Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[lucyharper123]

my incubator is at the perfect temp all day !! well yeah it drops a degrees then shoots back up again it automatic

 

[chicken pickin]

my incubator is at the perfect temp all day !! well yeah it drops a degrees then shoots back up again it automatic

Glad to hear all is going well.

 

[chicken pickin]

My main concern with the temps is its winter and power may go out. My generator decided during Huricane Sandy it didnt want to work any more ao I am out a generator.

 

[SilkieSensation]

OK, I saw questions on broody hens. I've had 3 Silkies sharing a nest this past summer in 100+ degree heat. I gave them eggs that I had started in the bator because I had 5 bators running & ran out of room!!! They managed to hatch several the 1st week (which I promptly stole & placed in the brooder to keep them sitting) but the heat got the rest of the eggs & I ended up with a nest full of rotten eggs a week later. I had a little mixed banty & her buddy sitting a nest for a while as well & did the same with them, gave them started eggs. The buddy attacked the 1st chick to hatch so she was unceremoniously dragged back to the coop hanging upside down by her feet & tossed back in. The "good mommy" was allowed to keep setting eggs until she hatched about 4 more (2 were ducks) & I then gave her back the 1st baby that the other hen had attacked as well. The banty baby at a week old was pretty close in size by then to the newly hatched call ducks & the LF chick she had hatched since I removed it. She didn't even seem to notice there was an extra baby under her since they were all about the same age. I let her stay in my stack cage in the basement with her motley crew for about a week & then put her & the babies in with my Silkies (they accept everyone, no questions asked). I even had a Silkie roo helping her brood the babies for a while.

More recently, I had a broody banty EE hatch 9/11 eggs (1 was clear & 1 was rotten so she got 100% on the good eggs). I stole her babies as soon as they hatched & put them in the brooder only because she was in with 3 other birds in a small breeder cage & I didn't want to chance the other birds hurting the babies. I was rather limited on space at the time because I had moved temporarily until I moved to where I am now & my coops didn't get set completely back up at the temporary location. She was a fabulous momma though so I'm waiting on her to go broody again so I can give her some more eggs & make sure she has a cage to herself this time to brood them. Saves me a lot of hassle with the brooder & bator when I let the hens do the work.

1 thing I have learned about broodies though: Always mark her eggs when she 1st starts sitting & remove any extras she happens to accumulate daily. Most broodies will steal additional eggs or let other hens lay in their nests. If a hen has a staggered hatch going on that spans more than about 2 days she will either neglect the 1st chicks hatched to stay sitting on the nest or will abandon the remaining eggs to take care of the ones already hatched. She just can't do both at once. The only way to handle a staggered hatch like that is to steal the older babies as they hatch & put them in the brooder until hatch completes. Sometimes the hen will take them back at the end of the hatch & sometimes she won't, but it's better to brood them yourself than have them all die.

 

[nakanich]

I would like to join! I set my shipped eggs on 5 January. I set Cream Legbars, Black Copper Marans, Wheaten Marans, Lavender Orpingtons, Coronation Sussex, Welsummers and Blue Splash Silkies. I will not be turning my eggs for 7 days. Some of them had a pretty rough ride through the postal system. One box was crushed on one end and one egg was broken and one was cracked, pretty sure they are pretty shook up... Not holding my breath but still hopefull!

 

[Outrun Acres]

my incubator is at the perfect temp all day !! well yeah it drops a degrees then shoots back up again it automatic

Yay! What type of incubator do you have?

 

[Outrun Acres]

I would like to join! I set my shipped eggs on 5 January. I set Cream Legbars, Black Copper Marans, Wheaten Marans, Lavender Orpingtons, Coronation Sussex, Welsummers and Blue Splash Silkies. I will not be turning my eggs for 7 days. Some of them had a pretty rough ride through the postal system. One box was crushed on one end and one egg was broken and one was cracked, pretty sure they are pretty shook up... Not holding my breath but still hopefull!

My Aunt hatched some cream legbars last summer. They are sooo beautiful! She purchased shipped eggs too. The first batch she incubated only one of 12 hatched and it died the next day. She thinks they got scrambled in the mail. Her next attempt she hatched 10 out of 12! All chicks were healthy and survived. I know legbars are a really rare breed good luck with your hatch. What type of incubator are you using?

 

[nakanich]

Yes I had that problem also my first batch of Cream Legbars 0 out of 7 hatched, second batch 1 out of 8 hatched, and the third batch I got 5 out of 6!! I am hoping that this batch is more like the third batch rather than the first two but I am afraid that they got too shook up....... I am using a 1588 Genesis Hova-Bator as an incubator and then I hatch in an LG.

 

[Peggy-Sue]

Some day We'd like to hatch cream leg bars! They are so pretty looking!

 

[Sally8]

Finally posting a picture of my eggs set on 1-5-13. Yesterday my 5 yr old grandson adjusted the temp for me and when I looked 2 hours later it was 104. Hopefully it wasn't long enough to do damage.

I don't pay ANY attention to humidity. Last spring it hovered at 16 percent until hatch time. All that were fertile hatched. It's starting out at 16 percent this hatch also.