Farmgal, I am beginning to feel like a stalker already. I have my first batch in the 'bator and due soon. As usual, I forgot to write down when I put them in there and forgot the unforgettable date. The eggs were very cold when I collected them so I am not surprised that out of about 60 or so, I only have around 13 that may be viable still. I put a second run of 60 in another 'bator last week.

For some reason when I candle eggs, I find the loss rate rate goes up so I don't usually candle them any more. I can usually smell if something is turning into a stinker and get it out of there in time. A quick sniff test over the 'bator is usually enough and I get that lid closed up quick. Just something that works out better for me.

As to broodies, my first one hatched an egg in January. A little banty/chantecler x found herself the last remaining cuckoo maline egg. Her chick made it through the cold bits and is now as big as she is and can only get its head under her wing. I see signs of other hens gearing up for broody. I don't worry about winter broodies any more. If they can keep an egg from freezing, they can keep chicks from freezing as well. I just don't let them set more than 5 eggs. I also keep food and water right next to their nest so they don't have to move off the nest for any length of time.

The ducks have a deep nest going in the corner of a box stall. I opened it up and counted 25 eggs in there over and above the ones scattered all over the place. I emptied out the bottom ones and marked a few place holders so I can keep collecting until someone goes broody. One duck is rearranging the nest and hanging near it a lot, so I expect a broody soon. IF one one goes the others will follow.

Geese are too noisy. I don't want to have them any more. I liked the Romans I used to have, but replacements are too far away. Turkey chicks don't do well on my farm; there must be a turkey bug in the soil. I get grown ups from a turkey dude in the fall for 30.00 each. I didn't get 3 butchered and they are now the size of a VW van. I also have Garage Turkey. My last Beltsville White who follows me around where ever I go and likes to supervise the shop projects. He is a very good therapist as well. Says lots of wise things when I complain to him. He cannot figure out what to do with girls, so I quit trying to get him girlfriends. They just run off and leave him any ways.

Hi Odd duck,

For those eggs, are you doing the gold listerne spray for cleaning and on the eggs as they go in, I am given to understand that it really helps, I have a number of girlfriends that swear by it, if you are interested, I will get the proper stats on the mix ratio.

as for candling the eggs, I am a very late candle when I do it for the other nests, but I agree with you, the winter sitters if they can keep the eggs warm enough to hatch them, they tend to keep them warm enough to grow them 🙂

I have a duck due in another week..

Hadn't heard of that one. Post the formula and I will give it a go; can't see it doing any harm. These little styrofoam 'bators can get funky over the years even with a good scrubbing. I will do it with the next batch and compare notes. I only got two chicks from the first lot. As stated, the eggs were pretty cold when collected, but there were too many outright quitters for my liking.

I

For normal clean eggs, (which would be the egg of choice for hatching) its . 25% Listerine 75% water for the spray for both the inside and gently on the trays and eggs.. have heard great reviews from lots of folks and it makes sense, Gold Listerine was created as a antiseptic first and formost.. before it became a mouth wash.

Thanks Farmgal,

I am going to take this one step further. I will spray the second batch thats cooking right now. They are about a week in. I also have some of that lot in the same 'bator that the two little chicks just hatched in. As soon as the chicks are out in a few hours, I will spray the overflow eggs and that 'bator without actually scrubbing the 'bator.

I always clean my 'bators and eggs but lets see what going the extra mile does. Be interesting to see a comparison between the two already started batches and one done from the very beginning.

I will be interested in your results, my hatch is going right now, four out and the rest are starting.. it was just a small test run as its a new system.. they are early.. I had them to start tomorrow or sunday.. but they are coming out strong so far.

The listerine trick really works. 😯

I got up this morning and there was a duckling in the 'bator. I didn't even know I had set a duck egg. Must have been a small newbie egg mistaken for a meaty bird egg which are quite large.

LOL, now that is funny, congrats on the duckling, and I have two more to go and then my hatch is done, they have just a few more hours and then they are getting moved to the brooder.. and then time to clean out it out and get ready to start setting chick eggs 🙂

So, I set three lots of eggs in hovabators. I always clean the 'bators between hatches.

First 'bator the eggs are washed. Second 'bator the eggs are washed and sprayed with the listerine/water mix and the third 'bator any icky bits are lightly "dry" sanded with a green scrubby pad maintaining the eggs natural bloom and listerine spray.

Results: The first and second 'bators had roughly the same percentage hatch; roughly one third of the viable eggs after candling at seven days. There were a lot of quitters in both hatches. The third 'bator hatched out at around 80% of the viable eggs after candling at seven days which is on par for my usual efforts. My conclusion is that for me, I will stick with the natural bloom and not wash the eggs.

Everyone can draw their own conclusions based on the info. given.

I dry hatch meaning that I don't follow the usual humidity instructions that come with incubating instructions. I run the hatch at a round 25% humidity and keep it around 50% humidity when they start pipping. Dry hatching has always worked better for me and I don't get any sticky chicks and better hatch rates than with high humidity.

very interesting, I love how everyone does things their own way 🙂 I never dry hatch, I run a wet temp an a heat temp and I crank my humidity right into the high zone, this year so far, I have done two batches, both with the wash, soak and spray so no way to compare not doing it, I have a 88 successs in the first batch an a 82 in the second

what a rain storm we are having, thanks so much for sharing what is working for you.. I am going to be setting a different breed of fowl soon and will be interested to see how that effects things.. I will let you know

This is a tough subject to be very accurate on. We all have different incubators sitting in different houses with different ambient temperatures. We all get our eggs from different places or use our own and the who knows if the eggs are worth beans before we even set them. I was collecting my hatching eggs from a cold barn trying to get them before they froze solid so my hatch rates were kind of so so. Also, it was a bit early and the roosters weren't getting it on.

I have been trying very unsuccessfully to hatch black copper marans. These eggs were the source of most of my hatch failures. I hatched from bought eggs last year and picked up a small flock of older hens. Out of dozens of eggs this year I only got one BCM chick. One of my broody hens has had the best luck with them. She managed to hatch four out of twelve. She is raising the five chicks and still sitting on eggs. I cannot break her of broody. If I don't leave her some eggs to sit on she leaves the chicks and goes to find some. So, you cannot fight city hall and she has six more BCM eggs to sit on while her chicks are busy running around with a heat lamp over the nest giving them some heat to go get some food and water while mom sits like a lump.

I hear ya, but speaking of the maren, I had a girlfriend work with them for a few years and yes, she said very poor hatch rates, breed, age of the birds, and so much more factor in. that's crazy on your broody hen, I have had broody but never, I will leave my chicks broody.. wild. she is worth her weight in gold for being able to make her a nest and let her go..

I have one pair of speckled sussex that I have high hopes for this year, we will see

My experience is that the heritage breed populations have gotten too small and they have also been managed poorly. Since most are being hatched and raised by newbie backyard chicken enthusiasts, the eggs are not being collected from only the "best" and many people are selling pullet eggs as hatching eggs. Also, many people are buying trios and they all come from the same few farms further restricting the gene pool.

Personally, I like eggs from 2-3 year old hens for hatching. You know at that point what the good and bad is as far as the hens are concerned, plus the egg size is larger. There is also a definite aversion to culling so the poor quality birds are being used extensively for reproduction as well.

I have a hatch just popping out this morning. The crossed eggs are hatching like popcorn kernels. This hatch, I have maran crosses. Maran roosters crossed with chanteclers, meaty hens, americaunas, and some regular brown laying hens. I feel that if a breed is failing as much as the marans seem to be, it is time to bring in new genetics and make a new breed. Since the reason people want marans is for the chocolate brown color of the eggs, it makes sense to take a huge mutt flock and start selecting for the desired egg color in the future generations. Every year, at least one or two of the crosses should lay the desired egg colour and crossing back to a full maran will lock it in. The meaty hens will add size and faster growth and they really are decent layers as well. They make excellent hybrid outcrosses.

One can get too tied up in preserving breed integrity for showing. I don't get into showing so I want production, as an eating bird, egg colours for selling, and adequate laying rates along with decent hatch rates. People lose sight of the fact that many breeds of poultry or other livestock came about to get something better. Since time has lessened the genetic pool, we need to establish new breeds. Landrace for chickens I suppose.

O odddick, you are so right, sometimes saving the rare breeds can mean so much inbreeding that its not health for them at all.. I love it, landrace is right.. and yes for sure you can outcross an then breed back to the standard.. good for you..

I smiled at your comment, hatching like popcorn kernels.. now that is just what we hope for.. and as you said, its amazing how much we can all do things a touch different and yet the results speak for themselves!

You are correct as well that in the current market, that the color of the eggs can be a selling point for sure..

Its like my big meat ducks, I have working on my own lines for a while, I was giving some young boys the eye at a different place and said, where is the daddy, and the man pointed at a male the same size and I looked at him and said.. no really, where is the big male, and he goes.. but is typical.. I shook my head and said, what is the weight on them? three to six pounds lighter then my big drakes at full size..

Wanted the color and the hens were very nice, but dang, its going to take me a few gens to breed them back up to the size I want them at.. part of the issue, Is I had that breed when I was 17 to 20 (and that was a while ago) and I remember the size on those birds, we have allowed folks saying.. but they are not to be to big to be ok, because that is what they see..

For me, when it come to a young male, nothing under ten pounds is allowed to be used and as a mature two year old male (they are not a fast maturing bird) nothing under 12 and I prefer 14 and up in size.. and yes, as my hubby sighs, that means I will grow out my best two to four drakes for two years to eval them. this is not a breed you can make that judgement call at on their first year of life.

Always love reading your posts..