Early February 2016 Hatch - Who's In?

[LalaG]

I got mine from MPC. Since my DH warned me about chicken math, I only ordered 3 eggs and when they arrived, I was surprised to see 1 extra. They shipped on a Saturday and were at my post office by Tuesday. They were packaged well but no where on the box did it say "Fragile" or anything like that! Yikes!!! Luckily, there were all intact. Where I live, there aren't many options for "different" or funky breeds from locals. I felt that I didn't really have any other options other than to have them shipped. But I am more of a fan of "lawn ornaments" than egg layers.   Much to the dismay of my DH... 

Hahaha I love lawn ornaments too . It's hard to eat eggs for me for a few weeks after cradling this eggs like they are my children

I'm doing this with my kids so I feel extra pressure because they are already setting up the brooder for nine baby chicks, ignoring my hints that we may not get any! Hopefully it gets less stressful after I'm not a first timer anymore? I love the fun and funky eggs on MPC but the costs seem so high even with free shipping on some breeds.

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Im interested in how everyone got their eggs also if not your backyard. I was able to find my silkie eggs on eBay from a farm not far from me but I was thinking about using mypetchicken next time and also using a few TJ eggs because why not

. Id love to find some locally but nothing listed on craiglist. I may post in one of the Facebook yard sale sites And see what I can find I know there are a lot of farms around and I bet that's a good way to get them. Has anyone ever tried to incubate the fresh farm eggs from a roadside farm stand? I'd imagine there may be some fertile eggs there if they have a rooster in the flock?

Try your local state thread in the "Where am I where are you?" section. I have very firm restrictions ( city code and DH

) on how many I can have - 6 full grown chicken hens is the actual ordinance. Therefore after 6 years of having chickens - I am super picky about the breeds I want due to the limitations. There isn't any point for me to try TJ or WF since I only want Favs and will be experimenting with Cochins this year. Here is a list of what we have had in the past and reason for no longer keeping them:

Hatchery Gold/Red sexlinks - too many health issues after 2nd year ( breaking many hearts in the process)
Hatchery Barred Rock ( see above - had to put down our Polly our 5 y/o last year due to internal laying - it was not quick or easy

)
Hatchery Minorca - flighty and sickly
Hatchery EE - loved her but she was an escape artist, loud, obnoxious, did I mention loud?
Hatchery RIR - LOUD and mean
Hatchery SLW - people mean - she would go out of her way to bite you - seriously
Hatchery Buckeyes - they were super sweet but man could they fly - even with clipped wings they could easily go over the 6 foot fence into the neighbors yard

Breeder BBS Jersey Giants - beautiful and docile but too big for my set-up
Breeder Ameracaunas - all of the ones that hatched were cockerels and they were also awesome flyers
Currently:
Breeder Faverolles - Ding, ding, ding - we have a Winner

Quiet, docile, pretty, no attempts to escape
We also have two BBS silkies that keep the two Favs company - they may or may not be staying depending on what hatches. I need eggs more than yard candy unfortunately But they are sweet and amusing.

 

[LalaG]

Try your local state thread in the "Where am I where are you?" section. I have very firm restrictions ( city code and DH ) on how many I can have - 6 full grown chicken hens is the actual ordinance. Therefore after 6 years of having chickens - I am super picky about the breeds I want due to the limitations. There isn't any point for me to try TJ or WF since I only want Favs and will be experimenting with Cochins this year. Here is a list of what we have had in the past and reason for no longer keeping them:

Hatchery Gold/Red sexlinks - too many health issues after 2nd year ( breaking many hearts in the process)
Hatchery Barred Rock ( see above - had to put down our Polly our 5 y/o last year due to internal laying - it was not quick or easy )
Hatchery Minorca - flighty and sickly
Hatchery EE - loved her but she was an escape artist, loud, obnoxious, did I mention loud?
Hatchery RIR - LOUD and mean
Hatchery SLW - people mean - she would go out of her way to bite you - seriously
Hatchery Buckeyes - they were super sweet but man could they fly - even with clipped wings they could easily go over the 6 foot fence into the neighbors yard
 Breeder BBS Jersey Giants - beautiful and docile but too big for my set-up
Breeder Ameracaunas - all of the ones that hatched were cockerels and they were also awesome flyers
Currently:
Breeder Faverolles - Ding, ding, ding - we have a Winner Quiet, docile, pretty, no attempts to escape
We also have two BBS silkies that keep the two Favs company  - they may or may not be staying depending on what hatches. I need eggs more than yard candy unfortunately But they are sweet and amusing.

And they are BEAUTIFUL IMO. Our restrictions are tight and it drives me crazy as I have a big fenced backyard and the privacy and space to build a large coop. I wouldnt torture myself with a bunch of loud Roos let alone my neighbors. I found friends a bit farther north with no restrictions who have large coops and who said they were glad to take their pick of anything we hatch and can't keep...but I want to keep them
All

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Current set up:


With Cat deterrent:


Reason for deterrent

:

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Here are some photos of the JG hens and Ameracauna cockerels from my 1st hatch 2014:

 

[TurkenMomma]

Current set up:


With Cat deterrent:


Reason for deterrent

:

What kind of incubator is this? I am searching for something for my classroom to do a bigger hatch than what mine can hold. Cute kitty by the way

 

[Jessimom]

What kind of incubator is this? I am searching for something for my classroom to do a bigger hatch than what mine can hold. Cute kitty by the way

What a great idea. It looks like my little giant bator. Here is my cat issue. It's like kitty TV for them. But they are so heavy, they will pop the glass out. Let me know if that really does deter your kitty!!

 

[ambe0487]

What kind of incubator is this? I am searching for something for my classroom to do a bigger hatch than what mine can hold. Cute kitty by the way  

Looks like a Farm Innovator. I got mine at TSC. I bought the still air and turner then added an fan to help control heat distribution.

 

[raisechickens]

I'm in.

I just put 24 eggs in my incubator this afternoon. 6 are pure Blue Wheaten Ameraucana, 6 are Blue Wheaten Ameraucana rooster X Wheaten Ameraucana hen, 9 pure barred rocks, and 3 BR rooster X barnyard mix hen. I use a cheap Chinese made incubator I got off of eBay and my hatch rates have been between 75-80% so far. Hoping I can keep that up.

 

[FloofyChick]

Silkies are my favorite! I have a splash and a buff one right now. I've never heard of a paint... Is it similar to a splash?

Kinda similar. Paints have very distinct black spots on white. And the genetics seem a bit tricky with them. You have to breed paint to either white or black to get a 50% paint hatch. And a paint to paint is around 50% Paint, 25% White, 25% Black according to another post on them. Here's a picture of a paint from the parent birds courtesy twin maple ranch. Oh, And today is day four for the paints so I candled, and out of twenty eggs 14 already have significant veining!!