Thanksgiving Hatch- Anyone want to join in?

[newduckie]

Is a hatcher a different piece of equipment than the incubator? I am new to all of this. Is it something I need?

 

[evonne]

if all your eggs are due to hatch on the same day you don't need a seperate hatcher... you need it when you admit to your addiction and have multiple batches due at different times...

it is an incubator of some sort.. and it is det up strickly for lockdown.. so the humidity is higher and it wont have a turner in it...

the purpoes is this way the eggs that are due to hatch in the next few days get their higher humidity in that box, while the ones not do for another week or 2 can still be turned without risking the hatch of the current ones...

 

[neferset]

I am hatching in my hovabator for the first time. So far, I'm liking it. The baby duck popped out without any assistance from me even though humidity has been low in the house.

 

[newduckie]

oh.. then I would have needed one if my duck eggs would have been fertile. I didn't know about the lockdown thing when I put chicken and duck eggs in together. But all the duck eggs were not any good. So all I have now are 4 chicken eggs. But thanks. good to know for next time. If my male duck ever figures out how to do it, I will be set. I have three female ducks and one male. He is trying very hard, but he doesn't understand yet that there is a place to put it. He humps their sides, or heads or mostly their backs. Poor guy..lol

 

[evonne]

lol.. i think we've all known guys like that...

my boor ducks.. i have 3 boys and no girls... lol....
i do have some mixed duck eggs in the incubator. i think 3 of them are good...
if they are all girls, i'll be okay, if they are all boys i'll be okay.. but if i get a mixxed sex batch i'm in trouble... i can't introduce only 1 or 2 girls... i realistically need 5 or 6 girls...
and i don't want that many ducks.. lol...
i may end up sending some of them to my mom and brother's house in washington state... they have a fairly large natural pond

my ducks should hatch the 9th of dec.. with more chickens following on the 11th i think... plus the 6 from halloween... and the whatever hatcehd out of the 12 i have in lockdown now... i don't know how people do 40-100 at a time... in staggers...

 

[newduckie]

me either. I only have the four in the bator and 2 under the hen and I am worrying about getting them all to the hen. Will these hatch first.. will she take them all. I keep going over and over the senerios....

 

[evonne]

if they're more than 3 days apart i think it gets ricky depending on the hen... but i've also heard a lot of people do this succesfully... good luck with it.. maybe murphy will be passed out and mother nature can work her magic in peace...

 

[NoseyChickens]

I feel like a crazy person! I can't walk past the bator without stopping to press my nose up against the window and stare into it for at least 5-10 minutes. Just sitting there wondering if they are all alright in there. Will they ever come out? Day 19. Should they be moving at all? They are just sitting there being eggs. Nothing exciting yet......It's killing me!

 

[CoopCrazy]

Well I guess I wrote down the wrong date.. So I am now officailly a member of the Thanksgiving HAtch Group... I thought that my Buttons were due mon. so i stopped turning fri and upped the humidity.. Then talked to a few friends and they say i put them in three days before I thought... So now im just hoping I didnt mess them up by stopping turning.. they are sooo small I cant figure out how to candle them.. Well fingers crossed atleast some make it...

 

[mandelyn]

Day 21 and I'm 3/3 pipping!!!! Yay! Just got done setting up the brooder when I realized my light is shorted. Perfect... I knew things were going too well! Placed a call to the inlaws and they have a spare I can use.

The 4th egg isn't due for 2 more days.

I held one to my ear and it peeped at me and I could hear it still working in there, so I offered some words of encouragement and quickly walked away before I let all the heat/humidity out.

Ugh, this part takes the longest! I KNOW they're coming, I KNOW I'll have some wee-wittle-peepers... but they're such slow pokes!!