Bielefelder hatch 2019

[danceswithronin]

Already got my first breeding pair on reserve for somebody, yay! Easiest forty bucks I ever made.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Already got my first breeding pair on reserve for somebody, yay! Easiest forty bucks I ever made.

Nice!!

 

[danceswithronin]

Alright, the candling of the first seven eggs is tomorrow, and my second incubator will be here tomorrow as well. I'm not sure how viable the last five eggs I have in storage are now since I've had them a week, but I've been keeping them stable with the fat side of the egg up and turning them gently once or twice a day.

It's been seven days exactly since my hatching eggs were delivered, and they were overnighted to me from the seller, so they're probably 8 or 9 days old at this point. Not sure if the remaining five are viable or not. I'm tempted to set a completely fresh batch of hatching eggs in the new incubator instead, but I hate to waste five (expensive) bielefelder eggs if they could still potentially hatch. Thoughts?

My first batch of seven bielefelders is scheduled to hatch around the same time my hatchery order of chicks comes in at the end of the month (three Orps and a mystery chick) so that will work out pretty well brooder-wise. I may actually set up two brooders this time, one for my flock chicks and whatever bielefelder chick I put on reserve for myself, and then one for the remaining bielefelder chicks I plan to sell. That way neither brooder is particularly crowded, and I don't have to mix my chickens with the chicks I'm selling.

 

[MROO]

Alright, the candling of the first seven eggs is tomorrow, and my second incubator will be here tomorrow as well. I'm not sure how viable the last five eggs I have in storage are now since I've had them a week, but I've been keeping them stable with the fat side of the egg up and turning them gently once or twice a day.

It's been seven days exactly since my hatching eggs were delivered, and they were overnighted to me from the seller, so they're probably 8 or 9 days old at this point. Not sure if the remaining five are viable or not. I'm tempted to set a completely fresh batch of hatching eggs in the new incubator instead, but I hate to waste five (expensive) bielefelder eggs if they could still potentially hatch. Thoughts?

My first batch of seven bielefelders is scheduled to hatch around the same time my hatchery order of chicks comes in at the end of the month (three Orps and a mystery chick) so that will work out pretty well brooder-wise. I may actually set up two brooders this time, one for my flock chicks and whatever bielefelder chick I put on reserve for myself, and then one for the remaining bielefelder chicks I plan to sell. That way neither brooder is particularly crowded, and I don't have to mix my chickens with the chicks I'm selling.

Go ahead and put the last five in the 'bator. If they're not viable, you'll know in a week or so, so you won't lose much, if any, time.

 

[danceswithronin]

Go ahead and put the last five in the 'bator. If they're not viable, you'll know in a week or so, so you won't lose much, if any, time.

Cool, will do! If it turns out they're not viable, I can always just grab a different set of eggs for that incubator, I have my eye on some local ads for black copper marans and things like that. I'd like to keep at least one batch of chicks going through most of the spring and summer months when it isn't difficult to brood them without a bunch of excess heat. Between the two incubators I can do 14 eggs at a time. I probably won't incubate more than that just to try and keep things manageable.

 

[danceswithronin]

Day 7: Did my first candling today AND got my second incubator for the remainder of my shipped eggs. Looks like eggs #1, #3, #6, and #7 are developing (WHEE), and actually saw movement of the embryo in each one (YAY). I'm questioning the fertility of #2, #4, and #5, but I left them in for now, they are brown eggs so it's difficult to tell. If they are still questionable on Day 14, I'll probably remove.

So I ended up with slightly more viable eggs than not so far, which is about as good as I figured for shipped hatching eggs. We'll see how viable the second set are, since they sat in the box an extra seven days before incubating.

Candling makes me SUPER nervous, I hate handling the eggs because I'm a little clumsy and I'm afraid I'll accidentally drop them. I'm happy I numbered the eggs before I put them in the incubator though, that ended up being handy.

I got the second incubator set up and filled with water, I'm gonna let it sit overnight to stabilize before putting the last five eggs in in the morning.

 

[MROO]

Day 7: Did my first candling today AND got my second incubator for the remainder of my shipped eggs. Looks like eggs #1, #3, #6, and #7 are developing (WHEE), and actually saw movement of the embryo in each one (YAY). I'm questioning the fertility of #2, #4, and #5, but I left them in for now, they are brown eggs so it's difficult to tell. If they are still questionable on Day 14, I'll probably remove.

So I ended up with slightly more viable eggs than not so far, which is about as good as I figured for shipped hatching eggs. We'll see how viable the second set are, since they set in the box an extra seven days before incubating.

Candling makes me SUPER nervous, I hate handling the eggs because I'm a little clumsy and I'm afraid I'll accidentally drop them. I'm happy I numbered the eggs before I put them in the incubator though, that ended up being handy.

I got the second incubator set up and filled with water, I'm gonna let it sit overnight to stabilize before putting the last five eggs in in the morning.

 

[danceswithronin]

I got my candling lamp from Brinsea (it actually arrived with my second incubator, but the box was inside the shipping box beneath the incubator so I didn't see it when I unpacked it ) so I am planning to candle my first batch of eggs again tonight and maybe even see if I can get some decent photos!

Right now I am leaving the second batch of eggs alone until at least the 21st, and I'll candle those then and see if they're viable.

 

[danceswithronin]

Lockdown was yesterday and I did a final candling. Three of the eggs in Incubator #1 are ready to go, and only one (#9) of the five eggs in the second incubator kindled, but that doesn't surprise me - they did not get started for almost two weeks, so I figured I lost a lot of viability there. #9 looks like it is going good though. I removed the rest of the eggs from Incubator #2 since it looks like none of them developed at all.

Lucky #7 still looks the most promising and shows the most movement as well. He/she is ready to go.

I also have baby Orpingtons and a mystery chick coming either tomorrow or Thursday, so the brooder will be full regardless!

I'm a bit disappointed that I only got 4 out of 12 chicks on my bielefelder shipment (and that's only if the remaining eggs hatch) but I'm chalking it up to experience and will be trying again with a different breed/different hatching egg vendor. A person in a rare chicken group I'm part of is willing to ship me a half dozen chocolate birchen Orpington eggs, so I think that will be my next set.

 

[danceswithronin]

First biele to hatch! Hatched overnight last night. Named this little boy Louie after Louis XVI on the drama show Versailles that I'm totally sucked into right now. He's a regal little thing.