February 2022 Hatch-A-Long

[Kelsykin]

Yes I keep a record of how many I set and throw and hatch too.... I just have been a bit slack at keeping it in my head at the moment.

I have to keep track. My husband uses it to write off losses for the farm. The spreadsheet lets him do just that. New sheet for each year. I also put in seller information.

 

[Bananer86]

I have to keep track. My husband uses it to write off losses for the farm. The spreadsheet lets him do just that. New sheet for each year. I also put in seller information.

I like the idea of using a spreadsheet. I’ve been doing it on a calendar. I keep a daily tally of turns, the temp & humidity, settings, when I candle, number tossed on which days, egg weight when set + day 6 & 12 just to make sure they’re losing the right amount etc. I’m a newbie so I’m trying to keep detailed records so I can find my groove so to say.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Upgraded our incubator last night & added 1 more egg for a total of 15

Has anyone here used a Little Giant? Any advice? Eventually I want to get the NR360 but this will most likely be my last hatch for a while so the Little Giant it is. On the upside I’ll have multiple incubators later on

Little Giants are a little finicky but my best suggestion for you is to use multiple thermometers around the incubator so you can find the especially hot and cold spots to avoid them and make sure to rotate your eggs around the incubator at least once a day so they incubate evenly. Good luck on your hatch!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Good luck! I moved my broody from the favorite nest box to a plastic tub turned nest box at night. It took her a day or 2 to remember her new place when she got up for her daily break but she adjusted pretty easily. I hope yours will as well

I'm putting the kennel in the same spot where she's sitting so hopefully she will settle right in but it's going to be closed so she won't get confused about where to go. She'll have her own food and water in there. I'm waiting because it's a small kennel and I don't want to leave her in that small of a space too long BUT I have a lot of hens that keep disrupting her to lay more eggs in her box and I don't want that happening once the chicks start hatching. I have incubators but I would rather not bring them inside if I can avoid it. I prefer to raise chicks when it's warm out because I don't like keeping them inside too long, lol.

 

[Kelsykin]

I like the idea of using a spreadsheet. I’ve been doing it on a calendar. I keep a daily tally of turns, the temp & humidity, settings, when I candle, number tossed on which days, egg weight when set + day 6 & 12 just to make sure they’re losing the right amount etc. I’m a newbie so I’m trying to keep detailed records so I can find my groove so to say.

I use google sheets since it is easily shared. The current one has been going since 2018. I can see the source of the eggs, if they were mine, were purchased and where purchased, the fertility rate, hatch rate, number of eggs, which incubator we used, when set, hatch date, lockdown date, number of eggs etc...

 

[Bananer86]

I'm putting the kennel in the same spot where she's sitting so hopefully she will settle right in but it's going to be closed so she won't get confused about where to go. She'll have her own food and water in there. I'm waiting because it's a small kennel and I don't want to leave her in that small of a space too long BUT I have a lot of hens that keep disrupting her to lay more eggs in her box and I don't want that happening once the chicks start hatching. I have incubators but I would rather not bring them inside if I can avoid it. I prefer to raise chicks when it's warm out because I don't like keeping them inside too long, lol.

I had other girls disrupting mine too, she was in the favorite box so I had to move her. She went broody in October when it started turning cold so I thought an enclosed area would better suit her too

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Lockdown for the first set of 5 February eggs (the one egg that was due on Feb 1st, hatched on January 31st, so not counting that one in the Feb tally). Due to hatch on Saturday the 5th.
Candled all the others as well today, 7 due to hatch on the 8th and 2 on the 9th look good here on DAYS 14 and 15.
18 due on Feb 16 all looking good here DAY 7, except for one that looks like it may turn into a blood ring, I see some breakdown in the veining. Will give a few days to see what it does.
Got to love staggered hatches!

 

[Kelsykin]

Little Giants are a little finicky but my best suggestion for you is to use multiple thermometers around the incubator so you can find the especially hot and cold spots to avoid them and make sure to rotate your eggs around the incubator at least once a day so they incubate evenly. Good luck on your hatch!

Even in my cabinet incubators I have several thermometers and hydrometers. I don;t trust any of them to not break

 

[Silverwulfess]

Halfway through Day 21/20, no new pups since yesterday lunchtime. Hoping I’ll get some more hatching!

 

[Chookwagn]

Start of day 21 and I have 4 fluffers wobbling around the incubator bit hard to see how many more have pipped