5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[Cynthia12]

Doesn't look like we will have snow falling on Christmas Eve, which I like, but we do have a lot of snow on the ground!

 

[ronott1]

Well I took the cleanest and best eggs that I could. I had around 60 plus in the storm cellar ready. The max they was held was 10 days. Then this time I actually washed my eggs. I read that it was actually better to wash them. My last two hatches all eggs was fertile but I lost them between 7 days and hatch time. I had always heard not to wash them and then I read that if you loose them between day 7 and hatch that a bacteria gets to them and that the dirty eggs caused this. I candled them before setting to make sure they was not porous. Before touching them in the incubator to candle I wash my hands with Dial antibacterial soap. I disinfected the incubator before setting them. I made sure that they were all uniform in size. I also floated them to make sure there was no duds before setting. Added a fan to incubator. I was so disappointed last time that I researched and researched on finding a solution. Last time my temps fluctuated and I solved that by putting them in a room with an infrared heater set to a temp of 70 degrees. I have only opened the bator three times to candle and put water in the outside tray. I could have more than filled the trays with the other eggs but many was porous and not uniform. I had planned on setting two incubators full. My husbands aunt gave me her incubator but when I got it, it was old and really dirty and I just didn't trust it. It literally looked like it was from the 80's lol. Then I had complaints in the house.... Your hatching too many eggs... We don't need that many chickens. That's a lot of feed. What if you get 80% roosters and so on. So everyone agreed to 3 dozen. Not thinking I would have success with them. Now they are still telling me what if they all hatch. I said I'll give them away to family hehe. I will just keep em though.

What they don't know is that I want this to turn into a small little business. The feed is cheap here and everyone seems to want fresh farm eggs. A 50lb sack of layer feed is just $9.25. I get my grit from the river down the road. We only buy 100lbs of feed a month so $18.50 for the feed. We get 11 eggs a day so around 28 dozen eggs a month and $2.00 a dozen. So $56.00 for sold eggs minus the $18.50 for the feed. We profit around $37.00 a month from them, and I still don't have enough eggs to supply our customers. One of our customers has an at home bakery and she uses our eggs in her bakery. She prefers ours over the store bought farm eggs. Then I was thinking of selling hatching eggs on a local buy sell trade website for $6.00 a dozen. Yeah I work hard to keep the chickens up but what else am I going to do in my spare time hehe. I think of it more as a hobby.

I washed them with Dial antibacterial soap. I let them soak for about 30 secs in 99-100 degree water. I washed them with my hands. Just made sure all the poo was gone. I have to keep track of the cost of food to make sure that no one is upset that I am spending money instead of making it lol. Most of my customers said they would pay double for the eggs but I'm afraid they will not buy as much.

Come summer and spring I plan on hatching and selling eggs at the local farmers market also. If I sell there I can ask more per dozen.

I thought about trying to ferment my feed. I did feed fodder for a while until I just got too busy to wash and rinse everyday as I didn't have room to put in a flood a drain system in the house. This is next on my list. To build an indoor system so that I water and rinse the top fodder tray and it drains down through to the next, then the next and so on until it drains out a window. Into the yard. With a complete fodder system in would cut cost by more than half. I plan on hatching lots of chicks for Easter as TSC will only sell chickens at 6 or more per transaction. That is the only place to get chicks here and I seen many people going in and asking for just one or two chicks.

You are doing an amazing job!

I hope it all works out for you. This you could use some of the egg money to pick up one of the breeds that people seem to want. Bresse are still big or you could go fro Show Quality RIRs or New Hampshires. They seem to be going strong this year. Next year you would be able to sell them at BYC on the Buy Sell Trade section or Ebay for Twenty dollars plus per dozen.

For the local eggs, Barnyard mixes here go for $1.00 per egg so 12 per dozen may be a better starting place for you there.

 

[Myfourladies]

Mornin!
Its a freezing rain icy ground kind of day here. I think Ill stay inside and sip hot coffee.

Yeah, brrr. Sixty one here at work (inside!!), I am trying to squeeze in what I need to do and then go home and thaw out. LOL

 

[bantambury]

Yeah, brrr. Sixty one here at work (inside!!), I am trying to squeeze in what I need to do and then go home and thaw out. LOL

that's COLD for work! LOL......come home and thaw out.....

Doesn't look like we will have snow falling on Christmas Eve, which I like, but we do have a lot of snow on the ground!

its like....75 degreese here? raining earlier....im sure my silkies will have mowhaks again....LOL. the rain always does that to them!

we haven't had snow in 4 years just about.....wish we had some....than my chickens could get their first look of it!

 

[abmaddox1981]

Mornin!
Its a freezing rain icy ground kind of day here. I think Ill stay inside and sip hot coffee.

I hear ya. It's gross out. The rain finally let up but my silkies look like little balls of mud and my LF layers seem to think it's my fault their run looks like a swamp. The ducks however are happy. I don't even want to go back out to get eggs.....

 

[bantambury]

I hear ya. It's gross out. The rain finally let up but my silkies look like little balls of mud and my LF layers seem to think it's my fault their run looks like a swamp. The ducks however are happy. I don't even want to go back out to get eggs.....

my silkies get their fros spiked from the rain.....my white rooster looks like he walked in chocolate!

 

[chicken pickin]

that's COLD for work! LOL......come home and thaw out.....


its like....75 degreese here? raining earlier....im sure my silkies will have mowhaks again....LOL. the rain always does that to them!
LOVE IT
we haven't had snow in 4 years just about.....wish we had some....than my chickens could get their first look of it!

I just noticed the saying under your user name and above your avatar "Chicken is the new dog" LOVE IT!!! It is sooo true.

 

[ronott1]

That happened to me once which is why I built in redundant thermostats and heat sources. Still I was worried about lamps burning out so after seeing how many times they cycled on and off a day, I rewired the whole thing. I put the light sockets on a switch and only use them for illumination and put metallic heat elements on the thermostats.
I feel better.
I'm sure your eggs will be OK. This will make you feel better.
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html


That's why when I drink beer it's in 24 ounce cans. That way I can say I only had 2 beers.

How many chicks will they brood? Are they real energy efficient?

Has anyone here used a contact incubator? I think it has an inflatable bladder type thing that lays across the eggs like a broody hen.

Excellent tip.

And they taste just like chicken, even the ones that aren't good enough to go breeder pens. They still get to spend 3-5 months running around foraging and playing with their chicken buddies.


I was watching the Rams beat TB. As good as the Rams are, they're not going anywhere, unfortunate to be in the powerful NFC west.

It's a hobby that keeps me off the streets for sure.
Thanks for sharing your cleaning method.

I've been fermenting feed for all the birds for a few weeks. I kick myself for not keeping track of how much feed I've used since I started but it is noticeably less. It seems like it grows every day. I like it enough that I'm going to build some dedicated trough feeders. The dog bowls don't work very well.
I would still encourage people to get at least 2 since they need friends.
Another thing you could do is rent-a-chick till they get tired of them and then rescue them later.


I split them up into small groups so when the city asks how many chickens I have, instead of blurting out "seventy", I say I don't have more than 10 in any flock and most are just 2 or 3 birds.
And sorry to say, in the city, roosters count.

The Ecoglow 20 will work for 20 day old chicks but that is too many as they grow. 15 will work. If I hatch more I use a light. The bit Ecolglow will hold a lot more and it is adjusted in a better way. You can tell from the pictures.

I saw an analysis of electrical costs and the eco glow paid for itself very quickly in energy savings. If a person is hatching over a long period of time they are worth getting.

Good morning everyone!

Good Morning!

Mornin!
Its a freezing rain icy ground kind of day here. I think Ill stay inside and sip hot coffee.

It is 34 here and will be 62 for the high. Bad news is not rain on the 10 day. We are heading into the third year of drought.

 

[bantambury]

I just noticed the saying under your user name and above your avatar "Chicken is the new dog" LOVE IT!!! It is sooo true.

Thanks! hahahaha


everyone needs to replace their dogs with chickens. LOL

 

[Myfourladies]

This is a long shot, but I got thinking about an Easter day hatch.... I would like to hatch

Cayuga Ducks. Anyone know of a good supplier of hatching eggs for them near WV, VA, PA, NY or OH? I learned with my chicken hatching eggs- buy as local as possible.​