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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: Homestead List <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Hatching Round 3, Day 22 End...also Hubbards
  • Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:53:06 -0500

To recap..
I started with 28 eggs, and after candling, left 26 in the incubator.
Of those, 21 hatched and one chick died while it was hatching leaving 4
eggs which did not hatch. Today, I took the 4 eggs out to the coop and
threw them into the moat. All four contained chicks, but all the chicks
appeared lifeless. Of the 21 living chicks, I lost one over night.
Apparently he was squashed, drowned, or something because I found him in
the little water bowl with other chicks standing on him. I had marbles
in the water, so I really don't think he drowned, but he was definitely
dead in the water. So, I have 20 living, thriving chicks from this
hatch. I'm happy and now feel really confident about my candling
apparatus and ability. Round 3 gave me an 81% hatch rate, and an
approximate cost so far of .33/chick. (see old post from 12/21/08 titled
hatching math for the way I calculated my costs)


I will be returning the borrowed incubator, but the success of this
hatching business has convinced me to buy another incubator as soon as I
can.


Karen, if you are reading...
Way back when I first got chickens, I acquired some free 'Hubbards' from
a nearby chicken house. This chicken house was an egg operation and
the eggs were collected not for food, but for hatching broilers, at
least that is what I was told.
The Hubbards are large Cornish like slugs of birds, but since they can
still breed, I am thinking about trying to acquire a few pair and
eventually keep them in the old coop. With an incubator, I am thinking
I can hatch and raise my own broiler birds. The ones from the egg
operation were crappy birds, but if I could get a pair, I could
eventually breed my own broilers. I hated the fact that they were
white...they get dirty and look nasty because they lay around so much,
so I was thinking of crossing them.
Are you familiar with Hubbards? Do you have any experience with
Hubbards as a breed or crosses of Hubbards? If I could get one or two
free, would it be better to ask for a hen or a rooster for crossing with
my other layers?(Of course the best is to get a pair, but if I can only
get one...)

Bev
--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge




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