Okay guys, these are some questions that popped in my mind as I have been reading through some of the threads about this topic. I don't really have a broody hen. I have one hen that has gone broody in the past but I don't know how she would do incubating another chicken's eggs. I bought an incubator but haven't even opened it yet. Before I open it and set it up, I want to know more about what I am doing so I don't loose all my potential chicks. #1) When I collect my eggs, how long is too long to keep them out of the incubator? Can I collect over many days and put them all in at once or do I need to put them in as soon as I collect them? #2) I have seen many references to a water wiggler. When I look them up on the internet I keep getting a picture of a toy. Can anyone please post a picture of your store bought water wiggler? #3) I have 2 Ameraucana roosters. One had to be helped out of his shell. I was told by one person I should NOT use him to breed. Is that true or does it really matter? #4) I want to keep my chicks pure bred. Can I house all my roosters together without them killing each other and bring the hens and rooster of the same breed together in a separate breeding pen? Thank you to anyone that responds. I really appreciate it.
hello, well for number 1, they say you can keep eggs up to 3 weeks, I have kept eggs up to 2 weeks and had success, take a shoe box and put a towel in it and store your eggs in the closet out of the sun and at room temp, like I say you can add to them for about 2 weeks, some say 3 idk y not I just have never done 3 weeks. then when your happy with your number mark them with a pencil and throw them in the incubator, make sure you set your incubator temp before you put eggs in, give yourself 2 or 3 days to get that temp dialed in just right. 99.5 degrees is ideal. what I have read is if you incubate a tad cooler your will push back hatching a bit and most likely hatch more hens, if you incubate warmer, like 101-102 you could hatch almost a full day early with mostly roosters. haven't experimented enough with this to verify my own just what I researched. #2 not the slightest idea #3again not much clue, if he acts normal idk y he wouldn't be ok to breed #4 that all depends on your roosters temperaments and space they have, that would be something you monitor from a distance, they might have a few battles to figure out the pecking order but id stick them together and let your roosters tell you whether or not they are mentally capable of being together, but I would say the space they have would play a key factor and if they can see the hens and interact with them through the fence... well that's my thoughts on the situations I hope it helps and good luck
