Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[SimplyLogan]

I think my hatch is over. I have two left in the incubator that showed movement yesterday. The others hatched two days ago so I'm not holding out much hope for those.

Good news
8/12 project bird 66%
9/10 Cream Legbar 90%
7/7 BYM 100%

none of these were shipped eggs, I only set my eggs and the eggs I picked up locally (kinda of local)

pretty please with the LG even though I gave me some fits at the end

Did the majority of them hatch on day 21? Good percentages. What's your project?
I would say half hatched day 20 and the rest early day 21. Last hatch (one before this one) most of mine hatched day 19&20. With the weather getting hotter out (kind of lol), we used the A/c more so the finicky LG dropped a little (more and more often) in temp at night compared to the day time. It stayed in range but the prev hatch had less temp flucuation and remained more around 101.5 -102 range. Where this time it may go down to 99.5 during the night. The humidity also was affected more as well with the A/C running, I had lower ranges, such as, 28% to 34%. The previous hatch stayed mostly 35%.

Well,,, the project is not actually mine and she wanted to keep it a secret to what she used but she sells them cheap and figured it was worth a try. But when I was talking to her she slipped a little, so I think I may have figured out her mix. She has been working on a dual purpose bird that grows quicker so the meat will be more tender, however still be a great egg producer. And have a better food conversion ration. She slipped and said they were half bielefelder. currently unless she has some hiding birds she don't have many others to mix it with. I think all she has is cream legbars and orphingtons. The eggs are not blue, even the second generation. I'm not sure how true they breed either, she was kind of keeping that quiet. English Black Orpington eggs,English Chocolate/Chocolate Cuckoo Orpington eggs and Blue,Black,Splash Orpington eggs. I'm not sure how they breed because most of them look like the normal chick for Biel's but a few of them came out to almost a light red color. She did say the first generation has not been auto sexing, but the second one is starting to . I'm at work so I will take some pictures when I get home. I am going to pick up a dozen more next week. I am very curious about these, and would like to see how they work out breeding, laying and eating. Could be a good self sustaining chicken. She said she tried crossing the Biel's with several and the other never really worked. I could end up with a whole yard of giant birds

.

Go to craigslist and put in Shreveport la, and find the Redfelder when searching hatching eggs. There is a pick of one of this mix. She does ship eggs. I was tired of getting beat up shipping eggs and was trying to find something local to try. (and that is slim pickings around here) . Very nice lady to work with. Told her she could be on to something. Not sure where the Red in the name comes from. And I am not expert enough in identifying breeds to have a good guess, other than knowing what she has for sale. Maybe she has a red broiler hidden away back there? Very pretty birds.

My shipped eggs I had placed in my Hovabator. My Javas hatched at 69% where my BCM were beat up badly and only hatched at 28% (4/14). I was not happy at all with the BCM, But talk about some bad air cells.

 

[Math]

I think my hatch is over. I have two left in the incubator that showed movement yesterday. The others hatched two days ago so I'm not holding out much hope for those. 

Good news
8/12 project bird 66%
9/10 Cream Legbar 90%
7/7 BYM 100%

none of these were shipped eggs, I only set my eggs and the eggs I picked up locally (kinda of local)

pretty please with the LG even though I gave me some fits at the end

Real good. I have only used local eggs. But I may used shipped eggs in the future. Congratulations again.

 

[Math]

fiset94

God bless you and your daughter. I hope your daughter gets what she wants and that she is healed of her condition and is able to enjoy her chickens.

 

[fiset94]

Thank you so much for the kind words...

I have tried all the above things mentioned...

Calbarating
Salt Test
Dry Hatching

The only thing that I have done different over the last few weeks is change the position of the thermometer... which originally was threaded through the top of the unit down.. to the side... which showed my temp was off... and much lower then i thought.

My daughter is a Super Hero. She is SO strong and has blown away the Dr.'s .... they gave her a 20% chance and she has beat those odds!! She is in remission and we are taking it one day at a time!


As for the hatchery.... I have not seen ANY that even sell them... just breeders that are backed up for the entire year.... that is why I tried hatching them out twice... hoping that I can get even one to hatch.
Michele

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I think my hatch is over. I have two left in the incubator that showed movement yesterday. The others hatched two days ago so I'm not holding out much hope for those.

Good news
8/12 project bird 66%
9/10 Cream Legbar 90%
7/7 BYM 100%

none of these were shipped eggs, I only set my eggs and the eggs I picked up locally (kinda of local)

pretty please with the LG even though I gave me some fits at the end

I am just so upset with the lack of being able to even hatch out ONE egg.. I seriously must of set over 40 eggs - different breeds- and times... and still not one has hatched. I have not even got one to Pip internally. Sigh.

I have three batches left... then I am going to throw in the towel. My next lockdown was supposed to start yesterday but I held off until today... I candled and the chicks seemed small- the shadowing wasn't completely up to the top of the aircell.

I had issues with humidity first... then I went dry. I then had issues with temp. Probe was inserted at top of bator and after realizing the HUGE difference in putting it in the side- decided that the problem was low temps.

This will be my 2nd attempt to hatch out this breed.. Araucana- rumpless- I have heard that they are very difficult to hatch... but they mean SO much to my 10 year old daughter. She says that they look amazing and wants to have 2 in our barn...... I have been on a hunt for over 6 weeks to try a find a couple hens that someone is selling... and I can't even find that . She is an amazing kid... and not meaning to give the whole violin story... but she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year- and this whole incubating project was supposed to be a very special project for her and I.... It makes it that more frustrating when I can't even find the chickens that she wants to buy.

So sorry to hear about your daughter. Bless you both! Since you figured out the humidity after the first and the temp after the second, then the rest have to be promising, right. Crossing my fingers she gets her birds!

My goal has been 30%. I'll tell you about the last hatch first: I think my last hatch (66%) was partially due to eggs being too wet, and temp fluctuation in the bator between high and low temp spots. I did rotate the eggs around to help accommodate for that. There was also a huge discrepancy in size, with jumbo pioneer eggs (0% hatch) and smaller Dom and RCBL eggs, (decent hatch percentage) Good showing for BSL eggs that were a nice size. The larger eggs were definitely too wet. I also think that a lot of the chicks grew too big, most likely due to the vitamin supplementation that I did as part of my experiment. I was better able to manage humidity with that batch due to burning wood, though there was difficulty getting up to 65% at lock down, and I had some dry membranes, assisted hatches due to that.

Now, for this hatch: Again, goal was 30% but, I didn't worry if it got up to 40%. Several times, it was a bit dry, so I added water, only to have a low front move in and there would be several days, if not a whole week of rain which kept it up to 40 - 50% for a few days at a time. I also was not burning wood as much, so the house wasn't as dry. Right now, without water, and nice weather predicted from now to hatch, the bator humidity has dropped down to 16%.

Do you think running as low as 11% between now and lock down will affect membranes in terms of them being too dry, or even too tough?
Did the majority of them hatch on day 21? Good percentages. What's your project?

I wish you the best with your next attempt. I know I sound like a broken record, but: Have you read hatching 101 and specifically the info about "dry hatching?" Have you calibrated your thermometers (use a good digital or even bulb type medical grade thermometer and calibrate it to 100 degrees.) and hygrometer (with the salt test)? Have you checked all locations in the bator for temp variation? Now, regarding Araucana chicks. My understanding is that the rumpless trait is also associated with a lethal gene, which is most likely why that breed is so difficult to find. What about ordering a batch from a hatchery, and then selling the extras? I do hope your daughter is doing well regarding her cancer. I'll pray for her today.

My last hatch I ran at 30% humidity and still felt at day 17 they were smaller than I wanted so I ran almost 24 hours completely dry at about 16%. I don't think 24 hours at 11% if they are too big is going to make them too dry unless they loose way too much moisture.
Aracaunas DO have a lethal gene. The gene that gives them their tufts is lethal if they get a copy of the chromosome from both parents. Breeding a tuftted Aracuana with a clean face Aracauna will give you 50/50% (tuftted and clean) with none dying in shell (well, at least none dying from the gene.) Breeding a tuft to tuft will give you 50% tuft, 25% clean faced and 25% that will die in the shell. I found that interesting. Very much like the lethal leg gene in the black Japanese Bantams.

As for the hatchery.... I have not seen ANY that even sell them... just breeders that are backed up for the entire year.... that is why I tried hatching them out twice... hoping that I can get even one to hatch.
Michele

It is probably harder to find pure (tuft) Auracauna because of the lethal gene.

 

[SimplyLogan]

Quote: All of my shipped eggs I have paced in the hovabator because I'm "chicken" to place them in the finicky LG after being beat up from the mail system. I wanted specific breeds and I don't have much of an option except ordering hatchery birds. I do have some hatchery for general egg laying, but I wanted some with a specific goal in mind. I will tell you, I have to baby sit that darn incubator and fuss over it often. Its not easy but I think I figured out its temperament. I am somewhat exhausted by the end of a hatch.

 

[mswendeu]

Ok I have a question how long does everyone keep incubating? I am just wondering if there is a cut off time when you should stop incubating?

 

[SimplyLogan]

Ok I have a question how long does everyone keep incubating? I am just wondering if there is a cut off time when you should stop incubating?

Chick hatching time is from 21 to 25 days. Of course certain factors can vary of those hatch times. In my LG, because of the slightly higher temperatures my chicks have hatched as early as 19 days. Most cases I leave mine to Day 25 and then water Candle to see if there's any life left. I have noticed most often, most eggs hatch within a certain time after the first hatching begins. However, I still typically leave mine to they 25 and watch for stinkers if those are just my straggling eggs left. Sometimes you can have a slow starter that can hatch a couple days after the rest. Having a low temperature can have your chick hatching start later then day 21, so your checks may hatch through day 25. You can only water candle if there are no pips in the eggs.

 

[WVduckchick]

Ok I have a question how long does everyone keep incubating? I am just wondering if there is a cut off time when you should stop incubating?

Do you mean throughout the year? I think there are folks that hatch all year long. I may do another hatch later, but wouldn't want itty bitty ones during really cold months. We get sub-zero temps occasionally where I am, so that would be hard. But if its warm enough year round, I would think any time would be ok.

 

[mswendeu]

Chick hatching time is from 21 to 25 days. Of course certain factors can vary of those hatch times. In my LG, because of the slightly higher temperatures my chicks have hatched as early as 19 days. Most cases I leave mine to Day 25 and then water Candle to see if there's any life left. I have noticed most often, most eggs hatch within a certain time after the first hatching begins. However, I still typically leave mine to they 25 and watch for stinkers if those are just my straggling eggs left. Sometimes you can have a slow starter that can hatch a couple days after the rest. Having a low temperature can have your chick hatching start later then day 21, so your checks may hatch through day 25. You can only water candle if there are no pips in the eggs.

I meant through the year. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.