Waving the white flag & submitting to a bad influence!

[joneus]

ALRIGHT! I give up! I tried holding out until next spring. The final blow to my resolve was the assurances that you CAN hatch eggs and successfully integrate the chicks into the main coop in winter, even in the Northeast. Several days of rationalizing a potentially bad idea later, and the genetic diversity for spring/summer chicks argument has won out. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, my garage has been rearranged and I've got enough space to store a 5'x5' grow out pen for the ones I dont plan to keep. If I need more space, I still have the front porch and the basement.

So- I've got bids on 24-ish EE & barnyard mix hatching eggs on ebay (I'm actually banking on the fact that they wont all hatch or survive!) and I'm collecting the materials to build a new incubator and a brooder.

OMG... What am I getting myself into?! My husband is gonna kill me!!

 

[ChickenPeep]

Good luck! May God guide your hatching! He sure has guided mine! I have a pip!!!

 

[maybejoey]

I am doing the same thing right now. Almost winter i was told not to by my parents but i couldnt stop myself. I hope they hatch.

 

[Melissa Rose]

Have you seen the AWESOME auction selection here

? I have ten times better luck when I buy from here instead of Ebay

 

[Cattitude]

I keep sticking my bantam eggs into the incubator, getting 8-12 of them in a week's time. I have a lovely little Silkie that hatched today! All my young'uns are doing fabulous in their outside brooder - in this weather I wait about a week before I put them out there, but they have heatlamps and other chicks to keep them warm in the enclosed side. I'll probably hatch until the girls stop laying eggs! Which, if they're like last year's spring chicks, won't be till *next* fall.

Good hatching to everyone and I'll be looking for pictures in a few weeks!!

 

[joneus]

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I have but I'm just looking for a bunch of different breeds and a heavy EE selection. The auctions I saw here, at the time, were mostly pure breeds, silkies, and fancy breeds. I dont really have space for 24 more chickens, so I'm okay with the risk of having crappy luck with Ebay eggs. I'll be happy if I get 3-6 pullets out of the 24 eggs.

As it is, I was already kicking myself for bidding on the barnyard mix, and wasnt even thinking about another set... until I saw the black & lavender roo of the EE auction.

He's GORGEOUS!

stupid chicken math....

 

[CapricornFarm]

hatch on , folks, spring will be here before you know it, and our chickens will be grown up while others will be starting with chicks!:-D

 

[kfchickenlady]

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[Impress]

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Exactly, I should be getting my first Easter Egger eggs when everyone else is just getting their Easter Egger chicks!

 

[LilyD]

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That didn't work for me. I loaded my incubator figuring I would have50% hatch rate and31 out of 41 made it to lock down lol. I am in the north east too and will be integrating in winter but it's better for spring eggs to hatch.