April 2023 Hatch-A-Long

[Honora]

Finally set my eggs in the Brinsea maxi 24 advance. They just turned for the first time and it looks like the eggs on the outside are turning fine but the ones on the inner ring are not turning as far. Might be good enough though.

 

[Waterfaery]

Yes, I am in Ireland also! I moved here from the US a few years ago. What county are you in?

I'm in Mayo.

Finally set my eggs in the Brinsea maxi 24 advance. They just turned for the first time and it looks like the eggs on the outside are turning fine but the ones on the inner ring are not turning as far. Might be good enough though.

That's great that it's working for you. The inner ones won't turn as much as the outer ones anyway but as long as they turn at least 90 degrees it should be ok. I would definitely recommend watching them turning several times in case you need to fiddle with them to get it right before you go away.

 

[Debbie292d]

This is my third hatch of silkies/frizzles due March 19, so they're in lockdown now. I'll reload the incubator again with half fresh/half refrigerated as hubby snatches them up so fast and forgets to ask which ones I want lol. I've had success with refrigerated eggs even two weeks old.

I sold the last batch of 21 to the same lady, and had 3 more wanting some so I'm assuming this batch will go fast. If there's a unique looking one, I'll keep it and stick it under one of my broody hens.

I'll be starting a new batch probably 3/22/23 due 4/10/23.

I opted not to stick that one under the broody hens when I thought about how the chickens in the coop will eat all of its starter and momma would bring it to the adult feeder. I thought again about how to make a pen for momma and this baby, and then it dawned on me...could 3 two-week-old Speckled Sussex pullets be nice to a tiny silky chick? Voila! It's been a week, and they're still best buds!

 

[Waterfaery]

I candled all my eggs on Monday, removed three "light bulb" eggs that are not fertile. The rest appear to be doing okay. Monday afternoon I fell off the tailgate of my pickup and suffered a compression fracture of my spine, so I am laid up for a while, but the incubator is still on schedule. I plan to candle again next week to make sure they are all still alive and kicking. My meat rabbit doe just had her kits last Saturday, so we have baby bunnies also. I found one of my hens dead in the hay barn yesterday sitting on a clutch of eggs. She must have gone broody and was out there on her own at night and a predator got her. Very sad. I try to check the hay barn from time to time for that reason, but I must have missed that one for a while because she had several eggs under her.

Oh wow, I hope you're ok. So sorry about your hen. Make sure you look after yourself!

 

[Waterfaery]

Sorry about your fracture and losing your hen. I am actually recovering from a pelvic fracture right now after falling off a ladder. It was the chickens’ fault cause I fell while looking up in the loft for eggs Hope you are feeling better soon.

You poor thing, that sounds awful! I hope you're recovering well.

 

[Waterfaery]

I opted not to stick that one under the broody hens when I thought about how the chickens in the coop will eat all of its starter and momma would bring it to the adult feeder. I thought again about how to make a pen for momma and this baby, and then it dawned on me...could 3 two-week-old Speckled Sussex pullets be nice to a tiny silky chick? Voila! It's been a week, and they're still best buds!

Yay, that's wonderful! Very cute.

 

[Waterfaery]

I'm going to start looking into the broody thing. Do any of you have tips for encouraging it? I could do with some mama hens to help with all this chick raising!

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm going to start looking into the broody thing. Do any of you have tips for encouraging it? I could do with some mama hens to help with all this chick raising!

When you have silkies, you don't have to encourage it. You start looking for ways to discourage it actually lol. However, if you want a chicken to sit on some eggs, I would save a clutch of about 10 or 12 depending on size of eggs and hen, mark those so you can tell if a new egg shows up, and see if one doesn't plop down on them. I've done it and had two hens fight over who was sitting and ended up having to share. Those chicks had two moms lol.

 

[Debbie292d]

I read through a lot of posts, and heard wonderful things! Couldn’t justify almost $200 for a new NR360…lol.

I got my NR 360 on a sale last year for $169.99 but wanted another one and see no sales even close, more like what you're saying, $200+, so I'll probably get a Kebonnix too. I'd really rather get the Brinsea 56EX but that's $450! Pretty hard to justify that when I only have 6 silky hens and only sell a couple of dozen silky chicks a month. It's just that there's a market here for them so my eyes are really big I suppose lol.

 

[Honora]

I'm going to start looking into the broody thing. Do any of you have tips for encouraging it? I could do with some mama hens to help with all this chick raising!

Definitely depends on the breed. I have had a lot of success with Pekins for broodies. I think there is a Pekin breeder in Mayo if you want to try them out!

Edited to add they are called Jazz-a-belle Poultry!