Christmas 2014 Hatch-a-Long (12-25-14)

[Peep-Chicken]

Thanks! And best of luck with yours also! I'm now thinking of candling on Wednesday. We have all five in a R-COM mini so I am manually turning two and rotating them 3-5 times a day. I really don't like handling them that much but I am wearing nitrile gloves every time I touch them. So if there are any that are not developing I'd like to find out sooner rather than later. But if all five are good to go I'll gladly keep donning the gloves and continue with the turn assist! We recently lost our BBR rooster so we are hoping for a new BBR Roo. He was such a sweetheart. He would come running when we would pull up in the drive way and would beg to be held. Then he would fall asleep in our arms as we rubbed his neck. RIP Hermie. Hermie sleeping on my wife in the garage. The new babies!

Aww sorry about your Hermie. He did seem very nice. Good luck on those eggs! So those eggs are by Hermie, correct?

 

[gogetter]

I have a used Farm Innovators. I've heard a lot of bad about them, but I must be doing alright, when I candled out of curiosity tonight there was veining

And I had a SBEL and I only had 4 newer eggs from her and all of them have veining.

When are yours due? I probably read when all ready but I can't remember.

Mine are due the day after Christmas...It feels SO FAR AWAY! I'm super excited! I started with older chickens, so I've actually never had chicks before. I tried a hatch last month, and was so disappointed when none hatched or even pipped. I had veining in 10 or more early on. All quit before the hatch date, except 3 who were fully formed, dead in shell. I've made some important changes, but I'm dealing with manual turning and a still air incubator, so I'm trying not to "count my chickens". Especially because I feel like I'm dealing with temp and humidity variations, and it's stressing me out! I'm really hopeful you have a great first hatch!!!

I didn't know what a SBEL was, so I looked it up... Now I WANT one!

 

[gogetter]

Thanks! And best of luck with yours also!

I'm now thinking of candling on Wednesday. We have all five in a R-COM mini so I am manually turning two and rotating them 3-5 times a day. I really don't like handling them that much but I am wearing nitrile gloves every time I touch them. So if there are any that are not developing I'd like to find out sooner rather than later.

But if all five are good to go I'll gladly keep donning the gloves and continue with the turn assist!

We recently lost our BBR rooster so we are hoping for a new BBR Roo. He was such a sweetheart. He would come running when we would pull up in the drive way and would beg to be held. Then he would fall asleep in our arms as we rubbed his neck. RIP Hermie.

Hermie sleeping on my wife in the garage.


The new babies!

LOVE your photo of the wife and roo. He sounds like he was wonderful. I wish mine was like that. He runs and hides from me...he even hides behind his ladies! Some protector! But we still love him!

Sorry to hear about your loss as well as your trouble with egg delivery. Here's hoping they all turn out fine when you candle Friday!

 

[gogetter]

We set 16 yesterday the 4th. They are just barnyard mix. We got a new advance 20 so we want to work out the bugs before buying any fancy eggs or anything expensive.! Excited for our first hatch!

How's your hatch going Zwei Eichen? With all the turning I'm doing every day, and all the worry I am having over temperature and humidity, I'm kind of wishing I had an advance 20! I got my incubator for free with the adult chickens I purchased on craigslist. If I don't get a successful hatch out of it between now and spring, I might have to save up my money for one like yours. How do you like it so far? Are the eggs from your own chickens?

 

[Happy Dad]

"Good luck on those eggs! So those eggs are by Hermie, correct?"

Thanks! They are not Hermie's, I wish they were. We also have a Golden Sebright rooster who usually "gets the girls" so we decided to outsource for some known BBR eggs.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

"Good luck on those eggs! So those eggs are by Hermie, correct?"

Thanks! They are not Hermie's, I wish they were. We also have a Golden Sebright rooster who usually "gets the girls" so we decided to outsource for some known BBR eggs.

I have a gold sebright Roo as well. Even when my chickens lay, none of the eggs are fertile. Even the banty eggs :/

 

[Zwei Eichen]

How's your hatch going Zwei Eichen? With all the turning I'm doing every day, and all the worry I am having over temperature and humidity, I'm kind of wishing I had an advance 20! I got my incubator for free with the adult chickens I purchased on craigslist. If I don't get a successful hatch out of it between now and spring, I might have to save up my money for one like yours. How do you like it so far? Are the eggs from your own chickens?

I think it's going well. I haven't candled yet. The weather has been alternately dry and then rainy so the humidity was first too low (Brinsea recommends 40-50%) then too high. Hopefully the lower humidity for a couple of days won't cause any issues. We have to keep adjusting... there are two water wells so we initially filled up both when the humidity was low and then dried one out when it was too high. There is a little vent opening that we keep tweaking. We looked at those humidity pumps, but they only add moisture, not actually regulate it. I think during hatch it will be easy enough to increase humidity by increasing the surface wet area with a wet washcloth draped through the water wells. So we passed on it, it was pretty expensive too~~ $150.
We are hatching our own eggs, a couple of Welsummer and maybe some rir/welsummer cross. This is a "test" hatch for us, just to learn how to operate the 'bator. BTW the bator will only hold about 16 good size eggs...
My hope is to get some blue laced red wyandotte eggs this spring to improve the few that I have. These guys are my project this year. I really want some Foley line eggs...... sigh.
IMO if I'm going to hatch out eggs that I'm paying $$$ for I want a good bator... so I think it was well worth the money, or at least thats what I'm hoping for based on everyones reviews!!

 

[Zwei Eichen]

Cool! I have the little giant still air bator.

The barnyard mixes are always so cool. The one I hatched in the spring is a sandy color with gold streaks down her neck and a slight beard.

Good luck with your hatch

.

The trick is to avoid the bator till hatch day haha.
Here's my cross Copper

Copper is a CUTIE!!

 

[TheChickenQueen]

Mine are due the day after Christmas...It feels SO FAR AWAY! I'm super excited! I started with older chickens, so I've actually never had chicks before. I tried a hatch last month, and was so disappointed when none hatched or even pipped. I had veining in 10 or more early on. All quit before the hatch date, except 3 who were fully formed, dead in shell. I've made some important changes, but I'm dealing with manual turning and a still air incubator, so I'm trying not to "count my chickens". Especially because I feel like I'm dealing with temp and humidity variations, and it's stressing me out! I'm really hopeful you have a great first hatch!!!

I didn't know what a SBEL was, so I looked it up... Now I WANT one!

But remember, it gets closer everyday. I've always started with chicks, or young pullets. The only time I get sick of them and their cuteness is when they seem to be determined to make a mess x.o
I've never incubated before

worried I'll get something wrong. And with most people's stories for their first times.... But counting chickens would be fun...
Thanks! I hope yours goes well too!

SBEL's are nice birds! So I can't blame you for wanting one.

 

[ChickyChickens]

LOL...i missed this hatch day by like 3 days...i'll hopefully have a few early hatchers!!!