My Rhode Island Red hens are getting old...I mean really old. I know I am suppose to "get rid" of them when they are no longer productive but no one around here seems to be able to "do it". Imagine that! I mean, after all I have all these hunter/men around me! Even though the chickens stay in a very large pen we have gotten attached to them. I don't really know what we are going to do about that situation. However, we are only getting about 2 or 3 eggs a day from 13 hens. Not good. And certainly not enough eggs to feed my bunch! So, we decided to try to hatch some eggs ourselves with an incubator. We collected the eggs over a period of 3 or 4 days. We have been faithful to turn them over daily and keep water in the bottom. Now we just wait and see! We should be getting our first chicks any day now. Brandon thought for sure he heard a peep-peep coming from an egg this morning but so far nothing has happened.
We have hatched eggs in the past with a very basic method. Monroe did this when he was a kid and it worked so we tried it too. You use a 5-gallon bucket with hay in the bottom. Place the eggs on the hay and hook up a small lamp to rest on top of the bucket. I used the kind with the flexible neck. Place tin foil around the sides and around the lamp. Turn the eggs daily and in 21 days we had chicks! We have never used a real incubator before now so we are curious to see how much better the real incubator works compared to our very primitive set-up. I'll let you know in a few days!
My Rhode Island Red hens are getting old...I mean really old. I know I am suppose to "get rid" of them when they are no longer productive but no one around here seems to be able to "do it". Imagine that! I mean, after all I have all these hunter/men around me! Even though the chickens stay in a very large pen we have gotten attached to them. I don't really know what we are going to do about that situation. However, we are only getting about 2 or 3 eggs a day from 13 hens. Not good. And certainly not enough eggs to feed my bunch! So, we decided to try to hatch some eggs ourselves with an incubator. We collected the eggs over a period of 3 or 4 days. We have been faithful to turn them over daily and keep water in the bottom. Now we just wait and see! We should be getting our first chicks any day now. Brandon thought for sure he heard a peep-peep coming from an egg this morning but so far nothing has happened.
We have hatched eggs in the past with a very basic method. Monroe did this when he was a kid and it worked so we tried it too. You use a 5-gallon bucket with hay in the bottom. Place the eggs on the hay and hook up a small lamp to rest on top of the bucket. I used the kind with the flexible neck. Place tin foil around the sides and around the lamp. Turn the eggs daily and in 21 days we had chicks! We have never used a real incubator before now so we are curious to see how much better the real incubator works compared to our very primitive set-up. I'll let you know in a few days!
5 comments:
i was wondering, i was like is that an incubator. i just knew your husband had a way and poof you explained. yeah, like to see what the new fangled method does compared to the tried and true method of our parents, haha
And Brandon was right! Baby chicken #1 was born today (or was it yesterday?) Why waste your money on one of those incubators? The ole bucket with a lamp works just fine!
You better not shoot "Angel wings!" And if it comes to that, please let me know so that I dont eat her in one of your "homegrown" meals!
This looks very fancy. Are you gonna start hatching eggs on a full-time basis?
I agree with you Brooke, I don't want to eat any of your kin thats been in the family a long....long...time.
Well, we didn't actually purchase the incubator. Michael let us borrow it. I don't think I would ever buy one because we did have such good success with the primitive method! As for eating them...no way! You gals don't have to worry about that if you eat at my house and chicken is being served!!! And Brooke, Angel Wings went to "chicken heaven" a long time ago. She was around when you were still a little girl...remember?
What??? No way! You didnt even tell me about her passing. She was such a good chicken. lol
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