E-Bay Eggs On The Way!

[GitaBooks]

Just took the chain saw and cut a hole in the side of the chicken/duck house so the chickens can go outside and the call ducks can go inside. Tried to chase the chickens outside but it was impossible, they were to scared, but a few hours later they are sitting at the doorway thinking about it. 26 chickens in the house! They will be very happy when they find out how much fun they will have in the outside run with the ducks. I'm only going to keep 5 or 6 laying hens and a rooster, and have people waiting for hens when they are sexed 100%. Going to be crowded for awhile with 26 chickens and 18 call ducks until the extras get sold.

Lost 1 of my call drakes to an owl a few nights ago so will be locking everybody chickens and ducks alike inside the house at night.

Nice coop! The chickens will love the out-doors once they learn how much fun it is.

I'm sorry about the duck you lost. I hope the others remain safe and happy.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

11 chicks hatched, 2 needed assistance - I OPENED all of the others. Of the 11 unhatched eggs 2 were very early quitters, 4 brown ones never developed, Then the sad part - 5 DIS. But I do have 6 B/B/S Ameraucanas, 3 OEs and 2 Marans.

I was just curious....how do you know when it's time to assist a chicken with hatching?

 

[GitaBooks]

I was just curious....how do you know when it's time to assist a chicken with hatching?

I don't think we ever really know, but we try our best to guess. I pay attention to shell thickness, the breed that is in the egg, any humidity problems that might have occured, or if I don't hear cheap on day 21 or 22. In these cases I open up the top to take a peek in and see if they are alive. If they are, I let them try and get out on their own. Generally opening the top seems to make it harder to get out on their own though, so then I help them over a few hours to get out.

I hope this helps.

 

[southernhusky]

I agree it's a case by case call, & I read & reread the article on step by step assisted hatching. you could remove some of the outer egg shell & wet(or better yet vaseline cause it doesn't need rewetting) the inner membrane & it's see thru, you would get a better idea. When I assisted mine I knew he had been trying to peck thru over 6 hrs with no progress made, & a lot of chirping. It had been almost 24 hrs since 1st small crack(internal pip). I'm sure non active in shell(with candle) are harder to decide. It's a judgement call. Also is tremendously helpful to mark all your all the Air cells with pencil when you go into lockdown, less time later spent trying to make sure you don't go below the line unless your sure its ready(u can remove shell below extra careful, then wet membrane & make sure there are no blood vessels).

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Thanks for the info!

I have some very dark BCM eggs on day 5 in the bator right now. I tried to candle, and by candle I mean used a bright "flashlight" on my phone, to see if I can detect any air cells and get them marked. These eggs are so tough. I may just let them ride out. I'm using a new bator, and my humidity was really high for the first few days and now I have it stabilized between 35-40%. I feel like a nervous mother LOL

 

[southernhusky]

Yeah you need a lot more powerful to see the dark brown. I really love a pen type light I bought from walmart, it was about $15 but it is 21 lumens I think, its bright then several of my "large" flashlights plus the way the lens is set with a larger "edge" around it, its perfect for seeing through eggs(not that I have any that dark but I bet it would work well for dark brown ones).

First time I set eggs I started with way too much humidity too, then moved them to a brooder I put an egg turner in(reptibator wouldnt get above 93-95 ish) and forgot to add any water...but I'm in a humid climate and it was like 35-45% and its in the room I was in the most which we dont really heat or cool much because I'm comfy at warmer temps.

 

[bahamabanty]

Bahamabanty, when i say put them in the dryer i mean that i took them out of the incubator they hatched in where the humidity is high and put them in my spare incubator with no humidity, and keep them in there until they are dry and fluffy and after that i put them in their little box with a heat lamp to keep them warm, and when they outgrow the box they go outside to the chicken house, no heat out there, but this is a very warm climate here, so they don't need a lamp after they get a couple of weeks old and get a good start getting feathered out. It gets so hot here, that i worry more about them over heating when they go to the hen house.

Ok, thats a good idea, so you fire up the second incubator during hatchtime. At what age do you put them outside without a heat source and what kinda temperature is it there?
Over here its in the high 80's low 90's during the day and 75-80 at night. Just wondering how long I really need to keep them under the lamp here in the tropics, because most information online refers to colder climates.

 

[GitaBooks]

Ok, thats a good idea, so you fire up the second incubator during hatchtime. At what age do you put them outside without a heat source and what kinda temperature is it there?
Over here its in the high 80's low 90's during the day and 75-80 at night. Just wondering how long I really need to keep them under the lamp here in the tropics, because most information online refers to colder climates.

If its 75 F at night, then I would say they could go without heat (though warm bedding would be nice) at just 2-4 weeks (depending on what breed it is). Bantams tend to feather out faster. You could just offer heat during the night, when they are sleeping.

 

[southernhusky]

Should definitely keep the wind off them though. Fully feathered at 5-7 weeks I would assume would be fine this time of year. I would wonder though is at what temperatures would you offer teenagers a heat lamp? Lows for me are around 58-60. My few teenagers are inside without heat, even the half feathered 3 week olds because it doesn't get below 75 inside with 1 heat light going for my week olds but in the next few days I am moving them outside to a 10x15 coop(which they will have to be confined to until hubby finishes the run for it but its deifnitely an upgrade from my 2 story rabbit cage with daily outings.

 

[duckmeister]

I had no idea how much fun chickens are and what personality they have, let my chickens out to free range for the first time yesterday, they were just joyful running around chasing bugs and scratching. The astrolorpe hens would just take off and fly as far as they could across the yard just for the fun of it as far as I could tell. Love my Chickens. My babies that I hatched, they wouldn't be here but for their bird obsessed Dad.