April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!

[chickydee64]

To those who have had devastating hatches in the past... what is the biggest lesson you learned from it? And what's the best advice you would give other new hatchers?

Sorry for your bad hatches!!! Hope this one goes MUCH better!

HI,
My biggest learning curve has been adjusting humidity to my own area.
Was doing 40 to 45 in the beginning .
Lost many chicks from to much humidity .........I run 25 to 30 humidity now and it works for me.
About 60 to 65 lockdown.
I use 2 LG still air's, one to incubate, one for hatching. Once I found a formula that works for me have not had further problems.

 

[SJ]

To those who have had devastating hatches in the past... what is the biggest lesson you learned from it? And what's the best advice you would give other new hatchers?

Sorry for your bad hatches!!! Hope this one goes MUCH better!

The biggest lesson I learned is Mother nature has you beat, period. You may get about as good as the hen but she will always set the bar. Who else has had a 100% hatch on your first try, with no training? I sure didn't. So don't get down on yourself when things dont pan out. Your a human just trying your best at being the hen. Even she fails sometimes.

 

[SJ]

First, this post directly up above.... This looks like the same incubator I have. I see an extra thermometer, water bottle.... What are the little cup looking thing in the corner for? Any advice for me getting ready to hatch? I ordered an extra thermometer (hope it gets here in time). Do you turn your own eggs or does this do it for you?
I love love love Danes! And want one soooooo bad. Maybe if they are good with chickens the hubs will allow it. Right now I've got 3 rescued mutts. One lab mix who is awesome aside from his love of racing cars down the road, one no too smart Shepard mix pup, and one 17 year old golden retriever mix who has been the most wonderful companion, but obviously not getting around much these days...

Both my danes are rescues. They are amazing dogs all around. With proper training and socialization they could practically baby sit or chicken sit.

Belle came from a litter of 14 and she is the runt of the litter. I joke that I have a mini Dane. Her mom could not feed all the pups so she dried up 2 weeks after welping. The breeders were doing bottle feeding but 14 pups makes for alot of work. They wanted to place pups in homes because by 4 weeks it just wasn't going well. We took 3 pups at 5 weeks old, a boy (Nova) that went to my lil sisters friends family, a girl (Pearly) that is now my cousins firstborn child lol, and I kept Belle. She was only 3 #s at her first vet check up.



Beau we got from a shelter at 10 weeks old after a three bedroom ranch home on an acre lot (puppy mill) had 63 danes siezed. Three of the girls were preggers and Beau was one born at the shelter. He was the only boy in his litter of 7. He is twice the size of Belle.

 

[jphendrix]

Simple - learn from others. Read, read and read some more. Take in everyone's opinions, filter through for facts, then it's trial and error and biting nails from there. My first hatch I got 3 out of 24. My second hatch, I got 16 our of 18 and the difference was - READING! So worth it. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda person, hence the failed first hatch, but there are times it really pays to sit down, take a deep breath and do your homework first!

x2 I am the same way usually but did a lot of research on here and had a great first hatch! 21 babies out of 25 eggs origianlly set.

 

[MadamContrary]

Thinking about making a hatcher...what do I need?

I made a small one from a 10gal aquarium that I lined the inside with styrofoam on all but the front "viewing" wall. I used just a 25 watt (you may need a higher wattage if it is colder where you are, here it is about 70*) red bulb and a $3 shop lamp fixture from Walmart (you could re-purpose nearly anything that holds a bulb though) placed it over one end (it fit quite well as is, only left two small gaps that are perfect for vent holes) and the cut another piece of styrofoam to cover the remaining exposed area to create a lid. I also added a PC fan from an old computer mounted to foam via LONG nails (leave a bit of space behind fan), as long as the fan only has the red and black wires you can just splice an old cell phone charger to it and bam, free air circulation. Just a tip if you do use a fan and all wires are black the one with a white line running down it would be your "red" or live wire and be sure to wrap well with electrical tape! Good luck!

 

[MadamContrary]

I had a terrible dream last night. I built a large cabinet incubator/hatcher combination unit with redundant heat systems in the hatcher.
The thing is awfully heavy, not sure but probably close to 200 pounds and sits on a pedestal table for easy viewing and access. I occasionally worry about the weight.
This is where the dream comes in. I dreamt that I moved the incubator to an auditorium (can't imagine why) and it was on a very long table but with a slick surface like the one it's on now.
I dreamt I tried to move it by myself and got the table wet when I spilled the water source for the humidity. Someone then bumped the table and it started to slide on the wet surface and shot like a cannon off the other end and hit the wall. All the eggs inside (84) broke and all had chicks in them. I tried to get help picking up the pieces and my helpers dropped everything basically destroying the whole thing.
I was so relieved when I woke up cause it seemed so real.

Yup the stress gets to you, I dreamed that my hubby smashed all my eggs on purpose... And he is just as worried about the little chicks-to-be as I am in the waking world! I wonder if hens worry about their ability to hatch?

 

[rrrmamma]

I am going to make an attempt at hatching with the same incubator. Are you getting a turner or extra thermometer?

Anytime! I love visitors, but don't be surprised if I hand you a shovel. Ha!
did you get the Farm Innovators one too?
I have seen lots of great threads here about home-made incubators. I think my favorite is Sally Sunshine's cooler bator.https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubator-incubator

My FI came with the turner. I am just using the thermometer that came with it for now. We are going into town tonight and I am going to try to find a therm/hygrometer with a probe to use for backup.

 

[SJ]

Squeak wont sit on her eggs.

I moved her yesterday and when I checked her today she off her nest and had buried the eggs. What does this mean? Did i break her broodiness???

 

[jhfamily5]

Test them in a bowl of water. If they sink like a rock there still good. I know people in other countries don't refrig eggs.

I've always read that if you don't wash them they are okay on the kitchen counter for 30 days. Not washing them preserves the protective barrier that keeps germs out.

I found this picture on Pinterest. It's just a visual of what the PP was saying. I believe I read somewhere awhile ago, though, that farm fresh eggs (the ones you collect from your backyard) can stay out on your counter for 4 weeks and still be good to eat. Don't quote me on that though. This picture is pretty close to that theory though.

Like tony said they should be fine.
In some parts of Europe and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America eggs are just on the store shelves rather than refrigerated. When people get them home they don't refrigerate unless they aren't using them soon.
Those people are still alive.

Yes, the eggs should be just fine to eat stored at room temps.

Yep... they are good for 4 weeks... I gennerelly hard boil them after week 2 as then they are sooooooo easy to peel, the whole skin just slips off with a tug!!! I often will find a hidden nest full of eggs and have no idea how long they have been there.... and I do the water test on them... flat on the bottem very fresh ... touching the bottem with only one end, perfect for boiling, in the center of the water (not floating but not on the bottem either) these are in transistion and when cracked do not have a bad oder but I do not trust them and I will sramble them very well and feed them to the animals ..... floating on top, toss out, floating high on top of the water toss out fast, and carfully! these can explode

Thank you all so much! I have had up to 6 days worth hanging out on the kitchen counter waiting to be put into cartons and didn't worry but everything I have read on the subject is SO controversial and it drives me nuts! I would rather trust the "eggsperts" here.

 

[Nursiedeer]

Well, received my final box of eggs this morning. Yolk on outside of box. Inside box looked pristine, but 3 smashed eggs inside. What a mess. My question is this ...

They are Wheaten Marans eggs, so very dark and unable to see inside much at all. Couldn't find a single air sac because of their darkness. Plus, their shape is round at BOTH ends pretty much uniformly. Yikes! Which end is up? Since 3 were smashed I'm assuming they had a rough trip and need to chill out and not be turned for a few days after they've come to room temperature. But since I can't see the air sac and both ends are round, how do I position them?

Yes, newbie here!

Personally If you can't tell which end I would lay them on their sides. Just like they would lay without help.
This is how I hatch my own eggs from my hens most of the time.It's how mamma hen would leave them.
Good luck!