Eggs are here. Incubator is not. A multiple choice quiz.

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Okay, so I ordered eggs to put under a broody hen. The egg sender was really on the ball and sent them out a lot faster than I thought they would. Yay for that, but being the dork that I am I decided to order extra eggs and incubate them. After a great deal of anguish and research, I ordered an Hovabator 1588, thinking it would ship out on Monday. I had it sent priority so theoretically it would have been here today or tomorrow. Plenty of time in my perfect little world to get it set up and ready for the eggs that wouldn't arrive until Friday. Umm hmm.
So the eggs are here. The incubator hasn't left the warehouse yet and I'm not sure what to do.
Options:
- Put half a dozen eggs under the broody hen and just hang on to the others until next week when the incubator gets here. Doesn't seem like a good plan for the eggs just sitting on the cabinet though.
- Put half a dozen under the broody and go out an buy a Hovabator 1602 from the local co-op. Cancel the 1588 order and just deal with the crappier incubator.
- Put all the eggs under the broody and hope she can pull it off (even though these little silkies usually do good to cover 7-8 eggs and I have a total of 16 eggs on my cabinet right now)
- Put half a dozen eggs under the broody and then throw a kicking and screaming fit that includes some head/wall beating (even though it is totally my fault for dreaming up this wacked idea in the first place.)

Any thoughts from the masses?

 

[Crunchie]

Modify number two.

Put half a dozen under the broody, buy the crappier incubator and put the rest in it. Don't cancel the 1588 order. When the 1588 gets there, move eggs to it. Order more eggs because you can now use crappier incubator as a hatcher!!

That's what I would do.

 

[AHappychick]

you have 10 days from the time they were laid for them to be ok. I say wait for the bator (put the favorite eggs under the broody) and store the rest in a cool place about 50 degrees and they should be fine. or you can tuck a few in your bra like some other BYC members

 

[willowcol]

My bantam old english hen was sitting on 15 eggs some were from my black sex link hen so they were not all bantam eggs, so I would think a silkie could cover at least a dozen or so.

 

[onthespot]

Personally, I would build that broody a deep, wide nest and put the whole dozen under her. Being as they are shipped eggs, you will probably have several duds in there. Candle in a few days and pull the duds and she will probably set the rest fine.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Hmmm... what to do.

My silkies for some reason seem to max out at 8 eggs. And when I give them 8 eggs they always seem to miss a couple. I've had a great deal of success giving them 6 and letting them have at it. More than 8 and I'm likely just wasting them on her.

Buying two incubators would be great, but I kinda splurged to get the 1588 and can't really afford to get both the 1588 and the 1602.

I have a call into the place I ordered the incubator from. She's checking with the manufacturer to see how fast they can get it out. I guess I should hit up some other online stores and see how fast they could get one out.

The eggs were laid on Sunday and mailed out on Monday. That give me until early next week before I have to give up completely. I just want these guys to have the best chance possible and that would be going into an incubator this week.

 

[NancyDz]

Put an ad on craigslist asking to borrow an incubator for a week until your's get's here.

Someone here did that for duck eggs and had tons of responses....


Good luck!


Nancy

 

[Hens_And_Chicks]

Someone incubated eggs that were nearly 3 weeks old back in early March with a near 100% hatch rate - they will do fine to sit at room temp for a few days. I have heard you need to place them, large end up, in the egg cartons and tilt the carton side to side a couple times a day until your bator arrives.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Oh, dang. I forgot the tilting part. I did go ahead and move them large end up into the egg carton. I'll go prop one end up. Thanks for reminding me.

So we think I can just sit on my hands until the darn incubator arrives? I called GFQ to see if they could get one out today and they emphatically said no. Grrrrr. (Okay, okay... it's not their fault I planned poorly. They were just kind of cranky on the phone.)

Where is the nail biting smilie?

 

[TriciaHowe]

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