We Have Chicks!

The eggs are not due until tomorrow, officially (well that and a in a couple days, this is a very slightly staggered hatch) and we already have two beautiful and healthy chicks. The incubator makes photos impossible, so those will have to wait until I take them out, but I can tell you that they are adorable, fluffy, tiny, active, and have little poofy white topknots on their heads that send the boys into fits of giggles.

Week One!

A week ago today I set the first eggs.

I set some Marans eggs today-- twelve of them. They are a glorious color and I really hope we get some beautiful chicks out of that bunch, though most are promised to my mom.

I also candled the eggs today and I had to throw away six eggs that were all definite infertile eggs. When I candled them they were completely clear. They were all from the second seller. Shocking, right? I'm not surprised. Another reason I will not be using that seller again.

The good news is that I had some obvious development and even got to see one embryo jump in response (I guess) to the light. It was about the size of the tip of my pinky.

My camera is on the fritz, so I will have to post candling pictures at a later date.

I have 32 eggs total in the incubator now. I have thrown out a total of 9 eggs due to mailing breakage and infertility.

Day Two

The incubator temperature is finally exactly where I want it. There has been some fluctuation, but not enough to worry me as it has always been between 99.2 and 100.1. Fluctuation isn't great, but as the higher temperature was for only a short time, I have hopes that it won't be a problem.

My incubator: all wrapped up! 

There is definitely an issue with an incubator that has no insulation. I have to keep the incubator wrapped in a blanket at all times, though I leave the air intakes completely open and unblocked, it wouldn't do to suffocate the little chicks. I've considered knitting a cozy for it, but I don't have the time right now to do it.

I am still tilting the incubator back and forth at least three times during the day. I make sure that I'm gentle and that the angle does affect all of the eggs. I don't see why this shouldn't work. It's not THAT different from what a turner would do.

I'm afraid there will not be many interesting pictures for a little while, as I do not intend to crack into the incubator to handle the eggs or candle them (look through them with a light to see how they are developing) until this weekend. I will try to get pictures then.

Here's a neat fact: at about 42 hours incubation the chicks' hearts start beating. Isn't that amazing?

Day One

I set the eggs yesterday at 6:44 pm, so today is the official Day One.

I am trying an experiment with this batch that I have never done before. I am starting the eggs large-side up in egg cartons and, instead of turning the eggs individually three times a day, I am changing the tilt of the entire incubator (carefully!) at least three times a day. This helps a lot, as I have noticed that this incubator loses heat easily and is a little on the slow side to regain temperature.

Right now it's at the perfect 99.5 degrees. Hopefully it will stay consistent, but I will be keeping a hawk eye on the temperatures and everything, which I can do since I work from home.

The new group of eggs we got in the mail only got an 8 hour rest, rather than 24 hours, and, frankly, it's because I cared less about them then I was worried about a staggered hatch. Hopefully it was enough rest, but, as most of them are either bantam eggs or pullet eggs, it wasn't worth putting everything to risk and staggering everything.

So, we have 26 eggs in the incubator (I will get pictures up tomorrow). I have put the smaller eggs together as, if they are bantams, I have had those hatch in only 19 days. I will be watching them carefully.

It might seem funny, but I talk and whistle to the eggs when I do interact with them, so that they will know my voice when they hatch. We've seen that behavior in broody chickens and ducks in the past, and we mimic that. We may be delusional, but I really think that the chicks knew who their 'mama' was when they hatched after I used to sit in with them and read out loud to my kids and we'd sing to them. That group of chickens really thrived and we saw them being encouraged by hearing us while they were hatching.

Hatching Eggs: Ebay Risks

Dead Egg

So here are the eggs that I got as a replacement or substitution for the quail eggs I really didn't want. 16 eggs arrived with one badly broken (in half) and one with a black air sack and it rattled when I gently shook it. My guess, from the weight, is that it had a dead chick in it.

You can see that they're a whole different quality form the last ones

The surviving eggs.

The eggs were all covered in feces.

This is the risk that you take when buying on ebay.

Unwrapping eggs

I will definitely be being from the seller of the first group again-- it was a wonderful transaction. This one, I will not, obviously.

NoWay being very careful

"I'm Helping!" Says Cheeks.

 The boys did enjoy unwrapping them and are excited about this "Early Christmas Present!"

Eggs are Here!

I am impatiently waiting for FedEx to arrive with my incubator, but my first batch of eggs to hatch has arrived.

Box in from the mail. Despite all the warnings our Mailman put it on its side.

Opening...

Snug as a bug...

Bad picture: One broken egg.

Opening the second box.

Only one egg cracked, look at the beautiful colors!

Resting for 24 hours before going to the incubator.

I bought them on ebay and they arrived quickly. Most are blue, one is olive green, and there are a couple pinks. I received 14 in the mail and one was cracked, so it had to go into the trash.

They now have to rest at least 24 hours big-side up before being place in the incubator to begin the hatching process. This allows the air-sac to get into place and everything to settle from shipping.

Oh, PEANUTS!

OK, so, proving that I'm a mom who ends up watching more Disney channel then grown-up TV, I'm going to burst into song via Hannah Montana and declare:

"Nobody's Perfect."

Now that I have that off my chest I'll confess.

I just bid as a joke. On a lark. I shouldn't have done that. Because I won.

I JUST BOUGHT

100 + GOLD SPECKLED COTURNIX QUAIL HATCHING EGGS!!!!!

That's pretty crazy, even for me. I mean, even if half hatch, what am I going to do? And they start laying on their own in six weeks, so we're talking worse than mice! I'm going to over-run with cricket-sized chicks!

Maybe it's time to go gourmet and start eating quail eggs?

I'm half laughing hysterically and half actually hysterical. This is a Bonnie-type disaster! 

We'll just have to see what can be done with it.

I've never eaten quail... 

Chickens Are _________

I just got notification that I finally have some eggs coming to put into my incubator. They're blue, from some Easter Eggers-- which tend, in my experience, to be neat little chickens to have. Plus, who doesn't love beautiful blue eggs?

I'm excited, if you can tell.

It also means that I had to access my account which my husband changed once upon a time to a nice, upbeat, nice, affirmation-type password so that I have to be nice to myself every time I use it. Seriously, I roll my eyes every time!

And that made me think of those things that I say all the time that are, perhaps not the norm.

For example:
Chickens are Dinosaurs.

Well, they are.

Seriously.

So hopefully, in about 25 days, I'll be giving my kids some pet dinosaurs to play with.

Incubator: Anticipation

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my incubator. Of course, if I end up with not eggs to put in it, I'll have to wait even longer. I may even have to beg some off of my young friend who raises chickens and generously offered to give us two of his-- which, of course, we couldn't take advantage of! Too sweet, really.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so I decided I want to share a idiot proof incubating site that already has all the how-tos, so I didn't have to make it myself:
http://www.howtoincubate.com/

There's another one that I knew of a few years ago, I'll post it when I find it again. It was pretty neat, with lots of candling pictures.

(Candling is when you shine a light through an egg to see the shadow of the embryo through the shell... pretty tough in darker eggs, as you can imagine! It's a blast to do with the kids, because they just giggle like crazy to see the chicks move around and chick and jump. I've had a fun time telling my boys about when I had them in my tummy and they would do the same things. It would be so cool if we could just shine a light through to see the baby move in people, wouldn't it?)

I'm trying to decide where I want to put the incubator. It's tough, because, with the three boys, we get a lot of traffic. The laundry room seems like a good place for it, but it doesn't hold a steady temperature overnight, and that's no good. There's the kitchen, but, well.... chickens smell. I have a sensitive nose, too. Blech! There's the boy's playroom, which may be the best bet as long as I can put it someplace out of casual reach... AND where the cats won't be overly curious. I have this horrible vision in my head of a cat sleeping on the nice warm incubator and frying my eggs by lying on the thermostat.

I suppose they could always go in my room. Hmmm. Did I mention that, to me, incubators with eggs SMELL?

I kid you not, I can smell a dirty diaper across the house. I'm crazy that way... well, a lot of ways, but in this way in particular.

I canNOT wait for my incubator to arrive!

Before You Buy Hatching Eggs

Gorgeous chick hatched from Gabbard Farm egg 2008

The first time I incubated chicken eggs and discovered the bounty that is ebay in the hatching eggs area I immediately grabbed up some of everything. The result was that I got mixed breed chickens, some big, some bantams, some ducks, of which none hatched, turkeys, of which none hatched, and a bunch of goose eggs. Not only did I over pay on some of them, but I also had to do what's called a 'staggered hatch.' Not all of the eggs were due at the same time, which meant that I had to continuously monitor and play with humidity-- which is why none of my ducks or turkeys hatched. It's a miracle that I had a perfect hatch from the goose eggs. We ended up with seven goslings and about 19 bantams and larger chicks. Not bad, over all.

A mutt bantam chick from an ebay seller 2008

So, now, I'm much more careful about buying chicken eggs. These are my little pieces of advice.

1) Look at the shipping cost first. $20 of shipping on 6 eggs is too much (unless they are ultra rare must-have chickens)

2) Look at seller feedback-- do the sellers know what their fertility rate is? Do they have positive feedback?

3) If you just want any old chickens, or do you want chickens with specific qualities? In my experience, it's worth it to pay for purebreds for the most part if you care about breed. Mutts can be really interesting, too. And... odd... I remember a certain turken mix I had... it was bald, except for the tips of its wings. Cute in an ugly kind of way.

chicks just hatched 2008

4) Take into account the expenses of hatching-- incubator, water, electricity, eggs-- and take out the fact that about 50% will be roosters and you may have a low hatch rate. Are you comfortable spending that amount if you end up with one chicken? If not, then don't go with that deal.

I like to try to balance my shipping and actual egg expense. I figure right now it's about average to run at $2 an egg counting shipping. That can be pretty expensive! Some sellers will combine shipping, and some will not.

My other piece of advice? Only bid on one batch of eggs at a time so you don't end up spending too much or having to do a staggered hatch like I did my first time!

It May Be Winter...

It may be winter right now, though I wouldn't call Southern Arizona's weather truly winter, but technically it is, so I'll let that rest.

I think with the holidays and everything, we are distracted this time of year and don't take advantage of the fact that now is the perfect time to be thinking about spring. Here is a great checklist of things to get done before the last frost.

Have you ordered your spring pig yet? Spring pigs are the more affordable way to own pigs, as pastures green and the world flourishes. However, piglets sell quickly, especially if you want a heritage breed. Now is the time to reserve that special future ham. Can't own a pig where you are? Look into pig shares! Also, a trick that I'm tempted to try is potbellied pigs. Pigs are not allowed here, but potbellied pigs are, as I suppose the city considers them to be pets. Potbellied pigs can get quite large, and can make good eating.


Where to get a heritage pig:
http://homegrownacres.com/
http://www.mbfarviewfarm.com/Baby-Pigs-For-Sale.htm
http://www.nigeriansandicelandics.com/Pigs.html
http://www.heritage-pigs-for-sale.info/


Plan your garden. I should actually have my cold-weather garden in right now, but I don't, so I'm planning the what whens and wheres of planting for early spring (February here). Now is a great time to check out books and sites that are specific to your area.  Mary Irish's Arizona Gardener's Guide is a favorite read for me and it's good for more than just vegetables. Now is also the time to check out seedsavers.org. Another great garden resource for those with limited space is Squarefoot Gardening.

Research poultry breeds and types and where they can be found. If you, like me, plan on incubating, then find breeders and hatching eggs which you can set now. Local eggs will have a better hatch rate than those that are shipped, but shipped eggs allow a better range of eggs, especially in the case of heritage breeds. Make sure to note which breeds do well in which climates and take into account whether they will be for eggs or for pets. Some of the cutest chickens just don't lay as well as others. Before you set to ordering chicks or eggs, make sure you check town or city ordinances for where you live. For example, I can have up to 24 chickens here, but I am not permitted to have a rooster.

If you plan on ordering chicks online, then now is the time to pick out a hatchery. Here are a few that I know of:
http://www.idealpoultry.com/
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html
http://www.mthealthy.com/
http://www.cacklehatchery.com/
http://www.welphatchery.com/
http://www.healthychicksandmore.com/


Now is a great time to plan if you intend to buy a goat. Most baby goats will start arriving in the spring. Most breeders will allow pre-purchasing. In fact, in this area the early bird really does get the worm.

Once you  know if you are going to be owning any new animals in the future it is time to plan what kind of facilities you need to develop to keep your additions. Become aware of needs such as shade, water, predator protection, etc. This is essential. We lost our whole first flock of fourteen hens, three ducks, and a goose, to a coyote jumping over our back fence, and we live in the city. Don't assume that your livestock will be safe.

Depending on where you live now is also a good time to look into cattle or sheep. Dexter cattle make great family milkers on a budget.

Mostly, do your homework and know what you are getting into before you jump into livestock ownership. There can be a very steep learning curve for new owners.

Incubating Thoughts

So, I took the plunge and I ordered an incubator. I actually ended up not going with either the Hovabator type or the gorgeous Brinsea, but a middle territory that, hopefully, will be the incubator love of my life. I got a Clear Top Turbo Fan Incubator from ebay. It has a digital thermostat, which, after having a Hovabator, was a must for me.

Don't get me wrong-- Hovabators make a wonderful first incubator. I just don't think they clean-up as well as plastic models, and are fragile for those of us with young children who tend to climb on everything.

BTW: Brinsea is having an incredible sale on their incubators right now. With our budget, it was still out of reach for me, but I highly recommend investing in the Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco with the turner. Super nice!

I am looking forward to trying out my new incubator, which leads to looking into hatching eggs. There are some really great resources for finding hatching eggs online:

BackyardChickens.com
Egg-bid.com
Ebay.com (search: hatching eggs)
hatchingeggs.net/
gabbardhatchingeggs.com/

One of my favorite chickens off all time came from an egg I hatched from Gabbard Farms. They have really great quality chicken eggs.

Of course, that doesn't even branch into waterfowl and geese. But, first things first, I start with chickens!

The Homestead Project Begins

I have done this before, but this time I am planning on being organized, careful, and dedicated. Isn't it nice how we can dream and be ambitious?

My dream is to someday own a homestead, nothing large, but a place to raise my boys so that they know where their food comes from, where we can control what we put into our bodies, and to try to be as self-sustaining as we can be without giving up the advantages of modern life. It's a big dream, and I do believe it can happen, but baby steps are the way to go.

Our Backyard

For now I have to be content doing what I can in our suburban backyard in Arizona. We live in a house we rent from my parents, who graciously support our desires in homesteading. The house rests on .29 acres, which is good for this part of town. We live in a busy neighborhood with lots of neighbors.

My first step has been looking at incubators. There are a lot of reasons that I want to incubate eggs rather than buy through a hatchery.


1) Expense. Shipping live chickens across the country makes me cringe, to be honest. I have done this in the past and usually there are a few casualties, but it's not that at all. It's that I am dedicated and passionate about heritage livestock. I can't afford to buy breeding stock of the breeds I like, even if I were allowed to have a rooster. Ebay, on the other hand, carries hatching eggs from people that I know and trust, that are from pure and rare breeds.

2) Profit. I can legally only have 24 chickens at my house. However, with an incubator I can continue to hatch and sell the chicks to earn back the cost of the incubator and eggs.

The Boy-- Chicken Whisperer

3) Experience. I have three small boys. I try to expose them to the magic of the world and how it works. We have hatched chicks in the past and it is wonderful to candle the eggs and show the boys how the chicks grow and develop, all the way to the day they hatch. Then they carefully cradle the still-damp chicks to keep them warm. It's priceless. It has not been uncommon in the past to have chickens follow Boy around. We call him the Chicken Whisperer.

Getting an incubator can be complicated. I have used the Hovabators in the past and, though they have been adequate, they are hard to disinfect between hatches, and are not very sturdy. NoWay stepped on one of my old ones once and cracked it, and he only weight about 26 lbs. With better quality, comes higher cost. It's a fine line to walk, especially when we're on a tight budget.

I mentioned this will all be on a VERY tight budget, right?

So, right now I am see-sawing between a cheap, get-it-done, incubator or the one I want, which is actually on sale right now, but still very pricey. (The Brinsea Eco)

Once we can settle on an incubator I will be looking at hatching eggs. I want bang for my buck, and heritage breeds, so that will be very fun.