The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: ponylady on July 30, 2015, 06:04:30 pm
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I've just treated myself to a second hand incubator from a friend .. and bought 6 legbar hatching eggs.
The incubator is only a 3 egg one so I assume by the time the first 3 eggs hatch, the other 3 wont be viable ....
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absolutely correct there. I am intrigued though how big is the incubator? I was not aware you could get ones which only incubated 3 eggs. ???
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Correct...the other eggs wont last beyond about 12 days.
Are you sure its a 3 egg incy?
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Think the RCom mini is only 3, and I have a feeling there is a yellow one thats only a 3 egg. Seem to be popular in nurseries/schools
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If you candle them and discard any that are infertile you might just get away with topping up with one or more of the other three. They need to be kept in a fairly coolroom, at a constant temperature, round side up, and turned at least twice a day. Fertility is likely to be declining this late in the year in any case.
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I candle the cream legbar eggs at days 3 and 4 and can tell by then if they're developing, so you may be lucky and have either 3 chicks or 2 plus 1 a few days later. Fingers crossed you don't have a single chick or you'll need to find a companion for it which will be more difficult by then. :-\
[/size]Are you borrowing that incubator or did you buy it from your friend?
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I'd try it Ponylady, the hatchability will certainly be dropping off but i'd still give it a go, they may well still hatch.
Store the three spare eggs at room temperature, 15C is perfect, no less than 10, no more than 20
Store them point end down, if they're stored like this they don't need turned every day, its only if they're stored on their side they need turned.
Actually the best way to store them is point upwards, it'll give you a slightly better success rate.
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Thank you ladies for your advice. I am buying the incubator at an amazingly good price from a friend. The legbar eggs arrived this morning and are now resting, pointy end down. It's worth losing 3 eggs if I get a couple of blue-egged girls to maturity. Actually, I'd settle for a single one! If my hens were nice to me, one would go broody this weekend and help me out ...... I'll candle the eggs as suggested and ditch any infertile ones, I will also give any remaining eggs a go once the first batch have (hopefully! :fc: ) hatched!