first time incubating day 20

[crazy chkn lady]

So excited, its my first time incubating and this morning one of my eggs has pipped and I can hear cheeping

 

[MereBear]

Ooooo that's amazing!! What kind of incubator are you using? I'm thinking of getting one if our hens don't go broody this spring. Please keep us up to date with pictures, and good luck!!

-Meredith

 

[crazy chkn lady]

Ooooo that's amazing!! What kind of incubator are you using? I'm thinking of getting one if our hens don't go broody this spring. Please keep us up to date with pictures, and good luck!!

-Meredith

It's a homemade one I made from a styrofoam cooler, I wouldn't have done it but my rooster died and I relly wanted to hatch some of his chicks and didnt want to wait on an order for a real incubator.. I started with 8 eggs, 2 were not fertile then I lost one on about day 4 then 2 on day 8 after a temp spike. I wouldn't hatch them again in this incubator, had alot of problems keeping the temp just right.

I'm so excited that the 3 left are all wiggling and the one has pipped and 2 of them are peeping

I really hope they all make it.

 

[Adam7]

Congrats on your pip! I have a homemade bator and it holds temps great. Maybe next time try a plastic cooler(mine is igloo brand). Any way, good luck on your hatch!

 

[MereBear]

I had no idea you could make a home made incubator. Do you use a brooder lamp to heat it? I can't wait to see those babies!!

 

[crazy chkn lady]

First baby hatched about an hour ago

 

[uncleden]

I have an old incubator that looks like it was made in the 1920's. It is electric. I used it in the spring of 2011. It worked OK because the chicks hatched. Out of 14 eggs I only got 2 chicks but I believe that was because the eggs were probably mishandled and improperly stored before I got them. This year I am hoping the fat old Cochin hen I have will decide to get broody. She hasn't layed an egg since August. Up till then she was laying just a couple a week and then something killed her buddy (I just had two hens) and she stopped completely. I think she was pretty old already when I got her, but I thought a hen would occasionally still lay an egg now and then as long as they live. I just got another hen that is a young buff orpington and she has layed 6 eggs in the last 7 days. Does anyone know? Will the old Cochin hen ever get broody even if she has stopped laying. Is there something I should do to encourage broodiness? She has until memorial day to show some interest in the idea. If not by then she goes in the soup pot!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

awwwww CONGRATS!!

 

[crazy chkn lady]

Thanks, second egg has pipped now

 

[Adam7]

Thanks, second egg has pipped now

Congrats!! e