[whitby_sam]

Well the incubator arrived today. I've just spent the best part of an hour reading the instructions and putting it together and I've fired it up for a dummy run so I can get the pump speed right etc.

The Marans have upped their laying to 4 today and as far as I can tell the ones who are laying are the ones who are being serviced by the cockerills.

On another note, is it usual for hens not getting regular attention from a cockerill to stop laying (as I think this is what's happened) and if so, how do I get them laying again? Otherwise, why are only some of my girls laying?

[doganjo]

How can you tell which ones are laying?  I can't.  I would really like to know how.

[whitby_sam]

I spend the majority of my day out in the field doing something or other so I see who gets serviced  and I see who nips off to the shed to lay an egg... 

[shetlandpaul]

mmm with chucks its a bit more complicated i think its 2 weeks that the hen is fertile after mating. best way to tell the next time your frying one see if you can see the germ cell on the yolk its a very small circle dot if you see it its fertile. if you have one cock to 6 or so hens expect them to be fertile.

[whitby_sam]

Well we've got 2 cockerills to 7 hens but i only ever see the same 4 getting "attention", they seem to favour 2 each and the other 3 neither lay or get laid (excuse the pun)

[shetlandpaul]

how old are the other 3.

[whitby_sam]

Cockerills and 4 of the girls (the ones who get the attention) will be a year old in May and the other 3 were supposedly POL in August so only a few months older (although the people we got them from are notorious rip-off merchants so this might be wrong)

[Anke]

I would wait for a month or so, not only will the hens lay more eggs, they will also be better quality (mine have not so great shells during winter time for example). Or you could start them off by putting on a light in or near their shed for a couple of hours either end of the day.

[whitby_sam]

Our eggs are the same quality now as they were in summer. The shells are very strong and they're really really tasty!

We couldn't wait any longer and have put the 11 eggs we've managed to gather so far into the incubator for our first go...

Wish us luck

[Padge]

.........good luck
wish i'd read this thread sooner  i have a suro to sell only used once to a successful hatch last year

[whitby_sam]

How much? If its the right price I'd be tempted to buy a second as I'm itching to hatch some ducks too!

I went out this morning to another 3 Maran eggs so (as there was only a 16 hour difference) I popped them in with the others. I won't be adding any more now and I was very careful to be quick and not let the temp or humidity drop too much. 14 eggs, even if I only get a 50% success rate that's a result!

I'm now thinking about selectively breeding my brown hens. 2 or 3 of them lay HUGE (bigger that supermarket "Jumbo") eggs and I'd like to separate them briefly and get them in with the larger of my 2 Maran boys. I hope then that I'll be rewarded with large fertile eggs and eventually some fantastic layers. Is it that simple? Or am I missing something here?

[doganjo]

Sounds OK to me, Sam. If you know your boys both work, it should be a go-er!  Good luck!  Are your eggs large or double or triple yolkers? That might be even more interesting - to hatch a triple yolker in an incubator.

[whitby_sam]

Never had a double or triple yolker (ever, either from bought eggs or from our own) but they're massive! I have a supermarket Jumbo egg box and it won't close with 6 of the largest eggs in it. I'm getting 2, sometimes 3 per day of these monster eggs so there must be more than one hen laying them.
Is it possible for a hen to lay more than 1 egg per day? If so, I often get 2 very similar in size, shape and colour so these may be from the same hen... I intend to buy some leg rings and then spend a day watching who lays what so I can decide which girls to put in mith Dave my biggest boy... Exciting!

[bamford6]

please dont get a incubator that costs a lot all the £100   £200 etc they are made from hamster cages etc brinsea over easy drinks cooler ..iv done the lot and there is onley 1 that you will be ok with hova bater £ 60 pound use this for 3 yeres then get a top model . a cheap incubator for me is £1000 plus iffy the eggs are worth £20 30 pound you dont wont to fail . i use a skin incubator dead on with HOV bater turners 5 draws 50 to 100 eggs in each no computer to go wrong like the over easy seperate turner etc

[Rosemary]

Wow. Any chance of getting that in English?