8 eggs in the incubator

[kuntrygirl]

Kuntrygirl, how many eggs are you going to set? and when are you going to set them? I have not gotten a tracking number on my eggs yet but they shipped yesterday according to the seller. I think I am going to go ahead and set the guineas and ducks together and keep all my chicken eggs in a separate bator. I won't  have a hatcher but my duck and guineas should be here on the same day. I'll let them rest 24 hours and then pop them all in the bator.

The only poultry I have ever hatched has been geese and from what I understand I started with the hardest. I did get 4 of 4 to hatch though. I really hope I get some corals out of this batch of eggs. I'd like chocolate too but that will have to come in a month or so. I'm out of room in both bators already. Gosh I didn't think I would get so excited about hatching eggs, but I missed checking my bator and eggs after my geese hatched. Now I have my own chicken eggs in one of my bators and have something to look at when I go to the incubation station. LOL

I'm not sure how many I will set the guinea eggs. I have never incubated guinea eggs before and I have only used an incubator 2 times. The first time, I was a total failure when I tried incubating - the 2nd time (right now), I do have Marans hatching (10 out of 24 as of this morning), so the 3rd time, will be turkey and guinea eggs and I may try some chicken eggs. I'm still practicing. So, I may try 12 guinea eggs. Let me know when you set yours and maybe we can incubate at the same time and work together as far as talking about progress, etc. I think that would be fun. I'm still trying to learn how to candle. I just can't candle for some reason.

And yes you did start with the hardest (geese eggs). I want to try hatching a few goose eggs but that may be next month if they are still laying. I won't be hatching any duck eggs for a LONG TIME. I was cursed last year with about 150 ducklings. I'm out of the duck hatching business for now.

 

[r4eboxer]

Setting eggs Friday will work for me, I'm pulling my 10th batch out to move to the hatcher on Thursday. Keep me posted, but for now I'll plan for Friday.

What kind of incubator are you using?

Ok, now I just hope my eggs get here tomorrow. I'm using a little giant. I have a hovabator too but I already set some of my chicken eggs in it so I'm going to use the little giant for the guinea and ducks. I do like the temp control on the little giant better. It's easier to regulate the temp on it opposed to the hovabator.

I've never weighed and monitored the weight/moisture loss before (mostly because I don't have time, it would be interesting to know tho)... but Guinea eggs should lose a total of 13% of their weight during incubation. If you want to try to figure out what the eggs should weigh weekly go for it. As long as you maintain 45-50% RH the entire time, then bump it up to around 75% for lock-down they should be fine tho. Mine do fine with those levels anyway.

I never cool my eggs, but if you are candling them, moving them around/rotating them in the incubator and adding water for humidity at least once a week, that's pretty close to doing the same thing

I have misted my eggs in the past when I've had the top off for more than a couple mins for whatever reason, but I don't know if it helped my hatch rates at all or not. I know it didn't hurt the eggs, and didn't drown any keets, you just don't want to soak them because the eggs can't "breathe" (let oxygen in, gases out) while they are wet. Now I usually only mist my eggs that are in the hatcher if I open it for any reason (like to pull out early hatched dried/fluffed keets). It helps keep the humidity higher so the keets that are still hatching don't get dried out too much to where they can't spin around and zip the top off the shell.

13 percent is the same for geese too. I think I am going to keep track of all my weights. I didn't weigh my chicken eggs that are in right now, but the other eggs I have being shipped I will. I am on vacation this week( from my outside the home job) so I can at least get starting weights. I think I should be able to get weekly weights too. I think I am only going to mist if the weight loss is off. If I have the top off like you suggested I will mist. Also I think the misting as keets hatch is also a good idea so they can zip.

I'm not sure how many I will set the guinea eggs. I have never incubated guinea eggs before and I have only used an incubator 2 times. The first time, I was a total failure when I tried incubating - the 2nd time (right now), I do have Marans hatching (10 out of 24 as of this morning), so the 3rd time, will be turkey and guinea eggs and I may try some chicken eggs. I'm still practicing. So, I may try 12 guinea eggs. Let me know when you set yours and maybe we can incubate at the same time and work together as far as talking about progress, etc. I think that would be fun. I'm still trying to learn how to candle. I just can't candle for some reason.
And yes you did start with the hardest (geese eggs). I want to try hatching a few goose eggs but that may be next month if they are still laying. I won't be hatching any duck eggs for a LONG TIME. I was cursed last year with about 150 ducklings. I'm out of the duck hatching business for now.

I'm a newbie at hatching too. This will be my second hatch, I did have success with my goose eggs but they were my own eggs (not shipped) and there was a really good thread on the goose board with great advice and instructions.

I hope all my air sacks are good on my guinea eggs and I get at least a 50 percent hatch, though I really hope for a much higher hatch rate. I am going to set 24 hours after my eggs arrive. I'm thinking they may arrive tomorrow. The eggs were mailed out on Monday so it is possible they will arrive today too. WOWZA 150 ducklings!!!! Was that with broody's? OH I got my turkey poults today. I got a total of 18 but one died so I have 17 various heritage breeds. How many turkey eggs are you setting? I can't wait until next year when my turkeys hopefully start laying. I had a hard time candling at first too. But once I got my fist right on the light it was better.

 

[r4eboxer]

OK , I took the plunge.

I won the bid on 20 guinea eggs . I have 2 broodys that started this week, I'll move them to a broody box and if they stick,

I'll give the guinea eggs to them. I really hope they stick cause I am hoping "Mom" will train them to come in to roost in the hen house instead of the trees. Otherwise the incubator is going to be real crowded.

DH is not going to be thrilled cause he doesn't like all the noise our one guinea hen from last year makes. I figure if the broodys take them, he won't even see them till they are running around with Mom.

I really need the tick patrol this year, we had almost no cold this year.

I've never had guineas and I'm wondering how loud they are. I have geese and they are noisy but my mom said guineas will drive me crazy. I am getting them for snake control and tick control. Dh HATES snakes so I hope they control the copperheads. We found quite a few in the creek last weekend.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm not sure how many I will set the guinea eggs. I have never incubated guinea eggs before and I have only used an incubator 2 times. The first time, I was a total failure when I tried incubating - the 2nd time (right now), I do have Marans hatching (10 out of 24 as of this morning), so the 3rd time, will be turkey and guinea eggs and I may try some chicken eggs. I'm still practicing. So, I may try 12 guinea eggs. Let me know when you set yours and maybe we can incubate at the same time and work together as far as talking about progress, etc. I think that would be fun. I'm still trying to learn how to candle. I just can't candle for some reason.

And yes you did start with the hardest (geese eggs). I want to try hatching a few goose eggs but that may be next month if they are still laying. I won't be hatching any duck eggs for a LONG TIME. I was cursed last year with about 150 ducklings. I'm out of the duck hatching business for now.

I'm a newbie at hatching too. This will be my second hatch, I did have success with my goose eggs but they were my own eggs (not shipped) and there was a really good thread on the goose board with great advice and instructions.

I hope all my air sacks are good on my guinea eggs and I get at least a 50 percent hatch, though I really hope for a much higher hatch rate. I am going to set 24 hours after my eggs arrive. I'm thinking they may arrive tomorrow. The eggs were mailed out on Monday so it is possible they will arrive today too. WOWZA 150 ducklings!!!! Was that with broody's? OH I got my turkey poults today. I got a total of 18 but one died so I have 17 various heritage breeds. How many turkey eggs are you setting? I can't wait until next year when my turkeys hopefully start laying. I had a hard time candling at first too. But once I got my fist right on the light it was better.

 

You did great with the goose eggs. I read how hard it is to hatch in an incubator and I chickened out. I may try to hatch some.

As far as the 150 ducklings, it was with broodys. My girls were working OVERTIME.

I may try to set only 6 turkey eggs. My first try at incubating, I set 10 turkey eggs but I think I messed up and lost ALL of them. I collected the eggs for about 10 days but I wasn't turning them daily like I should have and the temp where I had them stored was too hot, so I think I lost all fertility. That botch hatch was my fault. Nothing to do with my incubator. But I'm determined to try again.

 

[r4eboxer]

Whew, yep those girls were working hard and the drakes...... well I'll leave that one alone.

I didn't turn my chicken eggs either, I collected for about 4 days so I may not get any fertility out of them either. I didn't know I was suppose to turn them

. Oh well, I will start again if I don't get any fertility out of these. I got my BLRW eggs today in the mail. My regular mail carrier was off today so the sub left my eggs on the porch, we were home but she didn't come to the door to give them to us. So the eggs spent at least 5 hours outside in 35-40 degree weather. They were really cold when I brought them in. In the mail lady's defense though the box was not marked hatching eggs it was just marked 'fragile' so really the seller didn't do a great job of labeling them. I am going to let them set 24 hours and set the chicken eggs tomorrow.

I can't wait to get the guinea eggs, fingers crossed they will be here tomorrow.

 

[PeepsCA]

Whew, yep those girls were working hard and the drakes...... well I'll leave that one alone.

I didn't turn my chicken eggs either, I collected for about 4 days so I may not get any fertility out of them either. I didn't know I was suppose to turn them

. Oh well, I will start again if I don't get any fertility out of these. I got my BLRW eggs today in the mail. My regular mail carrier was off today so the sub left my eggs on the porch, we were home but she didn't come to the door to give them to us. So the eggs spent at least 5 hours outside in 35-40 degree weather. They were really cold when I brought them in. In the mail lady's defense though the box was not marked hatching eggs it was just marked 'fragile' so really the seller didn't do a great job of labeling them. I am going to let them set 24 hours and set the chicken eggs tomorrow.

I can't wait to get the guinea eggs, fingers crossed they will be here tomorrow.

Some people are adamant about turning their stored eggs, and will even go as far as putting them in an auto egg turner right from the get-go so they constantly get turned, and then some say you only need to turn the eggs if you store them past 7-10 days. So you may still be fine on your collected eggs, Guinea eggs are pretty tough. I've read about Guinea eggs being in the fridge for a week and then given on a whim to someone that wanted to incubate... and the hatch rate was surprisingly decent on them (and of course they were not turned). I've gotten away with being lazy about collecting (Guinea) eggs on freezing days where they sat out in the cold coop in the low 30s most of the day, and I had most of them hatch out healthy keets. So hopefully your BLRW eggs are still ok too, since it was just a short time.


Think positive!

 

[r4eboxer]

I unwrapped the BLRW eggs last night. I am curious to those of you who sell eggs and have a question. I paid around 3.50 for each one of these eggs for a total of 12, I didn't get any extras either. So my question is to you all who sell eggs. When collecting eggs to sell to someone do you try to find the best sized eggs to sell? The reason I am asking is because my eggs are all different sizes and a few of them are really small. I feel like this girl just collected whatever was laid and put them in a box. I don't think she put any thought into what egg might actually have a chance at hatching. I'm disappointed considering the price per egg. The eggs do come from a very good line but if they don't hatch due to poor egg quality what did I pay for?

Sorry for the little rant on here about chicken eggs but I feel like if I was selling eggs no matter the price I would pick out the ones I felt had the best chance at hatching. I did purchase other eggs on ebay last month and the eggs were all pretty much the same size and large with good shells. I paid 6.50 for that entire dozen.

Thanks peepsca for the tip on turning the eggs. I am really just checking fertility on my eggs but will be thrilled if they hatch. I have twi 5 month old roos and I'm wondering how they are doing. I do see bullseyes when cooking them though.

 

[Zootopia]

I've never had guineas and I'm wondering how loud they are. I have geese and they are noisy but my mom said guineas will drive me crazy. I am getting them for snake control and tick control. Dh HATES snakes so I hope they control the copperheads. We found quite a few in the creek last weekend.

It has been several years since we had Geese, a neighbors dog came down and killed a bunch of our fowl, basically anything that couldn't fly up to get away from him. I remember that we spent alot of time handling the geese as they grew up to make sure they stayed nice. Ours were African Brown I think and they could be loud when someone drove up or a stranger was here. We had 3 guineas last year, the juvenile seem top be louder, they have a fit at the least little thing. They get better as they get older, not having a fit at the normal day to day stuff anymore. But they can still be loud just calling back and forth to each other and if you have close neighbors, I'd keep them in eggs. The Guineas will be in their yard too. Fences are pretty useless with guineas, not like chickens.
I'm really not kidding when I say DH isn't gonna be happy. He still complains about the single hen we have and she is pretty quiet by guinea standard. Thats why I wanted to get some with interesting colors, to placate him some. He really likes the different colors of the chickens and I'm hopping the varied colors of the guinea will at least peak his interest..
In the long run it doesn't matter, we had no real cold spells to speak of and the ticks are already out. We have "wild" pasture on two sides of us and I hate using chemicals on my show dogs. We use lots of DE around here, and it helps but we just really need the guineas to do tick patrol. Don't really know why the chickens aren't that good at it. ours free range and eat lots of other bugs.

 

[Zootopia]

I unwrapped the BLRW eggs last night. I am curious to those of you who sell eggs and have a question. I paid around 3.50 for each one of these eggs for a total of 12, I didn't get any extras either. So my question is to you all who sell eggs. When collecting eggs to sell to someone do you try to find the best sized eggs to sell? The reason I am asking is because my eggs are all different sizes and a few of them are really small. I feel like this girl just collected whatever was laid and put them in a box. I don't think she put any thought into what egg might actually have a chance at hatching. I'm disappointed considering the price per egg. The eggs do come from a very good line but if they don't hatch due to poor egg quality what did I pay for?

Sorry for the little rant on here about chicken eggs but I feel like if I was selling eggs no matter the price I would pick out the ones I felt had the best chance at hatching. I did purchase other eggs on ebay last month and the eggs were all pretty much the same size and large with good shells. I paid 6.50 for that entire dozen.

Thanks peepsca for the tip on turning the eggs. I am really just checking fertility on my eggs but will be thrilled if they hatch. I have twi 5 month old roos and I'm wondering how they are doing. I do see bullseyes when cooking them though.

I hear ya, I got a mixed bag of eggs I paid a "decent" price for and I had to kinda laugh when I saw some of them. I received a couple of "pretty" eggs, that people have been paying a premium price for and while yes the color was pretty, the eggs were small, I'd consider them pullet eggs and these particular eggs were very porous,

eggs that I would never set if I had them from my flock. The rest of the eggs were nice, but one broke in shipping slimeing most of the box, I had to wash several so I'm not holding my breath. When you buy eggs tho if the seller is depending on every egg the girls lay just to get you your dozen, they would be all they had to send you. Big, small, just whatever the girls give for those few days.
I do turn the eggs I put back for incubation. The ones for me and the ones I save for customers wanting fertile eggs to incubate are kept in as side room that stays around 60-65. When I have several flats I tilt the flats back and forth. I also don't set back eggs that have that "wrinkle" around them, that shows as a slight buldge around the egg. those candle as cracks and when you keep them at room temp they are porous there as well.

 

[PeepsCA]

I unwrapped the BLRW eggs last night. I am curious to those of you who sell eggs and have a question. I paid around 3.50 for each one of these eggs for a total of 12, I didn't get any extras either. So my question is to you all who sell eggs. When collecting eggs to sell to someone do you try to find the best sized eggs to sell? The reason I am asking is because my eggs are all different sizes and a few of them are really small. I feel like this girl just collected whatever was laid and put them in a box. I don't think she put any thought into what egg might actually have a chance at hatching. I'm disappointed considering the price per egg. The eggs do come from a very good line but if they don't hatch due to poor egg quality what did I pay for?

Sorry for the little rant on here about chicken eggs but I feel like if I was selling eggs no matter the price I would pick out the ones I felt had the best chance at hatching. I did purchase other eggs on ebay last month and the eggs were all pretty much the same size and large with good shells. I paid 6.50 for that entire dozen.

Thanks peepsca for the tip on turning the eggs. I am really just checking fertility on my eggs but will be thrilled if they hatch. I have twi 5 month old roos and I'm wondering how they are doing. I do see bullseyes when cooking them though.

That's a bummer about your less than perfect BLRW eggs, and if the hatch rate's poor or you hatch some messed up chicks/unhearty stock, (especially from the small eggs) that will be a major downer, considering the price you paid. When I'm selling eggs it's usually well into the laying season when my Guinea Hens have been laying regularly for a while and I'm sure the fertility rates are high. I only send out fresh eggs that are a good shape, size, texture and always clean... never anything I washed. I usually always add a few extra, and sometimes I've added as many as an extra half dozen if there's any question on the fertility if it's early or late in the season. The girl that you bought eggs from should have at least included a note apologizing... or put your order on hold for another week or something. Sorry for yet another letdown for you, after the first one from them sittin' on the porch in the cold for so long already... that hatch may have some major hurtles to overcome

Hopefully you have better luck with your batch of shipped Guinea eggs.