# Does anyone want to be a BETA tester for hatching eggs?



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

So I have had my Silver Gray Dorkings and Gold Brabanters in breeding pens for a month now. I have thrown a bunch of eggs in my incubator to see if they'll hatch. Now I am looking for someone to test whether or not I can sell mailed hatching eggs that'll actually hatch. I don't want to start selling them if they do poorly in the mail. It wouldn't be fair to the people buying them...

So here's what I am looking for: someone to send some eggs to and see if they can hatch them. All I am asking is shipping costs, which I am guessing should be $15-20, the eggs themselves are free. As with any shipped eggs it's still a gamble but it could be a fun one. Any takers?

I also will need this done for the other breeds in about a month - Cream Legbars, Easter Eggers (Cream Legbar X Welsummer) Silver Penciled Rock, Heritage Rhode Island Red, and sex-links (RIR rooster over silver gray Dorking hens.) and maaaybe my Seramas will be cooperating then too. We'll see.

My Dorkings... I tried putting the best of my McMurray hens with a breeder's rooster:










My Gold Brabanters -- The result of very heavy culling from Ideal lines (though I still can't guarantee beards or head crests - this breed is a hot mess in the US at the moment!):










This is what they look out when they don't develop head crests or beards -- obviously this hen was a cull. She lays eating eggs now.










And because it was so fitting... a brabanter photo bombing the Dorkings...


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I wouldn't mind trying to help out, I have been needing an excuse to buy an incubator anyway. I'd be interested in some Silver Gray Dorkings, Gold Brabanters and Silver Penciled Rocks. I already have a few of the other breeds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm out of the hatching business or I'd volunteer. 

The shipped eggs thing is a shot in the dark no matter how good your hatch rate is. It's all dependent on how they're handled, where they're shipped to or from. I avoided ordering eggs from the NE because the failure rate was always too high.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

robin416 said:


> I'm out of the hatching business or I'd volunteer.


Want to sell me your incubator then?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's sitting there doing nothing. But you could get the styro for less and have more room. Mine is a Lyon turn-x and doesn't hold a ton of large fowl eggs.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

robin416 said:


> But you could get the styro for less and have more room. Mine is a Lyon turn-x and doesn't hold a ton of large fowl eggs.


Translate please? Styro? Lyon Turn-x? I'm a noob, remember? LOL


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## cviola2005 (Mar 2, 2016)

I'd be interested, but I've never hatched eggs, don't have an incubator. Once they are alive and walking, I can take over.

Wanna hatch some and then ship them to me? I'd really be interested in that, if you're willing!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sorry, Z, I didn't see this sooner. A Lyon is a high end table top incubator. I think they retail for about 250.00. I got it mainly because I didn't want to have to fuss with adding water to the styro any more. What I didn't get and wish I did was the one with the auto turner but it still did the job whenever I decided to use it.

Styro is the styrofoam incubators you see in the feed stores, like the Little Giant or GQF. Quite frankly, I hatched just fine with those. The one thing I didn't skimp on was what I used to keep track of humidity and temp.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

cviola2005 said:


> I'd be interested, but I've never hatched eggs, don't have an incubator. Once they are alive and walking, I can take over.
> 
> Wanna hatch some and then ship them to me? I'd really be interested in that, if you're willing!


Shipping birds is not as easy as you might think. First you have to have special shipping boxes and have to check to make certain there are no restrictions between states. Some demand that any shipped birds be NPIP tested before they can be shipped.

And they have to be old enough so they don't need supplemental warmth.


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## cviola2005 (Mar 2, 2016)

robin416 said:


> Shipping birds is not as easy as you might think. First you have to have special shipping boxes and have to check to make certain there are no restrictions between states. Some demand that any shipped birds be NPIP tested before they can be shipped.
> 
> And they have to be old enough so they don't need supplemental warmth.


OH, well Darn!
I didn't think it would work out well. Thanks for explaining it!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It does work fine, I shipped many times while I was still breeding birds. The boxes cost about 10$ each, the shipping itself averages about 45$. And I participated in NPIP so it was easy to attach the proof of testing when I shipped.


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## cviola2005 (Mar 2, 2016)

That's just a little bit on the expensive side!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yep, it's not cheap. Even if you got the birds for nothing it could get pretty expensive. But if you want to achieve a goal many times that is your only option.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I have an incubator and know about keeping temps and humidity constant but the only thing is, I have only hatched snakes, never chickens. With snake eggs, you have to be very careful NOT to turn them whereas with chicken eggs, I know they must be turned.

I'm actually afraid to use the incubator that I have because I 'think' I have a gravid female and will need it for her. Not to mention I would have to hand turn the eggs and I don't know how much or how often they will need to be turned.


I don't know nuthin' 'bout hatchin' no chicken eggs, Miss Scarlett!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's really not that hard once you get your temp and humidity right. We're supposed to turn them four times a day but ask me if I always remembered to do that? The hatches didn't seem to suffer from it but I have to admit I stopped incubating on a regular basis a couple years before I sold out.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

zamora said:


> I have an incubator and know about keeping temps and humidity constant but the only thing is, I have only hatched snakes, never chickens. With snake eggs, you have to be very careful NOT to turn them whereas with chicken eggs, I know they must be turned.
> 
> I'm actually afraid to use the incubator that I have because I 'think' I have a gravid female and will need it for her. Not to mention I would have to hand turn the eggs and I don't know how much or how often they will need to be turned.
> 
> I don't know nuthin' 'bout hatchin' no chicken eggs, Miss Scarlett!


They sell a great Styrofoam incubator , I think it's a 1588 and you can set the temp . It usually comes with the right temp ready. I like my temps about 99.5-100.5. I use 3 thermometers. The temp in these things is very stable if you cover the window by just laying a piece of bubblewrap over it. It also tells you the humidity but doesn't set it. I usually start out with a small dish of water, maybe a 1/2 cup sitting there, and turn the eggs and move them to different areas of the incubator . The 1588 has a fan, too.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

I would be interested. Since there is a cost involved I would like to know the breeds to make sure its something I would like assuming they have great hatch rate!


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

I did send you a private message. I am looking forward to helping you!


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

I e-mailed you. I am collecting eggs this week that I can send out although the little buggars seems to have put themselves on a laying strike! *rolls eyes*


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

cviola2005 said:


> I'd be interested, but I've never hatched eggs, don't have an incubator. Once they are alive and walking, I can take over.
> 
> Wanna hatch some and then ship them to me? I'd really be interested in that, if you're willing!


Maybe someday! We are looking to get NPIP tested soon... I'm looking into it although I don't know if I will like sending chicks out!


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

zamora said:


> I wouldn't mind trying to help out, I have been needing an excuse to buy an incubator anyway. I'd be interested in some Silver Gray Dorkings, Gold Brabanters and Silver Penciled Rocks. I already have a few of the other breeds.


If you'd like I can send those out this upcoming week (or in another three weeks.) Let me know. I am getting 6-8 eggs from the Dorkings a day, 3 eggs from 3 hens from the Silver Penciled Rocks and my Brabs are being divas... they're not happy with the new breeding pen so I have been getting 3 eggs from 10 hens. SIGH.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Any updates on the Easter Egger cross(Legbar X Welsummer)?


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

My Cream Legbars weren't happy with the breeding pens and kept breaking out into the general poplation mucking up the breeding (as a hen can store a roosters sperm for up to three weeks.. and who is to say she didnt breed with a different roo when she got out?) Long story short, after this happened three times I gave in.

I am now building a coop for the back pasture my rainbox laying flock. It'll be Cream Legbar roosters over Cream Legbar hens, Maran hens (to make olive eggers) Welsummers (for easter eggers) and Brabanters (for super blue layers.) We're almost there, as far as the coop building is concerned. I know I am annoyed at the slow rate of progress but it is what it is.

Here's the back field (way back - from the gate to that compost box is where the fence is) and the coop (on a trailer) as it is now.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

Sounds so great! I know silly question.....does 'super blue' refer to the color of the egg...or that they are more prolific layers than a standard Legbar???


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Super blue is the egg color yes - like a robin's egg. They might lay more eggs considering hybrid vigor but I won't know until I try! There's a hatchery hybrid they're calling Saphire (I think that's what it was) that was a Legbar Leghorn cross that lays the super blues.... that's where I got the idea. Now to test the egg color chart.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

Can wait to hear what the results are!!


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

WeeLittleChicken said:


> If you'd like I can send those out this upcoming week (or in another three weeks.) Let me know. I am getting 6-8 eggs from the Dorkings a day, 3 eggs from 3 hens from the Silver Penciled Rocks and my Brabs are being divas... they're not happy with the new breeding pen so I have been getting 3 eggs from 10 hens. SIGH.


Sorry WeeLittleChicken, I'm just now seeing your post. Are you still looking to ship some eggs? I have access to an incubator actually at the moment.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

If you get desperate I'll try a 1/2 dozen or so.But only if you are desperate....


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Not so desperate at the moment, I just recently found out I will be unemployed as of July 31st so unless I get lucky enough to secure some form of viable employment quickly, I should not plan on anything else that will need feeding. 

I would like you to keep me in mind for future shipments though....please?


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Heidi received a mix batch of eggs from me a while ago and did a superb job hatching them! They went from MA to CA and she still got most to hatch, even the wee Seramas. 

I did promise to send some to you first though so let me know when you're back on your feet and we can talk.  Sorry about the job. Happens to the best of us. I hope you find yourself something even better soon. That's a hard burden there. My thoughts are with you and your search.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

zamora said:


> Not so desperate at the moment, I just recently found out I will be unemployed as of July 31st so unless I get lucky enough to secure some form of viable employment quickly, I should not plan on anything else that will need feeding.
> 
> I would like you to keep me in mind for future shipments though....please?


Sure,got my own bator.Just let me know...


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