Free's incubator experience (Urgent question p 4)

They will continue to hatch for a few days.....I gave mine 3 days then tossed the rest, I think. The hen only sits for 2-3 days, then her chicks need food and off she goes. But I've read about people having eggs hatch over a week late! I can't bear to risk exploding eggs, though..... :sick
 
a week later? gosh, I have duck eggs all lined up and ready to go into this bator in a few days, I've been saving all my duck eggs so i'd have as many as possible.

course my older son had a duck omlette the other day and I almost screamed! :barnie

We took out the two, added more water to keep it humidified and hubby says he can hear a peep in the box still, so I hope we get one more at least. I really wanted to hatch out some of these EEs and there are 20 eggs in there so just one EE would be nice. There are also some purebred Buff Orpingtons, but what hatched are two RIR/BO crosses that I threw in there just to fill the incubator. I already think one is a roo, dang it. I like my little hen I have that is a BO/RIR, she lays a nice huge egg every day. I wouldn't mind more of her, but roos like her will just be dinner.
 
The 19 chicks are 5 weeks old this weekend, so it is time to get that chicken tractor finished! Dad and I worked on it today until the heat of the sun drove us in. I'll work on it in the mornings when it is in the shade. It is mostly done...just needs to be lined with chicken wire and have a tarp or two fastened on top, then plug a few unexpected gaps in each corner with a scrap of wood.

I also want to get a couple of roosts up and put in some sturdy screw eyes for attaching a pull rope so Peter can drag it to a new area of grass as needed.

I got the incubator cleaned and disinfected and it is drying now. We will fill it up as soon as we have enough eggs and start another batch of chicks to sell. I have 26 eggs so far, so we should be able to plug it in by Monday. I will sell the chicks with a rooster return policy, as someone here does (who was it??? Can't remember!) It was a brilliant idea. People who buy the chicks have the option of returning roosters and getting their money back when they start to crow. So I sell the straight run chicks for maybe $3, then pay them $3 for roosters ready to finish on pasture six months later....what a deal!
 
I'm thinking of doing the same thing, maybe not this year, but next.
 
Question: I set up the incubator in the cellar Tuesday and filled it with 41 beautiful fertile eggs (if the condition of the hen's backs is any indication of fertility! :rolleyes: ). I got it up to 99.5 for a few hours before loading it up. I loaded it and went to work, got home at 11 PM and forgot to go downstairs to check it.

Yesterday morning it was 4 degrees higher! I lowered it and got it back to 99.5, but did the eggs cook? Do I need to feed them to the pigs or might they still hatch?
 
I have had my incubator spike to 103 (and once to 104) and they still hatched.

It really depends on how long it was up that extra 4 degrees. If it was that high all night, then maybe - but if it had just spiked a little while before you checked it, they might be OK.

The only time i had cooked chicks from an incubator "spike" was in 2009 when my lovely niece (sarcasm here) was mad at me for telling her to get a job or get out - and she cranked my 'bator up all the way when I wasn't looking. It went up to 113 and COOKED all of my 20 day old BBS Orps -- that were NOT cheap to buy, and all of which had developed and pipped their aircells.

eta: if you just set them, I'd wait until Day 7 and candle them to see if you have embryos swimming around :)
 
OK! Any tips on candling blue eggs? With the last batch, we could not see into any of the blue ones, so we took our chances on those. Dad made a candler based on the ones in McMurray's catalog, with a light bulb, a switch, and a large tomato sauce can (Costco size.) It works great! Except on blue eggs. :/ I favor the blue eggs so I put a lot in the 'bator.
 
um, no can't really help you with the blue eggs sorry! i'm dealing with that here myself...I set 11 Blue Ameracauna eggs from Becca - and even with using an LED flashlight, I'm not able to see into them that well.

I haven't tried to candle them in a pitch black room yet, though. Sometimes that helps.
 
I had trouble candling the blue eggs on my last batch too, it was like the shell looked more dense or something. Is there a trick to it?

I actually have muscovy eggs in my incubator now. Free I had heard about that rooster return policy as well and think it is a great idea. I only had four hatch though so I'm keeping that many, none to sell yet!
 
I can never see in my blue or green eggs. :( Heck, last batch I incubated I never did candle them at all! I just set 50-something eggs on Sunday and I'm excited to see what hatches! :D I'd LOVE an egg turner but I'm not sure if I shoudl spend the money.
 
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