July 2015 Hatch A Long HAL

[cmfarm]

Wow! That's quite the operation! How many chickens do you have on your farm? And what sorts of things do you raise/sell/harvest? @cmfarm

I actually only have like 10. All the eggs I bought. Last summer I had chicks that I was planning on raising through the winter for layers for this year to hatch eggs from but we had a huge rain storm and the pen I had them in flooded. Chickens this year have been really expensive so I could only buy a few. But that is where most of the chicks come in. I plan to keep about 25 each of the pure breeds and sell the mixed breeds (which the money will go toward feed for the chicks). In the years past I have bought eggs from other people and hatched and sold them but most have stopped raising chickens now. I also raise meat rabbits and feeder rats and mice.

 

[BoTime]

Thanks for starting the thread! I was searching for a July one.

Here's a story chicken people can appreciate:

We had a Brinsea Octagon 20 (holds 24 eggs). My husband and I were planning our final hatch: an order of a dozen Hedemora and the other dozen was to be a split between our own Hedemora and Isbar.

We went to a poultry swap on 6/21 and my husband fell for some Tolbunt Polish eggs that were reduced price at the end of the swap ($10 for 8 eggs versus $30). But, that would mess up our schedule. We got home, put the Tolbunt eggs with the rest of our own and filled the incubator.

My husband was browsing eBay and noticed a used Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance. We won the auction. So I had that 1 dozen of the Hedemora eggs on their way and saw a second auction of Hedemora from another breeder and the auction ended in 5 minutes, literally. I ran outside, giddy as heck, convinced the husband in under 3 minutes, ran back and won the auction. e

Great! 

We ended up getting both dozens the same day before the incubator, so let the shipped eggs rest and got the incubator the next day. Dumbly expecting 24 eggs to place in our 24ish capacity 'bator, we got 30 (but 2 were cracked). So 28! Egads.

A few days prior a year-old Isbar started being broody. Alleluia! So on a whim we put the 4 extra eggs under her. Little did I know once actually fitting all the eggs in, I could fit 26. So I waited a day and put two eggs from our own hens to fill the voids.

Between the 2 incubators and the hen we have 60 eggs guys. That's crazy.

We already have 22 chicks from our May and June hatches, though I'll wager a good portion are roosters and will be sold. But still!

I'm both excited and a little terrified, we'll need another coop! The first batch should hatch 7/12 and the second and the hen should be about 7/17.

I feel a little irresponsible.

I blame the Tolbunts.

Or my husband.   

I loved this story. Thank you for sharing.

 

[rcgII]

One of my daughter's silkies has gone broody. She was determined to hatch the golf ball my daughter put in a nesting box so I moved her to a brooding coop. She seems to have accepted the move so I'm going to trade the golf ball for a few eggs. My daughter also wants to see if she can hatch more than the hen so we'll probably put a few more in the incubator.

 

[BoTime]

I can't post photos from my mobile device at all. I have to do it from my laptop.

Ironically I have a memory problem with my laptop that I still need to remedy... because of overloading it with pictures! =-O ) wildlife & nature photos. Whiiich I would totally share with you. If I only could! Haha

 

[darkbluespace]

Well, I went & got some more eggs to set so now I have quite a few. Are cartons necessary? (Except for the one with the detached air cell, I plan on following that advice)

Eggs with normal air cells can be on their sides if you like. That is how I do mine.

 

[BoTime]

Eggs with normal air cells can be on their sides if you like.  That is how I do mine.

Thank you

 

[WashingtonWino]

I actually only have like 10. All the eggs I bought. Last summer I had chicks that I was planning on raising through the winter for layers for this year to hatch eggs from but we had a huge rain storm and the pen I had them in flooded. Chickens this year have been really expensive so I could only buy a few. But that is where most of the chicks come in. I plan to keep about 25 each of the pure breeds and sell the mixed breeds (which the money will go toward feed for the chicks). In the years past I have bought eggs from other people and hatched and sold them but most have stopped raising chickens now. I also raise meat rabbits and feeder rats and mice.

That's fantastic! I'm doing something similar, hatching hard to find breeds and selling them for enough to cover the cost of the eggs and have a little pocket money for feed. Dismal first hatch means I'm in the hole a bit but this upcoming hatch is looking a lot more promising.

 

[BoTime]

One of my daughter's silkies has gone broody. She was determined to hatch the golf ball my daughter put in a nesting box so I moved her to a brooding coop. She seems to have accepted the move so I'm going to trade the golf ball for a few eggs. My daughter also wants to see if she can hatch more than the hen so we'll probably put a few more in the incubator.

Tell her good luck in the competition!

 

[WashingtonWino]

One of my daughter's silkies has gone broody. She was determined to hatch the golf ball my daughter put in a nesting box so I moved her to a brooding coop. She seems to have accepted the move so I'm going to trade the golf ball for a few eggs. My daughter also wants to see if she can hatch more than the hen so we'll probably put a few more in the incubator.

When I first saw that picture I thought there was a big fluffy cat in your nest box or that you were lining it with fake fur or something. She's filled in every little gap in there! I'll bet she'll do a great job.

 

[blkjak]

Set Chantecler and Chantecler/Maran eggs. Hatch day July 27/28.