Ameraucanas from Huckleberry Farm

[cracked egg]

Thanks for the encouragement!! Looking into incubators now.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Hi! I haven't gotten Ameraucanas from Huckleberry, but I did get Wheaten Marans hatching eggs. I ordered a dozen and had one that cracked during shipping. Of the 11 I incubated, 7 hatched. That's pretty good for shipped eggs! I kept one of the cockerels as the breeder for my current flock. He has a great temperament and though he's a little bit lighter in weight than the standard calls for, he's very handsome. His lighter weight could be a result of just how hot and miserable it was during the time he was being raised to maturity. I've noticed that chicks I hatch out early in the year (February) tend to be heavier-bodied than those I hatch out later in the season, like in April and May, even when from the same parent stock. I'd recommend them!

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Wow, that is an amazing hatch rate for shipped eggs from what I've read! I'm going to candle them again, this time with a better flashlight. If I can see something I'll try to take photos

Oh, and the temperature has been consistently at around 99 degrees and the humidity has been exactly 19% for the past two days. I've actually been keeping a foil emergency blanket over it, which it great because (for some reason...) we made doors on each end that are just plexiglass, so a lot of heat escapes that way. But the emergency blanket is both shiny and reflects the heat

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Ok, I give up on trying to candle the blue eggs

But the other eggs I candled look good. Is there such thing as "chicken egg math"? Because I just put three eggs from my Golden Sebright hens who haven't been laying in the incubator, too. I mean, who knows when they'll lay more eggs?!

 

[elrn50]

Well, I decided to leave the eggs in the incubator, just in case. Three days late I had six out of seven eggs hatch!!

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Well, I decided to leave the eggs in the incubator, just in case. Three days late I had six out of seven eggs hatch!!

Wow, that's great! The last chicks I hatched were a day late, and before that I had some hatch a day late and more hatch over about three days... It was weird.
I just love how floofy Ameraucana and EE (and other bearded/muffed) chicks' faces are! That is one of the main reasons I decided to get Ameraucanas. The face fluffies.

Shadow isn't a real Ameraucana, but that doesn't make her face any less floofy!

 

[Fleabuskitty]

I found a flashlight that somewhat works on the Ameraucana eggs. 7 of them appear to have blood rings

I'm not sure about the others because I can't really see anything in them. They aren't clear or anything, the shell is just too dark. Hopefully the 5 that don't seem to have blood rings hatch! They should hatch on Easter, which I totally didn't plan, but it will be awesome

 

[wvgal61]

I enjoy your story, keep posting and add pics! I also would like to know how you guys build your own incubators, where to get supplies ect...

 

[Fleabuskitty]

I enjoy your story, keep posting and add pics! I also would like to know how you guys build your own incubators, where to get supplies ect...

Thanks

I actually had been planning to post on my blog about my incubator, thanks for reminding me

Here is everything about my incubator. Hopefully you'll find it useful

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Well, tomorrow is day 18. I have removed the eggs from the tilted egg cartons they were in so now they are laying on their sides on the bottom of the incubator.
Also, Tractor Supply had "Americanas", so how could I not get six of them?! Five have amazingly floofy faces and one is clean-faced and feather-footed (but definitely an Easter Egger)

I must be either really good or really bad at chicken math. I mean, I had to get the Easter Eggers because someone told me they had them a while ago but they sold out, and who knows when they'll have them again? And how could I not incubate all 29 of the Serama and frizzled Phoenix eggs that somebody gave me? That would just be rude! And while I've got the incubator running, I might as well put in the two eggs laid by my frizzled bantam EE? Oh, and six days later my Sebrights are laying? Well, of course there's room for three more eggs! Sebrights are tiny, anyway, so they won't take up much space in the brooder