Colorado

[corancher]

So, I've been waiting for some Phoenix bantam eggs since the end of January & I decided to email the seller to check when he thought he'd be sending them since our weather here turned winter again & got some great news. He was going to ship them on Monday but said he'd be more than happy to hold off a few days to wait for better weather! I'm so excited!

But then I had a predicament. I got an egg each from my hens yesterday that I want to try incubating. I can't hold onto them until the Phoenix bantam eggs show up because I've read viability goes down quickly after 10 days & because I have the Brinsea Mini & it'll only hold 7 eggs. My question to you experienced chicken keepers is: if I start the 4 eggs I have now, will a staggered hatch in the same incubator be doable with 7+ days between the 2 sets? I don't expect all or any of my 4 to be fertile or for all 6 of the shipped eggs to be hatchable, so I'm anticipating tossing some out during the incubation. However, on the off chance at least 1 of my eggs starts developing, I want to make sure that a week between each set won't lower my success anymore than it already is lowered with the shipped eggs.

I get to stay home from work today due to being snowed in, so I am scouring the boards for staggered hatching advice as well. Just thought if anyone here had experience, I'd ask for tips.

I think you would have a hard time with a staggered hatch in such a small incubator. As was already mentioned hatching is messy and any chicks that hatch will get gunk all over the remaining eggs. In addition if you try to boost the humidity it may cause problems with the remaining eggs. I would also recommend that you wait and set eggs once you receive your shipped eggs.

 

[COChix]

Hi, jumping on here to post a question to all of you. We have frostbite on Rocco's comb and he has a blister. I am researching what to do if anything for him. I haven't touched it with anything, it is not bleeding. I have Bag Balm and Waxellene that I could apply. Wondering about the Waxellene as it has Rosemary in it and that might be soothing or burning at this point. Any advice would be great.

The humidity in the coop overnight was 49%, I added more straw and a bunch of Sweet PDZ into the coop and opened up the vents more. I have a hygrometer in the coop.

 

[suncatcher]

I would leave the frost bite alone, unless it is getting infected, which happens rarely..... it will heal, just takes time!

I have never had good luck on staggered hatch's........

Sun is out! Yay! Warming up, sorta.

 

[COChix]

I would leave the frost bite alone, unless it is getting infected, which happens rarely.....  it will heal, just takes time!
Sun is out! Yay!  Warming up, sorta.

Thanks, that was my first choice, but wasn't sure about the blister part of it.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Thanks for the input, everyone! Found out that the eggs will be good for at least 2 weeks, so I'll hold off & hope at least 4 of the shipped eggs aren't good for incubation. I wanted to start mine early to see if they were even fertile since I'm not 100% my rooster is mating all the hens. Oh well! Live & learn to prepare better & not let my mom surprise me with shipped eggs again!

 

[Percheron chick]

Can you tell the difference in the egg each hen lays? If you can, start cracking the eggs so you can check each one for fertility. Crack onto a plate or bowl not directly into the frying pan. Make a note of who's eggs are fertile. A couple of days before you set the eggs, check again. Which ever hen has a fertile egg today, should have a fertile egg tomorrow. Set just those eggs so you have the greatest chances of only setting fertile eggs.

 

[Ashdoes]

After having the worst hatch rates last year from our Cream Legbars, our mixed Cream eggs are at 100% already. We're pretty sure the originals were inbred, and that was the problem. Our original girls still have air sacks on the side of the eggs, for some reason, but the youngest Creams eggs are fine. I'm sure the side cells are going to mess up those hatches, but we'll see. I'll prob do another full hatch of those mixes anyways, I like their green eggs.

 

[KLBCOS]

Mock Flock Block for the girls... Keeps them busy on these snowy days.

 

[suncatcher]

I had a terrible hatch rate last year with my Barnies too, also think they are terribly inbred. Hopefully I can hatch out more this year, problem is my rooster has his favorite girls and the others don't get any attention from him. Not sure how to remedy this, as adding another rooster has not worked........

The plan is to break them up into two coops, and do OE's in the one coop, and BV in the other, will see how it goes.

Agree, you can break them open and check for fertility too.

 

[Ashdoes]

I actually had to lock up the chickens...that Crazy Wyandotte Cream mix keeps coming to the back door...and either screams at me, or just sits there. I went to check for eggs, and there she is at the door again, I have no idea how long she was there. She's the only one crazy enough to come out. Sometimes her Cochin Cream mix sister follows her, but today, even she thought it was a dumb idea to leave the barn. It's at least 150 ft from the barn to the back door...crazy chicken.