Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!
A friend of mine has surprised me with an incubator for Christmas. It's a "yescom" brand (anyone familiar with those?). It sounds like a nice one, as it fits 48 eggs and has an automatic turner. I also happen to have a broody hen (hen from my profile picture), so my plan is to put some fertile eggs under her, and a few in the incubator. On the 11th day I will candle the eggs and if some of the ones are no good under my hen I will swap out some good ones from the incubator. It's only in the 30's where I'm at, so I'm not counting on the fertile eggs I have here to be too viable unless I catch them being laid and still warm, so I ordered 9 eggs from a hatchery. I know that some can break during shipment and that some of those might not be fertile, so I'll be happy if I just end up with 2-6 chicks in the end. I don't know how to use an incubator so I sure hope it comes with instructions! I do have a couple of questions that I sure would appreciate some help with.
1. I had once read that the use of incubators results in more Roos, versus broody hen hatching. I also read that the humidity levels will have an effect on the hen to Roo ratio.
ARE EITHER OF THESE THINGS TRUE??
2. I have a friend that is a veterinary lab technician. She said the most important thing to know is to NOT assist a chick when it's trying to get out of the shell, AND that when using an incubator, I must stay closed until the chicks are 24 hours old. Is there anything else that is critically important for me to know regarding my broody hen and/or using an incubator?
This is my first hatch, I ordered day old chicks from a hatchery last year and wanted to try this instead. Any advice is really really appreciated!!
Thank you!
~ Sara
A friend of mine has surprised me with an incubator for Christmas. It's a "yescom" brand (anyone familiar with those?). It sounds like a nice one, as it fits 48 eggs and has an automatic turner. I also happen to have a broody hen (hen from my profile picture), so my plan is to put some fertile eggs under her, and a few in the incubator. On the 11th day I will candle the eggs and if some of the ones are no good under my hen I will swap out some good ones from the incubator. It's only in the 30's where I'm at, so I'm not counting on the fertile eggs I have here to be too viable unless I catch them being laid and still warm, so I ordered 9 eggs from a hatchery. I know that some can break during shipment and that some of those might not be fertile, so I'll be happy if I just end up with 2-6 chicks in the end. I don't know how to use an incubator so I sure hope it comes with instructions! I do have a couple of questions that I sure would appreciate some help with.
1. I had once read that the use of incubators results in more Roos, versus broody hen hatching. I also read that the humidity levels will have an effect on the hen to Roo ratio.
ARE EITHER OF THESE THINGS TRUE??
2. I have a friend that is a veterinary lab technician. She said the most important thing to know is to NOT assist a chick when it's trying to get out of the shell, AND that when using an incubator, I must stay closed until the chicks are 24 hours old. Is there anything else that is critically important for me to know regarding my broody hen and/or using an incubator?
This is my first hatch, I ordered day old chicks from a hatchery last year and wanted to try this instead. Any advice is really really appreciated!!
Thank you!
~ Sara
