Setting eggs today 5-3-12...anyone with me?

[WyoChickenMamma]

I wish you good luck too. I am right there with you...if this summer I can get a few good roos and hens of the breeds I want then I will be okay and I can just add in some new once in a while to keep the gene pool deep. I really want to have Cream Legbars, FBCM and Showgirl/silkies. These are all breeds that people really don't have around here and I could sell chicks or eggs locally and help offset my chicken addiction cost.

I have two more shipments of the CL coming one this week and another later in August. I also have a pretty good sized flock of layers that I would like to be able to keep going as well. I don't really have a desire to breed them, just collect the eggs. They don't have to be fancy breeds, just good layers. I have several standing weekly customers that buy my eggs, so that does help too..I am saving all that egg money to build the breeding pens. My egg laying flock free ranges and I will just want my roosters contained with their respective breed.

 

[mbleily]

I wish you good luck too. I am right there with you...if this summer I can get a few good roos and hens of the breeds I want then I will be okay and I can just add in some new once in a while to keep the gene pool deep. I really want to have Cream Legbars, FBCM and Showgirl/silkies. These are all breeds that people really don't have around here and I could sell chicks or eggs locally and help offset my chicken addiction cost.

I have two more shipments of the CL coming one this week and another later in August. I also have a pretty good sized flock of layers that I would like to be able to keep going as well. I don't really have a desire to breed them, just collect the eggs. They don't have to be fancy breeds, just good layers. I have several standing weekly customers that buy my eggs, so that does help too..I am saving all that egg money to build the breeding pens. My egg laying flock free ranges and I will just want my roosters contained with their respective breed.

I hope you don't mind me asking but I sell my eggs for $2.50 doz. How much do you charge. My family say I should charge more. I know that in the city they charge more for farm eggs but we live in a small community. They are not Yuppies and don't want to pay 2.50 let alone anything higher. LOL

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I hope you don't mind me asking but I sell my eggs for $2.50 doz. How much do you charge. My family say I should charge more. I know that in the city they charge more for farm eggs but we live in a small community. They are not Yuppies and don't want to pay 2.50 let alone anything higher. LOL

I charge $4.00 a dozen, but I also deliver them. I don't expect people to drive 18 miles out of town. I just take them to people when I am in town and some of the regulars work with my husband or in his building so he has set days of the week that he takes them. Here I think free range, brown eggs in the grocery store are anywhere from 3-5, so my four with delivery is a good price.

 

[mbleily]

I charge $4.00 a dozen, but I also deliver them. I don't expect people to drive 18 miles out of town. I just take them to people when I am in town and some of the regulars work with my husband or in his building so he has set days of the week that he takes them. Here I think free range, brown eggs in the grocery store are anywhere from 3-5, so my four with delivery is a good price.

We live 7 miles out but I was thinking of delivering too. I would deliver in to our town on Mon and if they need them for some thing special on a different day they could come and get them. I have not put out fliers yet. And I am going to get my friends and family all to talk them up to their friends. Hope I can get a few steady customers. I would love to get $4.00 but I am afraid it is not possible here.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Yes...I think it is probably harder in small towns. I don't seem to have a problem selling mine and it has always seemed to work out that when I have extras I have cakes to bake.

I just looked at my hatching calendar and today is day 10, guess I will candle again...I hope it does not depress me too much. I hope I can see some movement and no growth on the air sacs. Fingers Crossed!!!!!

 

[mbleily]

Yes...I think it is probably harder in small towns. I don't seem to have a problem selling mine and it has always seemed to work out that when I have extras I have cakes to bake.

I just looked at my hatching calendar and today is day 10, guess I will candle again...I hope it does not depress me too much. I hope I can see some movement and no growth on the air sacs. Fingers Crossed!!!!!

Oh, let me know how it turns out. I hate to candle. It can be so depressing.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Okay..I just candled all of the eggs. It was better than I thought it was going to be. I was prepared for the worst. Okay, with the 8 legbars, I removed one, it was either not fertile or got scrambled in the shipping...there was nothing but broken yolk when I cracked it open....although I did notice that the membrane was really tough and dry. Of the other 7 left, we saw movement in 6 of them and the air sacs have not grown since we marked them the other day. They appear to be right on track for day 10! I am sooo happy. There is one that is questionable, I think it could be a quitter, but we decided to put it back for a few more days and check maybe around day 14. I would hate to take it out only to find out I killed it. I am just not confident enough in my candling skills yet.

Okay now for the 10 silkie/showgirl eggs. They all, I repeat ALL, have detached air sacs, but they all look like that have some growth, they are really only on day 3, so it is hard to tell really. I will candle them again this weekend and see if we see veining.

And now for the 12 Marans...well you know how that goes...can't see nuthin'! I did order a Brinsea Ovascope candler the other day, I am hoping it come before day 7 so we can check.

I am keeping the humidity at 65% and am going to hatch them upright in some paper egg cartons or dixie cups or something like that. If I end up with 6 of the Legbars I will be over the moon!

It did look like the air sacs attached themselves in the legbars, but I think it might still be wise to hatch them in cups too, what do you guys think? I have never done that.

So today the incubation roller coaster is high! Hoping it hangs in there for the duration of the hatch!!!!!

 

[mbleily]

Glad you candling went well. I am not going to do it until Sat or Sun. Have an art show for the next three days. I will be exhusted when I get home from there each day.

I have used an egg flat to hatch shipped eggs in. I think it helps so the others don't knock them around. I know people say that in real life the chicks knock the eggs around that are not hatched but that nest is usually smaller and the eggs are nesetled in straw or something. I believe shipped eggs need to be more uppright also. Just me. I cut out the bottoms some and the sides down around the eggs so you can see them well and the chicks get good air and moisture circulation. Then I bought a plastic looking crate off ebay that I like. It has hole all around the cups. it works well for me.

I will be putting these in there too.

Can I ask why you have your moisture up so high already. I keep mine around 40 per cent and alow it to go down some before I add water to it.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Glad you candling went well. I am not going to do it until Sat or Sun. Have an art show for the next three days. I will be exhusted when I get home from there each day.

I have used an egg flat to hatch shipped eggs in. I think it helps so the others don't knock them around. I know people say that in real life the chicks knock the eggs around that are not hatched but that nest is usually smaller and the eggs are nesetled in straw or something. I believe shipped eggs need to be more uppright also. Just me. I cut out the bottoms some and the sides down around the eggs so you can see them well and the chicks get good air and moisture circulation. Then I bought a plastic looking crate off ebay that I like. It has hole all around the cups. it works well for me.

I will be putting these in there too.

Can I ask why you have your moisture up so high already. I keep mine around 40 per cent and alow it to go down some before I add water to it.

I decided to bump it up so high after reading about eggs coming from sea level to such high altitude that they lose moisture very quickly because the eggs are more porous. So after chatting with a lot of people in Wyoming and Colorado at similar elevations that is what seems to help them have better hatch rates. Some people also pump in oxygen, but I think that is quite dangerous. So I just have the vents wide open. Interestingly, I marked the air sacs with a pencil on day 7, they were huge and detached. Then I pumped up the humidity and when I checked them again the other night they had not grown and looked like they reattached. I am hoping that this remedied the situation.

 

[mbleily]

I decided to bump it up so high after reading about eggs coming from sea level to such high altitude that they lose moisture very quickly because the eggs are more porous. So after chatting with a lot of people in Wyoming and Colorado at similar elevations that is what seems to help them have better hatch rates. Some people also pump in oxygen, but I think that is quite dangerous. So I just have the vents wide open. Interestingly, I marked the air sacs with a pencil on day 7, they were huge and detached. Then I pumped up the humidity and when I checked them again the other night they had not grown and looked like they reattached. I am hoping that this remedied the situation.

Did you put the eggs in a turner? Or did you not turn them after going into the incubator? I read what one person said about not turning them for 7 to 10 days. I was afraid to do that. I left mine only 4 total days without turning. I want to learn as much as I can about this because I don't see any way I can get the eggs I want without shipping them to me. The lady I got these from said the last few eggs she has shipped had really good hatches. 85 to 100 per cent. Looking at the air sacs I am wondering about that. also some were upside down when I got them. They were not expensive so that is one thing and she gave me 6 extra eggs.