March Hatch-Along Thread- Come Hatch With Us!!!!!

[Irishgirl]

LOL!! My G-ma used to always have eggs/ chicks in her cleavage!!! LOL She's passed the crazy chicken lady gene down to me!! Poor thing is on her way to the hospital in an ambulance with difficulty breathing Congestive heart failure, diabetes, dialysis etc etc... I hope her eggs hatch! That will make her so happy She's too weak to get out to her massively awesome coop these days.

Aww, I hope your G-ma gets better soon! Praying!

 

[Irishgirl]

Well after hearing on here from some smarter person than me another problem that can happen with multiple lock downs diff days same bator. left over germ from first to hatch infecting the second or bloom whatever you want to call it making others not hatch
I got freaked what to do so today built my own from her daughters description of what she did ....a simple one not much electric etc to it.
A hatch bator . FREE. it is just last 4 days bator but think it might work fine Thank you for your inspiration!

Wally little $2.50 cooler
took a lamp apart for the fixture spliced the cord
put hole in the side for the bulb
piece of hardware cloth from coop windows for the bottom (4 chumks of 2x2 to hold the wire up
some left over plexiglass for the window on top
and 25 watt bulb and themometer (Brook that box of therms was a GREAT idea enough for every place!)

On the test run it went to 99 so i think this will be perfect.I do only have 3 or 4 pencil sized holes in it at the top to let heat out .Probably need more which might mess up my perfect temp but so far so good. Only took about 45 minutes start to finish including finding all the stuff here and there.
I did have the top of the cooler cut out previously gonna use for a brooder but too small.
So now i have to look at my calender and see which lucky egglets i will set in first!

One question of you bator builders....i know ppl say one sheet of glass will fog but 2 wont Wasnt sure if it needs a speration or not .think so but I didint do that Thought the tape thickness of the first would give a little space.Will see if its enough Iguess Have wet rags inand the paper towel too.
Now the big test... of my stolen creation

If you have enough ventilation the glass shouldn't fog up. Glad to see my design helping someone!

 

[Crzy4Chickns]

I removed the three chicks the day after they hatched and replaced them with eggs under mom. The chicks never came out from under mom until I stole them. But, now when I put my hand in their brooder they come right up to me. My broody is real nice and lets me handle her and check eggs without being aggressive toward me. I plan on placing the chicks in a brooder and returning mom to the flock after this hatch.

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

Hi all!! I need some hatch luck!!! My grandma gave me these eggs, which she swears were/are fertile, & I'm on day 21 now!!!!! As a Homesteading Homeschooling science project I did it differently this time; my first hatch, 2 weeks ago, I did everything I could diagnostically to make sure they were developing. This time I did the opposite!! I stuck em in, turned them like crazy, but never peeked inside. I have no idea if they will hatch or not.... out of 5 I'm hoping for at least 2!! I wanted to do this as part of the science project- simulate the environment of a hen by turning, temp, humidity, but don't get all techy on them & see what happens.... That was all fine until I have to sit on my hands now!!!! I think I put them in at around noon when my aunt brought them over.... send me luck, hatchers!!! Thanks!!! I put my chicks back in the same room so the babies could hear them... I hope!! Sitting on hands, sitting on hands!!!

That's awesome!!! We love homeschooling and lots of luck to ya on those chicks!!! Our kids r. So excited already and we have 10 days left .... Dad is even getting in on this !!! The family's gonna b a wreck come lockdown!! Lol make sure and post picks of those lil fuzzy s

 

[coldupnorth]

just set 92 on 3/3/13 some chicken ( 6 different varities) and 18 duck , here in south Ga
to the hatcher on the 19th , also have 1 goose setting parttime ( on /.off ) but she just has 6 eggs so I'm guessing that the times I see her on the nest she's just laying still .

Wow! Good luck with all those eggs

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

W

LOL!! My G-ma used to always have eggs/ chicks in her cleavage!!! LOL She's passed the crazy chicken lady gene down to me!! Poor thing is on her way to the hospital in an ambulance with difficulty breathing Congestive heart failure, diabetes, dialysis etc etc... I hope her eggs hatch! That will make her so happy She's too weak to get out to her massively awesome coop these days.

Will keep her in prayer sorry to hear that!

 

[hokankai]

Well it looks like my incubator turned off at 8am, so not terrible! It was off for a little less than an hour

 

[PugBug]

Each one of those bags of pellets is supposed to be the same as a bag of shavings. The pellets are definitely cheaper than a bag of shavings (at least here where I live. Maybe try it out in one stall and see how much of a difference it makes.

here they are almost $2 per bag more, but I still might try it. I have big stalls, 12X14...

 

[PugBug]

Out of 12 Lav. Am eggs only 3 little chickies hatched out. None of my GSBR eggs hatched that I bought directly from Frank Reese. I was really bummed about that because I really needed a little roo to replace the one that I lost back in December.

I put batch #4 of my own eggs in lockdown Friday night. Monday is hatch day so we will see what comes out there. I think the weather we've been having this past month has a lot to do with the non hatches. One day it is in the 80's/60's at night and then we get highs in the50's and lows in the 30's. The humidity has been crazy to. Last night I checked my Sportsman and it read 20%. I almost flipped because it has never gotten that low. It's always in the 30's.

Aww, I hate they didn't hatch for you. I agree with Rox, seems the ones we want the most are the ones that don't do well. And I agree about the weather having such a effect of the eggs- I'm so ready for spring!

 

[PugBug]

anyone tried to keep baby ducks and chicks in the same brooder? We are using cedar chips for the floor. Didn't realize just how messy two ducks can be. Is there anything I can do to cut down the mess a little?

get some horse bedding pellets! that's what I'm using and it works great!