AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi,
I am so unsuccessful at natural incubation,
Do you think it would be worth buying an incubator? Will it be more successful?
Thanks

I'd be interested in hearing why natural incubation hasn't been working for you? Generally its easier because you don't have to worry about power failures, humidity going wrong, temperature spikes etc etc and then you have a ready made brooder too!

Artificial incubation requires some skill but this can be learnt as you go, but it probably won't be 100% successful every time. If you have the time and money I'm sure you'll have some success from it.

Well first of all, it was one of my silkies that went broody first and it's sister went in the nest with her (I've got kind of a double nest in my silkie house) and because i dont have a suitable rooster (but I'm looking for one) to fertilise the eggs and that they are not that big I can only put three eggs under each! So thats a start. And then one egg hatched on the due date but oth of the silkies got off the nest to care for it! So it kind of had two mothers. And that grew up and we found out hat it was a rooster (not what we wanted) so a friend of mine wanted a rooster because he lost his old one to a fox so I gave him away.
Then my australorp went broody and my grand-mother (yes, i am not as old as you think) put three eggs under her and only 1 hatched. We cracked the rest open and found chicks that were fully developed but were dead
And finnally, one off the silkies went broody again, so i put 6 eggs under her and she pecked one wich was infertile, the rest was infertile even though I thought they were good when i candeled them except from one that was fertile but I think it got wet.
There you go, thats the story.
But I was also thinking of buying fertile eggs but the only problem is that i cant tell my chooks to go broody when i want.

P.S.
I've lost quite a few of my chooks lately because of the heat I think.

Hmmm, I see what you mean. There's a few things you can do to make the process safer with your hens because incubating eggs is going to give you male chickens too.

When you have a hen go broody you can move her to an area where the other hens or rooster can't get to her. This way she has a safe area to sit with no disturbances. Sometimes it helps to move them at night as some hens will just want to go back to where they started sitting. If you move them at night they often just keep sitting.

When she has sat for a couple of days and you can tell she's serious thats when you put all the eggs under her which she can comfortably keep warm and leave her to it. She should be able to get off her nest and walk to food and water, do an enormous broody poo and stretch her legs! (Don't just block her in a nestbox).

You can candle the eggs through the incubation process and discard any which aren't alive, but you're probably best to leave them all with the hen if you aren't sure how to do this. She will generally push away eggs which are no good. Be very careful carying these ones as they can explode and leave a horrible stench you'll wish you never smelled.

Make sure all the eggs go under her at the same time, and don't add eggs later. This causes a problem because the eggs grow at different rates, but the mum will leave the nest with the first babies who hatch. The other eggs will die if you have no way of completing the incubations process, and the mum more than likely won't take to the babies.

If you want to hatch lots of eggs and your silkies are too small you might consider finding a wyandotte or two from somewhere (if you're allowed). They are known to go broody OFTEN and are a lot larger so can fit more eggs under them.

You will definitely find when you control the situation you increase the chance of a succesful hatch. Maybe you could try this before spending your hard earned money on an incubator? An extra hen or two is much cheaper and easier as they'll raise the babies for you too. Good luck

Thanks a lot for the advice
I did try to move the silky during the day but she kept on getting off the nest and trying to get back so next time I'll try at night. And when I think about it the silky kept on moving and leaving the eggs on one side of the nest and she'll be sitting on the other. I'll try to find some wyandottes.
Thanks

When you first move her you could always put a handful of fake eggs in the new nest. If she tries to get out in the morning but can't, she may eventually go back to sitting and meanwhile you won't have ruined any good eggs. Then when she's settled you can introduce the real eggs.

If you really dont want to move your hen you could try enclosing her in the nestbox she went broody in but you would have to religously take her out for food and water and to stretch her legs. Keeping this up for 21 days might be difficult.

You don't necessarily have to get a wyandotte, I just suggested that because they're a good breed for going broody (and they're so pretty too). You could always advertise for a hen or two who are known to be good mothers, or good broodies so you know you're getting one which is reliable.

Good luck

well said Roova , if i may just add a footnote i've found a easy wat to coach eggs is keep a few golf balls handy they dont breack an best of all dont go off , cheers n beers gary

As always = came in late – and all is said and said well

Re golf balls – yep they do work – but I have a lot of solid ceramic eggs – really annoys the birds coz they are so real

I wanted to know the same thing as I have considered buying an incubator

I have tried to buy the solid ceramic eggs but no one around me sells them?