February 2017 Hatch-a-long

[yeye5]

Last post here for me but wanted to post a pic of my hatch

Beautiful! Congratulations!

 

[LLee34]

All my eggs hatched, took a week because I had some tactical errors in getting started. The school eggs had to come home after two had hatched due to bad weather closing the school so the remaining two hatched at home. One little duckie is really small compared to the rest (might be I got a mini duck egg by mistake) so we are calling him Sweetums. They are all happily stuffing themselves with food and drinking lots of water. I must admit, chicks are louder than ducks. If the ducklings are happy they aren't all that noisy.

 

[MontainBourbons]

Hello, I have been having soem trouble lately with hatching my sulmtalers. I use a sportsman GQF incubator and hatcher but I can't seem to get it right. During incubation the temperature is around 99.8 degrees and humidity is about 30%. And during the hatch the temp is 98.5-99.0, and the humidity is at at least 55% for the last two days. They hatch on day 22.
I just got a poor hatch of 2/13. The two that did make it seem perfectly healthy. All of the others were fully developed but didn't hatch
Please give me some tips about how you incubate your birds. I really want to get a good size flock this year.

 

[Jessimom]

Hello, I have been having soem trouble lately with hatching my sulmtalers. I use a sportsman GQF incubator and hatcher but I can't seem to get it right. During incubation the temperature is around 99.8 degrees and humidity is about 30%. And during the hatch the temp is 98.5-99.0, and the humidity is at at least 55% for the last two days. They hatch on day 22.
I just got a poor hatch of 2/13. The two that did make it seem perfectly healthy. All of the others were fully developed but didn't hatch
Please give me some tips about how you incubate your birds. I really want to get a good size flock this year.

If I were you, I'd increase the humidity to at least 65% at lockdown.

Have you calibrated the incubator's thermostat? Since the ones that hatch, hatch on day 22, that says your temps are probably a little low.
I actually run mine at 100.5 to 101. And I still have chicks hatch day 21 to day 22. I have a Brinsea. My humidity is around 30 percent during the first 18 days, then I bump mine up to 70%.

 

[MontainBourbons]

If I were you, I'd increase the humidity to at least 65% at lockdown.

Have you calibrated the incubator's thermostat? Since the ones that hatch, hatch on day 22, that says your temps are probably a little low.
I actually run mine at 100.5 to 101. And I still have chicks hatch day 21 to day 22. I have a Brinsea. My humidity is around 30 percent during the first 18 days, then I bump mine up to 70%.

I have two separate incubator thermometers and they run at about 100.5. Other chicken breeds hatch on day 21 with my hatching method.
Can the humidity affect the eggs before the chicks internally pip???

 

[Jessimom]

I have two separate incubator thermometers and they run at about 100.5. Other chicken breeds hatch on day 21 with my hatching method.
Can the humidity affect the eggs before the chicks internally pip???

It can but not the same as at lock down. If the eggs are super thin, then they can loose moisture faster than thicker shells. So, when you candle the eggs, check the air cell. If the air cell is too big or too small, you adjust the humidity accordingly.

I have HORRIBLE luck hatching Marans eggs. The really dark eggs do not hatch, the way my lighter colored shells hatch. I've been told the humidity needs are different, and I should hatch dark eggs by themselves. I don't know if that is true or not.

I'm sorry you are having so much trouble. It sounds like you are doing the right things.

 

[dee34491]

my March 1st 2017 hatch

 

[Jessimom]

my March 1st 2017 hatch

Cute!!!

 

[Jessimom]

My Feb 18th hatch and a couple of my larger Feb 24th chicks went outside today. I mostly finished building the coop portion and I"m keeping them inside for the first couple of days - it will be close quarters. But, once they get to go out, they should have plenty of room.

The design of this coop made no sense. The door where the ramp goes, didn't have a door. The other side, did have a door, but that's not where the ramp goes. I just covered that temporarily - I'll make it a sliding door when I"m ready to let them out.

Also, up at the roof, there was an open triangle - this was a tractor supply design and i saw in the comments that TSC thought it would be better for ventilation. I put a piece of plywood up, but eventually, I'll change that to screen. Both of those issues would have made the coop unsecure. I like to CLOSE my birds up at night.

I have an additional run, that I'll eventually match up to this one, but for now, I covered it with plywood. These guys are so tiny, they won't need the extra room just yet.


Here's the coop: (pardon the messy yard). You can see the triangle I cut of the piece of plywood, I just screwed the rest of the plywood panel onto the back. I was tired and I wanted to get them moved while it was still daylight.



Here are the babies! You can see the actual door in the coop behind these chicks.


The Frizzled EE's are so cute!!!



Here's the opening I had to cover with the piece of wood I'll actually use as a door. I hope to finish that by Tuesday.


They still have a heat plate if they need it. I've been taking out the heat plate during the day, and only giving it to them at night. The bathroom window has been fully open since they've been in there. So, I don't think this will be too traumatic for them even though It's supposed to rain on Wed, and the temps are cooling a bit. We're going from the 80's down to the 60's. Lows are the high 40's.


So, I still have a lot to do to finalize this coop, but I got it to the point where I could get these birds OUT OF MY SHOWER.

 

[Cerise1924]

My Feb 18th hatch and a couple of my larger Feb 24th chicks went outside today. I mostly finished building the coop portion and I"m keeping them inside for the first couple of days - it will be close quarters. But, once they get to go out, they should have plenty of room.

The design of this coop made no sense. The door where the ramp goes, didn't have a door. The other side, did have a door, but that's not where the ramp goes. I just covered that temporarily - I'll make it a sliding door when I"m ready to let them out.

Also, up at the roof, there was an open triangle - this was a tractor supply design and i saw in the comments that TSC thought it would be better for ventilation. I put a piece of plywood up, but eventually, I'll change that to screen. Both of those issues would have made the coop unsecure. I like to CLOSE my birds up at night.

I have an additional run, that I'll eventually match up to this one, but for now, I covered it with plywood. These guys are so tiny, they won't need the extra room just yet.


Here's the coop: (pardon the messy yard). You can see the triangle I cut of the piece of plywood, I just screwed the rest of the plywood panel onto the back. I was tired and I wanted to get them moved while it was still daylight.



Here are the babies! You can see the actual door in the coop behind these chicks.


The Frizzled EE's are so cute!!!



Here's the opening I had to cover with the piece of wood I'll actually use as a door. I hope to finish that by Tuesday.


They still have a heat plate if they need it. I've been taking out the heat plate during the day, and only giving it to them at night. The bathroom window has been fully open since they've been in there. So, I don't think this will be too traumatic for them even though It's supposed to rain on Wed, and the temps are cooling a bit. We're going from the 80's down to the 60's. Lows are the high 40's.


So, I still have a lot to do to finalize this coop, but I got it to the point where I could get these birds OUT OF MY SHOWER.

Cuuute chicks! Such pretty frizzles. Since I had just one hatch last month, the chick stays in the house and rides around on my shoulder while I fold laundry and cook. You have a lot of February chicks!