INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

Awesome hatch. @Faraday40 !

Why did 29 people visit you today?

DS is on Spring Break, so some of his 1st grade friends wanted to stop by to see the chicks- along with parent drivers & some siblings. "Mr Popular" had 3 different play dates here today. DD had school, but two of her friends walked over after school to also see the chicks.

The quail are popping like popcorn now! 8 are out!
Two of the pipped chicken eggs are zipping now!

I know this is supposed to be for the kids, but I'm the one who can't turn away from the incubator.

 

[ellymayRans]

DS is on Spring Break, so some of his 1st grade friends wanted to stop by to see the chicks-  along with parent drivers & some siblings.  "Mr Popular" had 3 different play dates here today.  DD had school, but two of her friends walked over after school to also see the chicks.  

The quail are popping like popcorn now!  8 are out!
Two of the pipped chicken eggs are zipping now!

I know this is supposed to be for the kids, but I'm the one who can't turn away from the incubator.  

So fun!! Congrats!

I have to wait until Easter to see how my hatches go!

 

[sunnie7]

Anyone in southern IN willing to take this guy in?? I've been trying to rehome him.

 

[Faraday40]

So fun!! Congrats!

I have to wait until Easter to see how my hatches go!

WOW! That's going to be a lot of chicks! Good luck for a giant Easter basket of peeps.

Do you have problems with tiny quail bouncing around the incubator? (I always worry mine will get stuck in some tiny crack.)

 

[jonesfamily6]

Just talked to Orchard Farm Supply in Mooresville...they have australorps, brown leghorns, golden and silver laced wyandottes, speckled Sussex, new hampshires, araucanas and buff orpingtons....I am thinking about getting a couple speckled Sussex....but question for those that raise...if I put them under a broody hen (Taffy the D'Uccle) how do I go about making sure that both Taffy and the chicks are eating correctly? do I put down both starter and adult feed? Taffy is indoor outdoor right now until the big coop is finished and she has some other grown friends, can the babies go out with her into the small pen in the evenings and when I'm home other times? Will they still need a heat lamp? I've not raised except for under a lamp before!

Hey must have gotten more in! I was there Monday the speckled and brown leghorn were there with the orphingtons. They were getting some feathers already. I'm highly considering going to get some. Do they have a minimum?

 

[jonesfamily6]

I don't NEED his permission but it's so much easier when he says go get what you want. Hoping for a positive reply from hubby. Doesn't help that I just set eggs in our incubator for our FIRST run! Finger crossed. Baby is napping so he has two hours to reply or I'm doing what I want...

 

[jonesfamily6]

[COLOR=333333]Busy day! At one point I had 15 people in my living room. So far 29 visitors have stopped by & I haven't had time to count all the chicks. Cookie's other choc cuckoo chick hatched this afternoon, so I moved her & the chick into the bog brooder. I’ve been slipping the incubator chicks under her. Poor gal can’t count, but I wonder if she realizes that she’s adopting about 20 more chicks. That’s a lot of babies from one egg! LOL[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Some quail eggs have pipped, and the 1st just hatched. (a brown one)[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Here are a few of my fav pics....[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Last night around 10:30pm when I 1st tried going to bed. See those lonely 2 chicks.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]This morning at 10:30am. A very crowded incubator![/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Here are 3 of the choc cuckoos. The one on left is darker. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Here's the darker choc cuckoo next to a black orp. [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333][COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Here are a couple lavs. I think I have 4 (but more may hatch)[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Black orps[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]This chick had something important to say.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Cookie in the brooder. (in the garage) No Chick dust in the house![/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Chicks can go under hen & the overflow can snuggle under the Mama Heating Pad.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333] [/COLOR]

It looks like chickie heaven over at your place! Do you leave the eggs in the carton holders for hatching as well? I'm jealous no eggs here yet. My oldest are around ten weeks. But i did just put some eggs in the incubator this am super excited to see what happens. A home made bator as a project with the kids. Curious, does your humidity spike up when you put the eggs in? I figured I would give it some time but I might have to cover some surface and I thought I had it all ready to go with a weeks worth of practice!

 

[jonesfamily6]

@ellymayRans

Drooling over all the different egg colors! Beautiful!!!

 

[Faraday40]

It looks like chickie heaven over at your place! Do you leave the eggs in the carton holders for hatching as well? I'm jealous no eggs here yet. My oldest are around ten weeks.

But i did just put some eggs in the incubator this am super excited to see what happens. A home made bator as a project with the kids. Curious, does your humidity spike up when you put the eggs in? I figured I would give it some time but I might have to cover some surface and I thought I had it all ready to go with a weeks worth of practice!

I really don't think it matters whether the egg is upright or on it's side at lockdown. I get about the same hatch rate either way. However it does seem slightly harder for them to crawl out of the shell if upright. For this hatch it was important to know which specific eggs hatched. Because the eggs & chicks rock & roll at hatch time, the cartons make it simple to track data. (Especially when they hatch in the middle of the night.)

Yes, my Incubator is home made. I get much better results with it than when I use the Hovabator with fan & auto turner. The temp stays very stable & returns to temp in under a min after closing the door. I must turn eggs by hand, so I made turners out of cut egg cartons. One flip & all 12 eggs are turned at once.

Humidity can fluctuate, but temp is more important. I aim for 30-35% humidity for the 1st 18 days. The 1st time I kept switching water containers to find the right size to achieve that humidity. (Now I just store that container with the incubator & always keep it filled when in use.) Underneath the eggs I have a big shallow pan that gets filled with water at lockdown. I also add sponges & a 2nd container of water. That gets my humidity up to 65%. I use plastic tubing to add water daily during those last few days. In my case, my fan is very powerful, so it was tricky learning how to keep the humidity up at the end. I often get 100% hatches when using our own eggs, so I continue the same procedure. My Styrofoam incubator is now used as a back-up, a hatcher, or sometimes a loaner.

 

[jonesfamily6]

@Faraday40

That all sounds amazing! 100%

I don't know what to expect I just hope I don't kill them all. We also made our own. I put the eggs in and humidity spiked to 72%. How long is ok to give it to come back down in your experiences? Over that past week I was able to mai rain 35-40% fairly easily. I was kinda shocked that it spiked. Definitely a learning experience.