Hi there everyone. I'm Terris. I've had chickens for years, but recently ordered some eggs and an incubator through the mail, my incubator is about 13 days "pregnant" at the moment and I'm really excited. There is a mixed batch of eggs in there, primarily light sussex, with a few d'uccles (mille fleur) and some araucanas tossed into the mix. Have candled the eggs and am expecting about 10-12 babies (some of those darker eggs are nearly impossible to be 100% sure). This is the first time I've incubated eggs, so I'm a bit unsure if I'm doing it right and stuff, I usually leave this kind of thing to my little bantam girls. Speaking of those bantam girls, I have a delightfully crossbred group of ladies, who are all related, so thought I might try to hatch myself a little belgian rooster to keep them happy....there is one egg in particular that Ive been keeping a close eye on, the first one I could actually see a heartbeat in, and I am hoping that it is male I...don't really know what else to say, other than I'm a very nervous chicken-dad-to be...
Welcome to BYC! Good luck on the hatch! Here is an awesome incubating article that has TONS of info https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
Howdy SirTerris While I have bantams, I have no experience with incubators except for the feathered ones who spend more time broody than anything else Anyways, I just wanted to Welcome you to BYC and also mention that I love the “13 days pregnant incubator” line .. classic!
Welcome to BYC, Terris. Glad you decided to join our flock. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your hatch. )
Thanks for the welcome guys I've been lurking about for a few months, and just finally decided to join up, mostly because as a first time eggdaddy, I'm starting to get nervous. I was going to incubate these eggs under my broody girls, but my partner decided to remove the dud eggs they were sitting on two days BEFORE the eggs were going to arrive, so I had to run around trying to find an alternative, which was the incubator....of course, 6 days into the incubation progress, the girls were broody again....but it was too late to turn back at that point... I've got everything i need now though, heat lamp, enclosure, feeder, waterer, marbles to put in the waterer to ensure the babies don't drown...
Welcome to Backyard chickens. Sending good hatching vibes your way . Please update us after the happy event.
It seems while I was out today there was a blackout (probably due to storms) and my incubator was out of action for at least two hours...possibly longer....i am HOPING that will not affect the hatch, but I am quite worried
They could still be OK I've had pigeon eggs get cold for a couple hours and still hatch, plus the incubator might have held in heat so stayed warm for a bit.
They will likely be fine. Incubators are very well insulated and even when a hen incubates eggs, the eggs go through slight temperature fluctuations without harming the chicks inside
