Serama hatching eggs

[dreamwallaby]

Hello everyone
I have 3 serama hens that were in with a rooster when I purchased them a week ago. They were laying eggs but not sitting them and the nest box was also too hot where the coop was. So I tossed those first few eggs and moved the coop so the nest box is in a better spot, all shade and not hot at all. So far they have laid 3 more eggs in one nest and 2 in the other but only sit on the eggs at night. I read they wont actually go broody until they are finished laying? Anyways, I also have 8 eggs being shipped that arrive Monday. I had originally hoped to add these eggs to the others but now I can't be sure they will actually go broody So I'm online browsing incuabtors... nothing like the last minute. I found a Brinsea mini eco and a Hovabator 1602n which I can get in my price range and have here in a few days. Is one better than the other for these tiny eggs? Is it better to manually turn these because they are so small or do the egg turners work ok for these too? I'm still keeping my fingers crossed the serama mamas will pull through for me.

 

[Jchicken311]

Turning by hand it is a lot more work. You might want to consider getting one with an automatic turner,I think it would be a lot less stressful because you have to do it at the right time the right way

and it is just easier to get the turner. 8 eggs is not that hard to keep

track of though so you may just want to turn them yourself, but hopefully your hens will come around so they can take care of it.

Good luck hatching your babies!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Brinseas are the best incubators, hands down. Hovabators are decent styros with bigger capacity. If you don't plan on getting into hatching regularly, the Brinsea would be ideal. (Hatching is addictive.) If you are going to be hatching a lot, I'd go Hovabator.

As for automatic turning vs hand turning..... either or. I started out hatching using the turner. The last two hatches I hand turned. I actually prefer the hand turning. The two hateches I hand turned I actually had my two best hatch rates (92% &100%). I can't say that hand turning has anything to do with high rate, but it obviously does the job.

 

[dreamwallaby]

Thanks for the replies, I ordered the Brensea... now time for the anxiety to kick in, lol

 

[darkbluespace]

Your Serama hens will most likely go broody at some point but usually not on demand.

I have 12 Serama hens and only one (one of the youngest) has not gone broody this year... some are on their second round!