MARCH Hatch-A-Long 2015: Please Read the First Post to JOIN the H-A-L

[Lamancha]

Our intentions were to use the incubators to raise our personal yearly freezer supply and to expand our egg laying production for the local markets.  (we need to expand our layer flock from 25, to about 75 for next year)  However, we have found that there is also a demand for chicks & started chickens around here as well.   We've got 2, possibly 3 orders right now for our birds.  One is for 50, another for just 4 or 5.   We deliver the birds in person instead of risking them to the woes of shipping.  Some orders have come from in from 2 or 3 hours travel distance from our farm.  We have also been asked if we offer dressed birds, which we could do now that the incubators are in full swing.

and then there's that addicting-box-of-chocolates thing when it comes to hatchin chickies...

This is my first year hatching and my intent was to fill the freezer for the year as well. Now I have a zillion chickens running around and I keep procrastinating on the "freezer" part. I wasn't planning on them being so stinking friendly. Now I can't find it in me to get the axe out. Oh well.

 

[Amykins]

I hit a major snag in my incubation...of the three eggs that made it to lockdown, only one survived, and it was a little chocolate call duck drake. We hatched a beautiful chocolate girl we named Milkshake, but she died of seizures just three days later. :/ Didn't know until after the fact that the breeding pair I got the eggs from was VERY old, and that caused a lot of complications. I was able to exchange the boy duckling with the lovely AliciaM for a female, and took home an adorable little pied one!

The boy, Pancake, is loving his new life and Bean, my baby, is doing great now. It was heartbreaking losing my little Milkshake but now our family is whole again. And Wobbles finally has a new girlfriend! Well...in a couple months, at least.

 

[blkjak]

Lamancha I thought the same as you. It was difficult to decide who was going to the freezer. This is only my second year hatching. But it a necessary part of the process unless you want your favorite hens to be harassed and featherless. Or roosters fighting. It gets easier everytime we decide that its time to fill the freezer. If you cant do it yourself I do know 1 lady in my area who puts them online for free and she has people who will come out and pick them up to fill their freezer. It is very hard when the little chick you fall for turns out to be a roo and you have to make a decision about keeping them or not.

 

[scflock]

Lamancha I thought the same as you. It was difficult to decide who was going to the freezer. This is only my second year hatching. But it a necessary part of the process unless you want your favorite hens to be harassed and featherless. Or roosters fighting. It gets easier everytime we decide that its time to fill the freezer. If you cant do it yourself I do know 1 lady in my area who puts them online for free and she has people who will come out and pick them up to fill their freezer. It is very hard when the little chick you fall for turns out to be a roo and you have to make a decision about keeping them or not.

I keep telling myself I'm going to do it, but then I offer bulk prices on roosters and sell them in the 11th hour. One day...

 

[blkjak]

Thats good that you have found a market for the extra roos. The best of both worlds. Hatching beautiful chicks and finding either new homes for them or helping someone else feed their family.

 

[scflock]

Thats good that you have found a market for the extra roos. The best of both worlds. Hatching beautiful chicks and finding either new homes for them or helping someone else feed their family.

I've kept chickens for several years, but just started breeding last year. I learned quickly that there are always roos left over. I'm going to try it one day. I'm not as concerned about the killing part as I am the cleaning. When the cockerels start trying to crow, I start shopping around for cones, but at the same time I will offer them up 4 for $20. I have picked up several local customers that I just call when they are old enough to sex now. I'm selling them cheap, but it helps pay for the feed

 

[blkjak]

I've kept chickens for several years, but just started breeding last year. I learned quickly that there are always roos left over. I'm going to try it one day. I'm not as concerned about the killing part as I am the cleaning. When the cockerels start trying to crow, I start shopping around for cones, but at the same time I will offer them up 4 for $20. I have picked up several local customers that I just call when they are old enough to sex now. I'm selling them cheap, but it helps pay for the feed

Fabulous! We process our extras and give them to family and friends as soup chickens.

 

[vonrow]

I'm a few days late with the updates -but I was out of state for work earlier in the week. heh. On Tuesday afternoon another one of our incubators was put into lock down, and 4 eggs pipped. Later that night a couple of them hatched. It's now Thursday, day 21 and the count is up to a dozen or more and several more eggs are still pipping. It's hard to count the little fuzzballs in the hatcher as they just don't sit still long enough. It's been such a nice hatch that I hate to crack the box open to collect the fuzzies while there are pipped eggs. But, some of the lil ones have been in there since day 18. I'm trying to put off opening the hatcher as long as possible because it's been a nice run so far.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Here are some new pictures of my hatch:

 

[uzisuzuki]

Did anyone here have to assist with any of the eggs they were hatching? The second batch of eggs I put in after taking part in this HAL were shipped eggs, so I was expecting some issues with them. I have 6 that made it to lockdown on Sunday and 1 with an external pip this morning on Day 22. I'm trying to keep the humidity up as much as I can since they all had much larger air sacs going into lockdown than the ones I hatched in March, but I think maybe I'm not keeping it high enough.

I'm kinda of the mind to not assist at all, for fear of causing damage & having to cull a chick because of it. But I also don't want to let a chick die that could have live perfectly healthily if I did step in to assist a little bit. I guess I'm just looking for any tips from someone that went through this recently.