Sand Hill Preservation Center

[cmom]

My Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites are descendents of RC RIW's from Sand Hill Preservation. I have been very happy with them. I now have 3 generations.

 

[cubalaya]

my cubalayas are descendants of the sandhill cubalayas that we ordered many generations ago. they still carry a little of that blood. other strains have been added over the years.

 

[bhaugh]

I'm very new to all this, but i liked what i got from Sand Hill. They may not be show quality, but they are definitely Jersey Giants, and there are some nice ones among them too, plus they all have the nice disposition that their breed is supposed to have.

I was a little disappointed that all but one of the blues i purchased ended up being splashes. Oh well splashes are valuable too and i understand that there's some amount of risk involved with young unsexed chicks as far as what they'll grow up to be. I guess they're breeding black and splash to make their blues because the one blue i got was darker and very pretty plus that combo would yield more splashes instead of getting 100% lighter blues yielded by splash and black. They were actually 50-50% males vs females. Sand Hill took care of me and i plan to buy from them again, though i may purchase a fancy show rooster from a breeder someday when i have the money to blow. I think what i got from Sand Hill is a good start, i just need to work on them and learn the breeder secrets, plus i appreciate the fact that they try to keep genetic diversity.. no hillbilly chickens for me! To me the price was not bad, but then i don't have an incubator and have never hatched eggs before, so it was worth it.

You really should try and hatch some eggs. There is a lot of experience gained from hatching your own and watching them grow.

 

[cmom]

You may have some show quality birds. I took some of my birds to the local shows and got Best of Breed, Best Variety, Reserve Breed and Reserve Variety. I hatched my own birds but the parent stock originally came from Sand Hill Preservation Center. I started out with a styrofoam incubator that a friend had lent me. I hatched a couple of batches of chicks and my hatch rate wasn't the greatest. I then bought my own styrofoam incubator and began experimenting. Then I bought another styrofoam until I had 4 styrofoam incubators. I then got a good deal on a cabinet incubator. Now I incubate in the cabinet incubator and hatch in the styrofoam incubators. I played around with the temperature and humidity and my hatches went from 50% to 60% to 90% to 100%. I have had some 100% but most are around 95%. Good luck and have fun...

 

[WisteriaPath]

I'd love to try hatching, but because i can't afford a real incubator i'm afraid i'd screw up and hatch deformed chicks and have to kill them. I'd rather wait until i have something with a high chance of success. Or maybe buy some Silkie hens to hatch them? I have to look into that some more, but i hear they're pretty good at raising other birds' eggs.

 

[cmom]

I'd love to try hatching, but because i can't afford a real incubator i'm afraid i'd screw up and hatch deformed chicks and have to kill them. I'd rather wait until i have something with a high chance of success. Or maybe buy some Silkie hens to hatch them? I have to look into that some more, but i hear they're pretty good at raising other birds' eggs.

I also want to say

I have used several different broody's to hatch chicks and have lost a chick or two a time or two but for the most part all of the chicks have hatched that I have put under a broody. The spring time or early summer is when mine tend to be most broody. I have had birds that would only sit part time and others roll one egg out of the nest and only sit on the one egg. I would put the single egg back into the nest and the hen would roll one egg out of the nest and sit on the one. I took all of the eggs away from her and put them in an incubator. Most likely you would only hatch deformed chicks if you breed like a sister to a brother, then the undesirable traits seem to come out. You will get some deformed chicks as in all births regardless of the species. Even human births there are some children born with deformities. It's just the way of life but most will be ok. Most Silkies are good broody's and will sit on any eggs you put under them. Good luck and have fun...

 

[bhaugh]

A hovabator only cost about 55.00. I am lazy and bought an egg turner for another 50. You can make your own. Go to Youtube and watch there.

You cant approach hatching as "What if I dont........ because there will always be those. I set my eggs, try and keep a journal of what went wrong and try it different the next time. There will always be variables in something like this until you can have your own eggs and even then you cant take for granted eggs and how mother nature works.

The entire process though is exciting and you spend 3 weeks caring for and staring at an open window styrofoam box with eggs in it waiting for that final candle, chirp in the shell (that is way cool) pipping, and that final zip which is awesome to see. I say go for it, you will be humbled, awed and overjoyed all at the same time!

Your high chance of success is the times you can do it over and over. No other way I think around it than that.

 

[cmom]

You can make an incubator out of a cooler for less than $20.00. It all depends on what you want to put into one. Sometimes it is better to buy one but that is for you to decide. I have an homemade incubator that works great. I used 2 - 15 watt light bulbs for the heat source with two lamp kits. I originally put a dimmer switch in to regulate the temperature but had a wafer thermostat and installed it and it keeps the temperature it the range it should be and I have had many very good hatches in it.

Here are some that may give you some ideas.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/homemade-chicken-egg-incubator-designs-pictures

This is the one I made. A friend gave me the cooler. This is when I first put it together.




This is after I modified it.

 

[bhaugh]

For a still egg hatcher, can you just use a 25w bulb as I saw on Youtube or do I still need to add a thermostat?

 

[cmom]

For a still egg hatcher, can you just use a 25w bulb as I saw on Youtube or do I still need to add a thermostat?

You need someway to regulate the temperature. Are you going to incubate and hatch or just use it as a hatcher? Youtube has some very good examples of making homemade incubator/hatchers.