May Hatch-a-Long!

[wabbit1964]

Count me in. I have duck and Chicken eggs set for May.

 

[eclecktic1]

Hello, May hatchers-

Yesterday I did a Day 10 candling and I had 3 with definite blood rings and a couple that I wasn't sure about because I was pretty certain I could still see an embryo in there with the possible ring formation. So I wait and watch until Day 14.

I am pretty thrilled, really, despite the losses because seeing the growth since the 3rd day is amazing. Some of the most saddle shaped air cells from being shipped seem to be thriving now.

 

[kupi99]

Porous egg question------

I'm a teacher and I'm hatching eggs in my classroom. Since I hatch eggs as a class project, I'm usually not too picky about what kind or type, and usually find a seller on Craigslist to go with.
Well, today we candled for the first time (day 5), and all of my eggs are very porous. I haven't had a batch this bad in years, and back then, I had a Little Giant that didn't work very well. I think only one egg hatched from that group.
Now I've got a Brinsea Mini advanced. I'm wondering if there's anything I need to do help ensure this batch hatches? I'm not ususally super picky with humidity, I just keep the wells filled. I haven't had issues in the past with the hatches this way. Should I watch it more now?

Thanks!

 

[elizabethu42]

I'd like to join you all. I have 24 eggs set, due on May 4. EE's, OE's, and FBCM's. I've hatched quite a few times, but this is my first time with shipped eggs. Crossing my fingers for a good hatch!

Mine are due the same date!!!!!

 

[crsch1888]

I will join in

. I will be hatching (I hope) for the very first time! I have cream legbar, welsummer, and silky frizzles that were shipped, & then have lavender Orpingtons from local guy. Will be putting in bator later this evening. So exciting

 

[Clucksworth12]

I too am about to hatch some chicks bye the summer months hopefully. I am more excited this time than when I hatched some old English game hybrids a year ago. My buff orpington, which is about 5 years old, has been trying to go broody for years. She is the only one of my flock (which is made of 7 barred rocks, 2 buff orpingrons, and 1 Andalusian) which sets to hatch. The chicks will be some barred rocks, but one will be a new breed of chicken derived from my (not to toot my own horn lol) excellent breeder skills

. It is made up of a father being a penedescna and barred rock rooster, and mother being a Buff orpington. The breed is called Latham.

 

[Clucksworth12]

Duck is officially sitting.

I love that moscovie!

 

[livhatcher]

Porous egg question
I'm a teacher and I'm hatching eggs in my classroom. Since I hatch eggs as a class project, I'm usually not too picky about what kind or type, and usually find a seller on Craigslist to go with.
Well, today we candled for the first time (day 5), and all of my eggs are very porous. I haven't had a batch this bad in years, and back then, I had a Little Giant that didn't work very well. I think only one egg hatched from that group.
Now I've got a Brinsea Mini advanced. I'm wondering if there's anything I need to do help ensure this batch hatches? I'm not ususally super picky with humidity, I just keep the wells filled. I haven't had issues in the past with the hatches this way. Should I watch it more now?

Thanks!

Hey! The few porous eggs I had in the last ones I bought never developed so I didn't have a chance to discover what could or couldn't be. I have heard that holding the humidity at slightly higher levels can be helpful. My Brinsea Maxi II Advanced holds (based on my calibrated hygrometer) about 40-45% just with filling one internal side of the well to start and keeping the external well topped to the hash mark inside it. I have had success with even badly saddled air cell eggs simply by increasing the humidity by 3-5% over a normal hatch. What are you seeing on day 5?

 

[RCraven]

My first ever incubation was last month. I'll just say that it was a good learning experience. Got shipped eggs and 4 out of 14 developed. Two hatched, I had to assist the third and was successful but couldn't get it to drink and syringe helped but it died the following day. The fourth developed fully but never hatched. It looked too big to get out of the egg.

I think my humidity was too high. I followed a books direction for wet bulb between 86-89 and after reading here about dry incubation I think that was the wrong way to go. I'm keeping the wet bulb in the low 80's this time.

I ordered 18 eggs and received 23. The incubator holds 18 but since the last batch had so few develop I stuffed all 23 in there and hand turned until day 7. After candling I still had 18 that looked viable. I was expecting a 50% success rate at best since the first attemp was so poor and only have room for a dozen new chickens so I'm "almost" hoping that a few more stop developing. I candle tomorrow at day 14 so I'll know more then.

One shipper did such an excellent packing job that 100% of her eggs are developing and she sent 9 eggs when I ordered 6. They are blue ameraucanas. The other shipper was less thorough and a couple eggs broke but it looks like 8 or 9 out of 14 are viable. They are Swedish flower hens. Note to self--don't assume a 50% success rate with shipped eggs!

I just finished two new pens to help transition the babies into the adult flock and I might have to use them as overflow until I can build another coop.

My kids are due to hatch May 3rd. My folks are coming out to visit to participate in the fun and get some of that baby chick love. This has been a wonderful experience so far and this site and all of you have been incredibly helpful. Thanks for that! You guys rock.

 

[livhatcher]

My first ever incubation was last month. I'll just say that it was a good learning experience. Got shipped eggs and 4 out of 14 developed. Two hatched, I had to assist the third and was successful but couldn't get it to drink and syringe helped but it died the following day. The fourth developed fully but never hatched. It looked too big to get out of the egg.

I think my humidity was too high. I followed a books direction for wet bulb between 86-89 and after reading here about dry incubation I think that was the wrong way to go. I'm keeping the wet bulb in the low 80's this time.

I ordered 18 eggs and received 23. The incubator holds 18 but since the last batch had so few develop I stuffed all 23 in there and hand turned until day 7. After candling I still had 18 that looked viable. I was expecting a 50% success rate at best since the first attemp was so poor and only have room for a dozen new chickens so I'm "almost" hoping that a few more stop developing. I candle tomorrow at day 14 so I'll know more then.

One shipper did such an excellent packing job that 100% of her eggs are developing and she sent 9 eggs when I ordered 6. They are blue ameraucanas. The other shipper was less thorough and a couple eggs broke but it looks like 8 or 9 out of 14 are viable. They are Swedish flower hens. Note to self--don't assume a 50% success rate with shipped eggs!

I just finished two new pens to help transition the babies into the adult flock and I might have to use them as overflow until I can build another coop.

My kids are due to hatch May 3rd. My folks are coming out to visit to participate in the fun and get some of that baby chick love. This has been a wonderful experience so far and this site and all of you have been incredibly helpful. Thanks for that! You guys rock.

I'm sorry your first hatch didn't go so well. Neither did mine. Even though the packing of the eggs was great on one of the batches, after doing a lot of reading, I've come to the conclusion that the health of the parent stock might have been the culprit. On the other hand, I bought eggs from a very reputable breeder (3,000 miles from me!) and hatched 6 of 7 despite saddle cells. I'm still new to this all, but I now place the utmost importance in getting fresh collected eggs shipped the same day for better results. I also like to really feel people out before buying for them. Reading the Hatching Eggs 101 thread here really empowered me to be more assertive about talking to people about their breeding, collecting and shipping practices. Thanks @SallySunshine for the invaluable resources!

I love that you can count on awesome chicken people to send you extra eggs, but WOW!! sometimes they really are super generous!!

Re: humidity: I use a digital hygrometer/thermometer as back-up. I'm not knowledgeable about wet bulb readings, but I keep my humidity around 45% until lockdown. Sometimes I crank it up a little to deal with saddle shaped air cells.

Good luck with your hatch! I'll be a little behind you on May 10th!!