Ok. I bought 9 French Wheaten Marans off ebay. I am going to be setting them in the incubator tonight along with some of my own stock. I just want the female Marans... so here is a very early heads up that there should be males for sale in the future.
My own Delawares are being set. I have checked for bullseyes and have got good results. However, I have already got two reports this year of people who bought them having issues hatching... so here I go. I'm going to see if they just don't want to develope or maybe there is shipping or operator errors going on. I will be setting 7 of them. I may end up selling them right away or letting them feather to see what they turn into. I'm not sure yet. Space is a issue right now since I have 30 bantams comming in.
Then, I will be setting 6 silver sebright eggs of my own. Once again, testing. I may sell all of those. I have plenty already for this year.
Yes, I know I can allow them to develope until day 5-7 and check veining... however, the issue seems to be (with these two buyers) that some didn't develope at all and others did develope all the way but didn't hatch.
I'm posting this as a learning experience for everyone to use. So, excuse me when I break it down "barney style" from time to time.
I will be adding pictures often. Subscribe!
Here we go with the lesson plan...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
STEP ONE: SET UP!
I will be using a still air styrofoam incubator (Hov-a-bator) with the coordinating automatic turner. I have used this model many, many times before and am very comfortable with it. I have thought about getting a "upgrade" but then when I see the prices of others and think about how I get good hatches out of these... I stick with this one.
FIRST THING... you should clean your incubator. You can use 50/50 water/bleach to spray it all out and wash it. You need to let the bleach water sit awhile and kill all the nasty bacteria. I prefer "trifectant" tablets. Man, this stuff takes all the nasty stuff off from the last hatch and I know it is killing bacteria, fungi, and viruses. I use it for coop cleaning in the spring and fall, I use it for the goats, chickens, ducks... but the most often I use it is the incubator and brooder. Well worth the investment.
So, now I have my incubator cleaned and dried. Now, I set it where it will be for the next 21-24 days.
Find a place that is draft free, a place that is safe from anyone knocking it over or messing with it... find a place in your house that is safe and the temperture stays steady. I have such places. My dogs are not allowed in all the rooms... this helps hatching and brooding alot.
I set up my incubator last night. I have the water in the center tray. I have the turner on. I have the thermometer (just the hov-a-bator kind) laying on top of the turner trays. I have the pointy sharp edges of the wire mesh taped (so you don't hurt the boogers by accident). I used to use the springfield thermometer/hygrometers you get at wal-mart for $7... but the second one I got was calibrated so badly I had my eggs a 112F for the first half of the first day, so I'll go back to the "old fashioned" way. (And I still got 100% hatch out of those SHIPPED eggs - point there... never ever assume you killed the clutch and give up)
I got my Maran eggs today at about 1pm. I immediately opened them up, and set them out - pointy end down. I have my home grown eggs out with them now (they were in the basement to help keep them at a storage tempature of about 55-60F). They will be left out until 11 or 12 tonight. This will give them 8 or 9 hours of "sitting out" time. Some people like to set them out 24 hours... but these eggs were probrably laid on Monday or Tuesday. After 7 days they start to lose hatchability. So, I personally set them out for about 8-10 depending on the weather. It has been warm here the last couple days (about 50F - which is close to storage tempatures). Setting them out allows the egg to settle back to where it should be. If the eggs have not been roughed too much in shipping, the air sacks should not be comprimised, and we should still get a good hatch out of these. I'm always positive about this... I guess because I have never had a horrible hatch (so far).
I'll be back to post pictures and show how I arrange eggs in the turner. I have found that certain "spots" don't do as well... the ones near the motor of the turner. When you hatch back to back, you pick up on these things.
My own Delawares are being set. I have checked for bullseyes and have got good results. However, I have already got two reports this year of people who bought them having issues hatching... so here I go. I'm going to see if they just don't want to develope or maybe there is shipping or operator errors going on. I will be setting 7 of them. I may end up selling them right away or letting them feather to see what they turn into. I'm not sure yet. Space is a issue right now since I have 30 bantams comming in.
Then, I will be setting 6 silver sebright eggs of my own. Once again, testing. I may sell all of those. I have plenty already for this year.
Yes, I know I can allow them to develope until day 5-7 and check veining... however, the issue seems to be (with these two buyers) that some didn't develope at all and others did develope all the way but didn't hatch.
I'm posting this as a learning experience for everyone to use. So, excuse me when I break it down "barney style" from time to time.
I will be adding pictures often. Subscribe!
Here we go with the lesson plan...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
STEP ONE: SET UP!
I will be using a still air styrofoam incubator (Hov-a-bator) with the coordinating automatic turner. I have used this model many, many times before and am very comfortable with it. I have thought about getting a "upgrade" but then when I see the prices of others and think about how I get good hatches out of these... I stick with this one.
FIRST THING... you should clean your incubator. You can use 50/50 water/bleach to spray it all out and wash it. You need to let the bleach water sit awhile and kill all the nasty bacteria. I prefer "trifectant" tablets. Man, this stuff takes all the nasty stuff off from the last hatch and I know it is killing bacteria, fungi, and viruses. I use it for coop cleaning in the spring and fall, I use it for the goats, chickens, ducks... but the most often I use it is the incubator and brooder. Well worth the investment.
So, now I have my incubator cleaned and dried. Now, I set it where it will be for the next 21-24 days.
Find a place that is draft free, a place that is safe from anyone knocking it over or messing with it... find a place in your house that is safe and the temperture stays steady. I have such places. My dogs are not allowed in all the rooms... this helps hatching and brooding alot.
I set up my incubator last night. I have the water in the center tray. I have the turner on. I have the thermometer (just the hov-a-bator kind) laying on top of the turner trays. I have the pointy sharp edges of the wire mesh taped (so you don't hurt the boogers by accident). I used to use the springfield thermometer/hygrometers you get at wal-mart for $7... but the second one I got was calibrated so badly I had my eggs a 112F for the first half of the first day, so I'll go back to the "old fashioned" way. (And I still got 100% hatch out of those SHIPPED eggs - point there... never ever assume you killed the clutch and give up)
I got my Maran eggs today at about 1pm. I immediately opened them up, and set them out - pointy end down. I have my home grown eggs out with them now (they were in the basement to help keep them at a storage tempature of about 55-60F). They will be left out until 11 or 12 tonight. This will give them 8 or 9 hours of "sitting out" time. Some people like to set them out 24 hours... but these eggs were probrably laid on Monday or Tuesday. After 7 days they start to lose hatchability. So, I personally set them out for about 8-10 depending on the weather. It has been warm here the last couple days (about 50F - which is close to storage tempatures). Setting them out allows the egg to settle back to where it should be. If the eggs have not been roughed too much in shipping, the air sacks should not be comprimised, and we should still get a good hatch out of these. I'm always positive about this... I guess because I have never had a horrible hatch (so far).
I'll be back to post pictures and show how I arrange eggs in the turner. I have found that certain "spots" don't do as well... the ones near the motor of the turner. When you hatch back to back, you pick up on these things.
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