Same as last time. I put EEs in but none have been fertile yet, which is irritating since I have 3 roosters in with that pen. My Welsummers are zero fertility too so far, but I plan to switch roosters or add a second to stir things up because they sometimes gets the males going with doing their job better
My second hatch is due tomorrow, so of course, they started hatching yesterday when I was moving them from the incubator to the hatcher. There are about 10 of them out already.
You can read where if your temp is higher than it needs to be, that will cause them to hatch early, and if it is lower they will take longer. Well, my temp is 100.5. If I turn it lower, I have problems. If I raise it, I have problems. So, I will take chicks hatching early over chicks not hatching at all or hatching with guts hanging out.
Yes! That's what we do. We have the ladder/tiered roost- and it rests on a shelf (poop tray) and the whole tiered roost lifts up. It's about 2 feet off the ground. Under the shelf is a brooder area that I can remove the door from. Right now I have a broody hen in it so that she's left alone. I put the chicks in it early in the year so that they are separate- but everyone can see everyone so that the transition of joining them all together is smoother. All the poop falls from the roosts to the shelf below. The shelf has a tarp that goes over it. We take the tarp out and shake it. Used to do newspaper- what a nightmare!!
