How to store and handle hatching eggs to get the best hatch rate

I always have a full incubator. Or 3. lol I know a lot of you are like me after all, hatching chicks is addictive isn't it? There are lots of do's and don't of handling hatching eggs.

The funny thing is that what one person swears never works, another person swears it's the reason their hatches are so successful!

Over the years I have tried everything! I've tested every hatching 'rule' and myth.

It just so happens I keep excellent records, so I went back through my hatching logs and collected all the data on which myths were just that, and which ones were actually true!

The format for this post is simple. First I'll name the hatching 'rule'. I'll list why that's the recommended procedure and then I'll discuss why some people don't believe it.

I'll then give you my results from testing the myth. Finally, I'll give you the answer as to whether that hatching rule needs followed or not.

Calf Manna for Chickens

Normally I am a 'think outside the box' type of person. I can come up with solutions for just about anything. However, it has never occurred to me to feed my chickens something made for calves. This is particularly baffling when you realize that I can tell you the correct dosage for using cattle medications on chickens. hmmm. 

Last year I attended the Mother Earth news fair with the Brinsea company. While there I took the time to visit several booths and was given a sample of Calf-Manna. The nice lady there took the time to explain the benefits of feeding this to my chickens. So I look in the cup. It looks like rabbit food and smells like licorice. Interesting, but will the chickens eat it?

I'm a bad chicken mommy

I'm such a bad mommy! I can't tell my kids apart. LOL We have had chickens for several years....and over the years we have added and removed chickens several times. As we add to our breeding groups each year, we aim for about 6 per breed. Then over the years as they leave us for various reasons those sets get smaller. 

Like Jessica...her sister was killed by a fox and her brother was sold. Sister came the same year with 2 brothers who have also moved on. This goes on for every year except this year is different. This year I can't tell them apart!

See what I mean? It's the 4 in the middle. They are identical! That's Sister in the front, she has a floppy comb. Original is the only Splash Marans left and Sally is the only Arcauna (Easter egger actually....Olive to be exact). The boy with the big tail is our main roo Mr Copper. King Tut has the tail feathers that stick straight up....he's only about 6 months old now, I'm sure that tail will grow in. They're easy to tell apart in other ways too. 

Those girls though....I just can't tell them apart, and believe me I have tried! Once they get their Dept of Ag bracelets their identities will be set. They're all from the same breeder/hatch so that kind of stuff is irrelevant. For personal information though....I can't even name them because I don't know who is who. *sigh*

So, tell me....am I the only one? Or do you have chickens you can't tella apart too?

~Lis

Famous chicken owners

What do these celebrities all have in common?

Prince Charles
Selma Hayek
Chevy Chase
Tori Spelling
Kate Gosslin
Reese Witherspoon
Martha Stewart
Chuck Norris
Julia Roberts
Barbara Streisand
Attica Shaffer
Alton Brown
Paula Dean
John Cleese
Hilary Swank

They all have owned chickens!

(picture from peoplepets.com)

~L

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We have a chicken graveyard. There are probably about 9 chickens in it. Polly is buried by the Shed, everyone else is in the graveyard. Polly was the first one to die, she was a guinea. It was really cold out, the ground was frozen and that was the only place we could break through. 

About a year later when a rooster died we put him in the woods. After that we just put everyone beside him....and now we have a little chicken graveyard. Complete with flowers.

We don't bury every single chicken that dies anymore, especially if it's winter. Sometimes you just can't get through the frozen ground. The ones we did bury though are all in the same basic area.

The chicken graveyard

Is that pushing it a bit? My mom gave me a pot of bulbs that were past bloom (as people often do with those of us that have unlimited amounts of planting space) and I put them next to Snowballs stone. They bloom a lovely purple color early in the spring each year.

Yes, the chickens get headstones when they die. They're not like etched or anything fancy like that, but there is a stone above where each chicken is buried. I started putting them there to let me know where not to dig...because digging in the wrong place in a chicken cemetery can be quite traumatic! 

It sort of evolved from there and now each chicken has their own stone. I have seen some cute chicken plaques online though, so I can't be the only one that buries their chickens!

The flowers bloom every year to remind me that Summer is coming. Unfortunately we need to dig there again. Pebbles just died. She was quite a few years old and died in her sleep. It's just a part of chicken keeping I suppose. 

Though this does bring me to the question: do you have a chicken graveyard too?

Related reading: Dealing with the death of a chicken.

~L

Want information on raising chickens sent right to your email weekly? Click right here to join my list and get new posts sent directly to you the day they're published. You'll also get the free download 25 Ways to save money raising chickens.