Quote:
Ok Karl - unfortunately DH decided if we were getting chicks HE would decide what ones! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! So anyhow he ordered 6 fertile eggs off the internet - bog standard Leghorns!!!! They wont arrive for 5 days!!!! Then he said oh we can go to see someone at a local farm and see if they have eggs and sure you can always bung them under her later and it will be fine!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I have tried to explain the dynamics of this concept but to no avail!! I cannot just pop a few eggs under Gerty today and then the rest next week because he doesn;t understand as soon as the first ones are hatched she will abandon the rest!!!!! ( Gerty gets borred and probably will give up being broody by the time the Leghorns arrive anyhow!!!) HE DOESN:T GET THIS NO MATTER HOW OFTEN I TELL HIM!!!! Now he reckons he is going to get an incubator as well "just in case" So a few eggs that would cost me £5-£10 tops is now costing much more. If she didn;t sit them I was going to give her a hug and some feed and say never mind and bin them!!
He said he didn;t want to waist money on Roos - so I said well the Legbar chicks are auto sexing? Then I said you can do the boys in at birth and feed them to the Ferrit because we will know for certain they are BOYS!!! So anyhow he completely ignored this suggestion! ( Which was of course hard for me because I lost my lovely Roo boy Blue last year!!!) Anyhow then he says he is going to get a fishtank and convert it. He was also talking about auto turning - but I said its more important to get the humidity and temp right than worry about turning them twice a day anyone can do that!!!
So - KARL - I am blaming you!!!!!!!!
Also
This is not entirely true if you have a brooder to put the first chicks in as they hatch. Just take them from her and she will stay on the unhatched eggs.
I just did this with my hen and she stayed to hatch the last one. Then what you can do is try to put them back when she is done hatching all the eggs. Of course do this at night.
Give the first chicks a chance to dry off and then just reach in and take them. She will go back and hatch the rest.
You might want to mark the eggs so you'll know which are which and candle any that don't hatch at the appointed time.
In fact if she doesn't break you can keep putting eggs under her and she'll just keep right on hatching.
Tkae care
Rancher
Thanks Rancher - we had a terrible time with the last hatch it did not go well. We ended up hand rearing two chicks that hatched 7 days after the first four. Bertha simply would not take them in. I am hoping we have a better time with Gerty, though she was confussed last year and brooded mice!!!!!
Oesdog
Ok Karl - unfortunately DH decided if we were getting chicks HE would decide what ones! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! So anyhow he ordered 6 fertile eggs off the internet - bog standard Leghorns!!!! They wont arrive for 5 days!!!! Then he said oh we can go to see someone at a local farm and see if they have eggs and sure you can always bung them under her later and it will be fine!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I have tried to explain the dynamics of this concept but to no avail!! I cannot just pop a few eggs under Gerty today and then the rest next week because he doesn;t understand as soon as the first ones are hatched she will abandon the rest!!!!! ( Gerty gets borred and probably will give up being broody by the time the Leghorns arrive anyhow!!!) HE DOESN:T GET THIS NO MATTER HOW OFTEN I TELL HIM!!!! Now he reckons he is going to get an incubator as well "just in case" So a few eggs that would cost me £5-£10 tops is now costing much more. If she didn;t sit them I was going to give her a hug and some feed and say never mind and bin them!!
He said he didn;t want to waist money on Roos - so I said well the Legbar chicks are auto sexing? Then I said you can do the boys in at birth and feed them to the Ferrit because we will know for certain they are BOYS!!! So anyhow he completely ignored this suggestion! ( Which was of course hard for me because I lost my lovely Roo boy Blue last year!!!) Anyhow then he says he is going to get a fishtank and convert it. He was also talking about auto turning - but I said its more important to get the humidity and temp right than worry about turning them twice a day anyone can do that!!!
So - KARL - I am blaming you!!!!!!!!
Also
This is not entirely true if you have a brooder to put the first chicks in as they hatch. Just take them from her and she will stay on the unhatched eggs.
I just did this with my hen and she stayed to hatch the last one. Then what you can do is try to put them back when she is done hatching all the eggs. Of course do this at night.
Give the first chicks a chance to dry off and then just reach in and take them. She will go back and hatch the rest.
You might want to mark the eggs so you'll know which are which and candle any that don't hatch at the appointed time.
In fact if she doesn't break you can keep putting eggs under her and she'll just keep right on hatching.
Tkae care
Rancher
Thanks Rancher - we had a terrible time with the last hatch it did not go well. We ended up hand rearing two chicks that hatched 7 days after the first four. Bertha simply would not take them in. I am hoping we have a better time with Gerty, though she was confussed last year and brooded mice!!!!!
Oesdog
