Christmas Hatch

[StelleKitten]

I've never hatched before and I got an incubator for my birthday present. I thought a Christmas hatch would be fun. Kind of like opening a bunch of gifts all at once.

I'll be setting rhode island reds and one egg from hen that died in a dog attack. It may be too old but we will see.

 

[nchls school]

I've never hatched before and I got an incubator for my birthday present. I thought a Christmas hatch would be fun. Kind of like opening a bunch of gifts all at once.

I'll be setting rhode island reds and one egg from hen that died in a dog attack. It may be too old but we will see.

How old is the egg? While it's recommended to use eggs less than two weeks for incubation, older eggs have a good chance of hatching too. If the egg is less than three weeks old and fertile it will most likely hatch. Less than a month, odds are still good.

 

[StelleKitten]

It's almost two weeks old. I've just started to the incubator without eggs so I can get the temp and humidity to level out first. Don't want to fry it. It might not be fertile. I had given the hen to some family, she was covered by my roo the day before and they had a roo too. But I'm not sure if it will be fertile, she had only been laying for about a week.

 

[nchls school]

It's almost two weeks old. I've just started to the incubator without eggs so I can get the temp and humidity to level out first. Don't want to fry it. It might not be fertile. I had given the hen to some family, she was covered by my roo the day before and they had a roo too. But I'm not sure if it will be fertile, she had only been laying for about a week.

Almost two weeks is not too old. If there was a rooster with the hen a week or so before the egg was laid it should be fertile. First eggs are just as likely to be fertile as eggs laid later on.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I started a Christmas Hatch-a-long in conjunction with moon signs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1048605/christmas-and-zodiac-hal

 

[StelleKitten]

Just as a side note. I'll actually be hatching about a week earlier it everything goes well. That one egg is more important to me than date. But you are more than welcome to wait a little longer. Mostly this is for my notes and it I get in trouble, some help.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I get that. If you have a valuable egg, get it in the incubator as soon as possible.

 

[StelleKitten]

Incubator holding steady. Adding eggs later this evening. Steady as in between 99.2 and 100.0

 

[nchls school]

Incubator holding steady. Adding eggs later this evening. Steady as in between 99.2 and 100.0

Good luck.

I'm hoping to have more serama eggs being incubated by the end of the weekend. But the natural way. If all goes the way it has in the past two of my hens will be broody by Sunday. With my last serama chicks, just one won't be culled. I'm hoping to have a little better luck this time. A nice rooster chick would be great; hens too of course.

 

[StelleKitten]

Good luck.

I'm hoping to have more serama eggs being incubated by the end of the weekend. But the natural way. If all goes the way it has in the past two of my hens will be broody by Sunday. With my last serama chicks, just one won't be culled. I'm hoping to have a little better luck this time. A nice rooster chick would be great; hens too of course.

I wish you a lot of luck. Hopefully your little peeps week be happy and healthy. I started mine last night. Temp is hiding at 99.5 with less than a degree of variance. Humidity is at 25%. Which is where I want that. Trying to do a dry hatch. Hopefully it will work.