Hi this is my first post after reading the forum for a while i currently have four hens in my garden (3 eggs a day even though its winter) and decided to expand instead of buying more hens i bought a incubator off ebay and off i went....
I visited the small holding where i orionally got my hens from and bought a dozen and a half (there where all freeranged with cocks running with them) on the way home i passed another farm where i seen a sign for free range eggs i pulled in i spoke to the farmers gran who was very helpful but was not sur if the eggs where fertile but for the price of a couple of pence i took another dozen (total of 30 eggs to lay)
When i got them home i washed and cleaned them to stop them smelling during the next 21 days
(note on the first row second one in its a blue egg!)
The next thing that i done was i numbered the eggs to help me keep track of what hatched and what didnt
(me numbering the eggs)
Before i had gone out to buy my eggs two days before i turned on my incubator and tried to get it right temp wise once the eggs where numbered and cleaned i put them in
i had real trouble trying to get the temp and humidity right over the next 24 hours but it did settle down after then
during the next 18 daysi had tried candling the eggs but the candler that i have isnt very good at all something i will look at when i have another go. I kept a fukk record of the temp and humidity and how much water i added if any. Day 18 i turned off te automatic turner
Day 21 there was a little noise (chirps) and noticed a little chip out of one of the eggs and all the rest followed
i ended up with 16 hatching all from the small holding and one from the second farm. One of the chicks from the small holding died a hour or so from hatching also one of them had trouble getting out of the egg and i know there is a debate wether or not to help them but i did and my nephew named him or her lucky (who has bent toes) i left them in the incubator for 21 hours or so and moved them into my brooder (a polostrine box from a local pet shop where i got my sack of chick crumbs (and all my other supplies mixed corn, pellets etc.) they where kept in that box in my dinning room for a week until i moved them into a larger pen in my shed.
(my nephew has gave them all names already)
They will be 2 and a half weeks old today 4th Dec 07 and they are coming on fine they are really developing and i think i have a few cocks in there (they will have to go i live in a built up area) although i keep the neighbours sweet with eggs! so thats a total of 19 chickens i have now 15 of the chicks and i now have a problem where they are going to live in 8 weeks time so i am starting to expand my set up (but thats for another post)
Stylus46
PS sorry about the spelling
I visited the small holding where i orionally got my hens from and bought a dozen and a half (there where all freeranged with cocks running with them) on the way home i passed another farm where i seen a sign for free range eggs i pulled in i spoke to the farmers gran who was very helpful but was not sur if the eggs where fertile but for the price of a couple of pence i took another dozen (total of 30 eggs to lay)
When i got them home i washed and cleaned them to stop them smelling during the next 21 days
(note on the first row second one in its a blue egg!)
The next thing that i done was i numbered the eggs to help me keep track of what hatched and what didnt
(me numbering the eggs)
Before i had gone out to buy my eggs two days before i turned on my incubator and tried to get it right temp wise once the eggs where numbered and cleaned i put them in
i had real trouble trying to get the temp and humidity right over the next 24 hours but it did settle down after then
during the next 18 daysi had tried candling the eggs but the candler that i have isnt very good at all something i will look at when i have another go. I kept a fukk record of the temp and humidity and how much water i added if any. Day 18 i turned off te automatic turner
Day 21 there was a little noise (chirps) and noticed a little chip out of one of the eggs and all the rest followed
i ended up with 16 hatching all from the small holding and one from the second farm. One of the chicks from the small holding died a hour or so from hatching also one of them had trouble getting out of the egg and i know there is a debate wether or not to help them but i did and my nephew named him or her lucky (who has bent toes) i left them in the incubator for 21 hours or so and moved them into my brooder (a polostrine box from a local pet shop where i got my sack of chick crumbs (and all my other supplies mixed corn, pellets etc.) they where kept in that box in my dinning room for a week until i moved them into a larger pen in my shed.
(my nephew has gave them all names already)
They will be 2 and a half weeks old today 4th Dec 07 and they are coming on fine they are really developing and i think i have a few cocks in there (they will have to go i live in a built up area) although i keep the neighbours sweet with eggs! so thats a total of 19 chickens i have now 15 of the chicks and i now have a problem where they are going to live in 8 weeks time so i am starting to expand my set up (but thats for another post)
Stylus46
PS sorry about the spelling
