My Hatching Journey: the Adventures of a Complete Newbie

[BantyChooks]

First set of the year has arrived! They're going in the incubator tomorrow.

 

[BantyChooks]

Day 7 on the quail has come & gone. 9 little spider babies are still wiggling in there. I've been doing a small-scale experiment this time, because I have a bee in my bonnet about chorio-allantoic membrane issues. I suspect it's shipping related but I have divided the eggs into two groups and am turning them in different ways to see if that does anything to hatch rates/incidence of membrane issues. I've tried to research for information on the matter but unfortunately I couldn't find anything on the CAM as relating to hatching. Perhaps I am missing something, but there seems to be a lack of information on it as a whole. I want to know how come shipping can effect something that doesn't even exist in totality until day 14.

I wanted to divide the eggs and set one half as soon as they arrived and the others after the standard 24 hours, but unfortunately a snowstorm made it so not waiting would have been unwise due to power outage possibilities. I still want to do that in the future, but changing turning methods will work too for now.

Oh, and I stuck some Silver Ameraucana eggs in there too. They're both fertile and on day 3.

 

[Kiki]

I became interested in incubating several months ago, after starting to get some fertile eggs from my newest roosters. While asking around on BYC I found the "Incubating w/ friends" thread. After reading the incredible pile of information on there and asking some questions, I decided to sit back and wait for spring. Yeah, right, famous last words, eh? My first batch is going in the incubator soon, if I can locate all the supplies I need. I thought I had them all but then my hygroset (pictured below) malfunctioned.



Incubator modification—it's so simple, but makes adjusting temperatures way easier. Just hot glue a Lego onto the adjuster.


Incubator pictures:



My plans are to get a good cross going with my EE/Sultan eggs. I am curious as to what they look like, and if I can get them to retain the more attractive aspects of the Sultan with the coloured eggs and slightly better common sense of the EE.

Update: 1st gen cross of EE x Sultan below. I am very pleased.



Pictured below are some of the eggs I am going to set.


Helpful thread links:

Hatching 101
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

Educational Incubation and Hatching
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/educational-incubation-hatching-w-sally-sunshine-hosts-bantychooks-and-more.1137467/

Coolerbator
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/homemade-easy-cooler-incubator
and
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/building-the-binbator.72074/

Assisted Hatching
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching


Feel free to join in with your own hatches, add advice, or learn a few things. All are welcome.

I'm only about 2 years LATE!
I'll catch up one day.

 

[BantyChooks]

All right. It's day 15 and I just finished locking down the Coturnix eggs.
My little experiment had most fascinating results. It ended up that somehow I had an equal number of quitters and clears on both sides, leading to an equal number of eggs to compare results on.
Group A was put in my usual handmade turners, going back and forth over 45* and turned three times a day. They were also spun a quarter turn every time they were turned normally, if that makes sense. I surmised that maybe changing which part of the pointy end had the most pressure on it more often would counteract whatever makes incomplete or prematurely fused CAMs so prevalent in shipped eggs. Kindly correct me if you know of the actual cause.

Group B was turned normally, in the same turner type group A was.

Results:
Group A: #10, complete CAM; #5, complete CAM; 6, complete CAM; #7, complete CAM.
Group B: #1, slightly incomplete CAM; #2, complete CAM; #14, medium incomplete CAM; #9, complete CAM.
So, in this very small experiment, eggs rotated while turning were 50% more likely to have complete CAMs than those only tilted. One interesting thing was that only two eggs from the whole set had noticeable saddles—and both were in group A. I rather wonder if demands for the CAM and demands for damaged air cells run directly counter to each other.

We'll see how hatch rates pan out. Oh, and I set more Ameraucana eggs. Next experiment will be setting local eggs with the same turning procedures as for shipped eggs to see if that's what is effecting it.

 

[BantyChooks]

I'm only about 2 years LATE!
I'll catch up one day.

It's mostly me panicking and sharing way too many photos. Don't worry about catching up.

 

[BantyChooks]

2 externals, 1 internal, & several drawdowns. Looks like they're all still alive so far.

 

[BantyChooks]

7 quails ended up hatching, & my next set of Ameraucanas just popped out this morning. I think I have three more AM eggs due in about a week, maybe less, but they're under a broody now. I might set some PC eggs in a bit. I have 11 months of no incubation to make up for.

 

[Kiki]

7 quails ended up hatching, & my next set of Ameraucanas just popped out this morning. I think I have three more AM eggs due in about a week, maybe less, but they're under a broody now. I might set some PC eggs in a bit. I have 11 months of no incubation to make up for.

Woot! Set them!

 

[DwayneNLiz]

 

[BantyChooks]

Broody hen on 3 AMs has one external pip and I think one internal. Maybe two. PC eggs aren't ready to set yet.