My First Attempt At Hatching

[beckschicks]

Let me start out by saying my hens and roosters are very young I just got them this spring and they just started laying about June. I had one little bantam hen that was sitting on 6 eggs and all my hens had started laying under a building so who knows how old these eggs were for sure. Hubby bought me a Little Giant Circulated Air Incubator. We started out with 44 eggs a mix of Easter Egg Layers, Old English Bantams, A cochin hen and a couple of I really dont know what they are. I have a Rhode Island Rooster who is awesome by the way and a little bantam rooster that is just wierd looking. These are yard birds and I dont care who breeds with who. I have pure breeds but they are all caged separetly. I waited till day 8 to candle and then left everything alone till day 12. I used the dry incubation which still kept humidity 35 to 45%. The day before we were suppose to go into lock down we had our first bantam egg hatch oops. I am leaving them in until October 18th just in case. So out of 44 eggs we had so far:
17 infertile (I am not worried everyone was young and eggs were who knows how old)
13 Alive very healthy chicks
2 dead one that died when he came out and another that had a hip problem and died 3 days later
2 bad eggs yuck
1 hatching tonight
9 left in the incubator

I already have almost 50 eggs more not sure what I am going to do. I only have 7 hens that are laying and they are laying around 4 eggs per day. Right now I have them stored waiting to go in. Hubby says hatch away we have lost a lot to the foxes, skunks, raccons and I am sure a dog or two. We are in a highly wooded area and of course chickens wonder into the under brush.

 

[weimarmama]

Very cute chicks

Congrats on your first hatch. That first time hatching is always the most nerve wracking. My first time incubating eggs was an utter failure without any chicks to make it, so the second time I sat up all night long with them once they started pipping.
Good luck with the rest of your eggs

 

[cmom]

Congratulations...

 

[Phantom_Rooster]

Very nice. I am on day 14 of my first hatch. I hope to see some of these fur bugs in my bator soon.

 

[bikerchic]

 

[beckschicks]

My other chick finally hatched this morning he/she is drying out now. I am actually really pleased with how this came out it was a learning experience and I was afraid it would turn out so bad.

 

[chics n more]

I'm so happy for you- I know just how you feel...we have some due to hatch Wed and it is nerve racking! My daughter hopes to replace the hen the neighbors dog killed with one of her chicks.

 

[beckschicks]

I feel for your daughter nothing gets to me more than people that do not keep up with their animals and I include cats in this. I have three dogs in my household and NONE of them run loose I have never allowed it. It is just cruel to me they get hit, kill livestock, bite someone, get sick or poisioned, shot etc. It is not being nice to let your dog run loose.

 

[UrbanFarmerGreg]

I actually put some eggs in an incubator 4 days ago... not sure if they are fertile or not, I am new to this and only got 2 chickens a month ago. I have seen the rooster have his way with the hen but I have no idea what I am doing. Actually the 2 of them are only 5 months old and shes been laying since I got them, are they too young to produce viable eggs for hatching? and what does lockdown mean exactly? They are leghorns if it makes any difference.

 

[mrs b. bates farm]

i put mine in the incubator 14 days ago..i tried to candle but one egg is green and u cant see thru it..the other one is a bantam and i cant see anything so i guess ill have to wait..i hope they hatch. i have a still air incubator and dont know anything about the humidity. should i put a wet paper towel in the incubator? i hope,i didnt kill them