Lavender Ameraucana 1st Hatch

[Littlebitofsunshine]

Hello. This is my second question separately! Thanks in advance.

I currently have a batch of Lavender Ameraucana chicken eggs in a Farm Innovators Circulated Air incubator. I put them in on April 8th at 2 pm. I had ordered them from Three Little Blackbirds in TX. I am in PA. They were packaged beautifully but they were delayed at the post office over the weekend.

This is my first time incubating and I didn't realize mail order eggs were such a gamble at first.

Anyways, my question is about the humidity. I believe only 1 of 14 eggs is developing. I was told to keep the humidity around 60%, lower than other breeds but... not sure if that was at lockdown or during incubating.

Has anyone hatched this breed? Any suggestions on humidity? Or any other suggestions.

I am attaching some photos early incubating to see if anyone has any suggestions what happened to the eggs in the beginning. If something I did or shipping or what. Thanks so much in advance. There is only 1 of these that showed development. Most of the photos were after 6 days except the last one.

Also I had only ever candled the other batch we had in the other incubator at the same time so I was a beginner and still am!

 

[MGG]

Hi, welcome to Backyard Chickens! Unfortunately I see a lot of duds too. 60% is way too high. What have you had it at? There are exceptions, but it should generally be 35-45%.Watch the air cell growth to determine if you need to up it or lower it. Do you have at least one separate calibrated thermometer inside your incubator?

 

[Littlebitofsunshine]

Hi, welcome to Backyard Chickens! Unfortunately I see a lot of duds too. 60% is way too high. What have you had it at? There are exceptions, but it should generally be 35-45%.Watch the air cell growth to determine if you need to up it or lower it. Do you have at least one separate calibrated thermometer inside your incubator?

Thanks so much. We are keeping the humidity in the 35 to 45 range and figured 60 at hatch after lots of research!

I had a little trouble with watching the air cell growth at first without having anything to compare to but... I believe 13 of the eggs did not develop at all. It's down to one and I candled at 5, 7 and 14 days then checked on day 15, im pretty sure it died or quit. Not positive so I left it in the incubator. Devastated but hopefully this one makes it and just wasn't moving much.

I also have another batch of other breeds in another incubator due to hatch this weekend. Fingers crossed.


Thank you for your help!

 

[MGG]

Thanks so much. We are keeping the humidity in the 35 to 45 range and figured 60 at hatch after lots of research!

I had a little trouble with watching the air cell growth at first without having anything to compare to but... I believe 13 of the eggs did not develop at all. It's down to one and I candled at 5, 7 and 14 days then checked on day 15, im pretty sure it died or quit. Not positive so I left it in the incubator. Devastated but hopefully this one makes it and just wasn't moving much.

I also have another batch of other breeds in another incubator due to hatch this weekend. Fingers crossed.


Thank you for your help!

To watch air cells just trace around them every time you candle. Then you'll be able to see how much they grow. Sorry about your eggs. If the majority of eggs develop and fail it's almost always a genetic problem with the hens and or rooster. I hope your other batch does well!

 

[Littlebitofsunshine]

Thanks so much. I started to see the air cell growth in the other batch. I have to research what it looks like at the end when it moves for hatch or turns or something. I read about that a little on this board. Yes, for this particular batch, none of them developed at all but 1. I am guessing damage during shipping but I'm not sure.

Thanks again for the info! I will probably not try mail order eggs again. I found a local farm by me so I will probably go that route if I ever do it again. Depending on how my other batch turns out.

Thank you.

 

[MGG]

Thanks so much. I started to see the air cell growth in the other batch. I have to research what it looks like at the end when it moves for hatch or turns or something. I read about that a little on this board. Yes, for this particular batch, none of them developed at all but 1. I am guessing damage during shipping but I'm not sure.

Thanks again for the info! I will probably not try mail order eggs again. I found a local farm by me so I will probably go that route if I ever do it again. Depending on how my other batch turns out.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah shipped eggs are a gamble. Some people get really good hatches and others don't. It depends on how nice the PO workers are, and how efficient the packaging is. My shipped bobwhite quail eggs were packaged pretty good. I ordered 15. One was broken on arrival, 2 were dented. I patched the 2 dented ones with nail polish. So I put 14 in. One was infertile, so I tossed that one. All the rest hatched. I was pretty happy with that hatch rate. I've only tried shipped eggs that once though. I always ask that they wrap the eggs in bubble wrap and put in extra foam too.

 

[Littlebitofsunshine]

Oh wow. Yes, I know that now! Honestly the woman I bought from packaged them perfectly and they arrived in good shape that I could tell! But I'm a beginner and didn't know what to look for other than cracks! My order was shipped on a Thursday from TX to PA and had a delay on Sunday and I didn't get til Monday so... who knows what the postal service did with them in that time.
Thats amazing that so many of yours hatched. Thats wonderful! I am praying my other batch hatches. They are due Saturday to hatch!

 

[MGG]

Oh wow. Yes, I know that now! Honestly the woman I bought from packaged them perfectly and they arrived in good shape that I could tell! But I'm a beginner and didn't know what to look for other than cracks! My order was shipped on a Thursday from TX to PA and had a delay on Sunday and I didn't get til Monday so... who knows what the postal service did with them in that time.
Thats amazing that so many of yours hatched. Thats wonderful! I am praying my other batch hatches. They are due Saturday to hatch!

They could have been dropped it something then, or left in a hot or cold truck, who knows. Did you contact the seller? She might refund you or send replacements. Good luck with your other batch! Let me know when they start hatching!

 

[Littlebitofsunshine]

Exactly! That's what I thought too. I did. She said no refunds etc... but told me to file a claim with post office. So I did! Hopefully it's approved. But I was just devastated and wanted the peeps lol. So I will try to find a more local seller next time.

Thank you! I will!!!

 

[MGG]

Exactly! That's what I thought too. I did. She said no refunds etc... but told me to file a claim with post office. So I did! Hopefully it's approved. But I was just devastated and wanted the peeps lol. So I will try to find a more local seller next time.

Thank you! I will!!!

Ok! I hope they approve it. Maybe your one chick will still hatch! Fingers crossed you get lots of babies this weekend!