I purchased a small bator that hold 10 small eggs.There is no turner so I have to do it by hand,my question is do I have to turn 3 times a day or is two fine? Everytime you open it you lose your heat and humidity.My big bator has a turner,but wanted to check for fertility and I miss having babies,lol
Incubators?
Well out of the 10 eggs only two were fertile,have been turning 3xday,hope both hatch.hate having only one chick hatch.Putting 42 in my big bator today,hope the fertility has come up,I have 7 roosters in with the girls,but 8 of them were just coming into the breeding thing in the past two weeks.Had to take out 5 of them as they were really bothering the girls.
I had one hatch last night it was two days early but fine,sure hoping the other on will hatch so it will not be alone.Will post pics later
Good luck little egg!
May all your eggs be healthy hatch! Come on babies!
Had to help the last one hatch,they bother were doing fine then died.I had this happen with a few of them last year to.Wish I knew what it was,they seem healthy and happy till day 3 them they start chirping loudly and pulling at the feet falling over then gasping for air and die within 20 minutes.Have asked many people if they have had this problem and none has have it.Posted on many sites and asked friends.Have 42 in big bator,will candle Wed. then wait for hatch but am sure I will have some that will die.
Oh, I'm sorry! I wish I had an answer.
Hatch has begun in the big bator,35 eggs,hatch day is Sat. woke up this morning Friday and two had hatched during the night.I find silkies hatch early sometimes.When it is done will post pics
Exciting! Best of luck.
Getting a little worried,today is day 21 and no others have hatched
Have two that hatched,I just need to be patient. Two more THERE IS AT LEAST 10 AT 8 AM THIS MORNING MY DH SAID,ITS HARD TO COUNT RIGHT NOW.
This message was edited Mar 14, 2015 8:42 PM
This message was edited Mar 15, 2015 7:55 AM
Green, you are so brave to hatch so many.
I am isolating two hens right now, my best black and best white, to put with a white rooster. Then I may put the black with a splash or lavender rooster.
Something or someone took one of my best roosters and my only showgirl hen. She had a huge crest! Yes, she's missing and presumed dead. I am thinking opossum or fox, or who knows? Oh well, we can't undo anything. I did trap an opossum Saturday night and Animal Control picked it up this morning. I was hiding my three roosters inside my house this morning in boxes so they weren't outside crowing when animal control came. Yes, I am bad I guess. I woke up to them crowing in my house. :) "What is that?" I said. Oh yes, it is my roosters.
Oh, and my ducks mated about a week ago. I saw them when they went to get water. Then they laid their first egg for me a few days later. Today I found another egg. :D They are both bigger than hen eggs and are blue. So, I know they have to be duck eggs. :) Happy happy happy. Can't wait to see if they hatch. Oh my goodness!
It was nice to see Green's thread about incubation. I washed my incubator tonight. I don't know what the temp should be for Cayuga ducks. I'm guessing all ducks incubate at the same temp, but I don't know what that is yet. Pretty sure it is different than chickens, and I think they take 28 days. I had a difficult time setting the temp for the chickens and never did get it exactly right. It was half a degree off. That is why my chicks sometimes hatch a day early.
Really enjoying these ducks and they are getting used to me too. At first they were so scared of me! They would almost hurt themselves trying to get away from me. I haven't crowded them, and now they are getting used to their new home. I guess they weren't handled much as babies.
These ducks really have a much softer quack than most ducks. I think God gave me the perfect ducks for me. I almost bought those big white ducks with the big balls on their heads, but they are so loud! Those call ducks are extremely loud too. I don't want to call anymore attention to my poultry than necessary. My chickens are fairly quiet. So, yes, I think I have the ducks I was meant to have. I would really love having babies from them. Ducks will bond with people that raise them. They think we are their moms. Guess I really need to read up on hatching duck eggs.
Karen
Texas
Ok here are the pics of my babies,The feather thing is called a brooder buddy,I have a heating pad under it and put all the babies under that at night,they do have a heat lamp which they prefer,I ended up with 22 out of 35 so that's not to bad.
Congratulations!
You have quite a few partridges colored ones in there.
That brooder buddy looks pretty neat.
I do have 5 partridge,advertised them for sale but no bites yet
Brooder buddy,they really like this,I put the heat lamp over it so its just like mama.I hatched out two paints,the white with the black spots.Pics after snowblowing today,to the coop and up my walkway.We have 129 iches of snow since Nov.More coming tomorrow,ugg so tired of it and the cold.Today it hit 40 and no wind,was beautiful.Sunday night going back down to 5,this is the coldest winter that I can remember.Its really hard on the maple syrup producer to,we have a friend that taps just down the road from us,he taps 5000 trees and this sunday is maple sunday in Maine,may have to bring out last years syrup to make the maple candy on the snow for the people.You need 40 or above days and freezing night to get the syrup running
5000 trees, my goodness! He is one busy man.
Here are my four duck eggs. One I just put in last night. You are supposed to candle them on the 7th day, which will be Tues.
I ordered a one foot deep galvanized tank for the ducks to swim in. It was the best I could do at the moment. It is about six feet long, a few feet wide and a foot deep. I hope they like it. It is better than nothing. I'm trying to be a good duck mama. They are getting more used to me now. No more little ducky heart attacks when they see me. Though they do still panic if I get too close. I can tell they know me at least and they know I am not a big bad monster. The female was looking at me and listening to me today. Pretty neat. If I do manage to get babies, they won't be as skittish around me. All I want is a few more ducks, and hope nothing bad happens to any of them. You know when you have poultry you like and then something happens, it is almost impossible to replace them. At least it has been my experience.
What kind of incubator is that? Glad your having fun with your ducks.Its the same way with chicks,you would think that they would not be scared of me as I am the one that hatched them and I am the only one that feeds them,but when they see me they peep and run and hide under the broody buddy.
Hi Green and all,
It is the Brinsea 20 Eco. Amazon has them for less than on the Brinsea website. Mine has a turner too, that I guess I paid extra for. I also have the little mini round Brinsea. I bought it because last year I was adding eggs to the incubator as they were laid. Then, when it came time to hatch them out, I had some ready to hatch and others that didn't need high humidity. I was in kind of a mess, so, I bought the little one too, just for hatching.
I really love hatching out babies, what I don't like is having roosters I can't deal with.
Duck laid another egg today. I don't know if I should put it in too or not. Um, how many ducks do I need? Probably not very many.
Love these ducks, such quiet little quacks. I have a partridge rooster in the yard though that thinks it is his job to crow up a storm in the morning. Not good. So far, nobody has reported me, though I know others can hear him. I don't really think he is disturbing anyone though. I have other roosters that seldom crow at all. It seems to be genetic.
Been trying to upload pics but the box wont come up to do it,any ideas on what to do?
You don't get the option of "Choose a File"?
Nope it wont come up on this page,so I posted it on the retired page,chicks in the playpen
Sure enough, it's missing - when I started to type, it appeared. I'll try to add a picture. Well, it seems to be working at the moment - at least for me.
Not for me
Sometimes the choose a file doesnt show, but click on where it should be and it lets you post a pic anyway. Sometimes the thread just didnt totally load everything it needed to- maybe it was bumped by a download, or someone posting, or just overloaded internet users.Love the silkies and i love the partridge coloring, still, chickens on an 18wheeler just wouldnt work.
Are your new hatch chicks eating and drinking immediately within 12 hrs from hatching? I know game chicks drink after hatching as well as fast growing breeds, but the only thing i can think on that 3day death, boils back down to accuracy of temps during incubation.
Sold 15 baby silkies today,good day