AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Cheers
Chicka-Dee

Ahhhh! I don't think I could have a incubator. Maybe I'll stick with the natural ones for a while. I'm very techamogically challenged
Oh well. Tell me how it goes Chickie Dee!
Chooklover

You too huh
I like my natural one too She's doing a great job

Even though she had 12 eggs under her at the beginning and only hatched out 3 I think that was more Clydes doing or lack of doing should I say!

Will def let you know how I go.

I did more candling of the eggs that were in there and took a heap out, which def makes me think that Clyde just hasn't mastered his craft as well as I thought he had, as I'm now down to 12 eggs.

I've taken 14 out in total now & there is till a few I'm dubious about.

I might do some more candling today.

There's even one egg I think might be rotten, but I'm not 100% sure.

How can you tell if an egg has gone rotten? Should it omit a smell? There is def a smell in the incubator, which doesn't smell good, but I don't know if it is from all the eggs or if its from one. I picked up the egg in question & candled it & it was dark inside but I wasn't sure if that was chick or not & I tried smelling it but couldn't tell if the smell was from the incubator or the eggs was the culprit.

Opinions?..

Well, last night I switched off the incubator

2 of the eggs had gone rotten & were stinking out the incubator so I felt it best to just stop this lot and maybe start all over again with a fresh lot that are maybe 2 or 3 days old max.

The eggs that I put in were nearly 2 weeks old so that was probably a major factor of their viability as I have read a lot of people saying to only use eggs with a max age of 7 days.

Very sad that my first attempt went down the drain (or should I say out into the paddock), but there really was no use in continuing.

What a shame Chicka-Dee, sorry to hear the first batch didn't go so well. At least the bad eggs didn't explode!

The first batch can be fiddly with trying to keep it stable with adjusting the vents and getting humidity right. Was a good solution you came up with to fill the channels without opening the incubator

Second batch should go much better now you have it stable and fresher eggs would definitely improve your hatch rates.

with the second batch Chicka-Dee

Yeah I know it was a shame bit you're right hopefully fresher eggs will wield better results.

I'm not sure if I am going to use my eggs or if I will use a breeders eggs

Still thinking about it.

If it means paying for some eggs then I'd stick with your own until you're satisfied that you have the incubator worked out. Of course it depends on how much you would be spending on eggs and if your own are actually fertile.

I know right! Being that there's two sides to that coin.....1) maybe Clydes not doing his job properly & the majority aren't getting fertilised & 2) maybe buying eggs off a breeder will wield me better results, but if I stuff up the incubation again, I ruin the eggs and blow my dough

It's such a dilemma, but I'm going to do something this weekend for sure, as I want to set them so they hatch on a weekend rather than during the week.

Watch this space........

So sorry to hear that Chickie Dee
I would continue trying with my eggs before I buy from a breeder

I am very excited for the fact that I found one of my Lav Pekins sitting on eggs!
She was sitting on 6, I put two extra ones that were laid a day or two later under her, so out of 8 eggs,4 are definitely fertile , 3 infertile, 1 unsure. If you see a vein, but no baby,would a baby be there?
The babies are either pure Lavender Pekin, or half Lavender Pekin and half Silkie

I would put through a few test batches first, with free eggs. When you know everything is set right then pop in some quality eggs

Can you get free fertile eggs from anywhere else? Maybe you could do this to rule out any fertility issues..



The eggs I've candled which were hard to visualise but had veins turned out to be viable, veins are a very good sign