So after our fantastically awful experience with Welp Hatchery, we called Decorah Hatchery since they had the best prices and nothing said "sold out" on their website like everywhere else.
On order are:
2 Americana Pullets
2 Barred Rock Pullets
21 Cornish Rock Broilers St. Run
The guy said they should ship the 11th or the 18th.....the Mr. asked him to pretty please try for the 11th (I think he's sick of seeing me mope around the house due to chicken lust). Please Decorah.......don't disappoint me;)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
2 Thumbs Down for Welp Hatchery
Two big hairy man hand thumbs down, two short stubby fingernails bitten woman hand thumbs down, and two toddler thumbs down to Welp Hatchery. If you've been reading, you remember my post that Welp made me change my order.
Well, today my husband gets a call (after leaving them a message wondering when to expect the chicks) stating that they're not shipping until April 1st, as they all sold out while they were busy screwing with our order. On top of that, I got an email stating that they had charged my credit card ABOVE what I had authorized. I didn't realize that the slow broilers were more expensive, gave them the go-ahead to change the order and they neglected to okay the new charges with me.....mmmkay, not cool.
On a good note, I'm getting 6 Silkie fertile eggs shipped from a farm a couple of hours away, so they should be here in a couple days. I'm a little worried since they'll have different hatch dates from the first batch, but the lady assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. They're coming from Destiny Farms, I'll update with my review of them when I get the eggs.
Well, today my husband gets a call (after leaving them a message wondering when to expect the chicks) stating that they're not shipping until April 1st, as they all sold out while they were busy screwing with our order. On top of that, I got an email stating that they had charged my credit card ABOVE what I had authorized. I didn't realize that the slow broilers were more expensive, gave them the go-ahead to change the order and they neglected to okay the new charges with me.....mmmkay, not cool.
On a good note, I'm getting 6 Silkie fertile eggs shipped from a farm a couple of hours away, so they should be here in a couple days. I'm a little worried since they'll have different hatch dates from the first batch, but the lady assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. They're coming from Destiny Farms, I'll update with my review of them when I get the eggs.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Egg Weights
All of these are based off of the unincubated weights taken (see Setting Up the Incubator). Now, I'm not a math whiz by any stretch, so if my calculations are off- please let me know.
Egg 1- 71.7g, -0.4g change from first weight, -0.55% change from first weight
Egg 2- 61.7g, -0.6g, -0.96%
Egg 3- 68.4g, -0.5g, -0.73%
Egg 4- 61.9g, -0.3g, -0.48%
Egg 5- 66.2g, -0.3g, -0.45%
Egg 6- 76.1g, -0.1g, -0.13%
Egg 7- 62.7g, -0.3g, -0.48%
Egg 8- 70.4g, -0.2g, -0.28%
Egg 9- 61.9g, -0.1g, -0.16%
Egg 10- 60.5g, -0.4g, -0.66%
Egg 11- 67.2g, -0.2g, -0.30%
Egg 12- 64.6g, -0.4g, -0.62%
Egg 1- 71.7g, -0.4g change from first weight, -0.55% change from first weight
Egg 2- 61.7g, -0.6g, -0.96%
Egg 3- 68.4g, -0.5g, -0.73%
Egg 4- 61.9g, -0.3g, -0.48%
Egg 5- 66.2g, -0.3g, -0.45%
Egg 6- 76.1g, -0.1g, -0.13%
Egg 7- 62.7g, -0.3g, -0.48%
Egg 8- 70.4g, -0.2g, -0.28%
Egg 9- 61.9g, -0.1g, -0.16%
Egg 10- 60.5g, -0.4g, -0.66%
Egg 11- 67.2g, -0.2g, -0.30%
Egg 12- 64.6g, -0.4g, -0.62%
Candling
Today was the first day candling. It's technically still day 1 of incubation, since they went in yesterday afternoon.
Sorry for some of the pictures- we only have one shot at a picture, since I'm taking the weight and a picture, and I don't want to leave the lid of the incubator for too long.
Egg 1:
Egg 2- now this one surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see anything in any of the eggs, but I see a dark mass in this one.
This is Egg 2 again, at a different angle so you can see the air sac at the end of the egg. Notice you can see the dark mass in this one also:
Egg 3:
Egg 4:
Egg 5:
Egg 6:
Egg 7:
Egg 8:
Egg 9:
Egg 10- found out you can't see through the blue-green eggs. Hubby is going to get out his super duper high powered beefed up MagLite for next time- this bad boy takes 9 AA batteries so hopefully it will work:
Egg 11:
Egg 12:
I also rotated the eggs- I moved them each one row to the right, the ones on the end (11& 12) moved to the first row:
Sorry for some of the pictures- we only have one shot at a picture, since I'm taking the weight and a picture, and I don't want to leave the lid of the incubator for too long.
Egg 1:
Egg 2- now this one surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see anything in any of the eggs, but I see a dark mass in this one.
This is Egg 2 again, at a different angle so you can see the air sac at the end of the egg. Notice you can see the dark mass in this one also:
Egg 3:
Egg 4:
Egg 5:
Egg 6:
Egg 7:
Egg 8:
Egg 9:
Egg 10- found out you can't see through the blue-green eggs. Hubby is going to get out his super duper high powered beefed up MagLite for next time- this bad boy takes 9 AA batteries so hopefully it will work:
Egg 11:
Egg 12:
I also rotated the eggs- I moved them each one row to the right, the ones on the end (11& 12) moved to the first row:
Monday, March 2, 2009
Grrr...
I ordered 25 birds from Welp Hatchery (25 is the smallest order available).
- 8 Cornish Rocks
- 7 Slow Broilers
- 5 Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers)
- 5 Barred Rocks
I wanted more of a diversity of egg layers, but Welp charges an additional $1.50 per sex or breed if you order less than 5.
I get an email today saying that the Cornish Rocks are hatched on a different schedule than the rest of the birds, so I either need to switch my order to 15 Slow Broilers or take shipment of 25 birds in each order. I told them that there's no way I can take shipment of 50 chickens, so to just switch my order.
I'm not real happy with them so far- I mean, why not just state that [the fact that they are hatched on a different schedule] on the website? Then, I asked if they'd be able to mark the breeds- a whole 4 breeds. They wanted an additional $0.25 PER BIRD to separate them and stick a sticker in each section marking the breed. Umm....seriously.
Not.Happy.
I'm hoping I'll be pleased once the chicks arrive.
- 8 Cornish Rocks
- 7 Slow Broilers
- 5 Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers)
- 5 Barred Rocks
I wanted more of a diversity of egg layers, but Welp charges an additional $1.50 per sex or breed if you order less than 5.
I get an email today saying that the Cornish Rocks are hatched on a different schedule than the rest of the birds, so I either need to switch my order to 15 Slow Broilers or take shipment of 25 birds in each order. I told them that there's no way I can take shipment of 50 chickens, so to just switch my order.
I'm not real happy with them so far- I mean, why not just state that [the fact that they are hatched on a different schedule] on the website? Then, I asked if they'd be able to mark the breeds- a whole 4 breeds. They wanted an additional $0.25 PER BIRD to separate them and stick a sticker in each section marking the breed. Umm....seriously.
Not.Happy.
I'm hoping I'll be pleased once the chicks arrive.
The eagle has landed!
AKA the eggs are in the incubator. I pulled a "stupid" today- I've had the incubator plugged in for about 24 hours now, and the egg turner hasn't turned a bit. I know it goes slowly, so I made sure to check it every few hours. Well, I had finally come to terms with the fact that the turner wasn't working and had gotten into the mindset that I would just be hand turning. I had made the decision that I'd still put the eggs in the auto turner, but unplug it. This way, they would still be more secure than just letting them roam free.
I went in to put the eggs in the incubator, and after double checking the egg turner- durrr.......it wasn't hooked up! It was plugged in, but the turner wasn't hooked up to the knob on the turner. LoL, it is now working and the eggs are in:) Just working on getting them up to a steady temp.
The older-than-myself Hova-Bator, notice the older-than-myself matching carpet. Don't be jealous, mmkay?
Closeup of the top. Notice the fancy duck stickers that myself or my sisters probably put on top when we were younger.
All the eggs sitting pretty....the auto egg turner motor is in the upper righthand part of the picture. The black piece sticking off of the motor is what was disconnected (when I thought the auto turner wasn't working)
Eggs 1-6
Eggs 7-12
I went in to put the eggs in the incubator, and after double checking the egg turner- durrr.......it wasn't hooked up! It was plugged in, but the turner wasn't hooked up to the knob on the turner. LoL, it is now working and the eggs are in:) Just working on getting them up to a steady temp.
The older-than-myself Hova-Bator, notice the older-than-myself matching carpet. Don't be jealous, mmkay?
Closeup of the top. Notice the fancy duck stickers that myself or my sisters probably put on top when we were younger.
All the eggs sitting pretty....the auto egg turner motor is in the upper righthand part of the picture. The black piece sticking off of the motor is what was disconnected (when I thought the auto turner wasn't working)
Eggs 1-6
Eggs 7-12
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Setting up the incubator
The incubator is all set up and holding steady at 99.5* F. The directions say to leave it on for a half day before putting in the eggs, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning so I don't wake up to accidentally cooked eggs.
I'm using my mom's hundred year old HovaBator. She used to hatch the Mallard duck eggs that our neighbors would find in their boats come springtime. Her very first hatch was done under a lightbulb, misted with a spray bottle. I've heard that hatching isn't the easiest thing to do; she's my hero!
Here's a picture of the eggs (click on pictures to see the whole image):
Rearranged and numbered:
1-4
5-8
9-12
Weights:
1- 72.1g
2- 62.3g
3- 68.9g
4- 62.2g
5- 66.5g
6- 76.2g
7- 63.0g
8- 70.6g
9- 62.0g
10- 60.9g
11- 67.4g
12- 65.0g
I'm using my mom's hundred year old HovaBator. She used to hatch the Mallard duck eggs that our neighbors would find in their boats come springtime. Her very first hatch was done under a lightbulb, misted with a spray bottle. I've heard that hatching isn't the easiest thing to do; she's my hero!
Here's a picture of the eggs (click on pictures to see the whole image):
Rearranged and numbered:
1-4
5-8
9-12
Weights:
1- 72.1g
2- 62.3g
3- 68.9g
4- 62.2g
5- 66.5g
6- 76.2g
7- 63.0g
8- 70.6g
9- 62.0g
10- 60.9g
11- 67.4g
12- 65.0g
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