Hatchers Anonymous *Official Thread*

[dsqard]

Beatiful horsey pics Lauren! Love the mini-mare. Is she blue roan? I am such a sucker for blues and black and whites! My avatar is my blue roan snow cap Knabstrupper filly.

 

[LaurenM23]

Thank you! She's actually a steel gray. I'm a big roan fan, too, but the gray is throughout. I just love her! She's such a teddy bear! She looks more like a roan in the winter, for some reason. And Tyke (Tycoon) is actually white and gray when he's all shed out! His winter coat grows in brown! haha

 

[Morgan's_Silkie_Parade]

Hello,
Can I join?
My name is Morgan
And I am..... I am.... *Cough* a hatching addict....
Currently I have 18 jersey giant eggs and 8 duck eggs in my lil styrofoam incubator.
*yes for christmas I am wishing for an automatic turner incubator lol*

 

[LaurenM23]

Welcome, Morgan!!! Those Brinseas are still on sale...(cue the Christmas music!)

 

[Morgan's_Silkie_Parade]

Hahaha This is going to be a VERY helpful help group XD

 

[Cynthia12]

LOL... I just put one of my bators away..feels weird..maybe I'll sell it..anyone interested? Hova 1588....It's in my basement..I keep hearing these sounds from, I think, maybe it's coming from the basement. Or, is it in my head...this sound, now wait, it's thoughts, it "is" from my head! I keep thinking, these other eggs are going to be hatched in a couple of weeks or so, then what?
What in the world will I do? Well, I guess I will have plenty of babies to take care of until they are ready to go out..should have enough to keep me busy. As a matter of fact, was just getting ready to go change some bedding for my other babies...oh dear..that bator>>better..stay downstairs!

 

[LaurenM23]

Alrighty...I have an official hatching plan of action for Spring!

I've talked about wanting to get those young chickies out of my house before winter, but at 9 weeks, they just flat aren't old enough or large enough to go out with the big'uns in the coop. PLUS, my older girls are at 22 weeks now, so they are going onto the Layena to prepare them better for laying. Having multiple birds on multiple feed types would be a pain and I'm not so sure how Flock Raiser adds up to using either of the other two products separately. SO...

I found a sweet 5' x 5' outdoor dog kennel with fixed cover top at Petsmart and set it up in an empty stall in the barn. It's sitting on stall mats for easy clean-up and I added the shavings for bedding. We slid various 2"x4"s in through the slats (not chain link...perfect size to keep chickies in and cats out) to make perches. At one corner, I hung the heat lamp (since we're in the 30s at night). They can scoot closer to or away from the lamp on perches as they need. I added a small dish of grit for them to sample, since they are old enough for treats and things now. I'll be adding a litter box with sand/dirt for them to practice dustbathing in. We brought them down, dipped beaks in the waterer (in case they were suddenly too blind to notice it), and set them loose. They were frozen in place for about 30 seconds! haha They didn't know what to do with all that space!

They have been loving life since and have been all over the perches and making little nests in the bedding! I covered the whole thing with a large mesh wrap (really used for closing off scaffolding on large buildings) for added insulation and to conceal them more from the cats. I don't think the cats have even noticed them yet...after 3 days!!!

Now, I'm set. I'll be able to incubate and hatch in my Brinsea, have a small and large brooder for the babies to feather out in, and a good sized space for youngsters to grow out in prior to integration! Now we just need to add on to the original outdoor run space...and maybe, just maybe build another coop...

ETA: For anyone reading our thread who isn't yet a hatcher but may be on the fence... I bought my first chicks at 1 week old. At 22 weeks, I am just getting to a point where I can touch them, but they have to be perched to be calm enough. The hatched chick, on the other hand, can be handled easily and will approach me readily when I am sitting in the above referenced kennel! The difference between the experiences is marked. Hatching is worth it...even for nothing other than ability to handle the birds without causing them stress!

 

[dsqard]

AWW with that great set up who needs to wait until spring? You should join in on the New Year's hatch. By the time the new ones are big enough to go to the grow out pen in the stall, the older ones will be big enough to move to the big girls coop! See I am thinking ahead and sending enabling vibes to you!!! I am going to join in on the hatch because DH made the mistake of saying it would be neat to hatch our own chicks!

Jumped right on that and told him that I would have to use my "Christmas present" early!

 

[BlueBirdChick]

oh my gosh ive got three now that are a rocking and a rolling and now im going to get another package of hatching eggs wooohoooo. I told myself no more but cannot stop OMGosh what has happened to me??? But I will stop when I get this other package for awhile well until spring time hahahahahaaa. I need help lol

 

[LaurenM23]

So, now that we've passed the blessed Black Friday and Cyber Monday, did anyone make any fabulous new hatching-related (or otherwise) purchases???

With the exception of one extra little 10% promo, it looks like the best Brinsea is doing is the 30% off. *Shew* I'd be mighty peeved if there was some 50% off sale all of a sudden! I'm still bitter over missing out on that extra 10%, though...

I'm still thinking I'll stick a big bow on mine. We set up our tree right next to the hutch it rests on, so I could include it with the Christmas stuff in photos! lol

My youngsters are still loving life in their fancy new "grow-out" pen. The barn cats nest on top (due to the heat lamp), but really don't seem too concerned with trying to get in. Bullet, our little Modern Game, crows his little heart out anytime he hears me come in. Even Lacey, our SPPR...my one successful hatchling, is talking!

I've switched my big 'uns over to Layena, along with a protein supplement for my sweet roo. At 25 weeks now, I'm thinking my girls won't be giving me any eggies until the light catches back up.

Does anyone have experience with layers starting out this late in the year?