Setting Eggs on April 24th!!!! Who wants to hatch along w/me???

[Scubadeaux]

Your babies are beautiful!!!!! LOVE the Blues!!
I know I am starting to get the "stink eye" too, but eh

Just gotta catch my auctions

newlyweds what do you think made the difference with this hatch?? This one was just great!!

 

[newlyweds]

Scuba- the biggest difference is I got a hovabator genesis with the preset temp and I realized in doing so that my thermometer was off 2 degrees on the high side and I was doing the dry hatch method so the chicks would begin to hatch early, and then get stuck in the shells because I hadn't upped my humidity yet, this is what I believe was happening, so very sad to think of all the chicks lost last hatch.

I still have my forced air LG and will use it for staggering hatches (now that I know of my temp problems), but not as my main incubator, it just doesn't hold temp or humidity as well as my Hovabator. Mine seems to dry up very quickly I will add water in the morning to the small through and it ups to 50% then by late that evening it is already around 30%, quite the fluctuation. Though I know many of you have much success in yours.

This past hatch I kept my humidity around 40-50% with small dips into the 30's a few times, then for hatching I upped it to 70+%, I think with the forced air more humidity is needed.

 

[justtoni44]

Hi everyone,
I t is one of my......nobody else but my chicken friends would understand.
Had a great day today....temp 74.whew.
Worked in the barn, cleaned two pens and moved my Blues to an area about double the size they had before....They are HAPPY.........................

Can't explain to my neighbors that happyness for me is being knee deep in chicken stuff and having conversation with the hens.
I HAVE PICTURES................My grand daughter has promised to post them tomorrow...YES !!!!!......
Granted, it is a bit dangerous in the barn right now..........two broodies......they are not nice.
Tried to pet Simone,and she bit me.
Told them eggs were in the mail and it did not help. Have an Easter egger who is not sitting yet,but was by herself all day and looks like some one used a hairdryer on her..very fluffy.............
Wished I had hatched more eggs....The copper Marans seem to be popular and I have had many, many
inquiries..............But it is fun to talk to people who are interested in the breed.
Got a few pictures of the ladies waiting for a box to lay thier egg..................we have perfectly fine nesting boxes.that I paid for..and they prefer a cardboard box..They are to silly.
Thats it for now....................

 

[Wolfwoman]

Well we candled the eggs again today and it looks as tho there is ONE for sure. Threw away 4 more, so I'm left with one that we can see moving and three IFs.

 

[Scubadeaux]

Hey guys...I am officially back in the game!! Scored 15+ Black Coppers last night, I think I might have won a 24 hour auction here from some more Silkies...

Now I just gotta get the bator straight..have been running it and temp is HIGH! I put some rocks on the bottom and they are way too effective at holding heat!!

justtoni44 I completely know where you are coming from, I have to say that just sitting with them, talking to them, watching them interact is just amazing therapy for me. There is a lot to be learned from watching them..they wake up each day never worrying about yesterday or what tomorrow will bring...never beat themselves up for "dusting" too long...and go to sleep with no worries, except fussing over the best sleeping spot

Sorry Simone was fussy, I thought I lost a hen, found her, sitting on smelly muddy eggs...and she is not fun right now at all!! That is funny, mine simply LOVE cardboard boxes, after I splurge a t a book sale, I stack them outside, and in no time everyone is shopping for some real estate

Wolfwoman hang in there with that one...my Showgirl hatch was ONE at lockdown, and thankfully it hatched!! Did have to get it a buddy

 

[newlyweds]

Hi all, hope your hatches are going well.

As for mine today is lockdown for 8 blue breeds eggs, and 3 BCM's. But this morning as I was preparing lockdown, I found a pip!! Yikes that seems really early, and then about 2 hours later another pip! I am using a genesis with preset temp, do you think I need to reprogram it? I'd really hate to mess with it, but I hope this hatch is successful with such early hatching.

if you recall my last hatch started on day 19 and all 15 were completely hatched by day 20!

I moved my 16 OE and 7 BCM and 7 cochin mixes in my LG while these hatch in my genesis, then I will move them back, but depending on how these hatch I guess I will know if I need to adjust the temp or not.

Scubadeaux- congrats on the BCM's, best of luck. I set some more eggs last friday so we will be hatching together.

Wolfwoman- best of luck on your eggs, what type of eggs are they? did you open the eggs you through out? I always like to so I know exactly what happened with the eggs.

justtoni44- Your so right we completley understand, the chicken talk, I try with everyone but when I see their eyes glaze over, I know I've talked to much, ha ha. Chicken therapy is the best, even if it's hard work sometimes, nothing like a good sweat! Now get on those pictures, lol!!!

 

[Scubadeaux]

newlyweds

happy hatching vibes!! Yours always come early

mine are always late!

keep us updated!!

 

[Wolfwoman]

newlyweds, no I didn't open them, all of them were scrambled... could see the air bubbles in them... They are Mahogany Russian Orloffs.

 

[justtoni44]

Not that I am excited but......MY EGGS CAME TODAY........................................
Blue and Black Americaunas.........................have three broody's so will put them to work.

Newlyweds: I was reading the auctions and see you ordered what I just recieved....................
Our chicks will be related .so wonder how that relates to us.........LOL.........
Lisa was so nice and the eggs were packed great.I wrote and told her she did not charge enough.

Wolf: I am truely sorry about the eggs.........it is very discouraging..........I know you will let us know about your one little one.

Scubadeaux: congratualations on you BCM find................I know the blacks are very popular and thier eggs are darker.
I have one black copper and I never have a problem figuring out who laid thedark ,dark egg.
I just love Blue.............

Cattitude: HI!

Well, off to place the eggs...
Later, Toni

 

[newlyweds]

Toni- yes I did order from Lisa, she mailed them today, how fun. I guess that will make us In laws, sorta, lol!!

Well my hatch was a trying one, starting on day 18 I wouldn't recommend to anyone, the 2 chicks that hatched are/were weak. And still barely hanging on, not sure if I should try to cull them? I am such a wimp when it comes to that and hubby isn't home. One seems to be getting stronger, so I guess we will see.

I did hatch 8 total out of 11, but one has died since hatching and then I still have the weak ones, so at least I have 5 healthy thriving fuzzy butts, 1 Splash Andalusian, 1 blue Sumatra, 1 splash hamburg, 1 splash orpington, and 1 Black Copper Maran. The weak ones are a blue ameracana (i was so hoping for this one), and black Andalusian.

I am still not sure why my temp seems hotter than normal, so I will look into this running some tests on my bator while it's empty.

But don't worry my LG isn't empty, I have OE and cochin mixes, and BCM's in it. Crazy? Yes!! Oh I just ordered more Ameracauna's and Welsummer/Marans!! YIKES!!!

My plan is to keep the chicks I want and sell the rest. But it's not like I don't already have 30+ chickens running around.

Though on sadder news one of my 12 week old Cuckoo Marans I found dead this morning. Not sure what happened, I didn't notice anything unusual, she looked just fine, so I guess it will be a mystery.