INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[bradselig]

The silkies are still laying, and I think it could be a clutch. I brought the eggs in tonight because it is supposed to get down to 37 degrees. They aren't sitting, so I figured it would be okay. I plan on putting them back in the box in the morning. 

So Bradselig if you see this, I have 7 bearded silkie eggs now lol.

I hope I am not messing up anything by bringing the eggs into the house.

Nice! Just store the with fat end up and if possible in a cooler part of he house. I've read around 60F seems to be recommended. I store mine in h basement. Tilt one end of the carton and rotate with end several times a day.

I just put some eggs in the hatcher, so there is definitely room in my incubator if you decide you'd like to hatch them. Just let me know when you could bring them down or meet in Huntington and I'd let you know when they hatch and arrange pick up. Or you could go buy an incubator and be sucked into the hatching madness! Lol

 

[kabhyper1]

Nice! Just store the with fat end up and if possible in a cooler part of he house. I've read around 60F seems to be recommended. I store mine in h basement. Tilt one end of the carton and rotate with end several times a day.

I just put some eggs in the hatcher, so there is definitely room in my incubator if you decide you'd like to hatch them. Just let me know when you could bring them down or meet in Huntington and I'd let you know when they hatch and arrange pick up. Or you could go buy an incubator and be sucked into the hatching madness! Lol

I plan on buying an incubator, but I will end up trying to hatch every egg the silkies lay. I would be in trouble. I don't think I could find homes for that many bearded silkies. lol
I was going to put them back in the nesting box in the morning, and see if they lay more. Is that bad?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:

Quote: I think putting them back before you know if they are broody might make it harder to incubate should you decide to ask Brad to hatch them for you. Broodies are great at knowing how to rotate, heat up and cool off eggs so they tend to hatch at about the same time with decent results. But incubators are picky things. They want the egg pointed small end down, the egg needs to stay at 55-60 in a breathable carton with one end propped up and the end being switched an odd number of times a day. No shaking of the eggs or washing either if you might be putting them into an incubator. Sanding the egg is frowned upon too.
If you keep the eggs in the house and the hens are broody for a couple days straight you can give them back their eggs at night. But from what I have read, if the hen you want to be broody is leaving the nest for long periods of time, then collecting the eggs until it is clear that the hen is sitting and not laying is a good thing. Typically a broody hen will try to "steal" eggs to sit on if hers are all in your house.

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
I think putting them back before you know if they are broody might make it harder to incubate should you decide to ask Brad to hatch them for you. Broodies are great at knowing how to rotate, heat up and cool off eggs so they tend to hatch at about the same time with decent results. But incubators are picky things. They want the egg pointed small end down, the egg needs to stay at 55-60 in a breathable carton with one end propped up and the end being switched an odd number of times a day. No shaking of the eggs or washing either if you might be putting them into an incubator. Sanding the egg is frowned upon too.
If you keep the eggs in the house and the hens are broody for a couple days straight you can give them back their eggs at night. But from what I have read, if the hen you want to be broody is leaving the nest for long periods of time, then collecting the eggs until it is clear that the hen is sitting and not laying is a good thing. Typically a broody hen will try to "steal" eggs to sit on if hers are all in your house.

Okay. So I put them pointed end down in an egg carton and propped one side up in a cooler room in our house. How often do I "seesaw" the carton odd numbered times a day? The oldest eggs are a week old. So I guess I will have to decide soon what to do with them huh? I'm not 100 percent that they are fertile. I probably can't tell right now can I?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: You want to see saw the carton first thing in the morning about halfway through your day or 6-8 hours after the first switch then right before you go to bed. The time from you going to bed to you changing them in the morning is typically the longest they will stay in one spot but it is best if it is not more than 12 hours.
As for giving the eggs back to the chicken I'm not sure how old of an egg is too old. But for incubating anything over 7 days decreases the odds of hatching greatly. Anything past 10 days is almost a wasted effort from what I have read. Other than shipped eggs the oldest egg I have put into an incubator is 5 days old. Shipped egg, the oldest was 6 days.
As for the egg carton leave the top open or cut it off so the eggs can breathe and some people go as far as to cut holes in the bottom of the cartons too. I did not when I was collecting my own eggs.
If it was me, I would take the eggs that are currently 3 days or older and fridge them for eating / baking. Then you still have a couple more days to collect eggs before needing to make a choice. At that time you can pull the eggs 3 days and older again for eating and delay your choice even longer.
Brad is better at incubating than I am so he may be able to use the older eggs. If you are depending on getting more chicks I would ask him.

Totest fertility, take your oldest egg and crack it into a small bowl look for the white bullseye the big bullseye is good the small one is not fertile.

 

[kabhyper1]

You want to see saw the carton first thing in the morning about halfway through your day or 6-8 hours after the first switch then right before you go to bed. The time from you going to bed to you changing them in the morning is typically the longest they will stay in one spot but it is best if it is not more than 12 hours.
As for giving the eggs back to the chicken I'm not sure how old of an egg is too old. But for incubating anything over 7 days decreases the odds of hatching greatly. Anything past 10 days is almost a wasted effort from what I have read. Other than shipped eggs the oldest egg I have put into an incubator is 5 days old. Shipped egg, the oldest was 6 days.
As for the egg carton leave the top open or cut it off so the eggs can breathe and some people go as far as to cut holes in the bottom of the cartons too. I did not when I was collecting my own eggs.
If it was me, I would take the eggs that are currently 3 days or older and fridge them for eating / baking. Then you still have a couple more days to collect eggs before needing to make a choice. At that time you can pull the eggs 3 days and older again for eating and delay your choice even longer.
Brad is better at incubating than I am so he may be able to use the older eggs. If you are depending on getting more chicks I would ask him.

Totest fertility, take your oldest egg and crack it into a small bowl look for the white bullseye the big bullseye is good the small one is not fertile.

I left the carton open, they are so small that they have plenty of breathing space in there, so I don't think I need holes in the bottom. I'm not depending on chicks really at all, I just don't want to waste what may be close to the last eggs of the season since silkies aren't reliable layers.

I would like to see what they will produce if I want to start breeding them. I just don't know what kind of demand there is for bearded silkies in northern Indiana. So I don't want to bring little lives into the world that don't have a place to go. I would like to learn incubation too. So this is interesting to me. Thank you for your help.

 

[racinchickins]

You are relatively new to this, but I am impressed with your research and level of knowledge.

What incubator, etc. are you using? What hatch rates are you getting? Are you hatching shipped eggs? What are your thoughts on the subject? Your comments may prove helpful to those of us who have yet to take the plunge.

John

I tend to research something to death before I take the plunge, and as the obsession grows, so does the tendency to suck up every bit of information I can find.

As far as incubation goes, I'm a rank amateur. I have a brinsea mini, that holds 7 eggs and auto turns. I have tried twice to hatch CCL eggs and managed a 1/7 hatch both times. If I hadn't heard how much trouble others had with the eggs, I'd be really down. I have definitely resolved that my next try (in the spring) will be a different breed to see how that works for me. Also, I picked up both sets of eggs, so have never tried shipped eggs.

As far as the broody hen goes, I've tried twice. One of my Welsummers went broody this summer. I gave her a couple eggs, and she tried her best, but no hatching. The second try was a phoenix pullet. In spite of other hens sitting on her to lay eggs, my not getting her separated from the others in time, etc.... She hatched 2 out of 3 eggs. The other egg disappeared the day before the others hatched. I'm half convinced it may have hatched and one of the other chickens or turkeys got it. After some initial issues, she is proving to be a good mother. It has been very enjoyable watching her show them how to eat and drink and watching them scurry in and out of her feathers.

I've really enjoyed it, and it is definitely very addicting to hatch eggs. It just shows you how insidious chicken math can be....

 

[kabhyper1]

I tend to research something to death before I take the plunge, and as the obsession grows, so does the tendency to suck up every bit of information I can find.

As far as incubation goes, I'm a rank amateur. I have a brinsea mini, that holds 7 eggs and auto turns. I have tried twice to hatch CCL eggs and managed a 1/7 hatch both times. If I hadn't heard how much trouble others had with the eggs, I'd be really down. I have definitely resolved that my next try (in the spring) will be a different breed to see how that works for me. Also, I picked up both sets of eggs, so have never tried shipped eggs.

As far as the broody hen goes, I've tried twice. One of my Welsummers went broody this summer. I gave her a couple eggs, and she tried her best, but no hatching. The second try was a phoenix pullet. In spite of other hens sitting on her to lay eggs, my not getting her separated from the others in time, etc.... She hatched 2 out of 3 eggs. The other egg disappeared the day before the others hatched. I'm half convinced it may have hatched and one of the other chickens or turkeys got it. After some initial issues, she is proving to be a good mother. It has been very enjoyable watching her show them how to eat and drink and watching them scurry in and out of her feathers.

I've really enjoyed it, and it is definitely very addicting to hatch eggs. It just shows you how insidious chicken math can be....

Do you like your Brinsea? Were you scared to screw up when you started? I am. I don't want to end up killing a bunch of chicks that would have been fine in someone elses hands.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

hey im going to warren as well! But only going home.

ha, I drove past your house to get to the party.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Do you like your Brinsea? Were you scared to screw up when you started? I am. I don't want to end up killing a bunch of chicks that would have been fine in someone elses hands.

I was really nervous and worried the first time I hatched eggs. But my first hatch I had an 86% hatch rate. Some of my own eggs and some shipped. I was thrilled, not that the first try is always that good, but dont get discouraged if you donthave a good hatch, just change your method and try again.