MWF Hatchery
Hatching
- May 14, 2015
- 5
- 0
- 7
Whether you have hatched (or attempted to) 6 eggs or 600,000 eggs, a majority of us have had something go wrong with at least one hatch.
We have had chickens for 3 years now. The first year we incubated Silkie eggs from our own flock and it went pretty good. 7/11 eggs hatched. The next year we did a few more hatches with some success. Last year we only let our broody hens hatch eggs and they did quite well (barred rock).
This brings me to this year. I have one incubator set up. 1/2 full with 21 day old Muscovy eggs and some other breeds, and the other half is 3 day old duck eggs. Then my hatcher has about 15, 21 day old chicken eggs. I am using farm innovator Styrofoam incubators.
Now, I live in an RV (house burned down 2013) and for the last two days both incubators have been going really wanky. I live in Minnesota and right now we are having, well, Minnesota weather! I go to bed, its 55*, I wake up its 35*. I rarely turn the heater on in my rv because I get too hot. But now I am FRUSTRATED because today I woke up, hoping to see at least one chick hatched, and the hatcher is at about 89*. I quickly check the duck eggs, also around 89*. Those poor incubators both had their lights on telling me they were really trying to keep the eggs warm and the temp up, but the just couldn't!
I'm currently trying to get the temp back up and regulated. In the next hour or two the Minnesota weather should be around 45-50 degrees, and then the incubators should be able to handle that temp.
I will post updates on my eggs if the hatch or not.
Not sure if I'll get any replies, but words of encouragement, and also if you'd like to share if you have had frustrating hatches and whether they turned out good or bad.
Thanks!
Shannon
We have had chickens for 3 years now. The first year we incubated Silkie eggs from our own flock and it went pretty good. 7/11 eggs hatched. The next year we did a few more hatches with some success. Last year we only let our broody hens hatch eggs and they did quite well (barred rock).
This brings me to this year. I have one incubator set up. 1/2 full with 21 day old Muscovy eggs and some other breeds, and the other half is 3 day old duck eggs. Then my hatcher has about 15, 21 day old chicken eggs. I am using farm innovator Styrofoam incubators.
Now, I live in an RV (house burned down 2013) and for the last two days both incubators have been going really wanky. I live in Minnesota and right now we are having, well, Minnesota weather! I go to bed, its 55*, I wake up its 35*. I rarely turn the heater on in my rv because I get too hot. But now I am FRUSTRATED because today I woke up, hoping to see at least one chick hatched, and the hatcher is at about 89*. I quickly check the duck eggs, also around 89*. Those poor incubators both had their lights on telling me they were really trying to keep the eggs warm and the temp up, but the just couldn't!
I'm currently trying to get the temp back up and regulated. In the next hour or two the Minnesota weather should be around 45-50 degrees, and then the incubators should be able to handle that temp.
I will post updates on my eggs if the hatch or not.
Not sure if I'll get any replies, but words of encouragement, and also if you'd like to share if you have had frustrating hatches and whether they turned out good or bad.
Thanks!
Shannon