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

[SilkieSensation]

I was going to convert an old aquarium stand, but it just didn't seem like it would be big enough and would have taken a bit more work. I really wanted a drawer/tray at the bottom, but oh well. If this becomes more than a passing addiction, I can always get handier and more creative. All I had to do was clean it up, remove the shelves and the hinges on the door. I have some hardwire cloth I will make a top out of. Do you think there will be enough air circulation with it only being open on the top?

Before:


After:

You may want to put screen or wire over the top. Those babies learn to fly very quickly & after about a week they will be out & running everywhere.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Up-cycle yah, chicks yah, two great things go great together Must show us pics when you are done!!

I was SO excited NYDH when I saw the first movement in one of my light colored eggs, it was a THRILL.

I'm staying strong til day 7 for the group (so any of you who want to run off and candle an egg can do so now, I got wait til day 7 covered for ya' ).

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Anyone have one of those nifty graphic drawing of the ideal size of the air cell at various days, for DUCKS ?? or is it same ratio of air to egg as for the chicken eggs, makes sence it would be the same, but I don't want to assume...

also, any duck candle pics? or again basically the same...hum, I feel unprepared all the sudden...

Ducks develop a bit more slowly but otherwise pretty similar progression. Air cell would take 4 weeks to get to the same point instead of 3. Most duck eggs you won't see much development in until day 7-10.

 

[SilkieSensation]

There is no point in me even trying to candle until after day 10 since all of my eggs are dark or colored. Many of them I never will be able to see much more than an aircell growing larger & a dark mass growing in the egg.

 

[chicken pickin]

You will have dust EVERYWHERE putting them in the livingroom!!! I house my babies in the basement after they are a few days old.

Eh I never really noticed the dust at least not horribly. I wipe everything down every few days any how. I like to keep all the babies in the house for the first 3 weeks. 1) because its warmer in here and easier to tend to them then going out to the garage and 2) because it gives the whole family including the kids a front row seat on watching them grow and everone gets to handling them every day. My chicks are always super people friendly so I just continue on with what Ive always done

 

[SilkieSensation]

Eh I never really noticed the dust at least not horribly. I wipe everything down every few days any how. I like to keep all the babies in the house for the first 3 weeks. 1) because its warmer in here and easier to tend to them then going out to the garage and 2) because it gives the whole family including the kids a front row seat on watching them grow and everone gets to handling them every day. My chicks are always super people friendly so I just continue on with what Ive always done

Mine is probably due to the quantity of chicks I end up with at a time. I run staggered hatches & the bator never really gets shut off so I also have several brooders set up at once for different age/size babies & a separate one for ducks & another for quail & Serama. Lots of babies make way more dust than just a few. And mine are still in the house, just not where the dust is going to kill my asthma constantly.

 

[Sally8]

I'm staying strong til day 7 for the group (so any of you who want to run off and candle an egg can do so now, I got wait til day 7 covered for ya' ).

I'm waiting with you. I can just see me looking and then think, well maybe this one is just a little slow or I wonder if it started and died (my grandson adjusted the knob 2 days ago). Anyway, I'm waiting as much as it is killing me.
Last hatch I took my quilting OTT light and stuffed it in a box with an egg sized hole in it, taped all the little holes shut so the light could only show through the egg. Worked very well for me. Can't wait to show pics. Some of my eggs I had saved for almost 2 weeks so I don't have high hopes for all. Actually, I have 2 broody hens out in the coop. If for some bizarre reason they all hatch my DH will pop a vein!

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

The only potential problem I see with using old furniture as a brooder is the cleaning. Those chicks get really messy, especially as they get bigger, and the easier your brooder is to clean, the less time you have to put them somewhere else while you clean it. I use a giant dog crate as a brooder. I line the sides with cardboard stripes, they can't fly out of the top, and I can rest the heat lamp on top of the metal wire. I like being able to see through the side of the cage...good for chick-watching. At cleaning time, I take it outside, dump the shavings into the compost, rinse it with the hose, and put down fresh shavings. It takes less than 5 minutes. I keep my chicks in the laundry room. They do have a smell, not a strong smell, and it's not bad if you clean often, but it's not something I'd want in my living room.

 

[Sally8]

That's not good!!!! 102 isn't frying but close! Do you know how long its been like that?

Last spring's hatch had 4 thermometers in it by the time they arrived. All had different temps. DROVE ME CRAZY!!!
My temps were at 102 more often than I liked but I had a 90% hatch and had more females than males. I was happy. Just a comment here but I never added water! Humidity stayed at 16% and just before they pecked that first tiny hole, the humidity would rise drastically. I could always tell.
Had a very successful hatch. What do you all do with all the chicks hatched? Do you keep them, sell them? I have someone interested in chickens but....
Like I said probably not many will hatch. They are my own and it is just an experiment of sorts

Is anyone hatching Black Copper Marans? I hatched 4 last spring and once they pipped it was only minutes and they popped out of those eggs. It was amazing! No slow coming out for them. In a couple of months I'm incubating BCM and am interested to see if they will do the same.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Quote:

I have 10 BCM in with my other eggs. The ones I hatched last year were also fast to hatch. I'm hoping for the same this time!

 

[Peggy-Sue]

Well thats good news... Hahaha they can be late up hatch super fast! Anyways we are starting to turn today!