The Eggs are in The Bator!

To start off, I have purchased my first incubator from GQF mfg.
I ordered the forced air kind, and an automatic egg turner to boot,
with 6 additional quail egg racks. I am not as crafty as our DG
member, Mel, and I did not have all the components lying around
to fashion one, anyway. So, I bit the bullet and paid someone
to make it for me. It arrived in great shape- and it was easy to put
together. Hubby and I had a good time setting it up on Tuesday.
I was so eggcited, I must have tracked it's delivery status 4 times
a day for the 5 days it took to get here.
I have it set up in the office, which is centrally located in the house,
and maintains a steady 70* in there. I have my incubating guidelines
I have gleaned from the internet,as well as a custom calendar,
right next to it on the sewing table. I also have a really handy guide book, "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" there to reference,as well.
I have been waiting impatiently for my leghorn hen, Blanca, to
start laying again. She lays beautiful, jumbo white eggs that
have nice shells. Until yesterday, I was unable to find her nest,
as she and the Ameraucana mix roo Davey, are free range. Not
until Davey alerted to something yesterday, and I ran out to see
what was up, did I see her hiding in the back of the goat's pen. She
never goes broody, but I must have waited 3 hours for her to
leave the lovely, perfectly formed hay nest. Was I surprised to
find 8 eggs! Thank you Blanca! I replaced the 8 with one ceramic,
and I was off to the new electric hen with my booty. No cleaning
necessary-they were sparkling white. I am not sure if the one cold
night we had on Monday will affect the viability of the eggs, but
we'll see. If only one hatches, I will assume it is the one laid on
the day I collected them, after the really cold night, which got
down to freezing. All 8 went into the bator yesterday, and the
bator is maintaining a temp of around 100*.
As well as Blanca's eggs, I have ordered 24 coturnix quail eggs
from 2 different people. They arrived this morning, as I had to run
to the post office to fetch them. Our postal lady is very nice, and
phoned they had been there since yesterday :-o. Niether of the 2
boxes had 'eggs' labelled on them, and only one said 'fragile'.
She didn't click that they were the eggs, and I can understand why.
Another worry. One day past the freshest I could have started
with. One was packaged very well. The eggs were in a special
carton made for quail eggs, clear plastic, taped shut, and
surrounded by generous peanut packing. None were broken, and
all were large and clean.
Box # 2 on the other hand, had a smushed side, no markings of
any kind save for the addresses. Inside, I began to unpack each
egg seperately, having been wrapped in toilet paper, and packed
with same. 3 eggs on the smushed side were broken, and had
all stuck together with the TP. Luckily, only the broken eggs
had dried stuck TP glueing them together. Some eggs were
dirty, and compared to the first box, were smallish. All 21 quail
eggs went in the bator this morning. The small quail eggs could
easily fit side by side in the trays, and the larger ones had to be
put in every other hole, as they were too big and touched each
other. I thought this might cut down on the circulation around the
eggs, so spacing was necessary.
Since coturnix quail incubate best at 99.5*, and chickens at 100*
or slightly above, I have read that these 2 can incubate fine together.
If anything, the quail may hatch a day early, and take 17-18 days
to pip. I am hoping that raising the RH slightly for the quail to pip
will not suffocate the chick eggs. :-0 ?? I allowed both chicken and
quail eggs to come to room temps before I put them in, as cold
eggs can get condensation on them if not room temp. The bator
is holding it's temp very well. The only small concern I have, is
there seems to be a sticky tray in the turner, as it will make a
little popping noise when it gets to a certain position in the
rotation. I have observed it though, and it doesn't seem to
jostle the eggs any. I love the turner, as it moves so slow you
can't see it, rocking the eggs back and forth one rotation taking
4 hours. This allows for 6 turns a day. Hubby is picking up an
extra thermometer today, so I can monitor the humidity closely.
I am an eternal optimist! So, I am hoping my electric hen does a good job!

Congratulations! I bet you are excited! I know whenever I order anything fun I end up stocking the tracking site until it arrives! Sounds like you definately got a nice setup. I will be crossing my fingers for you! Too bad about the cracked eggs...but that probably happens a lot. I have never ordered eggs though, so I wouldnt really know.

Hopefully they all come out great! How many eggs do you have in there all together?

Oh, HI Mel! yes, I was a UPS stalker, for sure. I got
the quail eggs from eggbid.com and I read alot of the
posts from bidders. They comment on how it was to do
business with the selller, and whether or not the eggs were
packed well, fertile, etc. I have a total of 29 eggs in there.
21 quail and 8 hen. I also ordered a spray disinfectant for
after hatch cleaning. I read you can sterilze with bleach,
using a half cup to one gallon of water. I think the spray
ability will get all the undersides and crevices. Your poor
little gimp's situation scared me into thinking I should
use plastic gloves to handle the eggs! LOL Thank you for
your well-wishes- it's YOUR fault I got so eggcited about
this!

Oh sure! You can blame me now...but you will thank me later! Hahaha...I dont think you need gloves. I wonder more if this happened because the chick hatched out 3 days after the first chicks...so I couldnt clean the bator very well since he was still in there. I handled my eggs ALOT! I turned them by hand about 3 times a day and I candled them twise a day (just because I was so excited)! I only lost one of my 6 chicks, so I was pretty happy with the results. I did end up using a diluted bleach to clean my incubator. Putting some paper towels down just on the day the chicks hatch woudl also help with the clean up a lot. The small pieces of shell were easier to get out that way.

Oh boy, I'm going to be a chickie auntie again!!!

New pix to force my friends to look at!!!

When is birthday due?

Truest, I am jealous.

I can't wait till April so I can put some eggs in the 'bator. Until then I can just dream. Our temp last night was -5 so it's just too darn cold for me to think about hatching chicks or anything else right now. It doesn't really warm up around here until march or april. In fact, we have even had frost on the 1st of July. That year we also had frost Sept 1st.

The Blanca eggs are due to hatch on the 20th. The
coturnix quail are due on the 17-18th. I will be very happy if
I get 50% hatch on the quail. I will get pics as soon as I can.
I don't want to disturb them too much. If I can get a pic
of the eggs without flashing off the glass, I will post.

Auntie Joyce or Auntie Cookie! how sweet!

Wow, Granny, that was a reeeeely short summer! Don't be
jealous, just get your fix with us til you can get over the
winter!

Brrrrr...and I thought it was cold around here! We are in very cold temps too...but I convinced my other half to let me raise these guys in the living room again. :) They will be in here until the end of at least next month, then go out into the garage with a large heat lamp until at least the end of March.

Dont worry too much about opening the bator. Remember that for those of us who dont have a turner we have to open it a couple times a day! JB told me that some change in temp is good for the eggs and I think after my hatch I must agree with him. My temps fluctuated a lot. We want a pic!

Yeah...what Mel said....

My dh said we could put the bator in his shower (it's a walk-in type) while the eggs were in it, so that parts okay. It's just that the chicks would have to go out in the garage for brooding because we have two cats who would make sure the chicks were dinner, so they have to go out. We do have a stove in the garage to help keep them warm and I use a heat lamp for brooding them. But I think early april will have to do.

Until I do, yep, I will certainly get my fix until I think it is safe for me to set the eggs.

I intend to set eggs for meat chickens this year as my hens are only a year old, but will probably change some of them as I like to cook chicken for dumplings, salad, and pot pies. So, if I get some likely looking hen chicks, I will band them and change some of them for the older hens for the freezer. And, of course any roos I get will go in the freezer too.

I am trying to post with a pic, but it's taking forever!
I'll try again, if not, DH will help me tonight.

Ok, I tried for 20 mins, and that isn't working. This is frustrating,
but we'll get it figured out, and try later.

I am raising all the birds for as many purposes as I can get
out of them.LOL. Blanca's eggs, if they hatch, will be for egg
laying, as she is skinny, mean, and doesn't have time to set
on eggs. I am hoping that being crossed with Mr. Sweet
himself, Davey, will produce some better natured chickens. {:-)

This message was edited Jan 31, 2008 12:48 PM

We placed twise as many eggs as hens we wanted since we know about 1/2 will be roos. I am trying not to get attached to ANY of them...and the one that I do will end up being the boy! They are chirping away today, and my cats...they do really well for some reason. My farm cat used to live on mice, and now lives indoors most of the time. She has no interest in these chicks.

Since you couldnt get yourpics to upload...I will put one of mine!

I found out that if you make a 'trilling' sound the chicks will all freeze what they are doing. It worked well for taking pics. :)

There are all RIR/Buff cross except the lighter one on the far right. That is a Red Sexlink cross.

Awwwwwww, how cute. Mel, is that Gimpy in the back? It sure looks like her.

Actually...'Gimpy' is the second chick from the right. It is harder to tell in that pic...but he is much smaller then the other four.

The 'trill' is actually the sound that our first rooster used to make when he was only about 2 weeks old! We knew he was a rooster because he would get on top of the water thing every morning when the sun first came up, and he would make this sound. It is basically like vibrating your tongue on the top of our mouth for a consistant time.

The eggs closely grouped together are the smaller
quail eggs...

Would you look at that. A picture, finally.Thank you DH!
I forgot to resize my pic before uploading, and tried to
upload a whopper. These larger racks on the right are
universal, handling everything up to a duck, but not a goose.
They have special ones for those. I ordered this egg
turner, as it came with 6 quail egg racks, and when
easily changed out by snapping into place, can hold a
total 120 quail eggs. That's a lot of quail! You can see through
the wire rack on the bottom to the plastic water tray
underneath. This gets filled about 2X a week.
The bator has been running now for almost 48 hours, and
with some initial fine tuning, is very consistant. My only worry is
if the thermometer is not accurate. Hubby went to Tractor Supply
on the way home, for an extra to monitor humidity, but they
didn't have a one. I thought it was upposed to be for .."The stuff you
need out here..."? I need that.

Sorry about the blur, but you can see the size difference
in this pic. I believe the larger eggs are from older
birds, or birds with better nutrition.

Looks great! That is a LOT of eggs! I was just walking through Walmart today and stumbled upon a humidity guage thing. It does not do exact values...just 50, 60, 75 etc...but I get the idea. I was WAAAAY low! It was around 40, so I added more water and exposed more of the towel to get it up to 60.

I bet they will all hatch out fine. I was surprised at how much bigger the chicks were that came out of the larger eggs! It almost made me want to only use eggs that were the same size so they dont pick on each other but then I realized that even the smaller ones are pretty tough!

Early on in the process, the embryos don't produce much
moisture. Later when they are bigger and start to 'breath' is
when the humidity goes way up. 60% is a good place for me
to be at, and I know as they grow, I will cover some of the water
tray with foil and tape, to bring it down to balance.

There is always going to be a pecking order, too, so
someone is always going to be at the bottom.LOL

Hey...Ryan over here wants to know what you plan to do with your quail. :)

Ryan over where? Is that your DH? I am going to EAT
them, and hold them, and practice on Coturnix til I get
really good at it, then get some Mountain Quail and
raise those and sell the eggs for $40 dollars for just 6
eggs, and a mating pair for $100! That's what I'm going to
do with the quail. I will keep some as pets..breeders..
pets.

I know that might be unsavory to some, but I have
always been one to try the venison sausage, and
cook a good roast all day long til it fell apart. I would
also like some quail. And, I am really good with birds,
and have the time to care for them well, so might as well
see if I can glean a few dollars from something I love.

I am laughing SO hard now! Ryan is my other half..my soon-to-be husband. Quail for dinner sounds good to me! We have millions of deer our here, so venison seems to make its way to all of our local parties. Half of everyone I know has gotten a deer this year!

i have the exact same bator as you dose yours hold 42 chicken eggs

Soon to be husband, but already dear to you, yes?

Hi, Lucky, yes this one holds 42 chicken eggs. How
long have you had your's, and does it work well for you?
How many clutches have you hatched, and does the
humidity tray work well?

Truest, I also have that bator. I haven't used it as yet, but plan on it in the spring, so I will get info here about how well they work.

Thanks

Well, this morning's temp in the bator reads a
steady 100* For the first 48 hours, I recorded the
temp at 4 different times of day. It does drop an
apparent 2 degrees sometimes, but since the eggs
have mass, I really don't think this is a problem.
It clicks on and rewarms with only a 2 degree variance.

Also, the popping noise in the turner has stopped.
I think it wore down a little burr that was to blame. I
guess I should remove the trays I'm not using next
time, as this might add an unecessary load to the turner.
The new turner they provided has metal components.
They noted this in literature, as the all plastic didn't
last as long.

I candled 2 Blanca eggs and one quail and didn't
see anything. It may be too soon, or Davey's spurs
are too long and Blanca's not allowing him to cover,
and the mottling on the quail may interfere. I can
live with Blanca's not being fertile yet. It is the first
eggs of the season, but sure hope there are some
good quail eggs in there! When you add shipping, the
quail eggs cost about $1 a piece.

They sure are neat looking eggs...kind of camoflauged.

The spots are what lured me in. I love pretty eggs.
Also, the coturnix, or Pharoah Quail, mature very
early, at about 6 weeks.

I have a couple of aracauna eggs that size. We called them hiccups because they weren't large enough to have yokes in them. I blew them out and saved the shells. I was going to make a natural easter egg tree, but hen we had to put the hens in the freezer. I am going to keep the eggs and maybe I'll get some more the same size. If not, then I shall see. I'm certainly not going to buy quail eggs just to make a easter egg tree.

Man...I missed a lot of talk! Yes...Ryan is my 'to be' and he is certainly my dearest. We met when I was only 13 and he was 16. I remember telling him then that we were going to get married and he laughed at me. Then a few years later we dated...but he dumped me because he said I wanted more of a commitment then him...which was because I KNEW we were going to get married. Then a few years later I moved out of state and he missed me. We stayed friends for a few years and he woudl come visit. Then one day I went on a date with a childhood friend and he just couldnt handle it. Now here we are! When he proposed last year in front of all our best friends and family I just said, 'I told you we would get married.'

Today is acutally his birthday so I am making a Thanksgiving dinner for him and the family...since that is all he asked for.

Also...I candled my eggs last night (day 6) and I could clearly see every embryo swimming around. We have 10 of 11 eggs growing. I figured that our old hen may not have as fertile of eggs...and it is one of hers that is not growing but her other two are. :)

I candled the rest of Blanca's eggs. 2 have something
floating in them- but I can not tell for sure what I'm
seeing. No vessels yet. I can't see anything in the
few quail I candled. They are really dark.
Blanca is laying another today. I will collect them daily
and keep cool til I candle the others in 5 days or so.
If one or two of the current Blanca eggs is fertile and
growing, I will follow them thru to hatch, and just eat or
toss the newly collected til next round. Has anyone here
eaten fertile eggs, and does it matter much? What are
your thoughts?

Truest, most or all of the farm eggs you get are fertile if you have a rooster around. The only reason store-bought eggs aren't fertile is that they don't have roos with the hens.

I got a good laugh out of that question. Thanks for that.

I know they should be, but I haven't seen them doing
the busy thing in a while. Are they just being discreet?
Are you saying, no matter what, Davey is somehow
getting the job done?LOL