Setting Thursday March 25.. Anyone want to join me??

[GreenGoddess]

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I hope the rest of ours follow suit... So far I've only lost 5 eggs bringing me down to 31 but, that's still a lot compared to last try... Post pics asap!!!!

Goddess

 

[crosbygroup]

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I didn't know that they were TJ's eggs.. I know some people on here have tried to hatch out grocery store eggs that were marked "free range" but not marked "fertilized" and have been able to pull it off with a small percentage of them.. $2.79/dz definitely isn't bad compared to how much it cost to buy those same eggs from a hatchery... LOL Silly, isn't it?

Goddess

I'll try and candle all of them when I get back to school. Chicks go for about $3.00 each around here - so if I end up with 3 I'll break even.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Well, I had to change my way of turning my eggs.. I basically had them in egg cartons with skewers glued to the bottom and a string to draw each side up through holes in the top of the incubator... Well, one of the wooden skewers broke off for the second time and I decided to go a different route.. This time, I used egg cartons and cut the bottoms off (I didn't do that with the other ones) and I just push it forward or backward to tilt them the opposite direction.. It seems to be working well although I do have to open the door to do this.. Well, when i got done and got the temp back to 99.5, the humidity had gone from 40% to 50%!!!!!

I guess the cardboard in the other cartons were soaking up a lot of the moisture because it was never that high even with one of the two dishes completely FULL!!! Well, I guess that will make it easier to bring the humidity up for lockdown!! LOL I did suck half of the water out so hopefully it will go back down...

Goddess

 

[GreenGoddess]

Where are the updates everyone?? Some of you are getting close to lockdown!! GO CHICKIES!!!!

Here is an update from me.. Forgive me if you've already read most of this on the April hatching thread..

I have hope this time around! My temps fluctuate as low as 98 and as high as 103 but most times I catch it.. The high temps get caught a lot faster than the low temps because I'm normally sleeping when the temp drops.. I'm not sure how long it goes unnoticed but as soon as I wake up, I plug all holes and throw a blanket over the top to bring the temps back up.. I set on the 25th and have only lost 5 out of 36 (two were scrambled and one was cracked) so if you count that, I've only lost two that were viable.. There was one that was just too dark (americauna) when I candled on day 7 (thursday) and I went ahead and candled it today again.. I THINK I saw veins!!

... I also spot checked 4 others since the temp was a tad high (100.8) and they were all doing backflips!! I am so excited!! Set in the AM so only 6 days and a few hours left til lockdown!!! I am going to candle all of them on Thursday and hope to see lots of dark spots and no blood rings!!!

On another note, I was going to sell these chicks and buy the chicks I want (gold comets and BO).. Well, I checked around and Ideal had the best price($2.49 each).. I was going to get 15 GC and 5 BO, pick 6 of my favorites out of the GC and 1 out of the BO and sell the rest so I could make up some of the cost.. I would have had to wait until May 4th as they are sold out right now.. Well, The feed store I deal with and got my BR's from last year gets their chicks from Ideal also... So I stopped in today and they had BO's but no GC's.. I asked him when they would be getting them in and he told me April 13th!!! I am so excited.. On top of that, because they are already ordered, I won't have to pay shipping.. So, I can pick the chicks out right there AND instead of $53 from Ideal, it will only cost me about $20 ($1.89 each plus tax)!! My husband is not keep on me getting more chickens but he told me that we would have to make sure we had money set aside so i could get them!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!

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Guess I better get moving on the brooder!!!! Luckily, i am almost finished.. I just need to get an outdoor light to put inside it (in case it leaks any when it rains) and finish the run for them.. It will be attached to the main pen with the others but will have rabbit wire around it so they can't jump into the main pen or into the yard... And I need to put a ramp in so they can get in and out of it since it's about 18 inches off the ground... Hmmm... I wonder if I could sneak one or two of the ones I hatch out in with them without my husband noticing!!

Goddess

 

[KDbeads]

Candling tomorrow for the cooler bator for lock down. Will candle the foam bator Thursday for lock down.

 

[Minniechickmama]

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I candled on Saturday night and out of 45, there are 26 with chicks swimming around. I had several Polish that the air sac ruptured in shipment. There were a few others that arrived from other breeders that had the same thing happen, although, some of them are developing, so we will see what happens.
The class guessed individually at how many would hatch. So far most of them were way over and two very close, so we shall see in anther 10 days!

 

[crosbygroup]

Ok, I candled today and out of the 36 I set 22 look good. I guess we'll see what happens with the 22.

 

[oldno7ranch]

I have been busy birthing baby goats here so I haven't recandled the chicks, have checked the duck eggs some when I put new ones in since I get 2 at least every day, will try to give everyone an update on the chicks asap. Still have 36 chick eggs in the bator!!

 

[KDbeads]

In the cooler bator with the silkies....
Most look ready to hatch but..... about 10 look like it will be the full 21 to 22 days, they are moving around like crazy but I can still see large yolks. Have them switched over to the foam bator so we can watch the hatch, I don't have a window in the cooler bator. Yet.

 

[smchickfarm]

I am on day 12

have candled and have movement in all 16!!!!!