* Please note that these are our personal opinions and experiences, and our statements are not intended to be professional or medical advice in any way. We have added links to products that we have used. We are Amazon and CoopWorx affiliates, so if someone purchases an item on their site through one of these links, we might get a small commission at no additional charge. For all other links, we are in no way affiliated with the vendors or brands and do not receive any award or recognition for purchase.
** To see almost all products & tools that we use for all of our farm critters, feel free to check out our Super Ultra Mega Shopping List.
Day 0
After collecting fresh eggs (or after unpacking shipped ones), we first candle them – if we see any with cracks, we either toss them or try to save them by sealing the cracks. That hasn’t actually worked for us yet, but other people have had luck with candle wax, bandaids, or clear nail polish. If any of the eggs are overly dirty, we gently scrape off what we can. Keeping the bio film intact as a barrier against contagion is important, so we don’t wash any eggs if we don’t absolutely need to BUT too much poop/dirt can kill the embryos.
Once we’ve inspected the eggs. we let them sit on the counter for 12-24 hours. This allows them to rest and for their temperatures & air cells to stabilize. A lot of people think that it makes sense to have the pointy side up – do NOT do this! Either lay them on their sides or keep the wider end up. The wider end contains the air cell that chicks will use while hatching.
During this setting period, we get the incubator warmed up – we set it to 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit and add tiny amounts of water until the humidity is around 50%. If we are incubating super thick-shelled eggs like Marans or Olive Eggers, we keep the humidity lower, around 35-45%. DO NOT TRUST the incubator’s built in thermometer because they’re almost always off by a bit – we always have at least one extra thermometer/hygrometer in there.
After the waiting period, it’s time to add the eggs to the incubator! For shipped eggs, we ALWAYS set them upright in an auto turner, with their pointy sides down. For eggs we’ve collected or obtained locally, we will either incubate them upright or on their sides; it just depends which incubator happens to have space available.
If the eggs were shipped, we do not turn them for the first 1-5 days. This is important to allow the air sacs to settle and reattach themselves. If our eggs were not shipped, we start turning them right away. We use an auto turner, but if you don’t have one, it needs to be done manually – eggs should be turned 180 degrees at a time, at least 3 times every day, alternating direction each time. It helps to draw an X on one side of the egg so that you can track its position.
Now we ignore the eggs for a few days, then start candling about once per week – some people get antsy and like to check their eggs often, but if you have colored eggs, you probably won’t see anything until at least Day 7, probably closer to Day 10.
Eventually if you candle, you should be able to see little veins if the eggs are healthy and alive. As a healthy egg progresses, you’ll be able to see more and more growth until there’s just a dark blob with an air sac. If you don’t see any growth after the first week and only see a bright center in the egg, it is probably a dud. Likewise, if it’s a while before Hatch Day and you see only darkness throughout the whole egg without an air sac at the top, these eggs are dead. Very very gently handle them as if they are bombs, because they WILL explode black goo all over you and everything you love. Yes, that’s a thing! A super, super gross thing.
At some point, we’ll try to update with photo examples!
We lock down shipped eggs a day earlier than the “official” recommendation, as the chicks tend to need a little extra time to get into position.
At lockdown, we stop turning the eggs and lay them on their sides so that the chicks can move into hatching position. We mark the air sacs with a pencil so that if needed, we can help the chicks hatch without risking puncturing something we shouldn’t. And if any eggs have saddled air sacs (99% of shipped eggs will), we point the bigger side up. Then we set the humidity to around 65-70%. Now this part will be hard – DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR!
After getting into position, chicks will internally pip (puncturing the air cell at the top of the egg for their first breaths) and then start to externally pip (poking a starter hole in the shell) within a couple days . Then within 24 or so hours of pipping, they’ll start zipping a line around the shell. Within 24 hours or so of starting to zip, they should be able to break free.
Once they start hatching, remember – DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR! The hatched chicks will be fine for up to 3 days. Let them rest and fluff up. If you open the incubator before they are dry, they can get chilled and could die. If you open it before all the chicks who are going to hatch do hatch, there is a huge risk of those ones becoming shrink wrapped. It looks just like it sounds – the membrane inside the egg shrinks and sticks to the chicks so they can’t move.
We had major humidity issues with one of our first batches and saw firsthand the dangers of shrink-wrapping! We were able to save 3 chicks by helping them out of the shell, but many more died without even getting a chance to pip. They were literally glued in there.
Every now and then, we do decide to open the incubator and intervene. When we do, we spray water into the incubator as we open it to help prevent humidity issues. Helping chicks hatch has been about 50% successful for us. Sometimes a healthy chick is just in a bad position inside the egg, or sometimes the egg might be jostled and turned upside down. But about half the time, there is something wrong with the chick and they end up passing away.
Whether you decide to help or not, the hugest thing is to GO SLOWLY – do not open the incubator all the way if other chicks are still hatching, do not let the egg get too dry or too wet or too cold, do not break off too much shell at once, and stop touching the membrane at the first sign of blood. If there is blood, that means the chick is not done absorbing nutrients and will bleed out if you keep messing with it. Put it back in the incubator and wait a couple hours before trying more. If the chick looks like it is chewing, leave it alone for a while – that means it is still absorbing its yolk. Pulling it out of the shell before it’s done absorbing will usually kill it – this could rupture the yolk sac or pull the chick’s intestines out.
Sometimes chicks just take a little extra time to hatch but are perfectly healthy. We’ve had some hatch TWO DAYS after everyone else, and they turned out just as perky as their siblings.
We have had the MOST luck helping slow chicks by simply adding tiny pilot holes in the air cells of their eggs. If a chick is just a late bloomer, this tiny 1-2mm hole will provide fresh air and keep them from suffocating while they think about hatching.
In any case, once everyone is hatched and fluffed up, we put them in the brooder.
* Please note that these are our personal opinions and experiences, and our statements are not intended to be professional or medical advice in any way. We have added links to products that we have used. We are Amazon and CoopWorx affiliates, so if someone purchases an item on their site through one of these links, we might get a small commission at no additional charge. For all other links, we are in no way affiliated with the vendors or brands and do not receive any award or recognition for purchase.
** To see almost all products & tools that we use for all of our farm critters, feel free to check out our Super Ultra Mega Shopping List.
Day 0
After collecting fresh eggs (or after unpacking shipped ones), we first candle them – if we see any with cracks, we either toss them or try to save them by sealing the cracks. That hasn’t actually worked for us yet, but other people have had luck with candle wax, bandaids, or clear nail polish. If any of the eggs are overly dirty, we gently scrape off what we can. Keeping the bio film intact as a barrier against contagion is important, so we don’t wash any eggs if we don’t absolutely need to BUT too much poop/dirt can kill the embryos.
Once we’ve inspected the eggs. we let them sit on the counter for 12-24 hours. This allows them to rest and for their temperatures & air cell to stabilize. A lot of people think that it makes sense to have the pointy side up – do NOT do this! The wider end contains the air cell that chicks will use while hatching. For waterfowl, it is best to keep them on their sides through the whole incubation process, unless their air cells are damaged from shipping. If they are damaged, we keep the eggs either upright or tilted slightly with the wider end raised.
During this setting period, we get the incubator warmed up – we set it to 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit and 45-55% humidity. DO NOT TRUST the incubator’s built in thermometer because they’re almost always off by a bit – we always have at least one extra thermometer/hygrometer in there.
After the waiting period, it’s time to add the eggs to the incubator! For shipped eggs, we might set them slightly upright for a few days to help stabilize their air cells. For eggs we’ve collected or obtained locally, we will incubate them on their sides.
If the eggs were shipped, we do not turn them for the first 1-5 days. This is important to allow the air cells to settle and reattach themselves. If our eggs were not shipped, we start turning them right away. We have an auto turner, but if you do not, it needs to be done manually – eggs should be turned 180 degrees at a time, at least 3 times every day, alternating the direction each time. It helps to draw an X on one side of the egg so that you can track its position. We use a cabinet incubator that rocks the eggs but doesn’t fully turn them, so we manually do a full rotation at least once per day.
After the first week, we do a daily misting & cool down period of 5-15 minutes, increasing the time every week. This simulates the mother leaving the nest and coming back damp after a swim. The process helps the eggs to evaporate some of their retained water, which helps the ducklings & goslings inside to become stronger and hatch more easily.
After 7-10 days, we start candling around once per week.
Eventually if you candle, you should be able to see little veins if the eggs are healthy and alive. As a healthy egg progresses, you’ll be able to see more and more growth until there’s just a dark blob with an air sac. If you don’t see any growth after the first week and only see a bright center in the egg, it is probably a dud. Likewise, if it’s a while before Hatch Day and you see only darkness throughout the whole egg without an air sac at the top, these eggs are dead. Very very gently handle them as if they are bombs, because they WILL explode black goo all over you and everything you love. Yes, that’s a thing! A super, super gross thing.
*For geese, they can hatch anywhere from Day 25 to Day 35, so it’s hard to pick a time to lock them down. Towards the end of the incubation period, we start candling them daily to see when they have drawn down their air cells as they prepare to hatch. That’s when we put them into lockdown.
We lock down shipped eggs a day earlier than the standard times, since the birds may need a little extra time getting into position.
We stop turning the eggs and lay them on their sides with the air cells facing up, so that the ducklings & goslings can move into hatching position. If eggs have saddled air sacs, we point the bigger side up. We mark the air sacs with a pencil so that if needed, we can help with hatch without risking puncturing something we shouldn’t. Then we set the humidity to around 65-75%. Now this part will be hard – DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR!
After getting into position, babies will start to externally pip within a couple days (poke a starter hole in the shell). Then within 24 or so hours of pipping, they’ll start zipping a line around the shell. Within 24 hours or so of starting to zip, they should be able to break free.
Once they start hatching, remember – DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR! The hatched ducklings & goslings will be fine for up to 3 days. Let them rest and fluff up. If you open it before they are dry, they can get chilled and die. If you open it before all the babies who are going to hatch do hatch, there is a huge risk of those ones becoming shrink wrapped. It looks just like it sounds – the membrane inside the egg shrinks and sticks to the babies so they can’t move. We’ve never had this happen for waterfowl, but it is possible.
Every now and then, we do decide to open the incubator and intervene. When we do, we spray water into the incubator as we open it to help prevent humidity issues. Helping with a hatch has been about 50% successful for us. Sometimes a healthy duckling or gosling is just in a bad position inside the egg, or sometimes the egg might be jostled and turned upside down. But about half the time, there is something wrong with the duckling or gosling and they end up passing away.
Whether you decide to help or not, the hugest thing is to GO SLOWLY – do not open the incubator all the way if other ducklings & goslings are still hatching, do not let the egg get too dry or too wet or too cold, do not break off too much shell at once, and stop touching the membrane at the first sign of blood. If there is blood, that means the duckling or gosling is not done absorbing nutrients and will bleed out if you keep messing with it. Put it back in the incubator and wait a couple hours before trying more. If the duckling or gosling looks like it is chewing, leave it alone for a while – that means it is still absorbing its yolk. Pulling it out of the shell before it’s done absorbing will usually kill it – this could rupture the yolk sac or pull the baby’s intestines out.
Sometimes ducklings & goslings just take a little extra time to hatch but are perfectly healthy. We’ve had some hatch THREE DAYS after everyone else, and they turned out just as perky as their siblings.
We have had the MOST luck helping slow ducklings & goslings by simply adding tiny pilot holes in the air cells of their eggs. If a baby is just a late bloomer, this tiny 1-2mm hole will provide fresh air and keep them from suffocating while they think about hatching.
In any case, once everyone is hatched and fluffed up, we put them in the brooder.
* Please note that these are our personal opinions and experiences, and our statements are not intended to be professional or medical advice in any way. We have added links to products that we have used. We are Amazon and CoopWorx affiliates, so if someone purchases an item on their site through one of these links, we might get a small commission at no additional charge. For all other links, we are in no way affiliated with the vendors or brands and do not receive any award or recognition for purchase.
** To see almost all products & tools that we use for all of our farm critters, feel free to check out our Super Ultra Mega Shopping List.
This weekend, we sorted most of our poultry breeding groups for the season! We still have to add the youngest pullets, but they need a little while to start & get used to laying anyway. Around March 1, as long as everyone is laying well, we’ll test for fertility and then start running through our waitlists.
We have a few pet-quality .5-2 year old hens up for grabs - mostly color flaws and a couple are a little smaller or have more narrow heads than we’re looking for. One Buckeye limps after she dove under the moving tractor when she was young.
Ken is almost done with some awesome new breeding coops for this year, too! We’re hoping that our new setup will help the Partridge Chanteclers lay better than they did in 2024 🤞
#chickens #ducks #geese #rarebreeds #rarebreedchickens #heritagebreeds #coldhardy #layingeggs #exhibitionpoultry
Feb 3
We`ve seen a few great supply charts floating around the interwebs, so we thought we`d add ours to the mix - check out our Super Ultra Mega Shopping List (link in bio) for our favorite farm-related purchases!
One is the pictured @coopworx Feed Silo - it prevents a ton of waste, plus the chickens seem to enjoy it!
#chickens #pasteuredpoultry #feedingchickens #homesteading #shoppinglist #ameraucana #wheatenameraucana #goats #dairygoats #beekeeper #farmsupplies #shopping
Feb 1
This guy is our spirit animal! All the other chickens are out scratching around, but he’s just chilling alone in his chair, quietly watching the field.
#chickens #rooster #chanteclerchickens #partridgechantecler #rarebreeds #rarebreedchickens #heritagebreed #endangeredbreed #pasturedpoultry
Jan 31
We`re gearing up to do this year`s first round of fecals and thought we`d write out our process - it sounds intimidating, but it’s super easy! We use a Modified McMaster technique recommended by the University of Minnesota.
--- Supplies ---
• TWO cups that fit at least 5oz
• Scale that measures at least .1 g
• Fecal float solution
• Large syringe or measuring cup that fits at least 28 ml
• Tongue depressor
• Gauze or tea strainer
• Pipette
• McMaster slide
• Microscope with 10x objective lens (total of 100x with eyepiece)
--- Performing a Fecal ---
1. Label both cups with animal name
2. Tare one labeled cup on the scale
3. If manure is pelleted, crush & knead to mix
4. Measure 2 g of fecal matter into the cup on the scale
5. Measure 28 ml of flotation solution & pour into the cup
6. Mix the sample & solution using a tongue depressor and let sit for 5 minutes
7. Mix again, then immediately pour it through a strainer or gauze into the second cup, using the tongue depressor to press fluid through
8. Immediately use a pipette to entirely fill both chambers of the McMaster slide with the strained fluid, taking care to avoid leaving large bubbles
9. Let the slide sit for at least 5 minutes to allow eggs to float to the surface – do not let sit for more than an hour
10. Place the slide onto the microscope and bring the grid lines into focus
11. Starting at one corner on one side of the slide, work down one grid area and back up the next until all the way through both chambers, counting all eggs that sit over halfway inside the grid & excluding any outside – "Animal Fecal Microscopy – Farm & Livestock" is an excellent group on FB for help IDing eggs
12. Multiply the count of each seen species` eggs x 50 – this is the Eggs Per Gram (EPG)
ACSRPC currently recommends that a fecal be used to ID species & determine dewormer efficacy, but NOT as a guideline for starting treatment. A goat should generally only be treated if it shows signs of overload; although honestly, if we see a count over 500 EPG for kids or over 1000 for adults, we’re probably going to treat before it becomes a bigger issue.
#fecaltesting #herdhealth #ParasiteControl #goats #deworming #chickens
Jan 29
FINALLY! After months and months of nothing, we have a few eggs again! We found out the other night that part of the reason for the dearth was a family of opossums that we caught yolk-handed. They’ve been booted from that part of our pasture into a hopefully safer area!
#eggs #pasturedeggs #farmfresh #chickeneggs #backyardpoultry #chickens
Jan 26
It’s time to replace our milk machine hoses & liners, and we couldn’t resist trying these ones from Parts Dept! Definitely *not* because they’re purple and match our milk stand mats 💜
Okay, maybe that’s part of it, but not the only reason - They’re also antibacterial! It might be a gimmick, but they’re only a couple bucks more than the standard clear silicone, and we’ll take whatever extra help we can get.
#milking #milkmachine #goats #dairygoats #goatmilk
Jan 23
Aha! Mystery solved - DNA has now confirmed that Diana is the daughter of Ober-Ridge Gatsby’s Arrogance, who has sired a whole bunch of consistently nice goats; including the 2024 ADGA National Premier Sire, Ober-Boerd T Vance (who is the sire of our young dude, Sublime OBV Son of a Sinner) 😍
Diana and her daughter Moonie’s pedigrees will be corrected soon, and we’re now set for her to kick off our kidding season in a couple weeks - fingers crossed that we get allllll doe kids 😅
#goats #dairygoats #performanceherd #oberhasli #oberhasligoats #guernseygoats #mininubians #kiddingseason #goatmilk
Jan 23
Diana is our first doe due in just a couple weeks, with our true love Maui’s kids! We had created a nice ad buuuuut we ran DNA on a bunch of the goats to see their aS1-casein & threw in parentage since we get 3 freebies per year, and yesterday we learned that Diana here may not be who she seems 🧐
Oopsies happen, even for the best of us 😅 We’ll keep the folks who are interested in her kids posted. Her breeder narrowed it down to 2-3 possible sires, and they’re all equally amazing! We’ve already seen that Diana has one of the nicest udders in our herd AND we now know that her milk & that of her kids might be helpful for people with milk sensitivities - her genetic markers indicate low/no aS1-casein.
#goats #dairygoats #itsalwayssomething #performanceherd #oberhasligoats #goatmilk
Jan 21
We’re down to -22°F with windchill right now, with temps decreasing through tomorrow 🥶 The goats are all snuggled and warm in their shelters, and the chickens are making short food & sunlight excursions before heading back to their shelters. A few keep trying to camp out next to the house’s furnace vent, which probably isn’t the best thing, so we’ll have to put up a little fence around that today!
#chickens #coldhardy #peacomb #cushioncomb #rarebreedchickens #heritagebreed #ameraucana #chantecler #buckeyechicken #svarthona
Jan 20
Gertie says, “Brrrrr!”
Today, we’re scrambling to get everyone ready for the 70 degree temperature swing we’re about to get! It’s about 35°F today and will be dropping to potentially -35 or colder (with windchill) over the next couple days 🥶
#winter #midwestwinter #polarvortex #dairygoats #goats #pasturedpoultry
Jan 18
We did it! Rowena, Dolly, Swiss, and Candy have all officially earned their MDGA stars 🎉 Riesling produced enough in all three categories to earn her full ADGA AR star, but Lord only knows when that`ll show up in their system!
#goats #dairygoats #performanceherd #milkstars #mininubians #oberhasligoats #guernseygoats #goatmilk
Jan 13
Soooo funny story, Jess now has to have surgery 3 days before a bunch of does are due to kid in February, including our senior Vivi here. The surgery might be easy ooor might involve a giant abdominal cut and a balloon being placed for a week or so & severely limiting movement during that time.
We hate to have to ask, but would anyone local with small hands be interested in helping Ken with kidding emergencies around 2/23 ish? Odds are very high that it’ll be in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snowstorm 😅 We do have vets on call for emergencies, too, but they sometimes take 45+ minutes to make it here.
#localhelpinglocal #kiddingseason #babygoats #goatpeople #goats #manitowoc #mishicot
Jan 11
We present to you Chinese Skullcap, an herb used in traditional Chinese Medicine (photo shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia).
We’ve seen a zillion frantic posts about Avian Influenza again lately, so we thought we’d bring up this plant. It’s one that we have in our arsenal of herbs that we might give to the critters during times of stress or if they just seem off. We’re not at all against Western Medicine, but it can sometimes use a boost from the Eastern side!
A few years ago, during the last big Avian Influenza scare in Europe, a sanctuary based in England & Wales (The Waterfowl Sanctuary) found research on this herb and used it to save many of their intakes.
Numerous studies show that Chinese Skullcap has natural antibacterial & antiviral properties, and bunch of those studies are referenced on PoultryDVM. That site also includes recommended dosages.
It does NOT fully eliminate the virus and probably won’t work if an animal is too far gone, but it might stall the spread long enough that the immune system can have a chance to learn and do its job. It also might be effective against other notoriously hard to treat poultry viruses & bacteria, including Marek’s and Mycoplasma.
#plantmedicine #naturalmedicine #themoreyouknow #chineseskullcap #birdflu #avianinfluenza #backyardpoultry #pasturedpoultry
Jan 9
In a little over a month, we’ll be meeting our first batch of 2025 goat kids! To feed them, we usually use the Caprine Supply bucket with the freaking awful little hoses that need to be pulled out and cleaned individually. This year, we’re trying out this bad boy and are hoping it’ll save us some time!
#goatkids #bottlebabies #milkbar #dairygoats #showgoats #performanceherd #oberhasligoats #mininubian #guernseygoats
Jan 9
We at JK Herd It All wish you all a Happy New Year 🎉 Here`s to hoping that 2025 turns out to be as calm as Dexalicious (pictured) is right now!
2024 has been filled with tons of ups and downs for us here - an awesome kidding season, an awful hatching season, a productive milking season with lots of pending stars, a war with poultry predators, our first unexplained goat loss, a job loss due to a company closure, trying goat AI for the first time, and four allllll-consuming human IVF cycles that only gave us three euploid embyos (which is the statistical average needed for one live birth). So yeah, 2024 was definitely a LOT!
In 2025, we`re hoping to bring our Obers and maybe CrazyTrain to Linear Appraisal, give Riesling a chance to compete for a TopTen Milk award, bring in some new birds from our parent lines to prevent inbreeding but maintain consistency, find someone to collect our bucks, and see whether any of our embryos will stick before Jess hits the big 4-0 in October 😱
Our kidding season this year starts at the end of February, so feel free to reach out if you`re interested in some really nice milkers, bucks, or bottle babies - and of course poultry, too! Our Partridge Chantecler & Pilgrim waitlists are maxed out and Buckeyes are close, but we`ve got plenty of space on the others!
#happynewyear #newyear2025 #farmdog #dog #rescuedog #shepherdmix #supermutt #fluffydog #goats #dairygoats #chickens #heritagebreeds #rarebreeds #exhibitionpoultry #showgoats #performanceherd #herdreduction #farmlife #homesteading #infertilitysucks
Jan 1