Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[Bettacreek]

Reese, you sound like me! I have MF coming, trying to get more exchequer (one chick for now), bought more white pullet chicks (plus the adult whites out there) and 6 brown pullets and 1 brown cockerel chicks. The buff are the only ones I don't want.

 

[GableBabble]

My dream leghorn would be the Crele's. Wow...just wow! Buff's are okay. I am not big on Brown. I love the Ex's.

 

[Sahwithchicks]

I had to read up about rabbit breeding when I saw your post last night madamwlf. I had no knowledge of them. I was shocked to read that a rabbit can carry two different terms of babies at once! Also that is was VERY common for dirt time mom rabbits to completely fail, and that infant fatalities where fairly high even with experienced moms.

The things you learn e


I am sorry you woke to dead babies ;(

 

[Sahwithchicks]

I was wondering if any one would share their egg system. Like, how do you keep yourself organized for shipping, incubating and hatching?
I have a system that works for collecting, and incubating, but I am a little less happy about my hatching system. That has a lot to do with my still air basic incubator I use for hatching. I just started the fingernail polish on the legs to tell breeds apart (green NP for BCM and white for OE, since they look the same). It does wear off in a couple of days, but I think I may start toe punching... Just don't know if I do enough hatching to justify it.

 

[mzstre]

Some of my eggs from the incubator accident when it was unplugged for about 12 hours survived and have hatched! They were delayed by a couple of days, but 3 out of 7 Cayugas made it (they were closer to hatch and I had 4 late deaths from the extended cooling). The 6/13 MFLs that were developing at the time the bator incident occurred (4 were clears & 3 quit) all made it to lockdown. Three hatched just fine, 1 hatched with assistance, 1 died after pipping (pipped at bottom and drowned), and the other has pipped on the bottom and may require assistance to hatch. I'm so happy some of them made it!

I have a question for those of you with MFLs. I thought all the chicks were supposed to be the same color? I have chicks that are two very different colors. Three that have hatched are a tawny color. The one that died and one of the others that hatched are dark. The chick hasn't dried completely, but it appears to be mostly brown. ???

 

[Sahwithchicks]

Anyway, thought I would share my system, maybe you guys will too

Ok, I have my bators and all egg stuff (except for shipping materials which are in their own closet) in my bedroom closet.
When I collect my eggs (I go out to look obsessively, like 10 times a day... I like watching my chickens ) the eggs go here

I date them and write the breed code (BCM, BDB...) eggs from shipping also go here to rest.
What ever eggs I am going to set eggs I put a color dot on any set the same day and put them in the Bator

Then I mark the calandra with the same color dot on each of the 21 days and write 1,2,3... So I know if I when I candle where they should be at

I then know the exact lockdown date and hatch date and write it on my wall wipe off calendar, so at quick glacé I know if I have to move something into the hatcher, as well as if I get any requests for a certain breed I can easily know the date for someone to expect them. I also write down what color dot is what breed, or who the shipped eggs came from

This might seem over the top, and way organized for the small scale I do, and it probably is overkill, but I have such mushy brains from worrying about the kids and years of, uh, partying... That I simply would never remember.


I am thinking about getting a wipe board for above my brooder, which is in my laundry shed, to write down the breeds and amounts of hicks I have out there, date of hatch, any claim to them (like if someone wants them, or if I am keeping them), and also identification (nail polish/ toe punch).
I also have a binder I keep hatch logs, shipping logs, swaps owed/due.

 

[mnferalkitty]

The chicks I won in the NYD contest from Greenfire Farms arrived this morning

 

[mnferalkitty]

Anyway, thought I would share my system, maybe you guys will too

Ok, I have my bators and all egg stuff (except for shipping materials which are in their own closet) in my bedroom closet.
When I collect my eggs (I go out to look obsessively, like 10 times a day... I like watching my chickens

) the eggs go here

I date them and write the breed code (BCM, BDB...) eggs from shipping also go here to rest.
What ever eggs I am going to set eggs I put a color dot on any set the same day and put them in the Bator

Then I mark the calandra with the same color dot on each of the 21 days and write 1,2,3... So I know if I when I candle where they should be at

I then know the exact lockdown date and hatch date and write it on my wall wipe off calendar, so at quick glacé I know if I have to move something into the hatcher, as well as if I get any requests for a certain breed I can easily know the date for someone to expect them. I also write down what color dot is what breed, or who the shipped eggs came from



This might seem over the top, and way organized for the small scale I do, and it probably is overkill, but I have such mushy brains from worrying about the kids and years of, uh, partying... That I simply would never remember.

Thats a nice system, I just write on the eggs with pencil sometimes give them a code name and then just write on my calender when to put those particular eggs in lockdown. Nothing fancy

 

[cluckitall]

Very cool system, Sah! It's actually very similar to mine except mine's not so pretty and color-coded Projected hatch date on top of the egg, breed code on the site, I write lockdown and hatch dates on my calendar before I set them (used to set them and forget to write it down... that was bad!). That's about it but it does keep me on track!

Woke up this morning with a realization -- I love the way our subconscious does that! I'd candled last night and had quite a number of eggs with "saddle" air cells. Some with development, but it's been my experience that they don't hatch well when the air cells do that. Now, I do let my shipped eggs sit for 24 hours before incubating, but because I've been running staggered hatches all winter, the egg turners in the big incubator are always on. So they're getting turned immediately which means the ones that have loose air cells at ALL are going to saddle. Sooo... obviously that's changing! I do have two still-air hatching 'bators (usually only one is in use, but I've needed two a couple of times) so for now on, the shipped eggs go in a still-air for the first two days, upright in cartons, then get switched to the main incubator.

I jut wish I'd realized it earlier... Ah well! And good morning everybody!

 

[NotAFarm]

Anyway, thought I would share my system, maybe you guys will too

What ever eggs I am going to set eggs I put a color dot on any set the same day and put them in the Bator

Then I mark the calandra with the same color dot on each of the 21 days and write 1,2,3... So I know if I when I candle where they should be at

I then know the exact lockdown date and hatch date and write it on my wall wipe off calendar, so at quick glacé I know if I have to move something into the hatcher, as well as if I get any requests for a certain breed I can easily know the date for someone to expect them. I also write down what color dot is what breed, or who the shipped eggs came from

This might seem over the top, and way organized for the small scale I do, and it probably is overkill, but I have such mushy brains from worrying about the kids and years of, uh, partying... That I simply would never remember.

What a great system!

I especially like the last calendar with the lockdown and hatch dates....a quick glance is all that's needed. I don't incubate often but this time of the year it can get hectic. Your system will help and I will definitely be using it in a modified way to track my broodies....they are so easy to lose track of when there gets to be more than a couple!