Advise needed

[chickengeorgeto]

The eggs are fresh, so I'll keep my fingers crossed, and give it a good klucking try! By overhead light, do you mean to keep them in a darkened room? I'm not sure what you mean. I am hatching these in my house. And thanks for responding so quickly.

Yes. Chick embryos respond to UV light. They orient to it. It is important that the embryos don't stick to the inside of the egg. Turning the eggs helps prevent this. Leaving your eggs in a darkish environment may slow up the embryos repositioning.

 

[MrsKluck]

Just thought I would give an update.
Yesterday I candled the eggs. Out of the first 8, 7 look good to me. I can see a little black embryo moving about! I can't tell you how excited I am. Think I am on my way to getting a nice little flock.

I always wanted to keep backyard chickens. Just never pursued it. This is what got me going.

My neighbor across the street has chickens which he lets free range on his property. Occasionally they would wander into my yard. One day, a hen was raising a ruckus by my back porch. I knew that this meant she might have laid an egg. So I investigated, and sure enough, found a nice little nest she had made under the tangled nasturtiums. Everyday she would return, and lay another. So I went and bought an incubator. (I had first broken one open to see if it was fertilized, and it was (little white bulls-eye). He does keep a rooster across the street.
Anyway, when there were 8 eggs, I brought them in. She keeps coming everyday and lays another. I had replaced the ones I took with white store bought eggs. (hers are brown) . I keep taking the new one each day and popping it in the 'bator. I have 13 eggs now. So now I guess I will have some hatching a day after each other.

I probably should stop taking them, but can't seem to stop myself. Ultimately I would like 4 or 5 hens, but I know some will be roosters.
I'm not sure yet how I will deal with them. I thought I might put an ad on Craig's list for free roosters (and extra hens).

So in order to stop myself from stealing her eggs, and having endless hatchings, I guess I need to discourage her from coming over everyday and laying them. Should I just put a board or something over the nest? And show some discipline in not continuing to be a daily egg grabber?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Christa

 

[jas humbert]

You are so funny, Ms Cluck. I live in TN now but grew up just outside Braceville, IL just around the corner from you. Staggered hatches might not be ideal but its too late now, so do the best you can. You can hold eggs 4-5 days at least before incubating. So you can hold a batch and put them in all together next time. How far along are the first eggs you put in? When is the first potential hatch date? Maybe you can concentrate on new babies soon. Remember winter is coming up and I know how cold it is in northern Illinois. Your new babies will need a heat lamp indoors for at least 6 weeks and realistically, it will be considerably longer than that before they can go outdoors in winter temps. Put your effort into figuring out where they are going to live once they hatch. A comer of a garage or a basement may do with supplemental heat but come spring they will need a safe outdoor coop and some kind of a run or fenced area to be outdoors. Happy hatching- its addictive!

 

[jas humbert]

I guess I should have read a little further. I saw some of your posts on other threads. i'm happy you hatched out a nice batch. It is addictive, isn't it? If my husband wasn't insisting it had doesn't want to share his garage with chickies half the winter, I'd do another batch. Oh, well it will be easier come spring. I only have one small coop and I'm pretty sure I'll have to separate the babies from my big layers at least for a while.