Hatched 14 chicks this week in my new incubator. I started with 20 eggs, one did not develop at all and five fully developed but did not hatch. A second batch is in there now. I can't figure out how to attach pics from my phone but if my laptop decides to work I'll post one. I have a three week old litter of two rabbits and a litter due on March 1st. Things are looking up!
Hatched some chicks this week
- Thread starter Truckinguy
- Start date
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Hucksdaddy
Well-known member
Breeding chickens is something I've never delved into. I've only had laying hens. What kind of chickens did you hatch? Do you have the chickens you want to breed in a separate pen than the ones you want to eat the eggs or do you just collect often and stick some in the fridge? I was planning on having a pen of laying hens and a pen of meat hens with a rooster. Just seems easier to keep them separated so that I'll know what eggs are what.
Congratulations, Truckinguy. Bet those little balls of fluff are cute! I'm so glad things are going better for you. 
skysthelimit
Well-known member
Way to go. I hatched in my homemade bator right around thanksgiving. I might do the BYC Easter hatch, but I gotta get a roo first, mine dropped dead about three weeks ago. Handsome 6 mos old. I wonder what I did to him.<br /><br />__________ Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:13 pm __________<br /><br />
You can eat fertilized eggs, you'd never know the difference.
Hucksdaddy":1x8avbas said:
You can eat fertilized eggs, you'd never know the difference.
Hucksdaddy
Well-known member
Oh, I know you can eat fertilized eggs. My main concern in the separate pens (guess I should have stated) is that I don't plan to incubate. I plan on collecting the eating eggs and letting the hens handle the incubation and brooding. So I thought I should have separate pens so I know which eggs to collect.
I have 11 Red Sex-Link hens and a rooster, one Cuckoo Maran hen and one Gold Laced Wyandotte hen. I collect all the eggs daily and a couple days before I set up the incubator I set aside as many eggs as I want to hatch. I don't have enough room here for more than one chicken area. I plan on eating the offspring of these birds even though they aren't "meat" birds but it's what I have so I'll have to work with them.
skysthelimit
Well-known member
Hucksdaddy":1h2iqils said:
Why? I think I am totally misunderstanding you.
Let them all get fertilized, take the ones you want out of the nest and let the others hatch. Once they go broody they will stop laying anyway, and they can go broody whether the eggs are fertile or not, if you have a breed that goes broody. I have barred rocks, and they do not, so I have to incubate.
Hucksdaddy
Well-known member
As I said, I've never let my hens hatch the eggs. So I guess I just don't understand how I'll know the difference between the fresh eggs that I can collect to eat, and the older eggs that I'm leaving in there. I sure don't want to take an older one by mistake and crack open a partially developed chick! Is it easier than what I am imagining?
Very easy. You mark the hatching eggs with a soft lead pencil.
Hucksdaddy
Well-known member
I had thought of a sharpie, but didn't want the chemicals seeping through the shell. Didn't think about a pencil. will it stay on?
Some people use a Sharpie, but I share your concern about the chemicals. Pencil will stay on quite well if you use a soft one, 4B or the like. You may want to renew it halfway through the incubation time, but you'll want to check the eggs once or twice anyway.
If an embryo dies, the egg may ooze or even explode as the gas builds up in it and you don't want it to contaminate the other eggs. So any marks that seem a bit faint can be renewed then.
Choose a time when the silly broody is off the nest, rushing about hollering about how she can only leave her eggs for a minute and must eat, poop and dust FAST... so everyone get out of the way. :roll:
If an embryo dies, the egg may ooze or even explode as the gas builds up in it and you don't want it to contaminate the other eggs. So any marks that seem a bit faint can be renewed then.
Choose a time when the silly broody is off the nest, rushing about hollering about how she can only leave her eggs for a minute and must eat, poop and dust FAST... so everyone get out of the way. :roll:
Iggysbabysitter
Well-known member
What about a food coloring mark?
Iggysbabysitter":1nwe9m4k said:
LOL! Easter eggs!
Sure, that would work too.
Just occurs to me that none of these is going to work well on the darkest of my Maran and Welsummer eggs. Have to think of something else. Maybe a snip off a white label on the pointy end.
Sorry for the thread hijack, Truckinguy.
MamaSheepdog
Well-known member
I'm glad to hear things are going so well, TG! Bunnies and chicks- cuteness overload!
Another way to tell if eggs are being set is that the eggs get "buffed" by the hen's feathers as she broods them, and they become shiny and very smooth, as opposed to the "matte finish" of a freshly laid egg.
Our hens share nests, so it is really hard for me to keep track- I have tried a #2 pencil, but it wears off quickly. I always say "this year I'm going to separate the broody hens", but I never do. They end up setting on way too many eggs, and hatch rate is poor because of it. Not to mention less eggs for us to eat.
On a side note, I got 6 eggs today, two of which were from our hens hatched last year.
Another way to tell if eggs are being set is that the eggs get "buffed" by the hen's feathers as she broods them, and they become shiny and very smooth, as opposed to the "matte finish" of a freshly laid egg.
Our hens share nests, so it is really hard for me to keep track- I have tried a #2 pencil, but it wears off quickly. I always say "this year I'm going to separate the broody hens", but I never do. They end up setting on way too many eggs, and hatch rate is poor because of it. Not to mention less eggs for us to eat.
On a side note, I got 6 eggs today, two of which were from our hens hatched last year.
skysthelimit
Well-known member
Hucksdaddy":t145xqzy said:
That's what I thought you meant. I guess if all of your birds are laying in one nest, then it could be a problem, but in my experience, a broody hen doesn't leave the nest that frequently, not enough for others to get in. She'd be in one nest, and the others are laying in another nest. Don't take any eggs from that particular nest. The hens I have now are not broody, but they don't all lay in one nest, and even the ones that share a nest go to the other nest when it is occupied.
Some may politely go to another nest box if one is occupied... but in my experience there is usually a favourite box and if the broody is in it, the others will squeeze in with her, beside her, even on top of her. I've seen three full sized hens jamming themselves into a box. Pecking order may have something to do with who is allowed in the box at any given time.
In the wild, the birds our domestic hens are descended from will often lay in a communal nest. That way only one hen is at risk when the eggs are being incubated, but all the hens get to pass on their genetic material. It's all instinct, of course.
In the wild, the birds our domestic hens are descended from will often lay in a communal nest. That way only one hen is at risk when the eggs are being incubated, but all the hens get to pass on their genetic material. It's all instinct, of course.
skysthelimit
Well-known member
MaggieJ":3bh6mza9 said:
You gotta post a pict of that
I'll see what I can do. I only have a few hens at the moment so not sure how chummy they will get when they start laying full-time.
