First Time Hatching Anyone With Me??

[Kathryn4629]

Well things have been crazy here!! 22" of new snow and no power for the last 24 hours

Luckly I have a generator to hook up, right now I am running the fridge and the incubator. Blizzard waning today, and the temp is only -5f outside right now. I wonder that the wind chill is with 40 mph gusts of wind?

On a better note I am going to candle today! Hope I see lots of live ones

 

[Kathryn4629]

AllCoop'dUp :

Good news!! I'm pretty sure that 17 out of 18 are good...BUT!!! I placed the eggs in the incubator with the pointy end down like the instructions said, SO...how come the air sac is on the bottom and not on the top? Don't the chicks need to zip from the large end?

Congrats on the 17/18!!

I have no idea why the air sac would be on the bottom?? I have a turner and my eggs have the air sacs on the top

I will defiantly try looking (searching) BYC for some answers for you. Well I will try just as soon as I get all the animals fed around here.​

 

[texaschickmom]

Quote:
OMG! I'll have to say you're handling the power outage better than I would! I'm in East Texas and it's 64 right now with lots of sun! I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold.
I'm excited to hear about your candling, so let us all know ASAP. I'm on Day 2 of my first incubating experience and need all the help I can get!

 

[Kathryn4629]

Well the power is back on!!

I only ended up losing a couple of degrees between it going out and getting the generator fired up. Gosh I felt like one of the silly city people that HAVE to run the generator all the time. Usually I dont run it at all when the power goes out. Well I should say that I do run it to pump some water out of the well, but thats about it.

On a slightly better note I candled today.... and I have good news and bad news. Out of 16 I have 9 that dont seem to be developing. I went out and got a new LED mag light and it is sooooo much brighter than the other flashlight that I was using. So after using the new one I could see that I was wrong about having so many develop

I am currently in denial about taking the bad eggs out

they are still in there. I know I need to take them out...

Seeing the development was awesome!! I could see the little hearts fluttering around in there and all the veins

So cool, I am like a kid in a candy store... I want to candle them every 2 hours

How is everyone else doing???????? Keep us all posted!

(off subject) I had a guy at the hardwear store today tell me that I should have a MAN look at my generator(I was buying a spark plug for it)

Bacause.... "I probably didn't know what I was doing" I didn't know what to say. I am a single woman that lives alone in the woods of far north Idaho with my dogs, chickens and horses. I can run a chainsaw, work on my truck and definatly buy a spark plug

Heck I even own guns

 

[Kathryn4629]

I just counted...I have 13 more days to go

How will I survive??

 

[texaschickmom]

Quote:
So good to get your update. I can imagine how you feel about the 9 that aren't developing. But I think you're wise to leave them in for now. Maybe check them one more time in a couple of days, just to make sure. I'm going to get one of those lights. Does Walmart sell them?
You are an independent woman! I like that! I had a car salesman treat me like that one time. I never went back there again!
I'm just on day 3...I have 18 more days. I feel your pain!

 

[KZ]

Kathryn, you make me laugh. I like your website too ( love the roommate story )

So anyway, I still can't see anything in my eggs. I should have stuck in one light colored egg just so I would have ONE I could see. Sometimes I just don't think. Too late.

Last summer I let my peahen sit on 4 eggs that I was certain were unfertile. Then I decided enough was enough and cleaned her pen and took out the eggs. I stuck them on a rain barrel and left them there all day, then I took them in the house to candle (just for fun) and I couldn't see anything. They appeared to be full of a big yolk. So I opened them ... 3 had fully developed chicks and might have hatched if I left them alone.

Now I know what an egg looks like when it is full of a chick. The peahen still seems to dislike me. Go figure.

I may not know if my eggs are developing until they hatch (or don't), but I am just going to leave them alone unless they start to smell. I will continue to try to candle them, anyway - even if I really can't see anything! I figure maybe on day 10 I will be able to see some movement, at least.

I plan to buy a wickedly expensive incubator because the economy continues to need to be stimulated and I hardly ever get myself anything really cool and unnecessary. According to what I have read, some of those fancy incubators can hatch even wooden eggs. While I am at it, I might buy one of those stacking brooder/grow out pens because they appear to be cleaner than having a plastic box full of poopy wood shavings in my basement (very stinky). But, because at heart I am very "thrifty" I will ponder this for a while and try to figure out a way to make them pay for themselves.

So many chickens, so little time.

 

[Kathryn4629]

Quote:
So good to get your update. I can imagine how you feel about the 9 that aren't developing. But I think you're wise to leave them in for now. Maybe check them one more time in a couple of days, just to make sure. I'm going to get one of those lights. Does Walmart sell them?
You are an independent woman! I like that! I had a car salesman treat me like that one time. I never went back there again!
I'm just on day 3...I have 18 more days. I feel your pain!

Yeah I am really hoping that some how those eggs will develop. The worst part is that I think most of them are from my favorite cochin (Big Bertha) and I really want baby Bertha chicks. Oh well, such is life.

Not sure about Walmart, but if you just look at the amount of Lumens (flashlight lingo for brightness) it has you should be good.

Yes I do not tolerate men like that! Especially if they act like that, and are trying to sell you something.

18 more days..... the wait is sooo hard!! I have started doing the projects around the house that I have been putting off, to keep me busy.

 

[Kathryn4629]

Quote:
I am glad I make someone laugh

Yes that roommate was from well you know, that really hot place.

I bet that peahen was mad at you! Oh well it was a learning experience, and you wont doubt her next time

That really sucks that you can't see much in the eggs, makes me really glad that I didn't buy some BCM eggs to start with. I would be going insane! Are you using a powerful flashlight?

I am already dreaming of a better incubator

I am also haunting the hatching eggs auctions, I have a list of what I want started.

I blame BYC for creating yet another hatching monster. You should go for the expensive incubator!! Do you have a birthday coming up? It could just be an early b-day present to yourself.

I already have friends wanting to buy chicks from me, even with them being mutts. I see that as an excuse to hatch some more (laughs evilly)

I have just started thinking about building a nice brooder. I want something that is easy to clean and will last for a long time.

 

[kfchickenlady]

Kathryn4629 wrote: 18 more days..... the wait is sooo hard!! I have started doing the projects around the house that I have been putting off, to keep me busy.

Oh good, Im not the only one! It got my laundry room all sorted and I even washed the washer and dryer,

I miscounted the days and lockdown is tues, not mon...

I need a better bator as the one im using is fine, but not mine. DH wants to build one of course, but a nice foolproof one is what Im after, I dont know, are homemade bators that reliable? Same parts as the expensive nice new shiny ones?