Yep, been saving eggs now for about 10 days. With my buff orpington gals deciding that this is a good time of year to really get back into laying, got a whole whack of eggs that I am going to set pretty soon. The cochins are laying again too, 3 of 6, so anticipate that 3 more will be soon doing their jobs and get off their big butts.
Got a mamma buff orpington sitting on a dozen eggs, due to begin the hatch today and another gal due in about 11 days. They do a lovely job of incubation. When it comes time that the mamma buffs have abandoned their babies, those babies will go into the chicken grow out coop along with the youngsters that are incubated by machine. Thank the lucky stars that chicks are always so nice to each other
. Another big mamma is making the broody sounds, so she will be given eggs soon too. When she decides that she wants to sit and won't move for blazes or water off the nest. Then she gets eggs. Go figure this one. How on earth can a mamma hen that wants to brood eggs, sit on nothing but straw, no eggs below and still refuse to get off the nest. That one befuddles me to no end...you would think that no eggs would get rid of the sense of broody. Nope. They will be content to sit on air 
My incubator lives in my chicken coop in a small insulated room. But oh glory be...I talked to my Daughter the other day about incubating in cold weather. She offered, smiling....yep. Her words were basically. Ah, come on Mum, bring that incubator into the back room and run it there. It is at the back of her house, attached, so heat from the home heats it. That is where I store all my preserves and it is decently warm and dry. Not too warm, not too cold, but consistent. I have stored preserves in much warmer places than this room. In that back room is a mountain of other stuff too. Like the hot water tank, the water softening monster machine, all the extra coats and boots for different seasons, all kinds of stuff. All organized nicely and well, lots and lots and lots of room for my sportsman incubator, which really doesn't take up a whole lotta space. Smiling a whole bunch here.
So ya, today is the day that we are going to move the sportsman and get it readied into the back room. Gonna pack a whack of eggs into the racks for the eggs and then wait just a little longer until I have enough cochin eggs to get rolling with. Soon. But got stuff to do with the unit first, wanna get it good and clean and tested. Don't want any wrinkles in my plan.
Ya, so quite a jump start on the season with the incubator into a heated area, instead of out in a cold chicken barn. The incubation unit does not work overly well if the air temperature is cold. I could put a little oil heater into the chicken barn to keep the incubator area warmed up. But that would be electricity used which is redundant. The back room of the house is perfect, and not a single bit of extra energy spent on air heating electricity. Yes....the new year brings wonderful things. And I am off to a good start with doing things that make me happy. Bring on the baby fuzzy butts!! Gonna have some fun pretty soon. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.
Got a mamma buff orpington sitting on a dozen eggs, due to begin the hatch today and another gal due in about 11 days. They do a lovely job of incubation. When it comes time that the mamma buffs have abandoned their babies, those babies will go into the chicken grow out coop along with the youngsters that are incubated by machine. Thank the lucky stars that chicks are always so nice to each other
. Another big mamma is making the broody sounds, so she will be given eggs soon too. When she decides that she wants to sit and won't move for blazes or water off the nest. Then she gets eggs. Go figure this one. How on earth can a mamma hen that wants to brood eggs, sit on nothing but straw, no eggs below and still refuse to get off the nest. That one befuddles me to no end...you would think that no eggs would get rid of the sense of broody. Nope. They will be content to sit on air My incubator lives in my chicken coop in a small insulated room. But oh glory be...I talked to my Daughter the other day about incubating in cold weather. She offered, smiling....yep. Her words were basically. Ah, come on Mum, bring that incubator into the back room and run it there. It is at the back of her house, attached, so heat from the home heats it. That is where I store all my preserves and it is decently warm and dry. Not too warm, not too cold, but consistent. I have stored preserves in much warmer places than this room. In that back room is a mountain of other stuff too. Like the hot water tank, the water softening monster machine, all the extra coats and boots for different seasons, all kinds of stuff. All organized nicely and well, lots and lots and lots of room for my sportsman incubator, which really doesn't take up a whole lotta space. Smiling a whole bunch here.
So ya, today is the day that we are going to move the sportsman and get it readied into the back room. Gonna pack a whack of eggs into the racks for the eggs and then wait just a little longer until I have enough cochin eggs to get rolling with. Soon. But got stuff to do with the unit first, wanna get it good and clean and tested. Don't want any wrinkles in my plan.
Ya, so quite a jump start on the season with the incubator into a heated area, instead of out in a cold chicken barn. The incubation unit does not work overly well if the air temperature is cold. I could put a little oil heater into the chicken barn to keep the incubator area warmed up. But that would be electricity used which is redundant. The back room of the house is perfect, and not a single bit of extra energy spent on air heating electricity. Yes....the new year brings wonderful things. And I am off to a good start with doing things that make me happy. Bring on the baby fuzzy butts!! Gonna have some fun pretty soon. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.
