Doesn't Everybody have an incubator on their coffee table?

Stage one of the next batch of chicks.

We've given up relying on chook power - at this time of the year they are decidedly unpredictable, and given that 11 roosters are now taking up room in the freezer whilst I attempt to get over a bad dose of sooking, we've decided we need to get serious about getting hen numbers up again (as we've now got Archie and his Heir and a Spare wandering around out their not getting on).

So the incubator's first batch is currently nuturing 21 eggs. It's capable of up to 48 - but we thought for the first batch we'd lessen the numbers as we've now also got to get a brooder sorted out (it's amazing how much technology and facilities you need to replace a feathering daft little chook....)



15 days in - we should start to see hatchings sometime around day 19 - all these eggs have been candled so we're pretty sure they are all viable.

We'll see what we end up with - but if experience is anything to go by, dozens of roosters and a hen or two... sigh.

2 feedbacks » •  Permalink

2 comments

Comment from: Sally [Visitor]
Sally

So chook eggs aren’t like crocodile eggs - the temperature they’re incubated at defines the sex?

12/06/12 @ 22:29
Comment from: [Member]
KC

I don’t think temperature has much affect on chook hatchings, mostly it’s a quantity game.

In order to get enough hens we just have to hatch more eggs than we can when “patiently” waiting for somebody to go clucky, stick and stay. We’ve had a couple of chooks recently that just gave up before the incubation period was completed and the goose last year kept pushing the eggs away so she could hatch more straw….. Once she starts laying again in Spring we can get goose eggs into this incubator as well as ducks.

13/06/12 @ 10:48


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