Narrowing it down...

[thndrdancr]

FIRST time incubating! Not a question so much as a bit of a journal, we will see how many I get hatched.

I am one around Day 11 of incubating. I started with 26 eggs. Tomorrow is day 12.

Got some of Cyn's Suede babies in the bator(she did a terrific job packing by the way! thanks Cyn), mixed with her light brahma. Plus a few of her Lexie/Hawkeye. 15 in all, but we think only 11 are probably viable, plus she gave me some of her blue pullet eggs as well but that bird just started laying and Cyn is pretty sure they are not fertile...dang! (found that out later, but still lettin it see what happens) Also was shipped in that infernal 100 degree heat becuz I was impatient, so that probably will figure in too.

And a friend gave me 11 silkie/turken mix eggs, but they are very fragile and thin shelled. I thought only one got cracked in my egg turner the first night I had it on, but must have been several. Sealed the cracked one I knew about, but it started smelling so had to throw it...so down to 10 of those. I wasnt able to put them in the bator til a day an half later, but are bantams so hopefully they will hatch a wee bit earlier than standards, making them all hatch about the same time.

Candled tonite, just a few of them, the light brahma/blue orp eggs I did (2) looked good, but all I could see was an air cell. lol Those brown eggs!

This would be day 10 of these...Candled 3 of the turken/silkie, found a hairline crack I didnt notice in one, it looked clear. One should be able to tell at day 10, right?
One egg looked good from what I can tell.
One had an air cell that moved all over the place, very easy to see, which I THINK means its bad? Question is on the forum. So down to 9 of those, perhaps 8.

So here we are.. down to 25 eggs, and I believe...probably 23 eggs, as soon as I know.

Jill

 

[barg]

I can't remember, what are you going to do with them all if they all make it?
Is hubby gonna help you build the Dream Coop?
Or Are you gonna get rid of most of them?
I'll be watching

 

[thndrdancr]

Are you kiddin me? Hubby didnt help me build my DESK coop! Ok, ok, he did saw when I told him to saw, and hammer when I said hammer, but thats IT. Mercy!

No, no way will I be able to keep them all. The friend was going to take hers back, but she had an unexpected change in circumstances, so ..um ...we will just have to see how it goes. Cyn is pretty sure that 4 out of the 15 are not fertile. So thats not quite so many. And first time incubating, new laying hens, plus the heat, plus the eggs sittin on my front porch in 100 degrees, plus first time incubating, I really doubt I will get them ALL to hatch. lol Oh my!

I plan on keepin some..we ARE allowed to keep the babies up to 90 days, so by that time I hopefully will figure which ones I want to keep, and will have to get rid of the roos perhaps...unless I can keep one under the radar. Someone around here has one, I definitely heard it yesterday, love the sound.

Since Chelly is secretly coveting Suede, maybe if one turns out lookn a bit like him, we can some kind of arrangement and a road trip!

I will keep you informed, and since the girls sleep inside, I guess they will know right away they have invaders.

Should see some action next Tuesday or so.

Jill

 

[speckledhen]

Jill, with all those strikes against you, I still bet some of the ones I sent will hatch. That's why I packed them that way, for insulation from the heat as well as P.O. gorillas. If none of Velvet's hatch, which I have a suspicion they may not, I'll send you more when all factors are more favorable than they were at the time. I bet you'll have some Suede/Miranda babies and at least a couple of Lexie/Hawkeye babies. All four of those birds have exceptional temperaments and I firmly believe that's passed down genetically. Betcha Miranda's will be blue with feathered feet!

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck with your hatch! Let's say 20 make it, half are roosters so you only have to figure out of 10 girls who you want Not so bad!

 

[thndrdancr]

silkie. lol hmm, I really doubt I get 20 to hatch, with the 11 that belong to a friend, I think only about 5 may be good.

All of Cyn's seem real good, except for Velvets, which we think arent fertile, so thats 11. I am pretty sure quite a few of those will hatch, I seen nice lil air cells last night when I candled two of them.

So...more like 15 to 16. So that leaves me with half roosters...and figuring out about 8 of which to keep. lol

Cyn, was just figuring in my ineptness!

Temps got a lil high yesterday, not sure why, but high was 101.2, and it was for a couple of hours. Hope that didnt hurt anything. My humidity sure wants to go all over tho, after holding perfectly for the first 10 days.

 

[speckledhen]

That temp for a couple of hours didn't hurt anything. And humidity has alot of leeway the first 18 days then it should be at least 65%. So, I bet it's fine. I always have periods when things seem to go weird, but I think it's the heat and humidity being put off by the developing embryos. I can't wait to see what Miranda's babies look like!

 

[thndrdancr]

Me either, Cyn
I am so anxious. Next Tuesday, wow only a week away. Not goin away for the weekend, so I can watch over things. Mom said she had nightmares bout what to do if they started popping out of their eggs!

I WILL post pics. Wonder how the big girls will take it when they start hearing peeping? My Fussy is jealous, but she is also very motherly. I will have to watch them closely and make sure everyone is extremely protected since it looks like they will all be in at night. sigh... Maybe a totally different room? Wow, it will be sooooo long til I can integrate...whew...but at least I dont have to worry bout bringing some new kind of sickness into my original girls.
I swear tho, THESE girls will learn to sleep outside! lol

Jill

 

[thndrdancr]

Ok, another egg goes bad...another one from the friends batch. I tried to recandle and now I cant find the one that had the free floating air cell to throw away!
But anyhows, could smell a bad one when I went to turn, so had to go egg sniffing. This one didnt even have a cracked shell, just a minor lil flaw in the shell but it hadnt started to develop either. Wheweee, smell. blecht!

So..down to 24 eggs and tomorrow is Day Thirteen.

 

[speckledhen]

Wow, I hope those don't endanger the rest of your hatch! Those may not have been properly stored before you got them; that plus the awful shell quality, gee. You are going to be very, very vigilant with those eggs. I've never had one go bad and if the shells of mine were that thin, I wouldn't even attempt to send them to someone. So many reasons they can go bad like that. With the very thin shells, any bacteria just marches on in, especially if they were washed off before hatching, especially washed improperly.