Incubating Eggs

I'm giving it a go at incubating some of my chicken eggs. I'm a little curious/nervous to see what kind of strange chicks will hatch from my mismatched flock.  I'll try to post updates as I see progress.

Chickens hatch in 21 days, so hatch day for me should be around Feb 16 or 17.

Step one: I bought a very simple incubator from Orschelns for $30 and some Manna Pro Egg Cleanser to sanitize the eggs for $10.

 
Step two: I plugged in the incubator and added warm water to the bottom collection slots and waited a few hours to monitor humidity and temp.  55-60% humidity and 99.5 degrees is ideal.

Step three: I collected a days worth of eggs on a semi-warm day (58 degrees) and let them sit in the cleanser solution (1 cap solution per 1/2 gallon warm water) for a few minutes then rinsed and dried. Once dry, I drew an X on each of the eggs so I can keep track of which side they have been on for turning purposes. (They need to be turned 3x a day).

Step four: I put the eggs in the incubator with the "x" side up at 8pm January 27.

Step five: I'll be turning the eggs 3x a day and adding warm

That's all for now...I'll check back in in a week or so :)

Chicken Update!

There has been a few more chicken deaths due to an unknown illness. I have 17 healthy chickens as of this moment and just stuck my first batch of eggs in the incubator.


 Here's the flock as of January 2015:

Regina (Rhode Island Red)

 Natalie (Buff Orpington)

 

Billy (Gold Laced Wyandotte Rooster)

 

Dorothy (Barred Rock)

 

Helen (Black Sex Link)

 

 Ryan (Turken/Naked Neck Rooster)

 

Katniss (Welsummer)

 

Primrose (Easter Egger)

 

Effie (White Crested Black Polish)

 

 

Willow (Black Australorp)

 

 

Clementine (Red Cochin) & Lily (Coronation Sussex)

 

 

Nyx (mutt)

 Apollo (mutt)

 Aphrodite (mutt)

 Blueberry (Blue Silkie Rooster)

 

 Peaches (Partridge Silkie)