Giving it another go

[Heather J]

Last spring I tried making a homemade incubator, and couldn't keep the temps stable, so I bought an LG with a turner. Somehow I managed to kill everything I put in it. I think the main culprit was that it got too cool for too long when one of the windows fell out--I had goose eggs in there that had to be hand turned every day and I didn't notice the missing window until the next morning.

So, I bought 12+ cochin eggs from Bugladyleah. She sent 15, and though the box was hashed (thank you, USPS), the eggs were all in tact and look good. There are a couple of eggs that the bubbles are floating around, but no cracks at all.

I also bought a dozen eggs from Michelle (Chellester), and she send 8 Mille Fluer, and 9 silkie eggs. Her box was in great condition, and again, the eggs were beautiful.

Thanks again ladies!

Both boxes of eggs arrived today. I added a CPU fan we had sitting around (dh and I run a computer business, so it's new, but cost us nothing as some company sent it as an 'added bonus' when we bought other components), and attached a 12v power cord that already had an on/off switch in the line--how cool is that? (BTW-Miss Priss, thanks for showing how to do this).

I bought a new thermometer/hygrometer and am checking it obsessively. Other than adding water through the vent holes, that incubator is not coming open until day 7 for candling!

I could use all of the good incubating vibes and prayers out there, since were building a new chicken coop just for these babies and I need to have something to put in there!

Oh yes, and I blame all of you for brainwashing me into adding my babies to my flock.

 

[Heather J]

Oh, I also have a Muscovy duck that's sitting on a clutch eggs from her and my cayuga hen. The Cayugas are due about the same time as my chicks, then we'll have to see if anything hatches and if my Muscovy will stay on the nest long enough for hers to hatch. Hopefully my bator will be empty before she leaves the nest so I have somewhere to put the babies until hatch time.

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

sounds like you have it together good vibes

 

[Jenlyn9483]

Good luck! Sounds like you are a trooper...Maybe the hatch gods are smiling on you this time! You deserve a break

Keep us fellow hatchers posted on your progress

 

[Heather J]

All right, day 7 and I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I just candled. The box the USPS crushed had three cochin eggs out of fifteen that showed growth. I pulled out one with an air bubble that floated around the entire egg. Then I separated the ones that showed growth to one side of the incubator and the ones I wanted to watch a little longer on the other side. Leah, I have one cochin from pen two and two from the other pen that show growth.

Better news for the sikie and MF eggs. One MF egg I pulled out for floating air bubble, one set with questionable eggs, and one silkie egg set aside with the questionable eggs. The rest all show veins at least--I'm very eggcited! That's 19 eggs total that have definitely begun developing.

I compared them to a video I found of egg candling at day seven and they looked pretty on target. There are a few that may have died when my bator got too cool a few nights ago, but I may just be reading them wrong. I'll wait at least until day 11 to candle again, but I'm going to try and hold out until day 14 unless I smell something rotten in the bator from the non-developing eggs.

Oh, and as far as the duck eggs, my muscovy is still sitting the nest, but I don't see any more Cayuga eggs when she gets off of it. I'm not sure if they went bad and she kicked them out of the nest, or if she just hid them better in the straw. Her eggs should hatch a weeks after the chickies, if I'm doing my math right. I can't wait to see what happens!

 

[pbjmaker]

Good Luck to you!

 

[needmorechickens!]

Hang in there! Those chicks can't wait to see you!

Best Wishes!

~Rebecca

 

[Heather J]

Time for another update, I guess.

I candled again on day ten and removed all but two of the questionable eggs (almost all of them were the ones the PO tossed around). I also dropped one silkie egg from less than an inch and broke it. I was so sick about it because it looked like a healthy baby was inside!

I have 19 eggs left in the bator and four of them looked like they might have stopped developing a few days ago. I decided to wait it out a bit longer though, as long as they don't start to stink. I'm going to try and be patient and not candle again until Sunday, which will be day 18. I'm so excited about this! We're building their coop right now (dh refers to it as the chicken condo because it'll have room to separate out the different breeds next spring. For now I'm just going to let all of the banties run together.

I'm totally excited about this because the eggs I incubated in June never made it this far, or maybe only a couple did. (It was really hard to tell in some of my EE shells because they are so thick, and the cayuga eggs were even worse). If I weren't already pushing the capacity of my coops (one of which isn't even done being built yet, lol), I'd be tempted to toss some of my other girl's eggs in the bator when these hatch. Oh, to heck with that, I'm still tempted! But I'm going to be good until spring. (I wonder if I keep telling myself if I will be able to convince myself it's true?)

 

[Heather J]

Day 18--I candled again as I moved my eggs from the turner to an egg carton. My numbers went from 19 to 11, and to be honest, I put in a few that are probably not viable, but they looked close, so i figured I might as well include them, just in case. I'm now down to 2 mille Fluer out of 9 to start, 6 silkies out of 10 and 3 cochins out of 15. Theoretically they should hatch on Wednesday and Thursday.

The new coop we're building has enough room for 6-8 of each breed, so I'm playing with the idea of ordering some extras from Ideal--for winter warmth, of course. lol They still have silkies and cochins available for the first week in September, so they would be only a few days apart in age. Decisions, decisions. I'll post again when I get my first pip!

 

[warsawffagurl]

HEY!
today is day 18 for me too!
ive got 7 cochin eggs (2 i should prolly throw out)
3 serama eggs (not sure about any)
3 muscovy eggs (got 2 weeks on those still)
Im sending good hatch vibes your way!

~Jenn