NY chicken lover!!!!

[Joyryder]

Quote:
Oh and I was going to ask you to help me hatch some. I have 30 eggs being delivered Sat am I hope, but I only have room for 24.
I would hate to eat $8 worth of eggs.
Joanne

Wow!!!

Thats a lot of eggs!!!! Are they all blue plymouth rocks? Or a mix? I would say not a problem, but my little incubator stinks. I have had nothing hatch out of it , and I tried it 2 times. I think it would only fit 3 or 4 large eggs too. The only ones I got to hatch were in a homemade incubator, but not a very good hatch rate at all either.

I'm not very confident in my hatching abilities, until I get a really good incubator!

Do you have any broodies? The only one I have going to be broody soon is my mallard duck lol. Shes made a nest and is laying her eggs in there. I dont know how many she will lay till she thinks she has enough, but should be soon I would think. So if you want we could stick them in the nest, and have her hatch them. Duck eggs take 28 days, so the chickens would hatch sooner and we would just take them out. Thats the only idea I have lol.

I sold my broodies. I should be getting Blues, Blacks & Splashes plymouth rocks. There coming in the mail, some might not survive the trip. What brand is the little incubator. I'm thinking I might get unfertile eggs, we could switch but that wouldn't be before day 7 or 10. I tried putting eggs on top of other eggs, but they rolled around too much and never hatched. Unless I put secure them with half of an egg carton. This should be fun!
Joanne

 

[AmyJ]

Quote:
Wow!!!

Thats a lot of eggs!!!! Are they all blue plymouth rocks? Or a mix? I would say not a problem, but my little incubator stinks. I have had nothing hatch out of it , and I tried it 2 times. I think it would only fit 3 or 4 large eggs too. The only ones I got to hatch were in a homemade incubator, but not a very good hatch rate at all either.

I'm not very confident in my hatching abilities, until I get a really good incubator!

Do you have any broodies? The only one I have going to be broody soon is my mallard duck lol. Shes made a nest and is laying her eggs in there. I dont know how many she will lay till she thinks she has enough, but should be soon I would think. So if you want we could stick them in the nest, and have her hatch them. Duck eggs take 28 days, so the chickens would hatch sooner and we would just take them out. Thats the only idea I have lol.

I sold my broodies. I should be getting Blues, Blacks & Splashes plymouth rocks. There coming in the mail, some might not survive the trip. What brand is the little incubator. I'm thinking I might get unfertile eggs, we could switch but that wouldn't be before day 7 or 10. I tried putting eggs on top of other eggs, but they rolled around too much and never hatched. Unless I put secure them with half of an egg carton. This should be fun!
Joanne

Its one of the little dome ones, not sure what brand it is. My hubby had no idea about incubators when he ordered one and he wanted to surprise me. Well some might get scramble from being shipped. I would say if none are broken when you get them candle them all and see how they look inside. Some may not be good from the trip, or you could put a heat lamp over a box and try to regulate the temp, to start them. Then after a week you can see which ones might not be developing, then you can stick the good ones in the bator. Just trying to think of things to do

 

[Joyryder]

Quote:
I bought 24 plus extras, I didn't expect that many extras. I just didn't want them to go to waste. They're brown eggs and I'm not very good at candling them. Talk about an art that needs perfecting. My daughter's better. I guess I will employ her.

I just checked - they arrived at the post office this morning! Yea! I can set them tonight! Finally I will have a weekend hatch date Sat April 3rd. Some will hatch on Easter!

Joanne

 

[AmyJ]

Quote:
I bought 24 plus extras, I didn't expect that many extras. I just didn't want them to go to waste. They're brown eggs and I'm not very good at candling them. Talk about an art that needs perfecting. My daughter's better. I guess I will employ her.

I just checked - they arrived at the post office this morning! Yea! I can set them tonight! Finally I will have a weekend hatch date Sat April 3rd. Some will hatch on Easter!

Joanne

Thats good for a weekend hatch date, now you can sit and watch! Hopefully they all are ok.

We have 3 chicks under momma this morning! There is one egg left that hasnt hatched yet. We have an oegb/duccle mix chick, an EE chick, and a duccle chick!

 

[ancona91]

Hello, Everybody!!!!
Yea.......I'm still here(somewhere). I'd been inundated with tax returns during the past few weeks....and just wanted to get them done and outta here!!! When you start dreaming about King Kong-sized numbers chasing you in your dreams, it's DEFINITELY time to take a break(smile). What better welcome diversion than checking in with my friends on this forum?!!!
I'll have to take some time to read up on all the posts I've missed. I quickly scrolled through for now......and saw all the totally adorable pics of the babies!!!! Awesome pics, gorgeous babies!!!!! Congrats to all!!!! Since I was last online here, I've had 4 ducklings and 3 more chicks born. I have another duckling pipping as I 'm writing this.......probably to hatch later tonight. I'm still hatching the "Storm Babies"....and they're still hatching 3 days behind schedule.
I'm in the process of hatching several different breeds......Olive Eggers, BLRW's, Mille Fleur Cochins, .Lemon-Blue Araucana banties. Should be interesting.......we'll see how it goes.
Joanne, sounds like you need another incubator(smile)!!!! Do you use an automatic egg turner.......or do you hand-turn the eggs?? When I use the automatic turner I'd lay some eggs flat on the one side of the turner(there should be a space between the turner and the incubator side)........it would fit maybe 4-6 eggs ,depending on their size.......these few eggs I would hand-turn. It worked well for the few extra eggs I had available.
Well, I guess I'd better sign off for now. Will check in again a bit later.
Sincerely, Kathy

 

[Karen_at_LittleBrook]

Well, I wasnt really sure where to post this, so I opted to post here with my NY peeps! I wanted to share my excitment and fear... I ordered both my coop and my chicks!!! I am so excited.... but it didnt take long for the nervousness to set it! I went with a nice 6x8 gable coop kit that should be shipping from Ohio in a week. While the other coop nearer me had everything and free shipping, I didnt like the look as much. I plan to make a few modifications here and there but I wont know exactly what needs to be done until I have it.

I ended up ordering my chicks from MPC. I chose them for a couple of reasons, but mainly because they were the closest "mail order" hatchery to me. I am very worried about the poor things being shipped. I ordered 14 babies, thanks to my kids. I am prepared to add a second, smaller coop in the fall if I have to, but we'll see how it goes. I did order 4 silkies... again thanks to my kids! Which was another reason I ordered from MPC.... they sex their silkies for an additional $7.00 each. I wonder if they xray them????

My chick shipping date isnt til June, I assume because I ordered different varities. I selected my chicks one night and had a ship date of June 1st, held them in my cart until the next day... and the ship date jumped to June 14th! So, in fear that it would be pushed back even further, I ordered. I did request the "soonest available" option at check-out tho. I did request Mareks Vacc. for them all. Except the Silkies... it wasnt offered for them. I read it wasnt needed for small, backyard flocks, but others said it was, and I have a lot of wild birds in my yard, so I stuck with the side of caution and vacc'd them @ a $1.00 each.

I dont mind waiting for June because it gives us lots of time to get things set up w/the coop, build a nice large run and the weather is much warmer for transitioning.

Now I'm getting nervous about the brooder set-up, and the grow-out set-up. Red light, white light, watts, heat lamp, regular bulb that gives heat...??? Ive read so much about it, but everyone has a different opinion. And how about the grow-out stage? I would like to start getting everything for the brooder, so PLEASE, if anyone has great advice for brooders let me know! I plan to have the brooder in the laundry room which stays coolish even in the summer... Thanks so much for any input!

Karen

 

[bufforp89]

Hello Karen and welcome to what will soon be an addiction!

For brooders I use plastic rubbermaid type containers, I have found that a large one will hold up to 15 day old chicks and about 7 when they get bigger and are feathered and able to go outside. They are pretty easy to keep clean, I scoop mine daily and clean them compleatly weekly.

Right now I have 13 week olds in the broober above, next week I will split them up into two brooders so they have more room, then at 5-6 weeks depending on the weather they will go outside in time for the baby ducks that will be hatched by then to take over the brooders.

Hope this helped some!

 

[Joyryder]

Good morning everyone

Kathy, I have a brinsea with an automatic turner. With my last hatch I put 4 on top of the others. Well they rolled all over the place and never developed. I might try to put them in an egg carton with the bottoms cut out for humidity.

Karen Congrats on your new adventure. I've been hatching chicks in my basement - 3 different age groups going on. I moved out the oldest group this weekend. We have our laundry room in the basement. And it was a chore to keep the smell down. By time their a month old they can get very messy. If you can set up the brooder, a card board box works great, in the coop you might be happier. You just need electricity, an extension cord would work. They'll get more fresh air.
I used a red light for heat because they can sleep with it on. I hang it on a chain. When you first set put a thermometer on the floor underneath the light. Aim for about 90 to 95 degrees. Then each day I would move it up one link. The hatchery probably has instructions for newborn care you can print out. Buy 50lb bag of starter feed. I had 1 chick drown in the chick waterer, so I would suggest using pebbles or marbles in the trough.
Since you have some bantams, 6x8 gives you 48 sq ft, which is about 3.5 sq ft per chick. It should be big enough, if you have part of your run covered. If you raise the coop off the ground they could go underneath. Just make sure you cement the footings in. It gives them a place to go to cool off in the summer or stay dry in the rain. Mine hated the snow. They wouldn't use the ramp. Just flew from the pop door to underneath or their deck.

Joanne

 

[chicken stalker]

Quote:
I have the same incubator. I usualy put a few on top to rotate in if there is any duds on bottom. I stand the eggs up in the little wire holders and stuff a little wax paper in the end to keep them upright. The ones on top are postioned, laying down on top of the wax paper wads. If they are small eggs I sandwich (between the egg and top of 'bator) a little wad of wax paper on top of the "extra" eggs so they down slide/move around. I have't lost one yet being on top. Once I candle and toss any clears or duds I fill the gaps with the extras.....so far it has worked out perfectly......knock on wood.

 

[Joyryder]

Quote:
I have the same incubator. I usualy put a few on top to rotate in if there is any duds on bottom. I stand the eggs up in the little wire holders and stuff a little wax paper in the end to keep them upright. The ones on top are postioned, laying down on top of the wax paper wads. If they are small eggs I sandwich (between the egg and top of 'bator) a little wad of wax paper on top of the "extra" eggs so they down slide/move around. I have't lost one yet being on top. Once I candle and toss any clears or duds I fill the gaps with the extras.....so far it has worked out perfectly......knock on wood.

Wax paper wads - got it. That's what I will do.
Another question: Do you hatch them in the Brinsea. My first hatch I took the chicks out when they were dry. The second time I waited for more than a day. 12 had hatched and it seemed really crowded. Both times there were 22 and 24 eggs at lockdown. How do you time moving them? I know the humidity stayed in the range better the second time around.

Joanne