Staggered hatching Hatch-A-Long

[LilyD]

So, my DH made me a nice gift for the chicks last year, I think this will be perfect to put them in from the age of 4 weeks, week 5-6 they can go in the run to self-integrate with the other chickens. What do you guys think?
Kuiken paleis buiten

I love it! It's very similar to what I do only I use a tractor I developed myself and fence around it so the free range birds are kept away from them to start. I find getting them on the ground as soon as possible after hatching helps them to develop immunities to the bugs you may have on your property and also allows them to pick up things that will help them learn to forage later on. I think the last batch I had I started on week two outside with a tractor for when the weather was bad and a light to help if they got chilly.

 

[Lins_BE]

Hey, I tried to get BYC to stop sending me notifications trough email, the box is unchecked, but i keep getting like 100 mails a day. Do any of you know what I’m doing wrong?

 

[Mvan42]

Well my second set of eggs showed up today. Ordered 8+. Received 12.. one was cracked... all but one have detached air cells. Most were completely detached. So I am letting them set til Saturday then adding to the incubator... 14 already set and setting 11 more then... kinda of nervous and not much hope with these 11. Since they appear to have had a ruff time getting here.

 

[LilyD]

Well my second set of eggs showed up today. Ordered 8+. Received 12.. one was cracked... all but one have detached air cells. Most were completely detached. So I am letting them set til Saturday then adding to the incubator... 14 already set and setting 11 more then... kinda of nervous and not much hope with these 11. Since they appear to have had a ruff time getting here.

Post office can be so rough on eggs. Even if they are wrapped and marked fragile a lot of times they still end up detached air cells and broken.

 

[Mvan42]

Post office can be so rough on eggs. Even if they are wrapped and marked fragile a lot of times they still end up detached air cells and broken.

These were wrapped in bubble wrap individually but they weren’t real tight in the box.. there was a lot of space for movement. something could have been placed to fill the gap or they could have been put on a smaller box. I think that had a lot to do with it. I agree post office can be cruel. The box wasn’t marked fragile or anything. My others were well marked and secure in the box.

 

[LilyD]

These were wrapped in bubble wrap individually but they weren’t real tight in the box.. there was a lot of space for movement. something could have been placed to fill the gap or they could have been put on a smaller box. I think that had a lot to do with it. I agree post office can be cruel. The box wasn’t marked fragile or anything. My others were well marked and secure in the box.

I tend to be very selective of who I get my hatching eggs from. I want the ones that use the foam shippers and put them inside one box that is inside a larger box and bubble wrapped fairly firmly in there so that there isn't any chance of it getting jostled and banging around at all. I really think the foam shippers are a great item. The eggs I get wrapped in those tend to hatch well.

 

[Mvan42]

I tend to be very selective of who I get my hatching eggs from. I want the ones that use the foam shippers and put them inside one box that is inside a larger box and bubble wrapped fairly firmly in there so that there isn't any chance of it getting jostled and banging around at all. I really think the foam shippers are a great item. The eggs I get wrapped in those tend to hatch well.

I received some last year in foam, three were scrambled the others developed slow and didn’t make it. That could have been a thermometer problem but it worked fine with the previous hatches i did last year. I have a feeling the post office is just real rough with them... but we shall see how it goes... going to not turn them for a few days after setting hopefully it helps..

 

[Lins_BE]

Well my second set of eggs showed up today. Ordered 8+. Received 12.. one was cracked... all but one have detached air cells. Most were completely detached. So I am letting them set til Saturday then adding to the incubator... 14 already set and setting 11 more then... kinda of nervous and not much hope with these 11. Since they appear to have had a ruff time getting here.

I once set a dozen that some guy brought by bike. the aircells were all totally detached. I set them anyway and only two didn’t make it, so keep your hopes up!

 

[clinfitt]

Any action? I keep checking live feed but nothing seems to be happening.

 

[LilyD]

no not sure but these eggs may have been late losses they were alive at 18 days but today is day 22 and we've got nothing. I'm working with some eggs that got pretty cold outside before collection though so not sure if that may be a factor.