Oh, as far as what kinds of eggs we are hatching, this is what we have including what's under the broody out in the henhouse (set to also hatch on/around the 13th):
7 silkies
6 porcelain Belgian d'uccles
4 barnevelders
4 French black copper marans
2 bantam Easter eggers
7 LF Easter-eggers
3 "Mystery eggs" (brown eggs from a mixed flock)
I have candled 6 of the eggs under the broody about 4 days ago (had an opportunity and took advantage while she was off the nest to eat), and they all showed good development at that point.
Of the eggs that are still in the bator in the house, all candled with live chicks inside and healthy-sized air sacs (yay!) as of this evening. We go into lockdown in just under 24 hours. When we candled at day 10, we culled all the quitters. Tonight I candled in prep for tomorrow's lockdown to see if any needed to be culled, and they all look really good!
We only hatched 4 out of 11 eggs last time, so hopefully we'll have a better than 50% hatch rate this time. It's also gonna be interesting to see if the broody has a better hatch rate than the incubator.
7 silkies
6 porcelain Belgian d'uccles
4 barnevelders
4 French black copper marans
2 bantam Easter eggers
7 LF Easter-eggers
3 "Mystery eggs" (brown eggs from a mixed flock)
I have candled 6 of the eggs under the broody about 4 days ago (had an opportunity and took advantage while she was off the nest to eat), and they all showed good development at that point.
Of the eggs that are still in the bator in the house, all candled with live chicks inside and healthy-sized air sacs (yay!) as of this evening. We go into lockdown in just under 24 hours. When we candled at day 10, we culled all the quitters. Tonight I candled in prep for tomorrow's lockdown to see if any needed to be culled, and they all look really good!
We only hatched 4 out of 11 eggs last time, so hopefully we'll have a better than 50% hatch rate this time. It's also gonna be interesting to see if the broody has a better hatch rate than the incubator.