I drove over 50 miles to get eggs 8 days ago and guess what?????

[mulia24]

@ ginbart: nice, 100% of success?

wonderful, even with eggs that laid by our hen backyard it could not get 100% or reach it some times only even for only vein thing ( according to my friend) since i'm just trying to hatch those eggs for first time.

that's a luck factor actually, and congrats on that good luck.

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
Don't worry about jacking the thread, it's how we all learn. I need to use a bator because I have production reds and they don't go broody much if at all. So if I want more that's what I need to do. I do now have silkies that will do that for me next year.

 

[Akane]

It's not that hard to hatch in a bator. If I get less than a 95% hatch on my own eggs I really did something wrong. After you get used to using a bator you should get nearly the same hatch rate on eggs that haven't been roughly handled as a hen. It's the shipped eggs that vary so much. On shipped eggs you are doing good to get 50% and over that is uncommon. The results are not that much higher if you put shipped eggs under a hen. Also when you get eggs from someone else there are plenty of things that could be wrong with them. They may not even be fertile, stored improperly, too old.... You are trusting that person that they know their eggs are good.

A hen does hatch better than a bator but not by so much that it makes a bator pointless. Once you know what your doing running the bator you can get real close to the hatch rates you'd have under a hen. Broody hens also have their problems. Some will quit sitting, some will break the eggs, some will kill the chicks on hatching, and some breeds rarely to pretty much never go broody. Not every hen makes a good broody. So first you have to have a broody (I've only had one) at the same time you want to hatch eggs which can be difficult to time and then you have to have a good broody who will sit them the whole time and hatch the chicks without getting any killed. If you know how to use a bator you're odds really aren't that much lower than a broody unless they have proven to be a good one.

 

[scbatz33]

I have good rates with shipped and horrible rates with shipped. It's all about the quality of bird you are looking for. I wanted relly good, type orpingtons...not too many around here so i had them shipped. Also, if you want diversity in your breeding stock, you sometimes have to go farther away than driving allows.

Now that my girls are old enough, I will cross my various lines to make improvements and get

the kind of bird I have envisioned.

It's all about what you are looking to acomplish and how much you're willing to pay to get there.

ETA: As for incubator...I like to hatch them. It's a cool learning experience and it's a personal accomplishment to see the eggs through to a little chick - IMO. Further, I dont' have a broody hen...and there are tons of difficulties with them either way. My incubator is easier to "manage".

I also hatch, because I can't see paying a ton of money to be on a waiting list to get the chicks i want. There are very few hatcheries in the country that sell orpingtons - good ones - in any color other than buff. I know several folks who got put on waiting lists only to be told never mind - call us next year. It 's a slower process to hatch, raise, cull and breed, but it is so worth it to be more incontrol over what you are getting.

Again, it's about what you are looking to do with your birds.

 

[kassy68]

Quote:
Honestly.. I am new to chickens/hatching this year... ANd I personally don't see the big deal in the hatching in a bator.. I was given a hovabator with turner.. I plugged it in and my 2 fertile eggs hatched a day early on their own.. the next hatch 7 outta 8 hatched (8th had a deformaty and would never have hatched) and now I have 10 outta 16 shipped eggs that are full and ready to hatch.. I plug it in , add a little bit of water and the humidity on the first two was 23%-50% and got jacked up by accident to 85% for hatching.. but it was a success.. This hatch I did more by the book cuz i bought these eggs and so humidity pretty consistant around 50% and on lock down now at 100degrees and 70% humidity.. (I probably should have done what I did the first two times and not worried a bit)
If I had a broody hen, they would so be under her.. but I have not a hen who wants to be a mommy yet.

 

[PeepsInc]

I drove for my ebay Silkies. Out of 15 eggs 7 were fertile. I think she (the seller) needed to trim their vents. Had 5 hatch because of low humidity. Live & learn..... Peace!

 

[HBuehler]

I'm having mixed success with shipped eggs...some were a complete loss but I have some from another byc member where every one is growing great..not one infertile or broken.Then I had some given to me when I picked up some chickens..some were infertile.Still I would rather drive for them BUT I can't in most cases..they just don't have the breeds I have or in the quality I want.

MandyH wrote:

Well I'm glad your luck was better than mine was. We drove 600 miles roundtrip to pick up some rare rose comb Rhode Island White eggs, and out of 5 DOZEN eggs, I got 6 birds.

ep I'm so sorry. BUT you did get 6 so that's a start. I thought I had RIW's but they ended up being White Rocks. But that's Ebay for you.

I will have some true White Rhode Island's for sale in the spring..chicks and eggs.My flock is coming along nicely..and I don't own a White Rock so your safe

only other white ones I have are leghorns.​

 

[Camelot Farms]

Congrats!

Another BYCer and I decided to do the same with just a slightly different twist. She is hatching what I want from her stock, I am hatching what she wants from mine (and a 3rd BYC'er kicked in some of her eggs, that were needed by the 1st BYCer) and then we are going to meet in the middle and trade chicks.

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do to feed the addiction.....lol

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
Thats a good idea.

A BYC member hatched some eggs for me too, she is called Ahappychick. That's how I got my silkies and I love them.

But she shipped them over night for me. I was so worried but they got here ok.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I think you mean 'horrible hatch rates'. Shipping does nothing to the fertility, but can wreak havoc on the eggs sustainability.

That being said, I don't get chicken eggs shipped at all anymore, and won't unless it's something I REALLY need. I can't hatch shipped chicken eggs worth a darn. Quail eggs are different, I have no problem whatsoever with those. I think it really has to do with the incubator, I basically have it set for quail, and seem to have forgotten how to hatch chickens. I can hatch my own, but not shipped ones. Every so often I get lucky though