November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

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Yeah I had them dry out last time. My humidity is in the 80s now and someone said they might drown. But they had big air cells at lockdown. I think one pipped close to the pointy end. We'll see. Maybe I'm not cut out for hatching.
Hatching is beautiful - almost magical...... and very addictive! May you soon have a brooder filled with much happy peeping!


Some of my own observations:

There's not much you can do if they pip in a bad spot, but sometimes they can make it on their own. I learned that patience is the key. I also do a more "dry" incubation day 1-18. I keep the humidity around the low 30s% for the 1st 18 days, so the air cells will be larger. A steady temp seems to be a more important factor.

Every spring I teach embryology to the local preK & K students. Also @ the park district & sometimes a 4H group or two. Their success is variable. The teachers who mean well often open the incubator to remove chicks as they hatch. Those hatches are always lower than the teachers who follow directions & wait for the end of the day to remove all the chicks at once. When the incubator is frequently opened, the humidity plummets & the membranes are more likely to dry out. At home if I have to open the incubator, I mist the side wall with a little water. That gives a quick boost. I've never been able to get humidity way up to 80%, so I'm not sure of the max range. I believe embryo drowning is caused by air cells that are too small.(meaning high humidity day 1-18) If a chick pipped & the egg rolls 180', then yes, the fluids could drown the chick, but I don't think that's a common reason for death. Of course opening the incubator to correct the positioning of a single egg puts all the other healthy eggs at risk.

Some people use cut egg cartons to make a stand, so eggs will remain air cell up throughout hatching. Chicks must push up & out to hatch. I tried it a couple times but did not notice a difference in hatch rate. We like to be able to see the hatching, and the carton obstructed the view. I like to use some of that rubber shelf liner under the eggs. Allows egg fluids to drip down/away, protects newly hatched chicks from sharp metal, & provides more friction than a paper towel so eggs roll around less. It can be purchased at a $1 store &/or washed & reused.

So here's where the patience comes in..... Some of the better hatches are the ones where no one is watching. Class goes home & returns the next morning to an incubator filled with chicks. In other words, no one was there to mess with the incubator.
 
Some are pipped but I'm nervous because my humidity won't go down. I took water out, I wiped the condensation, the plugs are open. I'm afraid to open it with pipped eggs to get more water oit.

You are fine. I am one to open my bator many times during hatching, just to snatch the chicks out. I am not one to leave them in.
I also don't like the humidity that high, so I open it to get it down..yes, keep those plugs out. :)
 
Here is a cool video. So many folks afraid of opening their bators. Maybe it's been better for some to not open them. I personally do, like I said, to take them out once their hatched. This guy lets them dry in the bator..I don't like them bowling all of the eggs around, so I take them out as they hatch.

 
 You are fine.  I am one to open my bator many times during hatching, just to snatch the chicks out.  I am not one to leave them in. 
  I also don't like the humidity that high, so I open it to get it down..yes, keep those plugs out.  :)  


I'm right there with you. I can't help myself and really can't stand watching the new babies bowling with the other eggs in there. If you think about it, under mama, they wouldn't be kicking and shoving the other eggs all over the place, mama would be pretty much holding them steady. I always make sure to be very quick though when pulling them out so too much humidity isn't lost.
 
I'm kind of in the middle. I like to leave the chicks in until they are pretty fluffy, which may take a while, and I like to leave at least one in there peeping to encourage the others to hurry up. If I see eggshells covering other eggs or too much of a mess, I'll snatch the empties out quickly so there's more room. Same goes for those chicks that have a thin cord and dragging half an eggshell around. A quick snip will take care of that.

My incubator recovers really quickly, but I still don't like opening it when there is a big pip or zip in progress.

I pulled the infertile egg today, so on day 12 I still have 8 going strong. Over halfway there!
 
I made a mess of this hatch since it was staggered... Crappy air cells wrong end pipping etc shipped eggs stress me out I open the bator to grab them usually they fluff better outside for me. Last hatch it wasn't an issue this time not so much I had 6 shrink wrapped w/ q-tips, tweezers and Neosporin 3 r out now. I have had to do this a few times so I'm super careful not perfect but have had many make it that otherwise wouldn't of. I can't just set eggs from my backyard yet so w/ shipping etc there are a lot of factors that are not "natures way"....I'm doing things differently next hatch hopefully w/o any intervention necessary that's much less stressful lol. For what I spend and the conditions under which they are obtained etc I will help if necessary and the majority of those chicks are just as healthy as those that don't need help. Growing up w/animals (race horses) ppl r watching for mares to foal and at the slightest appearance of trouble they step in immediately so I was raised with that mentality it's hard to break.... My mom just finished bottle feeding an abandon kitten she found in her barn and he's doing awesome! Not everyone's cup of tea but just my little piece of perception....
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Day 20 for my two surviving Silver Laced Wyandotte eggs. I came home to see no pips, but something made me quickly open up the incubator and check the bottom of the two eggs. Sure enough, one had a pip on the bottom! I placed it back in, pip up. I can see the little beak peeking through, and moving.

I tend to run my humidity up around 80 at lockdown, so it only dropped to 70 when I opened the incubator. Hoping for the best. As long as I see the chick is moving, I am just going to leave it alone. The pip is in the middle of the egg, not where I marked the air cell. However, if I can see the beak, that means the chick is getting air.

Nothing from the other egg, which has a big, saddle-shaped air cell.

Hoping for healthy chicks! Good luck, all!
 
I made a mess of this hatch since it was staggered... Crappy air cells wrong end pipping etc shipped eggs stress me out I open the bator to grab them usually they fluff better outside for me. Last hatch it wasn't an issue this time not so much I had 6 shrink wrapped w/ q-tips, tweezers and Neosporin 3 r out now. I have had to do this a few times so I'm super careful not perfect but have had many make it that otherwise wouldn't of. I can't just set eggs from my backyard yet so w/ shipping etc there are a lot of factors that are not "natures way"....I'm doing things differently next hatch hopefully w/o any intervention necessary that's much less stressful lol. For what I spend and the conditions under which they are obtained etc I will help if necessary and the majority of those chicks are just as healthy as those that don't need help. Growing up w/animals (race horses) ppl r watching for mares to foal and at the slightest appearance of trouble they step in immediately so I was raised with that mentality it's hard to break.... My mom just finished bottle feeding an abandon kitten she found in her barn and he's doing awesome! Not everyone's cup of tea but just my little piece of perception....
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Congrats on the successful assist hatches on the shrink wrapped chicks. I'm sure it's much harder with a staggered hatch. I hope the rest go as well.
 

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