May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[Honora]

Set my eggs yesterday. I went to turn them last night & one of the eggs must have had a hairline crack that I didn’t see, because it had wept a little and was stuck to the incubator. I pulled it free and then the crack was clearly visible. Tossed that one, so now I have 13 Swedish flower eggs in, 6 buff orps and 6 BLR bantam Wyandottes.

My chickens came down with mycoplasma recently and the whole flock had to be culled, so this hatch will hopefully help me start replacing them.

 

[FortCluck]

My friends duck egg. She's dropping off more today

 

[Erba]

I set 18 eggs on the 10th, so are due to hatch on the first of May a holiday! Finally I will be at home when they hatch. I normally miss the first one which annoys me. As of now and to my great surprise, all are fertile. Rooster has spring feelings, I guess. This is my first incubation with eggs from my F2 chickens! Am so excited to see how they turn out.

 

[SueT]

Hey everyone, tell me about humidity. What level do you try to maintain in the first 18 days and how do you regulate it?

 

[MROO]

I'm so surprised to hear that JG was less than an EE! Ive been wanting to get JG just to see how they do in meat... Currently I have a Brahma Roo, a RIR hybrid roo, and I believe a freedom ranger roo. Man that freedom ranger is heavy with massive legs and breast! I have 3 of his sons with me still, almost 4 months old and they're massive boys. I don't hear much about people using freedom rangers, but man I'm impressed by how fast his kids grew and packed on weight. I have pics of you're interested.

JG's are slower to mature than most birds. They don't max out until about 18 months. My JG pullet is almost a year ... and still growing! So, you can get a bigger, fuller carcass, but you have to wait a lot longer.

 

[MROO]

I have a handful of NH X eggs in the incubator at the moment, but they're almost to lockdown, so we'll be clear, shortly. I plan to put a small batch of Nankins in as soon as we get the 'bator cleaned up & ready to go again. That should put us to mid-late May babies. Perfect timing!

 

[Vantic]

Hey everyone, tell me about humidity. What level do you try to maintain in the first 18 days and how do you regulate it?

I run my incubator at about 40 percent at least until the first candle (day 5), I weigh the eggs so if they are losing the right amount of weight I leave it there.

Here is an article that covers all this in detail and I found it to be quite valuable: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...thread-w-sally-sunshine-shipped-eggs.1137467/

 

[Erba]

Hey everyone, tell me about humidity. What level do you try to maintain in the first 18 days and how do you regulate it?

My styrofoam incubator is naturally dry with no water at 40%, so I leave it like that for the first 10 days. By then I have candled them and add a bit of water if necessary, so it is around 45%. Incubator has no fan, keep it at 38°C, cool the eggs on the fourth day and thereafter every day for about 10 minutes (If I haven't opened to candle or to mess around) until lockdown. Has an auto turner.

 

[FortCluck]

JG's are slower to mature than most birds. They don't max out until about 18 months. My JG pullet is almost a year ... and still growing! So, you can get a bigger, fuller carcass, but you have to wait a lot longer.

They're not a good bird to use for meat because you have to wait forever. I switched my roosters because the dual purpose of crossing a JG wasn't working. Not enough meat when the meat is most tender.

 

[FortCluck]

Hey everyone, tell me about humidity. What level do you try to maintain in the first 18 days and how do you regulate it?

I look at the air cells to tell me everything on humidity. I run dry and mine stays at 20% which is perfect for my flocks eggs.

What someone else does may not work for you. You have to look at the air cells to see what's going on and see if you need a lower or higher humidity.