DAY 0... / Hatching has begun!!

[ElizabethChau]

Chicky number 5 just hatched

 

[chefchick]

Awwwe! Your babies are so cute! Keep posting pics....the mail truck was just here...no eggs for me again.

 

[SSTupperware]

So what did you end up with?

 

[ElizabethChau]

At the moment it's still just the 5. However, today is the official 16th day. (17 if you count 0 too) so I am remaining hopeful for more of them to hatch the 5 I have arrived rather early! lol

 

[ElizabethChau]

There were 31 eggs in total. 5 Hatched. 25 didnt fully develope, and 1 fully developed but didnt hatch itself.
The numbers are not real great but I am pleased with the 5 I got
I've placed 11 eggs into the bator just now, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[GrandmaBird]

If you are really serious about hatching and raising I would invest in a "real" incubator with a fan. You will have much better rates with one over the homemade one. It is really hard to keep the temp and humidity right even with an nice incubator I would not even try it with a cardboard one as its just not worth the effort to me and the loss of eggs. Good luck with the others.
also if your eggs were older it maybe why you had such a low rate.

 

[ElizabethChau]

Hi grandmabird, I am saving up for a real incubator at the moment the eggs were somewhat older, I had to wait 2 weeks for my quails to lay that many. I only have 2 girls laying fertile eggs. my third female and her mate dont seem to know HOW to mate, I haven't seen them at it not even once! so I end up having to wait awhile for eggs to collect. I suspect this wait is a good deal why many of the eggs just dont fully develope. Hence why I settled for a smaller number of eggs this time to put in the box. They're not as old and I can be in and out of the box for turning a lot quicker. I really wish I had a proper incubator though I would LOVE to see a whole bator full of little hatched chickies! For now the Box will have to do. I'm really hoping my broody female's eggs all hatch. Selling the chicks is part of the money being saved for a real incubator. But I'm saving for a couple other things too right now so it's hard. Like my 1 yr old's dual citizen application is quite expensive, but he needs his british birth certificate so he can apply for the dual citizenship, and since he was born here in the states it requires a "report of birth abroad"...which also costs me. @.@ many things to save for and get done! If I still get a poor hatch rate this time around with the fresher and fewer eggs, then I will most likely ask the hubby to help me buy the real bator... (he's not real gungho about hatching and selling chicks. But its a way for a stay at home mom like myself to generate a tiny bit of pocket money for the ME stuff. )

 

[ClintDowns]

It is an amazing sight. This was my very first hatch and got 93 out of 134.

I really do commend you for what you are doing to try and batch with what you have. Most people wouldn't even think about trying.

 

[ElizabethChau]

Thank you ClintDowns, and that's an awesome pic of all your chickies!

 

[GrandmaBird]

its too bad its not cheaper to mail eggs. I do not want to hatch more right now and my one female lay's one a day. Last time I cleaned the cage from top to bottom I tossed 10. That's the problem with buttons not incubating themselves but life goes on. good luck with what you have going and keep up the positive outlook I know it can be really hard to do.