First Hatch, Due Febuary 25. Who's with me?

[eac04]

I HAVE TWO PIPS! TWO PIPS!

Lots of chirping coming from the incubator.

 

[mtnkids]

I didn't see this thread before! My eggs are also due tomorrow, got home from tractor suppy today at noon and I have one pip! I have really dark penedesenca eggs so I haven't even tried candling them at all and have no idea how any of them are doing! At least one of them has made it this far, he's in there cheeping at me!

 

[team_metzer]

I had 8 hatch yesterday and 1 hatched last night .

3 died in the shell last night I have 3 that are pipped right now.

10 Eggs with nothing that I can tell..

None were suppose to hatch until today. Why do I have this space in hatching? All eggs were pulled the same day. Not complaining mind you, this I our first time.

 

[team_metzer]

My rooster is A black australorpand my hens were production reds & new hampshire`s ... Yet all my chicks are black colored.. for the exception of four califorina whites, they are yellow with a little black on the head

 

[mtnkids]

How is everyone else doing this morning?

I have had two hatch (unfortunately one of those drowned in the bowl of water), and have two more with pips!

 

[juliecox]

team_metzer: No idea! Chickens move in mysterious ways.

I'm stuck here in bed with strep throat, and I am feeling talkative, so I'm going to go on here at great length about chicks and chickens and why I am doing things the way I am. Bwahahaha, captive audience!

I got into chickens about a year ago, and immediately became OOOOOOOOBSESSED. We have only a little suburban house, so are only allowed 4 chickens outside, so I have to order eggs to hatch, then sell the chicks. It brings me joy. My Australorp is a great broody, but a bull-in-china-shop mother, so I knew I needed an incubator. I hatched in a friend's incubator once, and had a disappointing hatch rate - 8 out of 36. So I went looking for an incubator of my own ...

Last fall I was extremely fortunate; I met a couple online at GardenWeb who had a cabinet incubator, a GQF 2066. They'd had it in a shed for many years and wanted it gone, and were extremely generous in giving it to me, with the understanding that they didn't know if it worked or not. I am in karmic debt to them and must pay forward on that one. I plugged it in an wah-lah, it immediately held a steady temp. I found a local farmer who sold her eggs for $2 a dozen, intended really for eating more than hatching, but she did have roosters with them so a good chance they were fertile. I had her hoard all her eggs for me for a week, then drove an hour out and an hour back with 90 eggs in tow! Let me tell you, the kids loved that. (sarcasm. They are 2 and 4. Any time in the car is lost play time.) I candled a selection of them after about a week, and was pleased to see that they were developing.

So this hatch is a mix of leghorn, comets, and maybe a few Silkie or Turken crosses. About a quarter of them are Easter Eggers, and a few are really nice looking green and blue eggs. There are also a couple of nicely colored dark brown eggs (though not Marans dark.) I have every intention of trying to identify the chicks that came from those eggs! Ordinarily I'm not that interested in barnyard mixes - they're just so much harder to sell. But since this is my "test hatch" I didn't want to spend a lot on eggs, or be too emotionally involved (yeah right.) If I got a low hatch rate, or none at all, I needed to be able to make peace with that. Hence the cheapo eggs. Plus, I figured the fuller the incubator, the steadier the temp would be, since the eggs would have their own insulating quality, much like a full refrigerator is easier to keep cold than an empty one.

Anyway! 2 pips in a couple of brown eggs this morning, and as I watched, one of them rocked a little bit! My preschooler was very excited. But I have strep throat, which is perhaps for the best, since otherwise I might be sitting right by the incubator all day! I am excited to see the results of everyone else's hatchings. Post pictures when you can! Isn't it funny how emotionally invested you can become in other people's hatchings?

 

[juliecox]

mtnkids - I've had that happen before. I put a tall, empty jar in the water bowl, so it's impossible for them to actually get in it. Keeps it cleaner, too.

 

[mtnkids]

I have never posted a picture here before, I'm trying to figure out how to do it!

 

[mtnkids]

Okay this isn't a great pic of the chick but I will take more once the next two are out.

Hope this works!

 

[team_metzer]

I had 4 more hatch out this morning, My grandaughter did not want to go to head start, because they need her . Well she went to school anyway. So far we have 17 chics and 10 eggs not pipped yet. My fingers are still crossed