New Sportsman 1/3 loaded with first ever attempt to hatch

[24to1]

Hey all!

In my quest to run the complete Chicken gauntlet I am officially into the closing chapters. Last year about this time, I bought 50 chicks and completed my Coop/Pen



They prospered over the summer and I culled 5 ameracauna roosters, and replaced them with 5 RIR mix roosters



they have, needless to say, really been spittin out the eggs now that the days are getting a tad longer,



I sold 11 dozen to co-workers last Friday and still had enough to load the first shelf of my Sportsman with 60 eggs!



I have bought them, raised, them, culled them, gathered 100's of eggs and now its time to try and hatch them. I loaded the first shelf last Sunday night, temp right at 100 and maintaining 42-45% Humid. Plan on candling middle of next week. Second shelf ready to be stocked up this Sunday/Monday.
Getting the Craigslist ad ready as I will be selling in a couple of weeks! Prolly gonna keep a few my self as well!

So far the whole experience has been a lot of fun and cant hardly imagine what took me so long to get started!

Will update with progress and picks over the course of the next 5 weeks

Happy Chicken-ing!

Ron

 

[24to1]

1st hatch happening as we speak!

So far of the 58 eggs in the hatcher (2 were candled to be infertile), 39 in the brooders 12 hatched and still in Hatcher, and the remaining 7 pipped! I do believe one of the lil peeps is not gonna make it outta the shell. It pipped but some gooey stuff came out of the egg and glued it to the hatcher. no further action from that one.

All in all Im pretty happy looks like 57 of the 58 are gonna be just fine!

60 more to be moved to hatcher on Friday and and additional 60 more the following Friday.

Lots O babies for sure!!

Ron

 

[24to1]

Well, First round is complete!

Of the 58 eggs I put into the hatcher from the incubator 54 hatched successfully and are thriving!

All I had to do through the entire process was turn the machines on and make sure water was in the buckets.

Only used one wick in the hatcher as the humidity seemed very high with 2 (>75%)

Lovin the new set up. 60 more moving to Hatcher on Friday!

Quite the ride!!!!

Ron

 

[sumi]

Congrats on your first hatch! It was a very good hatch rate too

Good luck with the next 60!

 

[24to1]

Round 2!

57 eggs went into hatcher on Friday 3/22. Sunday morning provided 1st 2 chicks. By Monday morning all but 6 have hatched and are doing well in the Brooders (see pics)! Remaining 6 eggs showing no pips this morning and may have been quitters. I will leave them in the hatcher until Wednesday evening.

So far of the 115 eggs transferred to hatcher 105 have hatched (91%) and there is still hope to get that number to 111 (96%).

By nature I tend to over-think things so it has been tough just letting the incubator and hatcher do their trick. I have had absolutely no problem with temperature, just turned them on and let it stabilize before setting or moving eggs, and have done nothing more than keep the water trays full with respect to humidity. I guess what Im saying is this incubating and hatching process isnt as much a "black art" as I had earlier anticipated. I am by no means taking credit for my success so far but give it to GQF, they evidently have these things figured out, lol.

Last 60 will be going into the incubator Friday Night

 

[sumi]

Wow, that is fantastic!

 

[24to1]

Round 3

Last 60 are complete.
I had 5 infertile and 2 quitters. 53 chicks alive and kicking!!!

Totals

170 went into hatcher
10 infertile
12 quitters
158 Hatched and are doing well
94% fertility rate
93% (92.9) Hatch rate from my own eggs
40 sold
50 spoken for

All in all this has been an fun, exciting, and very much a learning experience!
Very impressed by the GQF incubator and hatcher! 93% hatch rate and all I did was turn them on and keep the water trays full!

Looking forward to the next runs!

Ron