June 2025 hatch-a-long

[AusHen]

I was going to buy a hova-bator but at $350-$450 here I may pass if it’s met with issues


Day 20 here and 24 made it to lockdown, I have a few pips and can hear chirping. I do believe now these are all meat birds, one of my children was rather upset so I got him two Cream Legbar cockerels chicks he can raise and breed to his ladies. Most of the other children were a little sad (ones oddly excited) but I explained how we can shower them in love and make sure they live the best life even if short, unlike the chickens we get at the supermarket that only knew a shed

 

[RoseHawke]

I was going to buy a hova-bator but at $350-$450 here I may pass if it’s met with issues...

It is possible, if you're prepared to pull out your hair, but for the money I don't think it's worth what they're asking for such old and crude tech.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I'm in a total panic right now, I went to put the ducks in lockdown, moved the 3 eggs that are meant to hatch later in my brinsea - keeping the hovabator ready for hatching and low and behold a pip! No sign of blood on the membrane, it seems a bit dry but i'll give it some time to get out by itself and tuck it under broody in its shell after it zips!

Anyway, I quickly finished prep and candled them all. One makes a ticking sound but the other three... ugh I put them all back in so they dont get chilled but now I'm paranoid the other eggs should also already have piped. I have a work meeting now, meanwhile I'm heating my bathroom to brooder temperature and then i'm checking all of the other eggs for bruising to put safety holes if needed.
Hatching ducks is soooo nerve wrecking compared to chicken.

There I was thinking it'd be more chill this time! anyway baby pic:

 

[Tex452]

I have both of my NR 360’s full of barnyard eggs, they will be crosses between leghorns, RIR, black australorps and a couple of bantam eggs, the first hatch was very good, chicks are very lively, I ended up with 27 chicks and haven’t lost any, the youngest will be a week old tomorrow.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I was going to buy a hova-bator but at $350-$450 here I may pass if it’s met with issues


Day 20 here and 24 made it to lockdown, I have a few pips and can hear chirping. I do believe now these are all meat birds, one of my children was rather upset so I got him two Cream Legbar cockerels chicks he can raise and breed to his ladies. Most of the other children were a little sad (ones oddly excited) but I explained how we can shower them in love and make sure they live the best life even if short, unlike the chickens we get at the supermarket that only knew a shed

I don't want to get rid of my hovabator just yet until i've used it on chicken eggs as ducks i know are harder.

But to be fair, it'd be nicer to have an incubator that doesn't add worries to an already expected to be difficult hatch... if i could go back in time when i was on the fence between it and the brinsea 24, I'd tell myself to get the brinsea, even if i don't like that it is not built to be easily fixable by myself. I ordered spare parts for the hovabator and sure enough already had to use some - it's just cheaply built and flimsy for the price imho (and i got the newer model with digital controls that received lots of praise on these forums).

Now I have to convince my partner i need a third incubator, which is going to be a challenge as he already wanted me to resell my small brinsea the moment i recieved to hovabator lol.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I have both of my NR 360’s full of barnyard eggs, they will be crosses between leghorns, RIR, black australorps and a couple of bantam eggs, the first hatch was very good, chicks are very lively, I ended up with 27 chicks and haven’t lost any, the youngest will be a week old tomorrow.

Pics please!

 

[Tex452]

These are all barnyard mix, like the ones I have set now.
I still have the week old and 2 week old chicks separated.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

Woo they are soooo adorable!
Thank you for sharing, that sure lifted my spirit <3 Such pretty colors and patterns

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

Checked this morning, the piped baby was making some effort to zip but is still chewing so I'm not helping it yet.

One definitely suffocated, there was only a tiny bruise and its beak hasn't moved at all for ~16h since i opened a small hole over it. I might have saved it if I had put in safety holes before my meeting and not after

I'm not very optimistic about the 3 other eggs from clutch#2 - no movement at all, a lot less veins than I'd expect to see, I'd bet they stopped developing a few days ago when we had a power outage. I've left them in the incubator in case I'm wrong and they're just staying very still. I'm not accepting defeat until there are no veins at all visible.

The 3 eggs from clutch #3 hopefully will do better in 10ish days.

 

[junior67]

Checked this morning, the piped baby was making some effort to zip but is still chewing so I'm not helping it yet.

One definitely suffocated, there was only a tiny bruise and its beak hasn't moved at all for ~16h since i opened a small hole over it. I might have saved it if I had put in safety holes before my meeting and not after

I'm not very optimistic about the 3 other eggs from clutch#2 - no movement at all, a lot less veins than I'd expect to see, I'd bet they stopped developing a few days ago when we had a power outage. I've left them in the incubator in case I'm wrong and they're just staying very still. I'm not accepting defeat until there are no veins at all visible.

The 3 eggs from clutch #3 hopefully will do better in 10ish days.

come on baby! eat all that yolk up so you can hatch and we can see you! LOL

sad on that one baby, you never know though and don't want to do it too early either. so don't blame yourself!

hopefully you are wrong on the other eggs!