INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[kwhites634]

Alright, I had to adopted/buy 2 chicks for my "lone wolf" d'uccle, I found some sexlinks, I HATE THEM. They are the messiest chicks I have ever encountered. Feed EVERYWHERE! Once I am able to hatch some more friends for my little D'Uccle man, they are out of there.

I have Red Sex-links, as well, and mine wasted a lot of feed...until I built a gravity feeder out of 4" PVC pipe with a "Y" on the bottom. No muss, no fuss, and no more wasted feed.

 

[Bejammie]

Glad I found this place...I have 24 eggs and counting, starting the incubation tomorrow. I am excited and scared, lol. I have white leghorn eggs, bcm eggs and some mixed breed eggs....so excited!!

 

[kguinness76]

@mims want 2 sexlink pullets?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hi, all. Just wanted to introduce myself. I recently bought a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance. It is sitting in the box, and I haven't decided if I should use it now, or wait for warmer weather. I'm leaning towards now, so they can be of laying age by Spring. I have never incubated eggs before, but I have been researching like crazy for the last several months. I'm sure I will be here for some hand holding at times.

I am in west Texas, and I currently have 17 chickens. RIR, RIW, Leghorn, Orps, Silkie, Australorp, BCM roo, etc. My first and main flock was killed about a month ago, so I am working on rebuilding it. The survivors of my main flock are 25 weeks, and I have yet to get an egg. I will not be surprised if I don't get any until Spring. 4 are hens that were found hiding around a pumpjack in the middle of nowhere. No idea how old they are. 3 were dumped at the shelter after their owner abandoned them when they moved. No idea on age.

Hello there! WElcome to the thread! what a bummer for the flock How harsh is the weather in west tx? do you have a place to winter little ones or a way to sell them off if you hatch just for practice? how have you prevented a kill from happening again? do you know what gottum in the first place? Texas is terrible for preds isnt it? What do those pullets combs and wattles look like? are they starting to show some red yet? what is a pumpjack anyways?

where have you been researching incubation? I like holding hands! Its good for you, dont you know that? Do you know that you need to buy some extra thermo/hygros for your incubator because you should never rely on the one that came with it? and you always need to calibrate and make sure your spot on? Do you know that the best eggs to start out with are local eggs, they have to be fresh eggs, and yea its best if they are fertilized

but you know that! but seriously less that 10 days from lay is always best! Do you have access to local eggs to practice with? Do you have any dream breeds you would like? How many questions is too many to ask when you first meet someone?
I sowwy

Alright, I had to adopted/buy 2 chicks for my "lone wolf" d'uccle, I found some sexlinks, I HATE THEM. They are the messiest chicks I have ever encountered. Feed EVERYWHERE! Once I am able to hatch some more friends for my little D'Uccle man, they are out of there.

ugh ohhhhhh

Glad I found this place...I have 24 eggs and counting, starting the incubation tomorrow. I am excited and scared, lol. I have white leghorn eggs, bcm eggs and some mixed breed eggs....so excited!!

LOL why are you scared? unless your hatching goblins and I am pretty sure Halloween is over now?

you found the perfect place, to help guide you! anything you want to question have at it! many great hatchers are already on the thread!

@mims want 2 sexlink pullets?

ha ha ha crack me up!

 

[RobJones]

Hi guy's some good info on here thanks

 

[nuklee0]

Hi, tough morning... Woke up to a broken door on one of our smaller coops that housed 4 silkies. Turns out a bear got 3 of the 4. I was wondering if anyone has more info on staggered hatches? I started my 2nd hatch about 6 days ago... This morning I found two more Silkie eggs and would like to put them in the incubator... when the existing eggs go into lockdown, would that negatively impact these two eggs? Should I try or not even bother? Thoughts or any experiences please? Thank you.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hi guy's some good info on here thanks

Glad to have you with us anytime you want to pop on! welcome! are you incubating currently?

Hi, tough morning... Woke up to a broken door on one of our smaller coops that housed 4 silkies. Turns out a bear got 3 of the 4. I was wondering if anyone has more info on staggered hatches? I started my 2nd hatch about 6 days ago... This morning I found two more Silkie eggs and would like to put them in the incubator... when the existing eggs go into lockdown, would that negatively impact these two eggs? Should I try or not even bother? Thoughts or any experiences please? Thank you.

Hello nuklee0 that sucks big time, so sorry to hear that. I hope you can get that under control soon. I think thats a tough one to deal with. I have heard even the hot wires they will tear through.

How are you running humidity now? using it as a tool for the correct weight loss? meaning your keeping a close eye on air cells for weight loss or weighing eggs, your not setting humidity at a set number and leaving it there right?
If your air cells are on track, what you should be able to do, is keep looking for internal pips/draw down when its time for lockdown, and the minute you see drawdown/internal pips just up the humidity to aprox 55/60 until those hatch and lower it immediately and get those chicks out. Depending on timing, there are several ways to try to loose weight on those other eggs before or after. plan it in your head. you dont need a full 18 19 20 21 days of lockdown if your keeping a keep eye on those eggs, are they all silkies? thats a variable too, they will hatch earlier than others. @Cynthia12 she staggers all the time she will know what to do!

 

[UrbanFarmOC]

Subscribing to learn more! Am still fairly new to chickens (1.5 years so far), but we've had many many additions since the original 4 we bought. That darned chicken math thing! In this short time, I have learned quite a bit thanks to all the folks here on BYC. We even have an accidental roo, a Salmon Faverolles aptly named RuPaul, and have had 2 broodies hatch clutches of eggs.

Recently, I bought my man an incubation kit as part of his birthday gift, consisting of an incubator (used Genesis Hovabator), hygrometer and candler. We have many things going on right now, so I am not HE is not ready to start incubating until after the holidays. I want HE will want to start with hatching our own eggs first, because we don't even know if the incubator will work, and I don't he would not want to invest in buying pricey eggs as a newbie hatcher.

I don't know why I keep making typos. It's his birthday incubator afterall, not mine.

He did say that he was tempted to invest in an incubator.

. Shouldn't part of my gift to him include me hatching some wonderful eggs for him so that he doesn't have to do all the work and worrying? hehehe.

 

[nuklee0]

Glad to have you with us anytime you want to pop on! welcome! are you incubating currently? Hello nuklee0 that sucks big time, so sorry to hear that. I hope you can get that under control soon. I think thats a tough one to deal with. I have heard even the hot wires they will tear through. How are you running humidity now? using it as a tool for the correct weight loss? meaning your keeping a close eye on air cells for weight loss or weighing eggs, your not setting humidity at a set number and leaving it there right? If your air cells are on track, what you should be able to do, is keep looking for internal pips/draw down when its time for lockdown, and the minute you see drawdown/internal pips just up the humidity to aprox 55/60 until those hatch and lower it immediately and get those chicks out. Depending on timing, there are several ways to try to loose weight on those other eggs before or after. plan it in your head. you dont need a full 18 19 20 21 days of lockdown if your keeping a keep eye on those eggs, are they all silkies? thats a variable too, they will hatch earlier than others. @Cynthia12 she staggers all the time she will know what to do!

Thanks Sally. I'm a total newbie and this is my 2nd hatch only so I'm not very knowledgeable about the air cells. When I candle, I don't check or mark the air cells, I only look for the development of the chick. I am keeping the humidity around 30% +/-. I have a couple LF eggs and the rest are Silkie eggs. It's also my first time with Silkie eggs. So does increasing humidity cause the egg to lose weight or gain weight? I wasn't even aware of that because I was just worried about the possibility of drowning these 2 eggs when the others go into lockdown. Thank you!

 

[hereorthere]

Quote: Troublemaker with a capital "T"!!!! Hubby would kill me if we suddenly became over run with new chicks every 21 days!!