Filling the incubator 6-3-2011 Join me for my 1st attempt?

[hudsonnascarfan]

i wasent going to try to candle till lock down but i might try today some time im kinda worried ive had 2 temp spikes and a few low temps with power outages if this hatch doesent work out im going to find some other eggs and try it again sooner or later i will get a hatch to come out ive been trying to find some barred rock or rired eggs to try or even a few jersey giants to try out if not i think that some time this winter ill be hatching out my own eggs ive heard a bunch about waiting a few months after they start to lay yo a few weeks well ill find out the hard way i guess

 

[wowmanacat]

Not to sure if I have joined this thread or not but I will now if you don't mind. I started with 47 eggs in my bator, 11 WLRC eggs, 14 EE's eggs, 12 Jimmies( my neighbors), 10 mixed unknown breeds. Last night I candled for a second time and had to remove 20 eggs, 14 EE's not fertile 2 WLRC blood rings, 4 mixed not fertile. I was kind of upset that all the EE's were not fertile, but then I was not the one to buy them so I was not there to make sure that they were hatching eggs or eating eggs.
This is my 4th go round so I guess I am doing good since at this time I have 31 chicken, rooster, and baby chicks all together, most of them are babies.
So let the waiting begin.

 

[ItsAZOO32]

I have had both very positive and very negative results with shipped eggs. I am on my last hatch of the year I think.. just not enough people wanting the babies

 

[stitch81]

I'm anxiously awaiting lockdown day (monday morning). I've been trying to decide how I'm going to position the eggs for lockdown. They are incubating upright in cartons. I've read many accounts of people who are for, and against, hatching in cartons... It's so confusing trying to decide! I finally came to the conclusion that I will compromise and set the eggs on the little paper towel tubes with the air cell slightly elevated. I'm told this prevents the eggs from rolling around and making it harder on the chick who is trying to pip,etc. I'm satisfied that my hatcher is ready as well. I put a dimmer on the light (a 60watt) and purchased another fan like the one I have in the incubator. All said and done, between the incubator and hatcher, I only have about $20 invested.

 

[wowmanacat]

Quote:
I have heard so much bad with shipped eggs that I just get all my eggs at the local auction that is just about every Saturday, so far I have had very good luck with all the ones that I have bought. The 12 that were no good I did not purchase myself.

 

[Taylorhens]

Quote:
I have heard so much bad with shipped eggs that I just get all my eggs at the local auction that is just about every Saturday, so far I have had very good luck with all the ones that I have bought. The 12 that were no good I did not purchase myself.

I really wish we had some auction/swaps, etc near where I live, but I've never heard of any. I've tried searching online and couldn't find anything. The closest we have is a yucky flea market where I'm kind of afraid to buy birds, not to mention they're overpriced. They sell a lot of birds that do an illegal activity that we're not supposed to discuss on BYC there. I've called the sheriff to try to get them shut down/kicked out, but appparently they can claim out loud that the birds are for this purpose as long as they never get caught actually doing that illegal activity. :-(

 

[lebentier]

i am not any kind of expert, these are my first shipped eggs. mine were shipped from maryland to california, and i have 2 clear, 2 blood rings and 18 developing. i guess i got lucky.

 

[ItsAZOO32]

Quote:
That IS great.. I've had great (15 out of 20 shipped hatch) and BAD.. 1/24 (currently waiting for hatch on that 1) and 7/43... I cannot imagine people spending what they do on some of these eggs..

 

[lebentier]

Quote:
That IS great.. I've had great (15 out of 20 shipped hatch) and BAD.. 1/24 (currently waiting for hatch on that 1) and 7/43... I cannot imagine people spending what they do on some of these eggs..

yay! i am lucky! well, it is only day 11 for me so i guess i shouldn't count my chickens before they are hatched.

 

[Barrdwing]

Some of it probably depends on how much shaking about the box received while it was in transit. I once read about "addling" eggs on purpose so that they won't hatch: basically you take the egg and give it a good sharp shake. That disrupts things enough that the egg can't develop, and the eggs can be put under a broody as placekeepers until the eggs you want to incubate arrive. (Personally, I'd rather use golf balls for that job.) But it seems to me that if a box of fertile eggs got dropped a few times in transit, or even tossed from one person to another, that could easily inflict enough force to shear apart the embryonic disc or disrupt the air cell or yolk--hence the "scrambled" eggs that some people have reported getting in a shipment. By comparison, eggs seem pretty resistant to simple vibration or gradual acceleration/deceleration. Otherwise, nothing that rode in a vehicle would hatch. They really are remarkably tough little things, eggs.