What are you currently incubating/brooding?

[Munch]

I have a small Brinsea Eco 10, it is a self turner and has its own little water container which is split into 2 halves, you fill one half only until day 18 then fill completely. I have found this little inccy to have to best success rate.

I also have borrowed another, not sure of the name, automatic turner that hold 24 eggs from friend, he swears by it saying he has a fab success rate, but I have had a poor hatch rate from it, out of 28 eggs that have gone through it I have had 7 hatch. I the Brinsea, out of 18 eggs I have had 13 hatch.

We are now looking at investing in the Brinsea 20 auto turner.

[Suechooks]

Well my RCom has so far had 100% hatch rate of all fertile eggs. My ace broody had 100% success rate last time with ebay eggs and this time 50% hatch of locally sourced eggs (Fertility was 5/6)! The still air incy I had before was a far lower hatch rate - under 50% because the humidity just wouldn't go high enough for hatching time and I got several DIS.
Problem is its not an exact science and however fertile the eggs and however good the incubator we need to remember these are living creatures we're trying to produce and not machines in a factory (even the big commercial hatcheries have non-hatchers).

[jessmorris]

Yes, agreed Sue. I have had DIS with partridge Wyandottes and Amrock under reliable broodies. Ho hum. I think I may be on my way to a slightly bigger incubator, if I can't get this one to work for me....

[Munch]

I would be interested on what they say

[jessmorris]

Hi M,
Brinsea emailed me their incubation leaflet (21 sides) which was good of them. They also said (in the email) that some folk incubate dry. I read a short artical by Victoria Roberts (Practical Smallholder mag I think) who also doesn't advocate adding water. I think you have to suck it and see to a certain extent. Like RH says, all her hatches have been fine, and she adds water. The Brinsea leaflet says the best way to assess the humidty is to weigh the egg at intervals to check that it is getting LIGHTER through the incubation. It should lose 13% of its weight through the 21 days. All very complicated.
JM

[RichmondHens]

Interesting about the weight loss thing JM. When I am left with unhatched eggs, I weigh them in my hand prior to opening - if I suspect a bad egg I stand well back and tap it with a stick as I got a shock once from breaking one which exploded green gunk all over my T shirt with a loud bang - yuck! I find it is the lighter ones that are empty, and the heavier ones that usually contain a DIS.

[Hilary B]

Eggs will lose weight during hatching, but it should be the right amount! The higher the humidity the less weight an egg will lose. It is possible (if you know enough, I don't) to monitor the average humidity by weighing weekly throughout the hatching period.
I believe infertile eggs (or ones which 'die' early on) will lose more weight anyway.

[jessmorris]

Interesting about the weight loss thing JM. When I am left with unhatched eggs, I weigh them in my hand prior to opening - if I suspect a bad egg I stand well back and tap it with a stick as I got a shock once from breaking one which exploded green gunk all over my T shirt with a loud bang - yuck! I find it is the lighter ones that are empty, and the heavier ones that usually contain a DIS.

Oo I don't fancy that much. Thanks for the warning - I always crack open my non hatchers to see what's gone wrong. I'll stand well back next time.....

[jessmorris]

Eggs will lose weight during hatching, but it should be the right amount! The higher the humidity the less weight an egg will lose. It is possible (if you know enough, I don't) to monitor the average humidity by weighing weekly throughout the hatching period.
I believe infertile eggs (or ones which 'die' early on) will lose more weight anyway.

Hilary, the chart for the weight loss is in the incubation leaflet they sent me. You can weigh your eggs and chart the weight loss next to theirs to check your eggs are losing weight at the correct rate - a bit like a baby but the other way around...If you want a copy I can send it to you. (Email??)

[Hilary B]

No ta, I am not chook keeping at present, I just remember how it works (but not in detail) from when I did keep them.

[petal]

Brinsea 40 set up. First hatch of season( we hatch early as have shows to prepare for in the autumn!) be interesting to see if cockerels frisky enough the past week. silver laced wyandotte bantam, silkie, buff orpington, pekin, lightsussex x silkie. Also have 2 gold silkie hens insisting on being broody- so will prepare them as foster mums if this lot hatch.
i would like some dutch bantam eggs.

[RichmondHens]

I'm only going to be doing cream legbars, araucanas and geese, maybe some turkeys, we'll see. As a matter of interest, how many goose eggs would you put under an Orpington Petal, 2, 3 or 4? Keep hearing different advice!

[petal]

is it a large orpington? i can get 5 turkey eggs comfortably under our hen so 2/3 goose eggs? I would use an incubator and have a foster mum at the ready- goose eggs often require hatching assistance- i am thinking back to when my dad raised them. What type of geese are you doing? i really want to raise a couple but might invest in goslings as they are tricky to hatch.

[petal]

on that note, RH if you ever want to do an egg swap let me know! We have pekins, silkies, show quality silver laced wyandotte bantams, silkie cross light sussex lf, buff orpington lf, salmon faverolle lf, call ducks, khaki campbells, bronze turkeys and will have, if i find a drake rouens. We are also planning phoenix yokohamas and dutch bantams this year!

[RichmondHens]

Yes, big buff. I have 3. They can cover 10-12 large hens eggs. I want to hatch Embdens. The plan is to get two lots of eggs from unrelated sources, pick the best gander from one lot and one or two geese from the other - assuming they all hatch, sounds like it might be tricky - and thus have a breeding pair or trio. The surplus will be fattened and eaten. I want to hatch them under a hen to avoid messing with heat lamps and given the vast amount of broody hens here during Spring thought I would make them earn their keep. I also want to get the goslings very tame as young as possible to reduce aggression risk later on although I know there will be some.