Anyone hatching with me? Set eggs 4/20

[DTRM30]

I candled last night - but am going to do it again in a day or so. Looks like 6-8 out of the 12 are developing. There are a few that are really hard to see though (they are small) - and I have a couple that are really porous. Looks like I'll have about a 50% hatch right now based on what I saw - not bad for shipped eggs I guess

I'd LOVE to have them all hatch but I just don't see that happening. I'm having a hard time not buying more eggs ! these guys plus the ones I ordered through the mail that are due a few days before these guys are set to hatch puts me at my limit.

I really don't like chicken limits

I need to move to a house with lots more property

 

[milakegrl]

Quote:
How big will your small coops be? How many chickens per coop?
I have a couple different breeds and I'm trying to think of a efficient way to seperate them occasionally. And since I'm hatching eggs for my flock, instead of buying with surity of sex, I'm concerned about the roo's I'm sure to end up with....do they always fight? Can several roo's be kept in a flock of 15-20?
Any advice/info would be appreciated!

 

[Stacykins]

29/30 of my eggs had movement and/or smelled fine when I candled last night. I couldn't candle the black copper marans, even with my epic surefire flashlight, haha, so I sniffed them and they were good. One turkey egg set a week before the 20th was clear, so that one was pitched into the trash. Gosh, if I hatch nine turkeys, I will have more gobblers than I will know what to do with!

 

[flitter]

Milakegl...
My small coops are 3x3 with a 8x16 partially covered roof. The 3 will be be next to each other... sharing a wire wall... does that make sense? I'm hoping to be able to have 2 roosters in the areas with Doms or Silkies... but that is the big coop. Only one roo in the small coops.

 

[flitter]

To the OP... MissRed? in the original posting you have a picture of your full incubator. It looks as if you have covered over the cup nearest the auto turner. Is that right? Should that one never be used? Heat?

 

[DTRM30]

If I candle again tonight with my son I'll try to take a few pics to post

- he missed it the other night and now that I'm heading to day 6 there should be some pretty visible veins ....

How's everyone else doing ?

 

[Miss Red]

Quote:
I normally don't use those two closest to the turner, but I'm going to test them out and see if those eggs hatch normally and see how it affects my bator. So far, everything is doing fine.

Two of my broody hens hatched out a chick a piece, and ate the rest of the ones that hatched from under them. Not really sure why they did, but they're out of a hen who does the same thing. All three hens will kill/eat the first three chicks out, and let the rest hatch peacefully. Thinking of deleting their lines, or just not letting them sit from now on. 29 and 41 are first time sitters... 13 (the mother) is a two year old hen out of my favorite claret hen, Baldy.

 

[flitter]

Thank you for responding. I have an egg in that spot... I think I'll mark it when I take it out of the turner and see if it hatches well.

Never heard of a hen eating her chicks but my experience with a broody hen is one instance. A Dom hen was so broody last year I let her sit on 8 eggs. She hatched one, two seemed to die in the nest and she walked away from the rest of the eggs and perhaps the new newly hatched peeps (they looked OK but were still wet when i found them dead) to tend her one lone chick.

How do you number your hens? I assume a leg ring... but what kind or how?

 

[Miss Red]

Leg bands leg bands leg bands. My claret hens are VERY difficult to tell apart. They're all really similar. Baldy, and one of her daughters (29) have bald heads. No feathers from the comb to the top of the neck. I also use different colors to mark what rooster the hens come out of... Staples, I believe, has velcro straps that work great for small flocks. Cut to fit.

ETA: some of my older hens, Baldy being one of them, actually have punctured webbing in a specific pattern. I can't remember what it's called, but you havve to do it in the first week or it doesn't come out right... In my experience, at least.

 

[flitter]

I'm off to Lowe's to get straps and a better LED flashlight. I tried to candle last night. (I've been inspired by this thread). Other years I just wait and see. But these were all shipped eggs so I suppose I won't have the success I've had with farm gathered eggs. Only the Doms are ready. According to the web site info 4 are probably good... 4 are not and I have no clue regarding the other eight... 2 have a black line half way and a big air sack. Tonight I'll try again and do the Silkie eggs too with a bigger light.