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

[SJ]

Just took the kitchen scraps out the yard and Patty my Partridge Chantecler that been brooding or mothering since October (Hatching 8 on Thanksgiving and 2 more again on Grounghogs day.

) has decided she is ready to start laying again. She is doing the squatting thing hens do. With as broody as she has been I'm thinking she will go broody a third time this year.

She won't be a year old until April 20th and I'm a little concerned if all this brooding will take some kind of toll on her. I really am hoping for some of my girls to start getting broody but Patty again...I'm not so sure if going three back to back to back broods is healthy for her. Does she need a break dispite her wishes??? She hasn't been with a rooster since October that I know of so I don't think her eggs will be fertile. If she goes broody a third time is there any reason I should break her up?

 

[SJ]

Oh and if she goes broody again before my incubator eggs hatch can I just stick the chicks from my incubator under her? Has anyone tried that?

 

[Brookhavens]

i have a question after my hatch my bator is a mess but i have one egg in there that is due on the 15 candled it and its alive but my question is shuold i clean the bator or leave it and if i shuold clean it how chuold i keep the egg warm ?

I would definitely clean the bator out before it hatches. All the bacteria from this hatch would grow like crazy in the next couple of days and would probably kill the chick. I would wrap the egg in a wash cloth and put it in a box with a heat lamp over it. Clean the bator out and get the egg back in there as soon as you can.

 

[aprilschicks]

I would definitely clean the bator out before it hatches. All the bacteria from this hatch would grow like crazy in the next couple of days and would probably kill the chick. I would wrap the egg in a wash cloth and put it in a box with a heat lamp over it. Clean the bator out and get the egg back in there as soon as you can.

kk thanks

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

[COLOR=800080] my husband was trying to do a head count yesterday- but there were so many running around he gave up. He said well I know all I need to know- it's too many! I said yes & don't forget the 2 full bators![/COLOR]

Hahahaha ha to funny!!! I can see my husband saying that exact same thing!! Lol

 

[thehappynunu]

UGG - came home today to find the incubator stinking. Turns out I was cooking a polish egg for a week. Oh well, on the brighter side I have 5 good eggs still! On day 9 here! What do you guys use to candle maran eggs? Mine are really dark and my little flashlight does nothing to it!

 

[thehappynunu]

Also, I would love to know what kind of incubator you all use!

I use a homemade styrofoam cooler with no auto turner. Saving money for an upgrade!

 

[DURR]

Also, I would love to know what kind of incubator you all use!

I use a homemade styrofoam cooler with no auto turner.  Saving money for an upgrade!

I used to use a homade bator but had no luck with it. :/

But! I now use a Farm Inovators forced air incubator with an auto turner. Paid $132 for on sale at TSC! works wonders!

Just locked down at 1:30pm today and all the little rascles are wiggling every where!! I'm so eggsited!!!!

 

[inthesticks]

What do you all think about free range chickens?

I ask because the farm we got the eggs from is mostly free range, very few coops and most chickens of so many different breeds roam free. There are barns and places for them to lay eggs and such. Well over 100 chickens though just roam the farm.

As our chicks will be going back to that farm because we live on a military post and hatch for homeschool projects and experience, I have time to plan. Some day I want to be able to KEEP them. I love the farm and how they have their chickens but I am not sure it is best and not sure it would work in a backyard with a coop and no barn?

All my birds free range. I have a large coop & underneath is the duck hut w/ an entrance under the ramp. I also have quite a few plastic trash barrels set up for nesting boxes & hideaways inside their fowl yard. In the evening they come back in & once I make sure all are in, I then close up the fowl yard - in the morning open up & let them roam. I have 2 acres & so far the ducks & chickens have been wonderful @ staying with our boundary lines lol I have had a few losses - but that is to be expected (2 ducks & 2 chickens) in over a yr. Very good for how much woods we have around us. I get comments all the time from people about how they love driving by & seeing my ducks splashing in puddles or the chickens sunbathing in front of the house. When you have the ability to keep your chickens try it out!









UPDATE:: 7 eggs have star cracks w/ one having a nice sized hole & a few others w/ little holes - one jb just about out of the egg & a quail that popped right out! yay!!! SO happy
& I'm be very good @ not bator hovering!!

Now I'm playing catch up on reading 174 more to go on here to be caught up!

 

[ladyrsanti]

UGG - came home today to find the incubator stinking. Turns out I was cooking a polish egg for a week. Oh well, on the brighter side I have 5 good eggs still! On day 9 here! What do you guys use to candle maran eggs? Mine are really dark and my little flashlight does nothing to it!

My husband bought me a Utilitech LED flashlight from Lowes that is so bright it'll blind you (120 lumens) and it sees into Marans eggs... though mine were not fertile so there was nothing to see. But I could see yolk so it does work.