December hatch along

[Matieus27]

Tomorrow I collect my last 3 eggs and start the incubator for a Dec 16th hatch. I thought about doing one for Christmas but figure its best to get it going the moment I have 42 eggs.

Why 42? Is it cause it’s the answer to life the universe and everything? Lol

 

[Compost King]

I have 42 spots in my egg turner

 

[Matieus27]

I have 42 spots in my egg turner

Ahh ok I got 96 in mine my wife would murder me if I set 96 eggs

 

[Compost King]

When I get better at hatching I might invest in one that big or bigger.

 

[Matieus27]

The 96 egg one I got I got it off eBay it was only 75 dollars and so far I love it. It beats the hell out of my styrofoam incubator I was using. I’m doing a staggered hatch my first eggs had several infertile but my second set of eggs I set 12 and they are all developing without any issues so far thanksgiving was day 7 for them and I candled yesterday and they are all looking good the first set the 3 that are fertile are all great they are all moving and everything seems to be on track aside from they may hatch a couple of days early due to temps being close to 102 for the first 7 days

 

[Compost King]

I considered getting a separate lockdown hatcher and adding 14 eggs a week. And do a perpetual hatch by staggering.

 

[Matieus27]

I considered getting a separate lockdown hatcher and adding 14 eggs a week. And do a perpetual hatch by staggering.

I’m hoping I can sell day old chicks at some point but that’s not even gonna be an option until I have enough land to do it on so right now I can only do small batches and only when I need to replace stock I think

 

[paintedChix]

Following this hatchalong - still a newbie, reading how to hatch. Don't have an incubator yet, looking at reviews now and hoping to get one at Christmas.

Then I need to start getting eggs from my pullets, so can start setting CLB & RB eggs. Those are the oldest pullets. Once I learn with those, I hope to start hatching 55 Flowery Hens, Ameraucanas (BBS & Lavender), Australorps (BBS? - all the ones I have are blue, some very, very nicely colored/laced), Bielefelders and some Orpingtons (Lavender). I mostly want to concentrate on the auto sexing breeds - but we will see.

It's frustrating - I had no idea I'd be waiting this long for eggs. Have two March hatch Bielefelders just now looking like they are going to hit POL (vent/comb/pelvic width), but 4 others not even close! The 55 Flowery Hens were supposed to be 3 months old when I purchased them - if so that makes them 9 months old now - will be catching my wild girls (8) today and seeing how their combs/vents actually look... May just be waiting until the days get longer, but wow, is this frustrating. Is it possible that the two hurricanes threw egg laying off? We aren't directly on the coast, didn't get too much damage but did get a lot of rain and wind. Some of my tarped coops were ripped up, but the tarps were replaced pretty quickly - birds were fine.

I'm learning breed standards and may find this too difficult to do with this many breeds. We shall see. When I do start hatching, I'm looking to utilize my hatches in tractors to help fertilize my sandy pony pastures (following the ponies thru paddocks in permaculture manner). Chickens that don't meet my standards or SOP for their breeds will go to freezer camp - for us, for our dogs/cats to get off of store bought kibble. My idea is to lower our costs and utilize more of what we have.

Later, as I find that out what works for me/getting & keeping birds to standards - I will look at selling some chicks. But for now, I just want to learn and get eggs!!

Ahh, there were some ?s I was going to ask, but now that I've written my background, I can't remember them... . Sorry this is forever long!!

 

[paintedChix]

Matieus27 - can you tell me more about the incubator you have and where you got it? I haven't seen one like that while searching. I'm following this so that I can see how yours does... (added - AHHH - found it! Looking at it now). Curious, again, to see how it does w/ the plastic sides instead of the insulated styrofoam sided ones.

Then will go from there. I have a spare bedroom that can turn into a incubating & hatching area for now & brooding room for the first 2 weeks until it warms up...

Can everyone else share what they are using as 'bators for this hatch a long? OR better - what you recommend a newbie look at starting with? Eventually, if I can do this, will need/want a better quality incubator. Don't think I will be building my own (too darn many projects - better to invest the $ in one that will work w/ guarantees). Have looked into the GQFs for the future... IF that truly is the direction I find I will be going (needing/wanting to hatch that many chicks).

BlueBaby - NN/Bresse Xs? How do they do/look? What did you do that cross to achieve? My curiosity is getting the best of me, LOL! If I was going to do a cross with my girl - it would probably be to one of the 2 Rhodebar roos who are the largest birds I have (at this time). Believe I'd get some home made meat birds that way, LOL. My single Bresse took FOREVER to grow out - being a "meat" bird, I expected to see her reach a processing size much sooner. Maybe she was a "runt" or I wasn't feeding her right, not sure. They are supposed to do well with free ranging/pasture, so will do more of that in the future. She was penned or in tractors while growing up.

 

[Matieus27]

This is my incubator even with the plastic sides it is doing great I would recommend getting an external thermometer with probes so you can easily see what the temperature actually is because mine was incubating a little high for the first 7 days until I got those in place and realized temp was high I have the two tier but the 48 egg incubator was just 15 dollars cheaper so I opted to pay 15 more to be able to set double the eggs I got from eBay

Matieus27 - can you tell me more about the incubator you have and where you got it? I haven't seen one like that while searching. I'm following this so that I can see how yours does... (added - AHHH - found it! Looking at it now). Curious, again, to see how it does w/ the plastic sides instead of the insulated styrofoam sided ones.

Then will go from there. I have a spare bedroom that can turn into a incubating & hatching area for now & brooding room for the first 2 weeks until it warms up...

Can everyone else share what they are using as 'bators for this hatch a long? OR better - what you recommend a newbie look at starting with? Eventually, if I can do this, will need/want a better quality incubator. Don't think I will be building my own (too darn many projects - better to invest the $ in one that will work w/ guarantees). Have looked into the GQFs for the future... IF that truly is the direction I find I will be going (needing/wanting to hatch that many chicks).

BlueBaby - NN/Bresse Xs? How do they do/look? What did you do that cross to achieve? My curiosity is getting the best of me, LOL! If I was going to do a cross with my girl - it would probably be to one of the 2 Rhodebar roos who are the largest birds I have (at this time). Believe I'd get some home made meat birds that way, LOL. My single Bresse took FOREVER to grow out - being a "meat" bird, I expected to see her reach a processing size much sooner. Maybe she was a "runt" or I wasn't feeding her right, not sure. They are supposed to do well with free ranging/pasture, so will do more of that in the future. She was penned or in tractors while growing up.