ID-ing right after the hatch?

[ebonykawai]

I'm not sure how to go about doing this. I have eggs from two sources and I want to ID the chicks so I know who came from where later. If I can't open the incubator during a hatch, how can I mark them? What does everyone else do?

 

[Katy]

I make a little cardboard wall to section the hatcher into two sides. I duct tape the ends of it to the sides of the hatcher.

 

[living2ride]

Quote:
Last year I incubated eggs from my chickens for my neighbor, and from my neighbors chickens for myself - we wanted new blood in our flocks. So instead of X's and O's to mark the eggs, I marked them with P's and I's (her initials) and A's and L's (mine.) Then when I got to day 18, I made a hardware cloth "basket" the size of half the incubator. I put all of her eggs into one basket (so to speak,

) and left mine in the other half. Then when hatch was complete, they were still separated. There was one particular chick of mine however that I wanted to keep. I knew it had come from my favorite hen (my one EE that lays gorgeous solid olive colored eggs) so as soon as that one hatched and dried, I reached in and marked it's head with a red sharpie marker and quickly stuck it back in. And wouldn't you know, that one was a pullet who's daddy was obviously my SLW roo. She turned out absolutely gorgeous and she also lays a pretty olive-colored egg, just like mama! Gotta love that!

 

[living2ride]

Quote:
Uh... her way is easier!

I bloodied my hands making that dang hardware cloth basket.

 

[ebonykawai]

Excellent, thank you both! I didn't even think about doing a separation!

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Uh... her way is easier!

I bloodied my hands making that dang hardware cloth basket.

And here I was just thinking as I read how you did it, that I'd have to try doing it that way!

 

[coffeemama]

Really great ideas-you could probably also buy a wire mesh basket somewhere and use it. I'm going to keep my eyes out for one!

 

[ebonykawai]

This is excellent! I was so worried about my next hatch. I have eggs coming from three sources and I really need to keep them separate for breeding purposes. Now I'm ready to rock!

 

[living2ride]

Quote:
Yeah, the key is finding one that will fit in the incubator with it closed. That was why I made one. I couldn't find one that fit correctly.

 

[coffeemama]

ahah! yes, it is sometimes tricky to find just the right fit.