Incubators Anonymous

[DMRippy]

Candled the rest of the eggs... down to 94... That does not include the 16 I gave the broodies.... they were still sitting so they got BCM 1 set from each pen. When I took the bad eggs out of the Marans nest some were cold

I gave them Marans, cuz I have so many Marans chicks, it would not be a huge loss if they give up or lost some. These are far enough along that they might be able to talk to the chicks... so maybe she will do a better job.

OK so I have a question... I tossed all the clear eggs.... I found one, with a blood ring that was clear.... except for the blob bobbing around.... it was day 15! It was WAY behind the others and with the blood ring I was really confused.... I took it out....Anybody else have that happen? Usually when they are clear by day 15 they should not have anything in them really.... much less moving

It was a reg brown egg so I could see pretty well with 400 lumens.

I didn't do great at the sale today, it was OK. I sold the Bantam MF , 2 Marans pullet/chicks, some chicks and hatching eggs. Lots of people to talk to, just no real buyers. I was going to load the bator up for the next one, but know I am thinking maybe not..... what do you think?

 

[Arielle]

Donna, not sure what to think about that egg . . . I don't have a lot of experience in that department.

Are you considering cutting back on hatching? Perhaps take orders for hatching, where folks pay in advance and you set to fill an order. Perhaps focus on the breeds that are not at the feed store. BO are listed in the top 5 searches on BYC. Are BO popular in your area?

I love mine and bought 2 roosters, unrelated, to hatch little gold puff balls. I love the color. Roo #2 is free ranging now with a group of young girls recently added to the coop. Guess they all feel like outsiders so they hang together!

 

[DMRippy]

Donna, not sure what to think about that egg . . . I don't have a lot of experience in that department.

Are you considering cutting back on hatching? Perhaps take orders for hatching, where folks pay in advance and you set to fill an order. Perhaps focus on the breeds that are not at the feed store. BO are listed in the top 5 searches on BYC. Are BO popular in your area?

I love mine and bought 2 roosters, unrelated, to hatch little gold puff balls. I love the color. Roo #2 is free ranging now with a group of young girls recently added to the coop. Guess they all feel like outsiders so they hang together!

I had some ask for them today! they are popular, but I don't think I want to add another breed yet. I need to do some culling of my breeds. We are going out of town and I didn't really plan on hatching any for about a month till we got back. Son said it was OK with him, and I figured out I need to set a batch to hatch the week we get back so I would have chicks for the sale, BUT since they didn't sell well I am not so sure.

I have thought about taking orders even put up an ad on CL for that but no takers, I think sometimes chicks are an impulse by and they will want the day olds. I am just getting so many eggs and it is hard to sell them on here now....

I hate to GIVE away eating eggs, when I could sell hatching eggs, but what to do with 276 a week! The funny part to me is, some breeds I don't even get enough to sell a doz a week for hatching. I need more pullets in those pens. I am finding some breeds are just harder to sell chicks or eggs..... I think I will be selling more of those flocks..... we will seel. I think the SLW will sell better.

I just don't want to brood 300 chicks I can't sell......

I can get rid of roos as chicks.... I have a guy

(he uses them for bug control) I can grow the pullets up and then sell them, but still that is a LOT of chicks.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I am starting to feel like smaller is better, to focus on just a few breeds. I handle my hatching eggs with extra care, so I do charge more for hatching eggs than eating eggs. SLW are very pretty, I have just a few. I had one customer buy the hatching eggs because the breeds were kid friendly types. CHickens and kids is a natural combination. Even my husband likes the birds. THe turkeys are not the smartest, but they are endearing. THey follow me everywhere. THe kids were out in the woods collecting ants to feed the chickens and the 4 turkeys were watching! THen we moved to the garden, and the turkeys showed up there and pestered us the whole time. THe boys mentioned it was time to go to the butcher!! I have a few turkey eggs in the incubator now that their sisters are laying. ANd a few other breeds from Lotsapaints.

I enjoy the mixed breeds of my barnyard beauties. The variation in colors make for a unique mix. ANd the mix is always changing as new roosters grow up to add their 2 cents worth, or I pull hens for breeding pens. Each group looks different. Very interesting. The egg colors vary too. Some eggs are very pale off white; olive eggs should be coming soon. Would like some pure white to contrast with the other colors. Gray-greens, blues, blue-greens. And so many shades of browns. I enjoy collecting the eggs. And so do the kids--always unique egg colors to talk about.

Many people stop hatching by summer; maybe the demand will pick up then. And I do think you are right about the impulse buy, chicks are so darn cute and fluffy.

I was talking to DH tonight about clearing more land. HE doesn't have a lot of time but he loves to run the chainsaw!! Thinking of building summer pens far away from the house to increase the area the birds use. Lots of leaves to dig thru!

 

[cherwin]

I do that too, and I've just seeded my back yard after rehoming the ducks so I'm watching the grass grow too. LOL The new incubator Bo built holds 123 eggs and other 2 hold 41 eggs each. I have 3 hens sitting nests right now too. I'm going to go nuts with all this going on.

 

[Arielle]

Yup, it all makes me a little nuts these days, too. Need my last 3 breeding pens though and to ditch a few young roosters. Decreasing the rooster population would most definitely help. Too hot to do anything today 92 degrees by noontime. Yikes!

 

[cherwin]

Sold 15 eggs yesterday so won't have to put them in bator. Moved 35 eggs from turner to hatch box this morning. Should start hatching under one of the hens today and another on the 19th along with the hatchbox. Have people wanting some of my mixed breed bantams when hubby says they can go but will soon be down to 3 breeds ( silkies, sultans, and seramas).

 

[TerriD]

13 chicks hatched out of the 30 eggs. Don't know if that is good or not. They are doing well in the brooder. Now we need for refurbish the chicken house and build a new enclosure for them outside.

 

[ronott1]

Hi TerriD,

Congratulations on the hatch!

13 out of thirty is neither good nor bad. I haven't been following this thread, so forgive me if you have already posted information about your hatch. Shipped eggs hatch lower usually. Did you set 30, had some that did not develop and put a lower number into lockdown? Your hatch rate is really the number hatched divided by the number in lockdown.

For me I consider a hatch successful if two hatch(It's sad when they are alone).

Ron

13 chicks hatched out of the 30 eggs. Don't know if that is good or not. They are doing well in the brooder. Now we need for refurbish the chicken house and build a new enclosure for them outside.

 

[ki4got]

Shipped eggs hatch lower usually. Did you set 30, had some that did not develop and put a lower number into lockdown? Your hatch rate is really the number hatched divided by the number in lockdown.

see, i'm a bit different... IMO hatch rate is # of FERTILE eggs vs # that HATCH... if i just counted what made it to lockdown i'm about 100%. but not all eggs that are fertile will develop, IMO, especially if they're shipped eggs...

i had 10 shipped, 5 were fertile, but only 1 made it to lockdown. the rest quit somewhere along the way. now my dorking eggs, i've gotten 14/15 fertile in one group, and 20/20 fertile in the second...

what makes it to lockdown will be another story maybe. the dorkings have a habit of quitting between days 14 and 18. i think there's a lethal gene somewhere in the mix right now, kind of like with other stumpy legged varieties, like Japanese and Scots Dumpy but not as prevalent. then again past problems may be because i set a TON of pullet eggs laid from 6-9 months old... then they took a break so I did too.
and those babies that hatched out between thanksgiving and christmas are starting to lay.

i'm resisting setting everything i can.
i'll at least wait until the eggs are closer to 'normal' sized. 8) some are smaller than my bantam cochin pullet eggs!