream of mine to have a hobby farm of my own like the one I was raised on and I am pleased to say that over the summer we went from a tiny house in town to a 15 acre hobby farm. We currently don't have any animals yet, other than dogs, as we are taking it slow but just last weekend we went to my parents house and moved one of my old coops down to the new house. Long story short we are going to start with chickens since I know a lot about the hobby already. We ordered 12(+1) Buff Orpington eggs off eBay and 12 Old English Game Bantams from a different seller on ebay as well. I always wanted Orpington's growing up due to their docile nature and I always had a few Old English over the years and really liked their personality. The eggs arrived Friday evening and after letting them rest we threw them in the incubator last night and are counting today (Sunday 11/2) as Day 1. My fiance is really excited because she did not grow up around chickens so she has been learning a lot from me and from lurking on this site over the last couple days.

Also, as you can tell in the pictures I have a Little Giant incubator with turner and fan that has been in storage for 5 years. When we were talking about incubating this go around I saw that Little Giant has a newer model of the incubator I have out now that has a digital thermostat. Does anybody know if it is easier to adjust temperatures and if it would be worth upgrading? I can't find many reviews of the new digital one.

Let the incubating commence!

I'm using a little giant that is borrowed from my sister so I don't know how much "newer" it is. (The turner is a lot different.) But I know the one I have has the same controls as yours. Her thermometer died on her, so I had to buy my own to use, but I have heard more than one person say that the thermometers that come with them are often quite a bit off in accuracy. It's adjustment still is on the crappy side. Seems to do well once you get it adjusted as long as the room it's in is at a consistent temp. Not sure if that helps much but that's the knowledge I have. lol

 

[sunflour]

Thanks for your post. Looks like a great set up you have there.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Glad you rejoined the flock e

I don't have experience with the little giants so can't be much help there. But wishing you the very best of luck with your eggs

 

[VTHokieAg]

Day 7 Candling Results

Check = Good
X = Clear
D = Detached Air Cell

Top half of sheet is Old English Game Bantam Eggs. Bottom Half is Buff Orpingtons. Not to shabby for shipped eggs.



Example Egg