The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[PAchickenlover]

I am house sitting for my mom for the next week and her geese just started laying! I am totally "stealing" them for my incubator! i found three yesterday that were frozen solid and cracked, but i found two this morning that were still warm to the touch... thankfully I had my bucket and scoop with me because before I knew it the geese had backed me into the corner of the coop! those things are WAY bigger in person when they are mad than they are when they are munching grass. I escaped with two eggs and my life haha. so they are kind of grubby- she hasn't put new hay in yet, this is the clean side of them, the rest of the eggs are grubbier, should I try that washing them? I have that "manna pro egg wash"(that i use for the one customer who won't eat mildly imperfect eggs) it has directions for washing incubator eggs but it kinda goes against my instincts to wash eggs, (though I know plenty of people do) but it also goes against my instinct to incubate dirty eggs.

Wish I could be so lucky! I'm going to go down to a neighbor's house and ask about their turkeys... might see f I can get a few eggs for hatching.. Good luck with your new goose eggs. I incubate my eggs as is. I figure that it is what the momma would do so it is good enough for me too.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Have any of you heard of the Polish Chrysanthemum? They are a project breed out of Arizona, cross of polish, frizzle,Turken. Here is a picture of one I had hatch today

and one of others from the breeder. I will share more pictures when she finishes drying out.

OMG PLEASE send me info on them! Our Little Lucas wants naked necks so bad and these are actually pretty! Congrats on the hatch!

Is this too cool or what?

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/new-dinosaur-discovered-nicknamed-chicken-hell

how cool!

I have turkeys hatching a day early. Looks like I'll get at least 7/8 that went to lockdown. I think 1 quit right before lockdown.

Quote: We are to POSSIBLE get some mix this afternoon, not looking forward to it!!!

Finally found call duck eggs! I know it's too late for the Easter Hatch-a-long but I'm still super excited! I did get my Khaki Campbell eggs set in time and will be setting a few Bresse eggs as well. Does anyone incubate duck and chicken together? How do you do the humidity for this? Also what's your experiences with using a broody to hatch shipped eggs? Should they go in the incubator first to let the air cells heal? Or straight under the hen?

I cant answer your questions! But I do want to wish you luck with them!!!

Woke to my first pip and of course, it's on the wrong end. Looks like the chick knicked a vein, but not a big one and it's cracked away a good chunk of shell and I could see it's little beak moving and hear it peeping a bit. Here's hoping it gets the rest of hatching figured out cause I'll be at work all day and won't be back to help it until dinner time.

I've never had a wrong end pipper before, but this is also my first time turning by hand, so the eggs were incubating on their sides instead of small end down in the auto-turner. Wonder if that had anything to do with it. I'll check on it again before I leave for work to see if it's made any progress. Several other eggs rocking in there, but so far, all the early action is from my mille fleur d'uccles. Nobody else is doing anything just yet, but it's only the morning of day 20.

If its peeping it should get out on its own! congrats!!! they are always the first to pip because their inner pip is their outer pip, so I will assume you have internal pippers there too! GO CHICKIES!

One of my two broodies keeps changing nests. I finally took her eggs away, and fired her. I candled all the eggs accumulated. There were the original nine (marked with an X), plus seven others. I put two good eggs under the other broody (a loyal Welsumer) and four others (they had moving chicks inside) in my incubator. The clear eggs I boiled up to make egg salad . . . or chicken food, depending.

I figure they are on about Day 10, judging the size of the embryo. I get irritated with broodies that attack, leaving scars, defend their nest, but are wishy-washy and won't stay in one place.

I have this issue all the time too! frustrating!!

Hospital waiting room selfie (just doing preops for total hip replacement)! They're so delayed, and I really don't have time for this - I have eggs to turn! Lol.

Sad news to hear, My mom had both hers done, but she did quite well with the updated medical devices used on the second one!
Praying you have a great surgery and quick to heal like my momma!

Quote: I have a friend who is growing them out, she is to take images.... I seen the "CRESTED BARRED ROCK" and I am in love! if only they could have a bigger crest! so cute!

How did this thread get so big in a month?

OK, I guess I'll join.

Quote: AWESOME , you show um mommasita!! ha ha ha!!

I am house sitting for my mom for the next week and her geese just started laying! I am totally "stealing" them for my incubator! i found three yesterday that were frozen solid and cracked, but i found two this morning that were still warm to the touch... thankfully I had my bucket and scoop with me because before I knew it the geese had backed me into the corner of the coop! those things are WAY bigger in person when they are mad than they are when they are munching grass. I escaped with two eggs and my life haha.
so they are kind of grubby- she hasn't put new hay in yet, this is the clean side of them, the rest of the eggs are grubbier, should I try that washing them? I have that "manna pro egg wash"(that i use for the one customer who won't eat mildly imperfect eggs) it has directions for washing incubator eggs but it kinda goes against my instincts to wash eggs, (though I know plenty of people do) but it also goes against my instinct to incubate dirty eggs.

WOW those are humongous!!!! I want to do some geese at some point too! how fun to candle I bet!

Question: If I fill the egg turner of my LG to start with is it ok to take the eggs out and lay them down in the incubator for lockdown? Or is it better if they stay upright?

you will get mixed answers on this one.....


I always lay my eggs down for hatch a paste from the Hatching 101 article

Candle day 18 is to determine growth, weigh, pencil mark air cell size and dispose bad eggs. It will look pretty dark and FULL in there! You may or may not see movement on this candle. Its ok if not, don’t panic! The chick may easily be resting! See how that air cell is beginning to dip more to one side and if you lay the egg down it will roll into the hatching position. I set my eggs with lowest dip in the aircell up. This position for hatching is good so the chick is able to turn into position and I can easily see my pips too! Day 18 laying horizontal for actual hatching helps a chick hatch 1-2 hours earlier. I lay my eggs down LOWEST DIP of the AIRCELL UP! This is the normal and most likely hatching position and the chick will break through or Internally pip and externally pip in that probable area. See the image below with the x, x being lowest dip in air cell and probably pip area/s.








LOCKDOWN!
Stop turning, Remove Turner and Raise Humidity to 62-65%

NOTE: It is now known that the different embryos communicate with each other by a series of clicking sounds,
the rate of clicking being the important feature. Ensuring the eggs on the hatching trays are in contact with each other facilitates
the synchronization of hatching where the eggs are incubated in a modern machine. This assists in reducing the time between when the first and last chicks hatch.


After Day 18 candle you will “LOCK DOWN” your eggs. Lower the temperature see suggest temps below and increase the humidity the last three days. STOP turning and the incubator stays closed, for the next three days while the chicks hatch! If you’re having a hard time with humidity it is OK to open quickly to boost, add warm water or increase the size of the pan or add a wet sponge. NEVER ADJUST HUMIDITY BY cutting back airflow. VENTILATION is EXTREMELY important at this stage!

Researchers have found that lowering temperatures will prolong incubation,
HOWEVER it is favourable to do so at the end of incubation.
Day 19 & 20 Temp Min 98.0 Max 98.5
Day 21 Temp Min 97 Max 98.0
for more information please refer here:
http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/managementguides/Incubation%20guide%20(english).pdf
​

 

[angelobutter]

Aging myself here, however, I grew up with one of these cook stoves in our house. My uncle has it now, I hope to get it back someday. I do t have the exact pic but after looking online I found an almost exact match.

I have the "new" type old stove. (not in use at the moment the dang guy who installed it didn't put a damper in)

 

[Gardeningmama]

Hospital waiting room selfie (just doing preops for total hip replacement)! They're so delayed, and I really don't have time for this - I have eggs to turn! Lol.

Oh..

I pray all goes well for you

I am house sitting for my mom for the next week and her geese just started laying! I am totally "stealing" them for my incubator! i found three yesterday that were frozen solid and cracked, but i found two this morning that were still warm to the touch... thankfully I had my bucket and scoop with me because before I knew it the geese had backed me into the corner of the coop! those things are WAY bigger in person when they are mad than they are when they are munching grass. I escaped with two eggs and my life haha.
so they are kind of grubby- she hasn't put new hay in yet, this is the clean side of them, the rest of the eggs are grubbier, should I try that washing them? I have that "manna pro egg wash"(that i use for the one customer who won't eat mildly imperfect eggs) it has directions for washing incubator eggs but it kinda goes against my instincts to wash eggs, (though I know plenty of people do) but it also goes against my instinct to incubate dirty eggs.

Last year I took care of my friends chickens for 8 days. She had a banty rooster that terrorized me. I am not joking! I was locked in their coop with my 3 yr. old at one point, opened the door and screamed for her to run to the van and shut the door. It felt like a scene out of Cujo. I was not disappointed when a wild animal got that @#$&!

One of my two broodies keeps changing nests. I finally took her eggs away, and fired her. I candled all the eggs accumulated. There were the original nine (marked with an X), plus seven others. I put two good eggs under the other broody (a loyal Welsumer) and four others (they had moving chicks inside) in my incubator. The clear eggs I boiled up to make egg salad . . . or chicken food, depending.

I figure they are on about Day 10, judging the size of the embryo. I get irritated with broodies that attack, leaving scars, defend their nest, but are wishy-washy and won't stay in one place.

Day 20 one chick is out, five pips also! and two in the few CCL that I put in with them!

looking good! strong and healthy!

CCL ROO mutts.... Light Brahma hen and our BR hens eggs are huge so the chicks are in turn giants! I swear they are as large as a turkey at hatch! We are hatching their eggs for a friend who wants good layers with big eggs. I must weight their eggs, but my digital small pocket scale needs a weird battery.

I swear its the FF they had when they were beginning to lay! I must start my batches back up! Just got more ACV and will start as soon as I can drag in a bag of 100lb feed.

Did I mention getting old stinks?


Note this chick doesnt have foot or leg feathers like its mama brahma, and it has a straight comb

genetics is so confusing! but its always cool to see these "mutts" older!

I swear, mixes are the best!!! My favorite was a mutt Silkie... friendliest bird ever!

How did this thread get so big in a month?

OK, I guess I'll join.

Hey there stranger!

Question: If I fill the egg turner of my LG to start with is it ok to take the eggs out and lay them down in the incubator for lockdown? Or is it better if they stay upright?

Lots of people do it. It's fine!

 

[JDchicks]

I am hoping mine go out tomorrow!

Mine are only coming from the next state over, so I shouldn't have any issues with getting here on time. Do yours have far to travel?

Shhh! I have been half expecting one of mine to go broody..for her first time. A Bantam Cochin. She laid all through the winter..like crazy! Almost an egg a day..for weeks on end..still laying every day. What's up with that? They usually go broody by now. She is a yr. old now. I guess..writing this..out loud.. won't hurt now, it's getting warmer out there..it would be better than in the winter. And, I will have some eggs to give her once mine get here. Now, let's see what happens. LOL...

I have a Brahma that just went broody for the first time. She is really deep under a coop and hard to reach her. She gets really mean if I try to touch her, so she will be staying there. So I had to put extra waterer and feeder under there also.

Hopefully she will be better at it than my Cochin. She made a consent mess of her nest, even with helping her keep it clean. She was a little over a year before she went broody. So, hopefully yours will start soon.

OK too much late night caffeine is being blamed for the following ramble but I am just too curious to know if anyone else gets a charge out of this idea.

You know one of these years wouldn't it be great to coordinate a Grand Egg Road Trip. It would be laid out kind of like how the Olympic torch is passed along but it will make a loop. Participants can be drivers or egg donators. You definitely would have to donate some kind of service or goods to be a recipient of eggs. And hook up major sponsors like TSC and Brinsea and others with Poultry stuff. Shoot, see if National Geographic would film the journey! Make it so big that it sets a record for something NEVER done before! Get some of these handyman engineers to trick out a trailer to hold the eggs at the optimum temperatures and a system to prevent jarring (like maybe hammocks) That way they don' have to be unloaded from one vehicle to the next, just hitched to a new one at the tag point. And you could hold more eggs that way......YEEESSSS!

Need to get with U-Haul, they could sponsor the trailer.

 

[Cynthia12]

I am house sitting for my mom for the next week and her geese just started laying! I am totally "stealing" them for my incubator! i found three yesterday that were frozen solid and cracked, but i found two this morning that were still warm to the touch... thankfully I had my bucket and scoop with me because before I knew it the geese had backed me into the corner of the coop! those things are WAY bigger in person when they are mad than they are when they are munching grass. I escaped with two eggs and my life haha.
so they are kind of grubby- she hasn't put new hay in yet, this is the clean side of them, the rest of the eggs are grubbier, should I try that washing them? I have that "manna pro egg wash"(that i use for the one customer who won't eat mildly imperfect eggs) it has directions for washing incubator eggs but it kinda goes against my instincts to wash eggs, (though I know plenty of people do) but it also goes against my instinct to incubate dirty eggs.

I don't wash eggs. I in fact, one to say...Oooo a dirty egg, because I swear, that the dirty ones are the ones that usually hatch! I know some will be going..say what? I get the big chunks off, and go for it.

 

[Penny Hen]

That sounds pretty awesome!! But I can't stop thinking disease when eggs are moved from one flock to another, and the vehicle should probably be disinfected between every stop...

Well that is one of the things to think about. Just because it isn't easy doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. But seriously, think of all the eggs that ship back and forth already via the Postal Service. What makes that kind of shipping different from loading them in a private trailer? Except the drivers of the private trailer will not toss the boxes around and set them upside down. Other than those who have their NCIP certifications the rest of us are functioning on word of honor that our flocks don't have any major diseases. You would box the eggs the same way that you would for the Post Office. Eggs from one farm would not come in contact with eggs from another. If that isn't sufficient to meet the requirements of those people maintaining NCIP, then the trailer would need to be partitioned between the eggs that are certified and those that are not.

Yes a health protocol would be in order.

(PS I hope I got the letters in the right order for NCIP. Lesdexics Untie!)

 

[Cynthia12]

 

[PAchickenlover]

Just went and talked to my neighbor down the road, about his turkeys. He said he would bring me some eggs once they start laying more and it gets a little warmer. Excited and disappointed I wanted to put some in my bator now!... :/ oh well at least I will be able to have some eventually.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have a closet!

One day though when a DD or two move out....

One day, when my boys move out. It's gonna be a while though.

Quote: You have a cool room!

Quote:
Yes, and we carried the box to school so the other kids could see the eggs, then back home again, in the snow, under our coats to keep the eggs warm, uphill both ways, wearing paper bags for shoes, and we were thankful.

Hey! I was going to say that!

WELL

My bator that is brand new had an issue so I had to request a replacement part. GQ was very gracious and sent one right out.

In the meanwhile, I friend loaned me a brand new bator to try out.

Isn't that the sweetest think ever?

I have/had enough eggs to fill both bators.

The neighbor came over with Turkey eggs and a pleading smile. I'm lured in by the adventure of Turkey eggs. They don't fit so every other one is a chicken egg. Yes, I know the chickens will hatch earlier. Kind of puzzled how to deal with that. Should have waited to set them but didn't think it through really good. Was just filling the bator.

So Turkeys are set. Plus some chickens. I know it's early! I still have a bator to fill on Friday. I'm setting to hatch on Friday because our church has a huge 2 day love-feast communion over Resurrection weekend.

Back to the WELL...

So, I have more eggs than will fill the 2nd bator and my mom orders me eggs!

I told her to wait and have them shipped in a couple weeks.

She didn't get the memo and they are coming on Thursday!

I have another friend with a bator he offered to lend me.

Looks like I will be filling 3 incubators to be hatching around Easter! The chickens will be hatching the Monday and Friday before and the Turkeys, the Monday after. I'm in shock.

3 incubators???!!!

I don't see a problem. And who wouldn't love a mom that is supportive of our hobby!

Quote: I love stories like this, so neat!

I have turkeys hatching a day early. Looks like I'll get at least 7/8 that went to lockdown. I think 1 quit right before lockdown.

Good luck!

It should melt tomorrow and then the only precip in the forecast is rain!

........now for some broody hens.......yes, I said it, BROODIES.....plural......I need the jinx......I got enough eggs.....

We are getting rain starting today.

I want my broodies NOW. I don't want them to go broody AFTER I hatch these chicks! Which is what they usually do.

Woke to my first pip and of course, it's on the wrong end. Looks like the chick knicked a vein, but not a big one and it's cracked away a good chunk of shell and I could see it's little beak moving and hear it peeping a bit. Here's hoping it gets the rest of hatching figured out cause I'll be at work all day and won't be back to help it until dinner time.

I've never had a wrong end pipper before, but this is also my first time turning by hand, so the eggs were incubating on their sides instead of small end down in the auto-turner. Wonder if that had anything to do with it. I'll check on it again before I leave for work to see if it's made any progress. Several other eggs rocking in there, but so far, all the early action is from my mille fleur d'uccles. Nobody else is doing anything just yet, but it's only the morning of day 20.

I've had several wrong way pippers hatch on their own. No need to help them.

How did this thread get so big in a month?

OK, I guess I'll join.

Welcome! We're chatty.

I am house sitting for my mom for the next week and her geese just started laying! I am totally "stealing" them for my incubator! i found three yesterday that were frozen solid and cracked, but i found two this morning that were still warm to the touch... thankfully I had my bucket and scoop with me because before I knew it the geese had backed me into the corner of the coop! those things are WAY bigger in person when they are mad than they are when they are munching grass. I escaped with two eggs and my life haha.
so they are kind of grubby- she hasn't put new hay in yet, this is the clean side of them, the rest of the eggs are grubbier, should I try that washing them? I have that "manna pro egg wash"(that i use for the one customer who won't eat mildly imperfect eggs) it has directions for washing incubator eggs but it kinda goes against my instincts to wash eggs, (though I know plenty of people do) but it also goes against my instinct to incubate dirty eggs.

Very cool! Glad they let you leave!

Question: If I fill the egg turner of my LG to start with is it ok to take the eggs out and lay them down in the incubator for lockdown? Or is it better if they stay upright?

Yep, that's fine.