I Killed My Unborn Chicks??.......

[Gloria]

I feel awful. I have a farm and tried to hatch chicks in an incubator. I left the incubator in the kitchen because it's the warmest room in the house so the temp wouldn't drop. Well, I put it too close to the furnace hot air vent and at 2:00 a.m., I could smell pizza so I got up. My oldest son had the oven on and was making a frozen pizza and my thermometer said 119 degrees. Well, anything over 105 degrees kills them. But I immediately took them in my room and regulated the temp. If the temp only rose on the outside when my son turned on the oven, they still have a chance. I will candle them in 7 days to see if any of the eggs have embryos in them. I was so sad!

I did give three eggs to my son's chicken to sit on so I'm pretty sure they will hatch and I'm getting 5 more pigmy chickens on Monday and I will carry them under my shirt if I have to. I never knew how complicated it was to hatch eggs. I didn't know you had to turn them for exercise. I didn't know that they lost needed to set with the pointed side down for 24 hours before incubating. Somehow this just doesn't seem right. How come a stupid chicken can hatch an egg and I can't???

I'm getting a book but I'm hatching these exotic eggs called Malaysian Serama chickens. They are only 6 inches tall and weigh 10 oz. I have 30 chickens that I've raised from 2 days old and I thought I knew my stuff but apparently not. I've even given birth to children but this whole embryo thing is confusing.

Do you know how much I paid for those eggs? If I candle them and there are no embryos, it's going to the most expensive omelet in history. The way I ran around to the post office and got everything ready only to fail. But I've been told that most people do screw up their first incubation.

Any one know anything about incubation? Any tips?

 

[James B.]

I was so sad!

Sorry that happened Gloria. The Malaysian chickens sound really cute. 30 chickens seems like a lot; sometimes we all make mistakes. Your farm sounds like a great way to keep busy! :D

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I know nothing about raising chickens. Nothing. But I thought this was pretty...cute. For a lack of a better word! :)

Why not try again if it doesn't work? Sounds like it would worth watching those chickens hatch...you know?

But seriously. Wow, I did not know so much was involved. Maybe chickens are a little smarter then we give them credit for.

 

[Gloria]

Sorry that happened Gloria. The Malaysian chickens sound really cute. 30 chickens seems like a lot; sometimes we all make mistakes. Your farm sounds like a great way to keep busy! :D

Look up Malaysian Serama chickens. In the last five years in Chicago, people (even those living in apartments in Chicago) have started keeping chickens because they are so darn cute. They have totally cool personalities and I like them so much better than parakeets or other birds because they don't bite and they don't make a lot of noise and they love to sit in your lap. I'll post pics when I finally hatch my chicks! Thanks JB!!

 

[James B.]

I'll post pics when I finally hatch my chicks!

That'll be great, Gloria.

 

[Gloria]

I know nothing about raising chickens. Nothing. But I thought this was pretty...cute. For a lack of a better word! :)

Why not try again if it doesn't work? Sounds like it would worth watching those chickens hatch...you know?

But seriously. Wow, I did not know so much was involved. Maybe chickens are a little smarter then we give them credit for.

Yea, I feel like an idiot! We have 30 chickens and some of them are really stupid! But my hens do sit on the eggs and keep moving them around with their beaks so I guess it's just a genetic behavior. My dumbest chicken was Blondie. She saw a couple inches of water on the bottom of a bucket and fell in and got stuck and drowned. :eek: My son is a disabled vet and he really adores his chickens (has them cremated when they die?) So I can't make jokes about how some of the chickens died but sometimes when he comes in and tells me how one got killed, I have a hard time keeping a straight face and being supportive. Once my horse stepped on one and he was furious with my horse. What was the stupid chicken standing under my horse for? My horse didn't do it on purpose but I apologized profusely and even pretended to chastise my Rosie in front of him telling she must be more careful where she steps.:laugh: What a life! Greeeeen Acres is the place to be! Farm living is the life for me!!!.....
Hugs,
Gloria

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Wow, those are cute chickens ( just looked them up).

My grandfather has always liked chickens. He likes collecting chicken and rooter stuff.

 

[Gloria]

Wow, those are cute chickens ( just looked them up).

My grandfather has always liked chickens. He likes collecting chicken and rooter stuff.

They are so small that you could keep them in a little cage and the females will lay eggs even when there is no rooster. Most people don't know that. Of course the eggs won't be fertilized. I have a rooster and a hen that lays pink eggs. My son doesn't let me touch his chickens but I don't know which hen lays the pink eggs so when he's asleep, I'm letting the rooster out to fertilize the eggs (because he keeps him separate) and then when we get eggs, I will take the pink ones and incubate them. I wanted to forget the incubator and just kidnap one of his hens to sit on my eggs but I knew my son would kill me if touch his chickens.:sneaky: He is a veteran and has PTSD and the chickens saved his life. They mean everything to him so I try to respect that.

 

[James B.]

When I was a little kid, growing up in rural norcal, we had a pretty good size chicken coup. Our family raised it's own chickens mostly for eggs.

 

[Gloria]

When I was a little kid, growing up in rural norcal, we had a pretty good size chicken coup. Our family raised it's own chickens mostly for eggs.

Did you get attached to some chickens? I used to but then when they died I was too sad so I try not to.

 

[James B.]

Did you get attached to some chickens?

Honest can't remember, Gloria. It was a pretty large size coup, you can even see it w/google earth, still there! I may have been kinda numb from the emotional shock of living w/ my family. But in nearby Fulton, there's a poultry processing plant right by the road (River road) and so from early on, I saw and knew that chickens were mostly for food.

 

[Gloria]

Last night the incubator went down to 70 degrees which is also fatal for eggs. The incubator thermostat must not be working so I didn't kill the chicks. I will candle them in a week but I will be very surprised if any survived. I talked to someone who raises quail for a living and incubating eggs is pretty complicated. You have to understand how the embryo grows and devlopes in order to duplicate the hen's natural instincts. I didn't pay the money for an egg turner and fan and all the other things that make the eggs more likely to hatch. I am getting my last shipment of eggs today and ordered a small incubator to be delivered Monday. The eggs can actually survive seven days (setting) before being incubated so I think this last batch will hatch.