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

[JadeComputerGal]

Under a broody hen, they get no light except for what little time (by comparison) that the hen is off the nest for dust bathing, eating and drinking and it doesn't seem to make a difference in hatch speed. So I don't really see how making it dark would do much to slow them down. Of course, I'm no expert but just giving my two cents worth.

LOL. You have no idea how many times I've said that myself in the past 24 hours. I was just hoping Bazy had hit on something that I'd never heard before about artificial incubation. Hubby and I have EI eggs in one of the bators, and they were on day 26 yesterday. He drove me out of my mind all day shining a flashlight in the bator to "wake them up" so they would "know it's time to come out." I repeatedly said things like, "Honey, they're normally under a duck. How much light could there be?"

Oh well, I guess I should just brace myself for when he gets up, because there's no progress with the eggs since we went to bed last night, so today is going to be worse

 

[hennible]

So here are some eggs... That big one is huge. I bet it would hatch a turkey ( jk ) it's way to big to incubate, a tad abnormal. I will be setting A few bantam eggs thankfully the little ones have decided to lay of late, at least I think there bantam eggs :/
So many new hens all brown layers I can't really be sure what I'm setting...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Its noon on the 11th.
I'm in MO also.

My mottled cochin seems to be sleeping in a nesting box the past week or so also. I need to do something about that. Im a bit sick of scooping poo out of it every morning. Advice?

Thanks.
Best bet is to completely block off nests just before dusk so they have no choice but to roost.

Hours or daylight or supplemental light for the flock is important for rooster fertility and egg laying of the hen. It does not change the hatch time.

I just started increasing light about a week ago, mostly for the rooster. I'm up to about 3 hours of additional light.

So here are some eggs... That big one is huge. I bet it would hatch a turkey ( jk ) it's way to big to incubate, a tad abnormal. I will be setting A few bantam eggs thankfully the little ones have decided to lay of late, at least I think there bantam eggs

So many new hens all brown layers I can't really be sure what I'm setting...

Yeah, I don't know how many I'll have. Up till now I'm only getting between one and three a day.
That big one may be a double. Not to incubate.

 

[hennible]

I was thinking its a double, best saved for the frying pan. It probably came from the nearly 6yr old black sex link

 

[Sueg4332]

Getting so excited for the set date!!! I'm starting to collect eggs for the H-A-L today. I was only gonna do a couple but I was talking to a guy at work and he wants some of them so now I can set a lot more. He is gonna take as many as I wanna give up. I told my youngest daughter and she said he can't have any! They must be teaching chicken math at her school lol

now that is really cute. dads going to have to build more pens

 

[Amberjem]

 

[Jucknath]

So here are some eggs... That big one is huge. I bet it would hatch a turkey ( jk ) it's way to big to incubate, a tad abnormal. I will be setting A few bantam eggs thankfully the little ones have decided to lay of late, at least I think there bantam eggs

So many new hens all brown layers I can't really be sure what I'm setting...

I wonder if it is a double yoker?

 

[hennible]

If it is I'll post back and let you know.

 

[Roan]

Quote:

LOL. You have no idea how many times I've said that myself in the past 24 hours. I was just hoping Bazy had hit on something that I'd never heard before about artificial incubation. Hubby and I have EI eggs in one of the bators, and they were on day 26 yesterday. He drove me out of my mind all day shining a flashlight in the bator to "wake them up" so they would "know it's time to come out." I repeatedly said things like, "Honey, they're normally under a duck. How much light could there be?"

Oh well, I guess I should just brace myself for when he gets up, because there's no progress with the eggs since we went to bed last night, so today is going to be worse

LOL Yeah, sometimes we battle between logic and desire so we often try to compromise by creating the desired logic.

Edit: Forgot to add quote.

 

[Roan]

For those who don't have a record keeping system for the Hatch-A-Long, I've created this sheet to help keep things on track.
This is one sheet of a complete record keeping suite that I am currently working on using Open Office. The spreadsheet will be able to track multiple incubators, multiple flocks, expenses, income, housing needs and goals. This way, everything will be right at your fingertips to make flock management easier and more profitable.

In the spreadsheet version of this sheet, the daily average temperatures will be automatically calculated, along with the total average high, low and average temperatures and the humidity levels. The candling dates (7 and 14) on this sheet will be automatically replaced by the actual dates that you should candle based on the start date of incubation.

Also, after adding the "Eggs Set," "Bad Eggs," and "Hatched" values, the spreadsheet will automatically give you the "Hatch Rate."

I hope this sheet and the coming spreadsheet will be of use to you all for this and all future chicken activities.