Am I the only person who is not using an incubator?

[kees]

Hey,
It seems like everyone is using an incubator for their eggs. I'm going the old fashioned way, hens...and one is no longer on my Christmas card list because she walked off of a couple of eggs that were developing.
The eggs that I have are at all different stages of development. The only ones that were definitely kicked out were 2 from a trade that were put in approx. 2 weeks ago. When I opened them, there was no development at all. I know that the hens were sitting on them, so my guess is that they just weren't fertilized. (My swap partner was more than generous with the number of eggs enclosed.)
I'm going crazy because this is my first hatch and I SHOULD HAVE written down the date that they began developing...but I didn't so I keep checking every day...waiting...waiting...and still more waiting and I feel like I'm going crazy. Any advice?
Suzy

 

[shmooborp]

lots of people use incubators and hens!
some people use an incubator for over flow or if a hen walks of eggs.. like your did... and others just usean incubator... its rally a personal choice

ps.. its called addiction

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I don't have hens that normally go broody or you can bet I'd rather use them! I have my second broody ever in all my time owning chickens. They just don't have the broody tendencies like they used to and the breeds that do, I'm not really fond of.

 

[65browneyes]

I don't own an incubator, and actually never really had any interest in hatching my own. Re-homing extra roos around here is SO hard to do, and I don't have any desire to butcher them. However, chick fever hit about a month ago.

My banties are SO broody, it's not even funny. I have a total of 7 banty hens. Of those, 1 (ONE) is not broody right now. I let one of the broodies set a clutch that started out as 11, and three weeks later, there are 6 under her. 3 weeks ago today, I adopted an EE who laid for me on the way home. I stuck that egg under my setter, and that one egg hatched today (YIPPEE!!).

My silky roo likes his women BIG, and I've always doubted he was 'getting the job done', so this has always been more of a fertility test than anything else. The new EE's egg was the only one I really thought 'might' hatch.

So, anyway...........sorry to get windy here. I like the 'old fashioned' method myself. I don't think I'd sleep at all for 3 weeks if I had a 'bator running in the house! LOL

 

[Cetawin]

I do not have an incubaor...YET. But MissPrissy has turned me on to the perfect one for my daughter who wants to hatch her own babies.

I foresee silkies in our future...or Ameraucanas.

 

[Frosty]

A lot of my hens are broody when I don't want them to be, and lose interest when I do want them... A lot of folks use incubators when they want larger numbers of eggs hatched, or don't want a layer tied up with a nest. As soon as I figure out how to AI turkeys (broad breasted) by myself, I'll either use a few broodies or the 'bator... (like anyone in my family will offer to help me with that little project!)

 

[lauralou]

I don't have an incubator. But I have eggs under a broody hen. And now another broody hen has climbed in the box with her. Also, a different broody hen is raising chicks.

What to do with all these broody hens?

But seriously, I'm thrilled to have broodies, and it was so cool when the first eggs hatched. About a week to go on the second clutch.

 

[kees]

I'm going crazy because I think I should have chicks beginning to hatch right now and they're not. I've candled some eggs and actually opened one. Killed one that way...bad idea. It's been over the 21 or so days and I don't know what to do! The eggs that they've been sitting on for a week that show no development I opened and there was nothing but a yolk and white. I think that those eggs were never fertilized. I'm checking on the eggs every day and could swear that some of them should have begun to hatch. Has anyone had anything like this happen to them?

 

[Commander Chicken]

One of our RIR's has gone broody, she's had five chicks hatch in the last couple of days and she's still sitting, thank goodness (since there are more eggs). I also have some sort of bantam my neighbor gave me, she got knocked up by my RIR rooster and went broody, she had fifteen eggs but left them after four hatched. I've heard that if you take the chicks away after they hatch, the hen will continue to sit, and you can give them back to her when the eggs are all hatched. You have to be ready to take care of those chicks, though.

 

[kees]

I think that's so funny...the expression, "She got knocked up by my rooster!" Thanks for posting!
Suzy