Anyone setting eggs yet?

[Poultry Guy]

I'm not usually the first one to walk into a room and start chatting but there's a first time for everything!

So, has anyone else started their hatching season yet? I just set 24 eggs from blue & black Ameraucanas and will be collecting from several other breeds here pretty soon.

BTW, nice job on the new site KB.

Dan

[Kickingbird]

Dan,

Great to see you made it. I like this board format a lot better!

I was going to start the incubator on the first but I had a hen go broody so I'm setting the incubator next saturday. I have about 30 eggs to go in right now and by next weekend I hope to have about 50 This is the earliest I have started but I want to stop hatching by April or May this year.

Cheers

Mark
KB

[PoultryGuy]

I'm not usually firing up the bators this early either.
It just so happens that my friend sent me a bunch of eggs. A few months ago I made arrangements to get fertile eggs from several other sources as well and I set them up to come in January and February so they wouldn't interfere with my normal season, which typically runs from about March through July or August. I also raise turkeys so I set as many of their eggs as possible from March through July.

This year I was thinking of setting things up so that each breed had a particular hatching period for the year. The only problem with this is, I only have a few of some varieties and that means I have to collect over a longer period to get the same number of eggs, lol. So much for plans.

Sorry to hear about the early broody! I keep having to break up the bantam hens, those things are terribly broody by nature. I don't know what it is about bantams, but they've always been the broodiest of the breeds when compared to their full sized cousins. The only exception would be my Shamo hens, I have to keep them out of the bushes or I'm in for a slow year, lol. Considering that I got 100% males last year, I need every egg I can get from those guys. I'm down to two hens and I "really need" to hatch out replacements from the foundation male before he gets any older, he's already 4yrs old and not getting any younger.

Thanks for sending me the invite to this new site Mark. It's a little bit different than I'm use to but over all it seems to be very functional. My web browser, Netscape 6.1, is having a bit of trouble with some of the banners but I don't think anything else is misfiring. Probably just a Plug-in that I can't update because my computer is so old, lol. I certainly like the idea of using the old site for photos and this one for discussions, me and MSN don't always get along, lol.

Dan

[Kickingbird]

Dan,

I don't mind the broody hen actualy, I have plenty of phoenix hens for my program and they always hatch near 100% If two more go broody then I'll have to break them up.

I like these forums a lot, in addition keeping the other one for pics is cool because the pics can be sent here like this:





I hope it is ok that I used your pic, if not I'll take it down.

KB

[PoultryGuy]

Good morning Mark,
I don't mind my pics being posted. If it was a secret I wouldn't have put it up at all, lol. I like showing off my birds anyway.

BTW, what do you think of his saddle feathering? I'll be putting this guy back over a couple of sumatra hens this year.

Dan

[Kickingbird]

Dan,

The barring in this bird looks great to me. Breeding him back to samatras will definetly help in the saddle length area for his offspring. I would be willing to bet that his sons will have saddle that is almost the lenght of your pure samatras. They will definetly be great looking birds.

KB

[PoultryGuy]

Thanks Mark,
I sure hope the F2's come out looking more like a sumatra than a quazii maloid fowl, lol. I like the way this F1 male looks but he's certainly not a sumatra! The thing about his saddles that I do like is that they are very full feathered, length is tershiary this time around.

Thanks again for your positive comments,
Dan

[Kickingbird]

I finaly got my first batch set in the incubator. It has been set up for two weeks but I was putting it off because I was waiting for eggs from my buddy. Set 48 eggs today and another one of my hens went broody this one I do care about because she is one of only two hens I have of that strain. Ah well, into a stag cage with her until she decides to lay again

KB

[PoultryGuy]

Hmm,
Funny you should mention that. I thought my pen of Crested japs had stopped laying until I checked out their pen this morning. Lol, 22 eggs from 6 hens!! Ok, so I'm thinking that those girls have been stashing them somewhere...........just don't ask me where..........because I searched every square inch of that pen two days ago looking for eggs and found none. (maybe the litter is a bit too deep, lol) These bantams are usually the "first" to go broody on me, apparently that won't happen this year, lol.

My friend did send me another 12 Ameraucana eggs this week and apparently he'll be sending me another dozen next week. That's why I decided to start collecting the Crested's eggs, I may as well just get off to an early start with my hatching. There's no point in running the bator for just a few eggs.

Speaking of which, my hens from Toni Marie's black Phoenix started to lay again yesterday. Yippie yahooie!!! Never did think I'd be so excited about getting eggs until I started hatching my own chicks, lol, funny how things work out.

Dan

[stanscrbirds]

Finally got my first set of eggs. In the machine. First set is not usually very well. Low fertility. We'll see out of the 180 eggs.

[PoultryGuy]

Hopefully the fertility isn't much of an issue for you Stan.

What usually plagues me on the first few hatches is 'flip over syndrone'. I don't know what causes it, but the first one or two hatches, some breeds seem to get it really bad. There will be several chicks that can't stand and while on their backs, their legs tremble and shake uncontrollably.

I tested out their feed, vitamins & minerals etc. etc.. but the situation didn't change. Since there are other breeds that hatched at the same time, that were all in similar living conditions etc. etc., I've come to the general conclusion that it's caused by old sperm that was being stored by the males through a non-active winter season. The breeds that are actively mating through winter don't seem to have the problem. My sumatras rarely breed in the "off season", so it seems like this is a logical explination to me.

BTW, I just fired up my new Hatcher unit from D_ickey's today and there's a small clutch in it. I'll post the hatch results when they're ready. I already have five Phoenix chicks that hatched out about two weeks ago, so I'm looking forward to having more on Monday. Best wishes for an excellent hatch Stan.

Dan

[Kickingbird]

My first hatch was realy bad but after that they have been comming along nicley. I have 60 chicks or so and 100 eggs in the incubator. Fertility is running about 98% for me. Should turn out to be a good season.

Keep em' Hatching

KB

[stanscrbirds]

I think for us here the first hatch is always bad because it's still freezing outside. And not sure if I get the eggs before the cold gets to them. But, my fertility rate jumps way up once it warms up. And I don't know how much sunlight has to do with it.

[aldridgereds]

i put the lights up in october.a advantage to hatching right now is cold temps keep down disease thats why the hospitals are so cold