May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[BertyRoux]

I too have had troubles with roosters. Last "man" standing is a Buckeye who hates me, but wouldn't you know it, he's gentle and solicitous to the girls. Unfortunately he's brutal to other roosters and I do need more than one boy. I know I'll eventually have to make chicken and dumplin's but for now, he's it. Not sure he can cover all these hens but we'll see how he's been doing soon enough when I get the incubator cleaned up. A couple-three rose-comb cockerels and he's gonna be soup.

Aww hahaha. I don't particularly need any roos at all, especially after this hatch it's probably time for some new blood.

 

[BertyRoux]

Oy oy oy! I just came out to do the last turn and discovered the incubator sitting at 80°. I poked some buttons and reset the darn thing, so hopefully it heats back up properly. I don't have a backup, other than constructing something crude out of a heat lamp.

Edit: factory reset got it back to working properly and up to temp. I candled a few eggies real fast before I put the lid back on and they were still kicking around, so hopefully no lasting damage done. Thankfully it'd only been about 90 minutes I was out of the room at most. Phew!

 

[SueT]

 

[TurkenMomma]

My husband walked into the house earlier this month after work...

DH: What's that noise? Is that the incubator? Are you hatching eggs?
Me:

DH: Those eggs are really big.
Me: They are duck eggs.

DH: But we have chickens?
Me:

DH: Why did you even think we needed ducks? We don't even like eggs.
Me:

Poultry math. Got me again.

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[BertyRoux]

My husband walked into the house earlier this month after work...

DH: What's that noise? Is that the incubator? Are you hatching eggs?
Me:

DH: Those eggs are really big.
Me: They are duck eggs.

DH: But we have chickens?
Me:

DH: Why did you even think we needed ducks? We don't even like eggs.
Me:

Poultry math. Got me again.

This definitely happens here. Husband says: Why do you need more chickens? You don't even like eggs that much (except in quiches and the like).
Me: yeah, but I have a lady who buys 3+ dozen eggs from me on the regular, and I'm sure I could sell even more. Plus we can feed up the cockerels and eat them. And you won't let me collect horses.

Husband: We're gonna need to make the coop bigger.

I shan't be telling him I was researching guineas (and other non-chicken birds) yesterday! Or that I already have two local sources of hatching eggs bookmarked.

 

[Vantic]

This definitely happens here. Husband says: Why do you need more chickens? You don't even like eggs that much (except in quiches and the like).
Me: yeah, but I have a lady who buys 3+ dozen eggs from me on the regular, and I'm sure I could sell even more. Plus we can feed up the cockerels and eat them. And you won't let me collect horses.

Husband: We're gonna need to make the coop bigger.

I shan't be telling him I was researching guineas (and other non-chicken birds) yesterday! Or that I already have two local sources of hatching eggs bookmarked.

LOL, almost same problem but with my wife. She keeps asking this question it sounds like "How many chickens do you need?" But I can't figure out what she is trying to say. Today I told here that the 51 progressing eggs in the incubator count as zero layers as half should be roos and I sold 20 girls from the batch, so I need to order Dorking and light Sussex. Made perfect sense to me. She left the room.

 

[BertyRoux]

LOL, almost same problem but with my wife. She keeps asking this question it sounds like "How many chickens do you need?" But I can't figure out what she is trying to say. Today I told here that the 51 progressing eggs in the incubator count as zero layers as half should be roos and I sold 20 girls from the batch, so I need to order Dorking and light Sussex. Made perfect sense to me. She left the room.

That seems logical to me.

I put 12 eggs in the incubator. Accounting for one unfertile already tossed, plus the potential for late quitters, malpositions, hatching issues, deformities/birth defect, and the possible number of cockerels... I'm expecting to end up with 3-4 pullets at the end!

Luckily my husband seems to agree with chicken math, and they are a relatively inexpensive creature to collect (I say relative as my main hobby is HORSES, which are neither inexpensive nor low maintenance).

 

[SueT]

According to news reports, because of the coronavirus and people re-evaluating their priorities, there is a shortage of baby chicks. Stores/hatcheries sell out as fast as they can stock them. So hatch away everyone, we're saving the world, one chicken at a time....

 

[kelseyk]

My husband walked into the house earlier this month after work...

DH: What's that noise? Is that the incubator? Are you hatching eggs?
Me:

DH: Those eggs are really big.
Me: They are duck eggs.

DH: But we have chickens?
Me:

DH: Why did you even think we needed ducks? We don't even like eggs.
Me:

Poultry math. Got me again.

I think my husband has just given up. LOL! The virus thing has helped as we are pretty sure we can sell most of what I don't keep. Not to mention, my chickens are probably worth as much as the cows at this point in time. Packing plants closing due to the virus means feeders can't move scheduled calves out of the feedlots means ranchers can't sell their cattle means cattle aren't worth a dime right now. I just wish I could tell gender on a lot of the ones that I already hatched so I could start moving them. And I told him that we can always feed out the roosters to eat.

I "had" to have ducks 3 years ago and bought 3 farm store Pekins. Hubby's reaction was the same as yours. I wanted more ducks the next year but held off....but then ordered some last year through the farm store. The farm store had trouble with all of their duckling shipments....so I ordered 9 from a hatchery. LOL! We have tried to sell duck eggs here, but no one wants them (can't even give them away). I use them to make breakfast burritos and will sometimes scramble them to feed back to the chickens or to our barn cats. The ducks are fun though.....messy but fun.

 

[kelseyk]

Set 6 Delaware eggs today and realized that I wrote down the wrong hatch date for my Gold Appenzellers that I set yesterday. Appenzellers hatch day is May 15 and Delawares are due to hatch on the 16th. Candled the 7 Svart Hona eggs (day 4) and think I will have 2 clears and a blood ring, but will not pull them until day 7. My Gold Neck d'Uccles shipped yesterday so should be here by Monday or Tuesday next week. Also bought some Olive Egger eggs to hatch as well. (**I cannot buy any more chicken eggs!** LOL! .....I do have permission to hatch some pheasant eggs though. And will probably sneak some Call Duck eggs in this summer as well.)