March 13th 2016 Hatch-A-long

[Faraday40]

Everyone has their own methods, but this is what I do:

If I find a clear on day 7, I recandle it again sometime between day 10-14. Still clear, I toss it in the trash. I'm too nervous to feed it to the dogs because at best it was infertile, but it could also have been infected with bacteria.

If I get an obvious quitter (only 5-8 days of growth) I usually toss them on day 18. By then, I am sure that it's dead. Anything bigger, but smaller than rest, I allow to stay until after the hatch.... just in case. I used to not toss any eggs, but I once had an egg "explode" on day 20 just as my chicks were pipping. I had to quickly clean out the goo & stench & put the good eggs back. I ended up getting only 40% hatch rate due to all the shrink wrapped chicks.

After everything is hatched, if I have eggs remaining, I will crack them open to see how far they made it. I cracked open my last 2 yesterday. One was nickel sized & the other absorbed all the yolk but never pipped. It looked upside down.




I have 4 eggs I just put into the hatcher last night. One was "smaller." Hope to see some pips on Sunday!

 

[jnr005]

OMG!!! First pip!!!!! I'm like a crazy person running around telling everyone in the house! Day 18 and was going to check them all one last time for final position, but glad I looked before opening the bator! Humidity is at 60% so I may add a bit of water through the air hole but OMG!!! Lol. Now I'm like an idiot just staring at this egg as if it's going to magically pop!

 

[Puddin Fluff]

OMG!!! First pip!!!!! I'm like a crazy person running around telling everyone in the house! Day 18 and was going to check them all one last time for final position, but glad I looked before opening the bator! Humidity is at 60% so I may add a bit of water through the air hole but OMG!!! Lol. Now I'm like an idiot just staring at this egg as if it's going to magically pop!

 

[jnr005]

It hatched!!! But it's leg isn't extending???? It's been out for over a half hour and is struggling to roll over and can't seem to get the one leg under its self. Is this normal?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

It hatched!!! But it's leg isn't extending???? It's been out for over a half hour and is struggling to roll over and can't seem to get the one leg under its self. Is this normal?

Is it moving the leg but just can't right it's self? If so, that is normal. They have very little coordination. It takes a while for them to get all their parts going. They usually rest a bit after they get out and then will have spurts of flopping around. I wouldn't be too worried about it unless it is fluffed out and then still not moving the leg. You would take some time to straighten out too if you were folded like a pretzel for 21 days!

What breed? Just curious.

 

[jnr005]

Glad to hear that...I guess I was just expecting it to pop up and go, lol. I am not sure about the breed. It came from a darker brown egg, but not a maran. My daughters friends gave us some eggs and I never asked which breeds they had since we are giving them back and will hatch our own in a month. (This was a test hatch). I will ask them tonight what possible breeds they are. I know they have a few types and 2 roosters.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

You want to see something hatch and run, hatch some quail! Man those things start moving fast and never quit!

 

[jnr005]

That's the only thing I've ever seen hatch. We did quails in middle school

 

[Puddin Fluff]

We were given some eggs during our first incubator hatch so I put them in and had fun with a staggered hatch, anyway, I was amazed at how small and fast those little buggers were! Fascinating!

 

[Joplus]

It hatched!!! But it's leg isn't extending???? It's been out for over a half hour and is struggling to roll over and can't seem to get the one leg under its self. Is this normal?

Congrats. Looks like my baby leghorns that are popping out right now. They are pretty floppy the first day but after that there might be something up.