6th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[hennible]

Set my eggs at 11:00pm, just before bed... A few hours late, not bad.

 

[Cynthia12]

Hope everyone else is getting along okay. I'm so sorry every one that's waiting for a package! So frustrating!

some special words could be said for the shipping..postal service.

Did you see my post? Now who else is waiting??

 

[Roan]

West Virginians!!! This post's for you. I have Ameraucanas and Ameraucana mixes that I'm willing to sell if you'd like. That way, you'll have your own blue to olive egg layers for the next Hatch-A-Long. They're all mature and needing a good home otherwise, their next home will be the freezer. I've posted pics on here earlier so just scroll through the pics to see what they look like.

As for this HAL, I'm not sure if any of my babies will throw anything but brown eggs since Big Daddy Crow is from a brown egg and that seems to be the determining factor. Am I right? At least it's been my experience with the Ameraucanas since even our RIR and BPR were bred with the Ameraucana brothers and their offspring all have the Ameraucana ear tufts so I'm guessing that they'll throw blue to olive green eggs as well.

 

[Cynthia12]

OK, I'll set some, except those that she scrubbed the color off of.

She did the same thing last NYD hatch, except that time I didn't know it until they were in the skillet.

I'm sorry CC..but really, go ahead, it will be interesting to see how many will start to develop ~ then hatch!

 

[Cynthia12]

I thought I was done hatching for awhile.. but it looks like one of my hens has other ideas. I went out to the barn yesterday to find my silkie x cochin hen sitting on eggs. She has brooded for me before and she's definitely committed to hatching some more. I just looked at my calendar and noticed that her eggs will be due to hatch on new years day. I figured there must be a hatch-a-long for that, so here I am! I think she has about 8 eggs. I will have to confirm that whenever I happen to see her off the nest. Good luck to everyone else that's hatching!

 

[Aphrael]

Mutts work..from my experience.

And............



And, to the Hatch A Long

Oh wow! That hen is GORGEOUS!

Wow, thanks for that! Now I know that I need a plastic or wooden 'bator. Would it help if I put my LG in a wooden box?

Unfortunately, I'm a Mountaineer w/o a mud room and I definitely can attest to that fact! Winter, Fall and Spring are the worst! Summer, we all run around outside barefoot so a mud room would do no good but the garden hose outside the front door helps.

I have read about people putting their styro bators inside a box to help control temp swings better and having really good success with it. But you do have to be sure the box you put it into has enough air exchange. Otherwise the bator won't get enough oxygen.

So, my thermometer is digital and has a probe that is supposed to go outside to monitor the outside temp. Well I put that probe inside the 'bator and the main unit on the dresser angled so I can read it from my desk. For two weeks, I've left the 'bator plugged in and have been monitoring the inside temp. The high was 102 and the low was 98 so the average temp has been around 100.

Well, I set my eggs at around midnight yesterday and watched to see how long it would take to get them back up to temp. I was very nervous for that first hour because it would slowly creep up to 71 then slip just as slowly back down to 70. It did this for about an hour and I was like why is it taking so long for temp to climb?

I mean, I knew it would take awhile but I just didn't seem to be making any leeway at all! Finally, after that first hour of worrying and fighting the urge to adjust the temp, it dawned on me! I forgot to put the probe back in the vent hole! It was laying beside the 'bator!!! D'oh!

Oh my gosh. That sounds exactly like something I would do!!

I love mail tracking... It helps diminish the "So where is it?" anxiety (but not the frustration) a tad.

Hooray! The marans eggs which were mailed late Dec. 10th hit the ABQ post office early this morning at 2:00 a.m.! These eggs include 3 laid on the 10th, so fresh, fresh, FRESH.

The BLRW eggs, mailed on Dec. 9th from Diboll, TX, seem to be stuck in TX still after going through 3 facilities. (Somehow I have a vision of them just going around and around and around on some conveyor turnstile somewhere)

Despite the parcel long-haulers, the folks at our local Post Office are great. They'll call to come get them when they see eggs have come in because they don't want them sitting in the roadside postal boxes to bake or freeze or they've even brought them to my door! It helps when you have rural postal workers that also raise chickens as they get it. I hope one of my marans eggs hatches a pullet because I want to name her Marlene after my carrier, who really does go the extra mile..

I'm in a small rural town as well, and our local PO and postal carrier are great. If I ask for something to be held and them to call, they always do. If I have a box, the carrier pulls into the drive, honks and waits to give me a chance to get shoes on and come out (unlike most UPS and Fedex drivers around here who seem to honk once and run away as fast as they can

). It is too bad that more of them aren't like these good ones.

Oh wow! That's surprising. Also just realized "bf" got changed to "fb".. Twice. But anyway.. lol

I kept reading that post and scratching my head trying to figure out what fb stood for.

I'm out. Already.

I had been collecting eggs for a few days since so few are laying. We ran out of eating eggs so on Wednesday I bought some organic eggs at the grocery store. I told my wife I bought them cause we would be low on ours for a bit. I had been putting them on the back porch each day since it stays about 40F and humid out there.
Yesterday I turned a heater on in the porch to slowly raise the temperature. Overnight, I brought them in to warm up more. They were on the kitchen table in a small 2 qt. bucket. I go in to get a cup of coffee this morning and there the eggs are in the sink - washed.

She never washes the eggs and there were a dozen eggs sitting in the egg tray in the fridge.

Don't discount em! I've hatched quite a few washed eggs now!

Sorry guys, I'm out. I only got one egg to set for this HAL. I will see y'all for the next one, or three!

Good luck to everyone!

Awww.

 

[Cynthia12]

Sorry guys, I'm out. I only got one egg to set for this HAL. I will see y'all for the next one, or three!

Good luck to everyone!

!

 

[Cynthia12]

@chickkrakidd BBS is for...Blue, Black, Splash. It's fun waiting for the egg to hatch to see which it is, and of course, you are hoping for a certain color by then.

 

[ronott1]

Hi peeps! The thirteen eggs i put in my mini adv. started to hatch Tuesday night. Out of the thirteen eggs that went in 9 hatched. 2 were from a new layer and weren't even fertile so tectonically 9 out of 11 hatched. Is anyone wanting a Silkier or a Sizzle chick? Three of them have giant domes. There is a really neat one that is white color with black stripes on its back, this is a first for me. My parts came in for my DIY incubator but i still did not get it finished for the New Years hatch along so i improvised. I ordered a 12 dc incukit to use for a brooder but in the last moments i gr

abed a medical cool or and used it as a incubator. I have never tried to build an incubator and hope i get A good hatch rate out of these. Temps are staying at 99.5 and only varying +-.5 degree.I'm just not sure about the humidity so i am going to wing it. Every persons answer is different.

They look nice!

Did you set eggs for the HAL? Send a PM with the total.

I just saw this thread, can I still participate in the HAL? I set 11 eggs today:

5 x CCL x Red Star
3 x CCL x RIR
3 x CCL x CCL

You have been added!

Wow, thanks for that! Now I know that I need a plastic or wooden 'bator. Would it help if I put my LG in a wooden box?

Unfortunately, I'm a Mountaineer w/o a mud room and I definitely can attest to that fact! Winter, Fall and Spring are the worst! Summer, we all run around outside barefoot so a mud room would do no good but the garden hose outside the front door helps.

I would not do that. You can fill the empty spaces with rocks, stones and etc. to act as heat syncs for the eggs. Putting the incubator in a box will mess up ventilation, the third most common cause of bad hatches.

I posted a picture of my eggs and i just want the admins to know after i posted it i decided to add 6 more eggs so i have a total of 18 eggs. 5 silkie mix eggs, 4 leghorn mix pullet eggs, 4 java mix eggs, 3 EE mix eggs and 2 maran mix eggs

I already had 18 in the spreadsheet so you are good to go!

 

[ronott1]

Ahhh...My eggs have been at 73-78 degrees for who knows how long!!! Had a power outage for at least 6 hours. Power on...hence the 1am freak out message...and warming bator, again. Will my babies be okay?

Now...now!!!! Lol
What cute babies you have!! They look so fluffy.

Yes, in the first post of this thread there is an article from Brinsea that has information about temps and incubating.