Keets hatching a week early

[JanO]

Yesterday I found one egg that had piped, and this morning I had 4 hatched, and a couple more that have piped. They weren't suppose to hatch for another week; today is only day 21! One of them doesn't look very well and I'm not holding out much hope that it will survive, but the others all seem to be strong and healthy. It kind of upsets me that the one that is not doing well is a pretty little blond keet without a bit of brown or black on it that I can see. I hope I get at least one or two more like this one that lives.

I have a feeling this is going to be a LONG week of hatching.

 

[nailladi]

Was it a full strawberry moon when you set them??

 

[JanO]

Hmmmm..... I have no idea. They were set on June 16

 

[Sandshaven]

How was your humidity? If it is off it can change the hatch time.

 

[JanO]

Humidity was holding between 55-60%. I'm thinking that the eggs were a little older than I thought, and possibly started developing, before I got them. Although when I candled them they all seemed to be on track for a mid July hatch. I can understand a couple of days early, but a week! As of this morning I have 13 hatched, and 16 to go. 2 are piped and one is zipping now. All of them look good and healthy, including the one I thought would surely die.





As you can see I am getting quite an assortment of colors. If anyone can help me determine whats what, I'd sure appreciate it.

 

[JanO]

Quick update: So far 23 out of 29 have hatched and are doing well. Number 23 hatched just this morning. I did have one that died before it made it out of the shell. I have no idea why, but I suspect it had something to do with humidity and/or temp. We had a short power outage, about 20 minutes, after it piped so I assume that had a lot to do with it.

Out of the 5 eggs that are left one piped this morning and the others have had some rocking going on. Since this hatch is early anyway I'll give them another few days before I give up on them. In the meantime I'll be moving the others to the large brooder in the coop later today. As you can imagine the small brooder inside the house is quite crowded.

 

[PeepsCA]

Yikes a week early... I've had a few day hatch on day 23, lots on day 24, but never day 21. I'm guessing either a Hen had been on those eggs a few days before you got them or they were in a really sunny warm place for a while. I'm surprised they continued to develop and hatched for you without any issues, (the embryos can die if they go cold once they get more than a few days of development going on, or they can hatch with a lot of leg/toe and neurological issues), but congrats on a successful hatch! I'd double check your thermometer, just in case your temp is running too high and contributed to the early hatch too tho.

In your pics I see a few Coral Blues, a Brown, a couple pure Whites, a Pied Pearl Grey, several regular Pearl Greys and maybe a Lavender. Post more pics and I may be able to tell if you have more colors/varieties in that mix or not. Nice hatch tho