My R-Com was a complete waste of money.

[OldGregg]

Because I now have another blardy broody hen. That's 3 in the past 6 weeks. And, as usual, she's sat in everyones favourite nestbox.

Tch!

[OldGregg]

That's true, the current broody is so vicious that she's just the sort to go off in a huff after a week. Or attack the hatching eggs. I have several little bruises on my wrists already from having to move her out of the nestbox. Grrr.

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

lol at namechanging question as im in my 107th name too

who were you storm?

i must be so lucky, my broody who used to be a bit of a bully with the other hens has turned into a right pussy cat now shes broody. shes sat on some silkie eggs from ebay and im hoping that will work. am also expecting a delivery of an r-com teeny-tiny and a candling lamp so will see if any of them are even vaguely alive when that arrives.

she is in the fave nesting box too norks but allowing the others to lay nest to her, then trying to hatch them too ! she doesnt put up a fight when i take them away mind...

[handlemecarefully]

Well - you might want to use it next year...

I have mixed feelings about my R-com. Can't get the bloody humidity any higher than 60% for hatching

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

i know the hurdicure name. dont know princessofpower but its a cool name

my 3 egg r-com arrived this morning, have just opening it up and read the manual.
gutted to read the lid might not be high enough and the humidity neither and i too wish there was a size between 3 eggs and 20.

is the r-com no good then? will it work? should i sell it quick while its all new and packaged etc??

[OldGregg]

R-Coms are fantastic - mine isn't really a waste of money, despite not being able to move round here for broody hens.

I'm going to hatch quail in it soon (I hope) and turkeys next year. And because I do meat birds it's more convenient to hatch lots at once and only need one henhouse & run for them.

hmc - I think I've had my humidity up to 65% but haven't needed it higher. Have you tried moving yours into different rooms?

[handlemecarefully]

I'll try that OldGregg...I did have two dead in the shell when I used it (plus 5 healthy chicks) so I wondered if lower than optimal humidity at hatching was to blame

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

i nearly went for the corti auto one... but then i stopped myself and thought 'how many birds do i want to hatch at any one time??'
so i got the r-com mini.

ok good, so its got the vote of confidence, i shall look at fabulous exciting eggs to buy for it

OH - while youre all here, wrt the eggs sitting under the broody hen atm... theyve been there about 5 days, do i need to candle them tomorrow? and remove any that arent right? and if i do, do i use the rolled up black paper in daylight thing so that im not taking them away from under her for long?

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

the rcom is here. do you mean the candler i got with it? it wasnt actually in the box but was part of a 'kit' from the incubator shop... hope thats the ez thing you mention... not that i can get power out to the hen house particularly easily.

off to look at old scots and OE pheasant fowl... good foragers sounds good

also have cream legbars on the shortlist for the blue eggs.
and millefleur somethingorothers coz theyre so pretty! but not maybe i should try to stick generally to one size or another.. (too late if any of the miniature silkies hatch i guess, what with having an orpy and a cochin.

[NutterlyUts]

I have a corti automatic and I love it! I do want a r-com but as mentioned, 3 isn't quite enough and I can't afford a 20egg one!!

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

hmmm, both olde english PF and scots grey sound really interesting... esp the latter... do you know where i could buy some fertilized eggs from?

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

absol;utely utterly... this is supposed to be a hobby! 20 egg rcom is a wee bit over budget, 'specially as im still deliberating which new house to get.

[OldGregg]

twoGs - I don't bother candling eggs under broodies, but if you want to, I'd leave it until at least day 10 as it will be easier to decide which is good. Always err on the side of caution, my RCom hatched out 2 eggs that I thought were clear!!

So lift the hen off the eggs and give her some food, meanwhile put the eggs into an eggbox (or a safe basket etc) and carry them to somewhere darkish. Do it quickly because the hen might freak out and you don't want the eggs out of the nest for too long. Also some candlers are incredibly hot and if you shine it into the egg for too long it will start to cook it!

My current broody is only sitting on 4. I'll know the results in about 19/20 days from now!

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

thanks storm and Og. will look for that breeder...

re the eggs under Peg, when i went out this eve i opened the hatch to retrieve any new eggs from the nest and while doing so, noticed that one of the silkie eggs had been shoved over to the other end of the nest. it was cold. i assume she must've discarded it coz she knew something was wrong?? i candled it (well, i put the candler on it, never done it before so not really a reliable thing, and also a bit early i guess, and it seemed not to show any signs... and it was cold so it mustve been out from under for some time... i dunno. i binned it .

i think i'll resist candling the rest then... (yeah right, by day 10 i'll be gagging to get a look )

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

your new name, or the initials thereof, makes me think of this book OldGregg

[OldGregg]

I like Meg & Mog.

Actually, it took me awhile before I realised that I was og!

[Ripeberry]

Hi, I've got the R-com 3 egg with the EZ view system. I've had the duck eggs in for 7 days now and only one of the eggs has veins in it.
I'll give it another 3-4 days and see what the others are doing and then chuch them if still clear.
Next I think I will try hatching Quails and I've got the special tray for 7 quail eggs.
At least they will only take 14 days instead of 28days!
The EZ viewer is great, I find it easier to take the egg out (if not the center egg) and then view it.
It uses LEDs so does not heat the egg.

[ANTagony]

Quails are more like 18 days on average slightly varying with species. Just encase you give up early. I've hatched quite a few and typically for your bulk standard Japanese cortunix its 18 but have seen hatches between 16 and 20.