incubating again

[tlrohr]

Well, they other day a coyote --- we have one that is very skinny running around our town --- got 4 of my chickens --- also a duck --- cannot get them crazy fowl off my pond and I am surely not chancing falling through the ice to get them.

Well, I thought --- I will just try to replenish some before Spring. I called a few people about eggs in the winter --- they said, usually it will not work, because they get to cold. Okay, I thought --- what is to cold.

So 5 days ago --- I collected 15 eggs throughout the day --- brought them in --- warmed them up, since they seemed a little cold and stuck them in the incubator. I checked them last night and low and behold --- I have 15 fertile eggs. I am excited --- these are my own eggs and I can not wait to see what the chicks look like --- being I have more than one breed.

[SBLAKE11]

i lost several chickens in the past couple of months. it has been raining here for like 3 months straight and then got extremely cold. i lost 3 turkey and a bunch of banthams. im sick about the turkey though. so now im down to two burboun red turkey. all of my other birds are doing fine. im getting ready for the spring. i already have 2 poeple wanting me to incubate eggs for them and all my babes from last spring should be laying before long. im hoping for a better turn out this year on my dominiquers(sp). out of 4 dozen eggs i ended up with 5 roosters and 2 hens. i was buying hatching eggs from a lady and i dont know what was wrong with them but they would be fertile and you could candle them and see the chick but they wouldnt hatch. but i was told feeding laying mesh would make that happen. it makes the shells to hard for the chick to get out.

[tlrohr]

Well I do not know about the laying mash being the problem --- I do know oyster shells make the egg shell very hard. I am down to 29 chickens --- they are being taken during the day as they are free ranging. They cannot be touched during the night --- my friend said my coop is awesome and the way it is built --- nothing can get in --- or out.
Although I did order eggs off ebay and the same thing happened to me ---- I think some people send you a few good eggs and the rest are old eggs.
I know my chickens are a mixture of different breeds --- but my eggs are fertile and I know how long it has been since they were laid. You do not need purebreds to have eggs or meat.

[mikarod]

If you don't give a calcium supplement to layers...they'll soon not be able to walk, and might even enjoy a very painful death of a broken egg in the repro tract.

If a chick can't get out of the egg without pipping, it was inferior stock. I mean...if it can't make it out of an egg, it would have just died later on from ridiculous reasons.

[tlrohr]

I give mine oyster shells every 4th month --- should I give it more often?

Also what you said does make sense --- if the baby is 2 weak to get out of the shell --- so they should not be helped? I did help 3 of them last time I was incubating and 2 are still in my barn coop --- until Spring and the other is in with the flock --- so far they are doing good. I actually thought the same thing blake did --- the shell was to hard.

[mikarod]

In all honesty...I help if the chick at least makes the first pip (first hole in the egg). If it does not...it was not meant to survive.

Give the oyster shell free choice. Just put it into a container and let the girls have at it. They will know when they need it and will use it accordingly.

[tlrohr]

That is the time that I helped them --- when I saw a small peep --- 2 are Jersey Giants and 1 was Americuana. I did not break open the shell --- I just cracked the outer layer a bit --- the rest was pretty much up to them.

I guess I will start keeping the oyster shells down for them --- I usually dump it in a separate container --- then when it is gone --- I wait awhile and replace. One small bag usually last them about 2 to 2 1/2 months. So I guess I am pretty much doing it right.

I must say --- I am delighted to have 15 fertile eggs --- due to it being 20 degrees or lower outside --- checked them again last night and still all is well.

[BUDDYSGIRL]

I use oyster shell, free choice and also laying mesh kept in tubs in their coop. I don't plan to hatch any babies unless a hen goes to setting. I sell the eggs and the chickens are my tick/spider control for the most part.
But good luck with yours!

[SBLAKE11]

i dont feed my hens laying mash and i was getting a 95% hatch rate last year. i bought 4 dozen dominiquer (sp) eggs from this lady and very few hatched. at the end of summer she wanted me to incubate a few eggs for her because she wasnt having a good turn out in her incubator and she gave me 2 dozen of mixed eggs and said i could have all the dom's. 6 chicks hatched and a few weeks later all died. none were showing signs of being ill they just died. now this is just my observation, my sister in law has free range chickens she gave me 33 eggs to incubate all of them hatched and survived, i have my chickens in a pen, they get scratch grain and occasionally a high protein feed mixed with scratch grain and i was getting a 95% hatch rate, my neighbor keeps hers in a pen and feeds laying mesh two days a week i was getting about 80% hatch for her. the eggs i bought she feeds laying mesh year around and i wasnt getting no where near a hatch rate like the others and some hatched with their intestines on the outside and others were just weak and later died. also some of the eggs would bust open in the incubator. and let me tell you that is nasty!!!!!!!

[tlrohr]

Blake --- sounds to me like you had eggs that sat around to long --- you do not want the eggs to sit out any longer than 5 days before getting them in the incubator. The lady probably had them sitting out to long and just did not say anything.

By the way --- the lady that feeds mash only twice a week --- with her chickens in a pen --- what do they eat the rest of the week.

My chickens get laying mash (2xs a day), scratch (in the morning), cereal, fruit, vegetables, crackers, bread, meat carcass', etc. They are spoiled and get just about all left overs. It was 19 degrees when I collected my eggs --- I will tell you how it turns out --- 14 days left. Most of the eggs I can see they are fertile --- but the green and really dark brown are hard to tell. I will send you some of my eggs when it warms up if you want and they will be collected the day of shipping --- I will also throw in a few Golden Pheasant eggs.