Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

Set my first batch of eggs for the season. 160 total for the chicken. 40 are mine & the rest came from a friend. I'll be splitting the hatch with another friend. Quail eggs will go in Monday so everyone hatches together. I already have 79 collected & get 4-6 each day so should have 90-100 to set by Monday night.

I set 288 eggs last night and 30+ turkey eggs go in tonight. Between us, we will easily top 500! Not quite "commercial hatchery" size, but we are getting there.

Dickey incubator is warmed up and getting the thermostats adjusted today.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Set my first batch of eggs for the season. 160 total for the chicken. 40 are mine

I set 288 eggs last night and 30+ turkey eggs go in tonight. Between us, we will easily top 500! Not quite "commercial hatchery" size, but we are getting there.

Dickey incubator is warmed up and getting the thermostats adjusted today.

Wish my turkeys would get in gear. They are what I really want to hatch!!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

I set 288 eggs last night and 30+ turkey eggs go in tonight. Between us, we will easily top 500! Not quite "commercial hatchery" size, but we are getting there.

Dickey incubator is warmed up and getting the thermostats adjusted today.

Awesome news about the blog, I will check it out today. How many incubators do you have in total? What's your hatching capacity? Are you expecting a busier year than last? You're going to need to hire more help soon!

 

[dheltzel]

Awesome news about the blog, I will check it out today. How many incubators do you have in total? What's your hatching capacity? Are you expecting a busier year than last? You're going to need to hire more help soon!

I have 3 cabinet incubators, 2 "good" desktops (Genesis and Brinsea eco 20), and a large "coolerbator" that serves as a dedicated hatcher. If I get good fertility (meaning not many clears to throw out early) I can do 288 per week. Clears increase that because I can reuse their space, but take away from the total number I can hatch because they take space for a week or 2.

It's definitely looking like a much busier year. For one thing, I'm selling chicks through Pughtown Agway during the "spring rush", not later summer and fall like last year. Right now, the only thing I'm not selling as fast as they hatch are turkeys. Probably because they are hatching far better than last year. I think turkeys are a little harder to incubate correctly and last year I learned how to do that.

Are your turkey poults doing ok? You gonna take some pics?

 

[dheltzel]

Found a small blue eggs in one of my 2 growout pens. It could have been from one of the black Sexlinks I'm raising for the laying flock, but I'm hoping it from the black or blue Ameraucanas. So, when they went up to roost, I switched around a bunch of hens and pullets, so now my best blue roo is with 8 young black Ams and 2 blue Ams. Hoping for eggs soon

Any eggs should be 50% chance of blue, 5% splash, and 45% black.

Moved the oldest chicks (9 or 10 weeks old) from the basement into the garage. It's supposed to get into the low 20's tonight. I hope they will be ok.

Now if I had just one more winter-proof pen, I'd be all set. Well, 2 really, or maybe 3.

 

[BullChick]

I put a ramp in from the duckpen to the chicken pen today. Then another to get out to the run. I had to pick the first duck up, and put them on the ramp to encourage them. I was actually surprised to see the ducks had gone into their pen tonight after free ranging.

 

[fisherlady]

I put a ramp in from the duckpen to the chicken pen today. Then another to get out to the run. I had to pick the first duck up, and put them on the ramp to encourage them. I was actually surprised to see the ducks had gone into their pen tonight after free ranging.

Glad to hear they are cooperating!

Today we got two coops cleaned, put up canvas panels around the egger's paddock for what is left of winter, put up some clear plastic panels and a tarp around another pen's porch area to give them more outside room and had an unexpected call in reply to a flyer we put up 2 months ago (I had forgotten it and would have expected it would have been removed by now, but guess not). Anyway, a young fellow and his grandfather came out to our place and bought the last 8 birds we had available...so coops seem empty tonight! LOL...

 

[Lelanae]

Hi PA friends! My name is Lauren and I'm in the philly suburbs (bucks co). My kids and I just worked on an incubation project and just had a successful hatch with some beautiful chicks. You all are way better with breed names but we have assorted silkies/porcelain D'Uccles/Belgian quail D'anver/mottled and frizzle Cochin. Is anyone looking to add to their coop with any of these breeds? Let me know!

Hi Lauren!
I am over in Chester county! Welcome!

 

[Lelanae]

We got our first egg today!!!!
I went out early this afternoon and four of my five girls ran out to greet me. I went into the hen house to see if Rosie (our Red Star) was ok and saw her actually starting to lay!
By the time I got my son--the little egg was in the nest box. My son had me scramble it up for him.
Do I put all the girls on layer feed now? Murphy's law-- I bought a fifty pound bag of starter yesterday since I thought it might be another month or two before we saw eggs!

 

[dheltzel]

We got our first egg today!!!!
I went out early this afternoon and four of my five girls ran out to greet me. I went into the hen house to see if Rosie (our Red Star) was ok and saw her actually starting to lay!
By the time I got my son--the little egg was in the nest box. My son had me scramble it up for him.
Do I put all the girls on layer feed now? Murphy's law-- I bought a fifty pound bag of starter yesterday since I thought it might be another month or two before we saw eggs!

Go ahead and feed the starter. Just buy a bag of oyster shell and keep a can or bowl of that available, they will eat it as needed. Starter is usually higher protein (which is good) and low calcium (good for the pullets that aren't laying yet). When this bag is finished, you can switch to layer for your next bag.