March 2017! Hatch with us!

[dan26552]

I'm up to two broodies now. My Swedish duck has decided she wants hatch some eggs too.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I'm up to two broodies now. My Swedish duck has decided she wants hatch some eggs too.

I just love spring!!

 

[Jessimom]

It's close to 90 degrees and I'm putting together the chicken coop I bought and the nesting boxes have me stumped. The directions are horrible.

When it's hot and sticky and the directions piss you off, it makes it hard to continue without saying bad words....

IF I ever get this finished, my NY chicks will upgrade their living quarters, and I can use their old pen for my bathroom chicks. I want my bathroom back!!

My pile of broody silkies are now 4, and they are sitting on at least a dozen fertile eggs, plus any infertile ones their friends have left behind. I have a full bator on day 5, a half full bator on day 2, and I just bid on more eggs...

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Finally snapped a picture of my 2 new chicks. We've named them Simon and Garfunkel.

 

[MontainBourbons]

Here's an old video of one of our first chicks.

 

[dan26552]

I just love spring!!

I love spring too. Just wish half my ducks hadn't gone broody.

 

[Birdydeb]

Love the video!

Hi all....been reading through the complete thread, started Friday. LOL And trying to decide as I read whether to join in and admit what a dork I am. I am doing my first incubation and I believe I have made about a million mistakes. I'll try to make this as quick and short as possible because I have a question at the end.

I finally decided I wanted to incubate some of my Welsh Harlequin ducks...bought a Farm Innovators incubator on the recommendation of a friend. For 3 days I could not get the humidity to not fluctuate so I got aggravated and from somewhere read people had had better luck with ducks with a Genesis Hovabator, convinced hubby it would be an early BD present and got it. Within 24 hours it was maintaining heat AND humidity well. Yay! Set 21 eggs that were from 1-4 days fresh (and diligently turned as they waited) on the 25th of February. When I ordered the Hovabator on the 21, I said, "what the hey, I'll just set a bunch of my mixed flock chicken". So I set 27 not so carefully gathered and saved as the diligence I used with the duck eggs. Candled yesterday and pulled 7, a couple empty, one blood ring and the rest blobs with no blood vessels discernible. I hope I didn't screw that up. Anyway, the FI 'bator with chicks flipped to day 4 this afternoon so I am assuming tomorrow afternoon I need to start lockdown? And I need to get that thing to stay at 70%...am I right?

Oops...another question. The Hovabator has no countdown for days. Is it 25 days for ducks? I read that I thought and then read 28. I'm confused. Candled them yesterday also, removed 2 that were clearly empty and one with a blob and no discernible blood vessels. So I have 18 that had really good blood vessels and small blobs. I was so freaked at possibly messing up the humidity I was moving quick and didn't examine really, really carefully but all 18 had really great blood vessels and this was day 15? I have been maintaining them at 50% humidity per the Metzers site...I think was where I read it. I read their directions for cool down and spraying but decided I would not do this first time around.

Have loved reading this thread and have learned SO MUCH. Thank you everyone for sharing.

 

[GingersHuman]

I don't think my OEGB pullet is going to sit well enough to hatch her eggs. She was doing well the first day, then the second day she was off the nest and when I checked the eggs they were only slightly warm. The next day I checked the nest and they were stone cold. She still sits on them when the mood strikes though, sigh. She needs to make up her mind!

 

[10AcreChick]

Do these look like ok air cells for day 15? Chicks.

My humidity is being affected more by house humidity than during my first hatch. Its between 16 and 27%. A little lower than first hatch, didnt have as much of a problem keeping it above 20 that time. I only found two that appeared underdeveloped tonight, but did not candle all 47.

 

[coloradowildflower]

You guys! This is so exciting! Here's one of our babies doing a little dance in there. We didn't know what to expect when we started candling, and we weren't sure we would know what we were seeing, but . . . it was pretty obvious!