March 2022 Hatch-A-Long

[citymeetscountry]

I was hoping one of my Rouen (duck) hens would go broody (pekin males…and a horrible male/female ratio), but after they had 20 eggs in the nest and still weren’t sitting I reached out to a neighbor and they let me borrow their incubator. I set 6 eggs Sunday evening. Down to 5 as of today. (I suspected one was a dud from the get go-I guess it just wasn’t fertile for some reason.). The 5 left are showing veins already and a little flicked/beat. My kids were super excited to see the development today. (Of course then we had a power outage today I pulled out the gas generator and threw an extension cord out the window). Our neighbor said they set 12 chicken eggs and hatched out 10 (only 2 boys), so I’m hoping we can hatch 2-3 ducks. We don’t necessarily want more BUT I need to fix our ratio (or just get rid of the boys or build a separate house or something). We’ll see. I was really hoping that they’d go broody and raise the ducklings but I guess we’ll be setting up a brooder.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

happy to be hatching again!! I have 14 indian runner eggs, and indian runner/pekin/silverappleyard eggs set to hatch 7th March. It's possible I will have another 14 to set the following week, if the egg burier doesn't sit. At first I thought the chickens were burrying the duck eggs but I caught the duck in the act digging an actual hole to lay in.

 

[Kholts]

I’m stoked! Glad hatching season is here again.

I set 40 Ancona Duck eggs (from my own flock) on Feb 1 so expecting hatch day to be Feb 28/Mar 1.

I candled a couple days ago & removed 3 infertile & 2 blood rings. The rest are progressing great.

 

[Kelsykin]

Following. Depending I might try to hatch some eggs. If my drakes start working I'll be hatching some of those. My rooster won't be working by then so l won't have a chance for chooks. I am getting a couple turkey hens tomorrow though so if they start laying I might hatch some just to see how they turn out. If not I might try to find some eggs to hatch. Good luck.

Hope you can set some eggs. What breed of ducks? I have muscovies and anconas. Trying to rebuild my flocks.

What breed of turkey? I have a trio of turkeys. The hens may be laying, but they like to hide the eggs from us.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

On day 5 I have 8 goers, 5 that look empty but will give 2 more days and one full of bubbles so it's tossed. If it hadn't been summer for the past week I wouldn't have checked but I suspected afew eggs may have gotten hot before collection. And for anyone that's curious about refridgerated eggs and incubation, all but 2 eggs had been refridgerated (I live in Aust, eggs don't last out of the fridge for long) and it's an accurate pattern of after 3 days in there the fertility drops dramaticly(from my experience). Which for me is an entire day longer than on the bench.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm getting ready to set my first hatch this week.

Barnyard mix -- a Black Langshan male, a Blue Australorp male, and assorted hens. The one thing I know is that any barred chicks will definitely be male.

 

[Kelsykin]

On day 5 I have 8 goers, 5 that look empty but will give 2 more days and one full of bubbles so it's tossed. If it hadn't been summer for the past week I wouldn't have checked but I suspected afew eggs may have gotten hot before collection. And for anyone that's curious about refridgerated eggs and incubation, all but 2 eggs had been refridgerated (I live in Aust, eggs don't last out of the fridge for long) and it's an accurate pattern of after 3 days in there the fertility drops dramaticly(from my experience). Which for me is an entire day longer than on the bench.

I hope all of those at are left hatch for you.

 

[Kelsykin]

I'm getting ready to set my first hatch this week.

Barnyard mix -- a Black Langshan male, a Blue Australorp male, and assorted hens. The one thing I know is that any barred chicks will definitely be male.

Hope you have a great hatch.

 

[Kelsykin]

I set another batch of some barnyard mix eggs and some Brahma eggs on Friday. Today I set bantam cochin eggs today.

 

[casportpony]

I am setting 7 Muscovy eggs later today. They will be due to hatch on March 16th. I also have a bunch more eggs I should be setting this month.

I have Bantam Cochin, Barnyard Mixed, and Large Fowl Brahma. These are all from various sources. All are due to hatch in March if I set them as planned.

I am a bit of a hatching addict. I will be adding eggs at various points to the incubator as the month goes on. So if you are hatching or want to just see what hatches join me.

I set a bunch too!