September Hatch-A-Long

[debbie50chicks]

I set 12 RIR's this morning in my homemade incubator. I'm not very sure about this hatching success. #1: shipped eggs. #2: I just missed their delivery on Saturday. #3: They sat at the post office all weekend. When i picked them up...they were not marked "eggs" or even "fragile". When the lady went to go in the back and get them...she put them on the counter...flipping them around to scan them. I almost had a heart attack! She apologized profusely after finding out they were hatching eggs. She herself couldn't believe they were never labeled. Surprisingly enough...none were even cracked! Well...I'll see in 7 days after candling. Hatch date = September 10th. Looking forward to following along with everyone. :-D

 

[cream puff]

I set 18 eggs 10 days ago, mine are due on Sept 3rd. Today was day ten candle and out 18, 11 are viable. 2 were definately infertile and the other 5 were fertile but didn't develop. And I dropped 1 perfectly healthy viable egg

, so the kids got to see a 10 day old chicken embryo

. The other egg that didn't make it had the red ring of death. So that leaves 11 hopefuls.

5 partridge silkies
6 mystery eggs (probably production reds - I don't know for sure - bought them at a store)

Looking forward to see if anything makes it. Wish me luck!

 

[darkbluespace]

I am on day 7... I candled my 28 Serama eggs and found 7 clear, 4 quitters and 17 developing! That is pretty good. I wish more of the Silkied Serama were developing but I have 2/5 and one of those eggs is super tiny!!!! I have yet to hatch such a tiny egg. 5/5 Frizzle eggs are developing! I didn't have the heart to take any out yet... maybe next week : ) Only 2 more weeks to go!

 

[Housemom408]

I am also on day 7. I tried to candle them today. Since I never done it before it was pretty interesting. I have 6 brahma eggs under a broody. 5 of them were developing. You could see movement, maybe it just from me turning the egg . One I'm not sure of, the yolk area was bigger, but you couldn't see much else. I'm not sure if it is a younger egg or maybe a quitter. I put it back under her. I figured time will tell. Will the hen know if any are bad?

 

[cream puff]

I am on day 7... I candled my 28 Serama eggs and found 7 clear, 4 quitters and 17 developing! That is pretty good. I wish more of the Silkied Serama were developing but I have 2/5 and one of those eggs is super tiny!!!! I have yet to hatch such a tiny egg. 5/5 Frizzle eggs are developing! I didn't have the heart to take any out yet... maybe next week : ) Only 2 more weeks to go!

I always have trouble with the bantam eggs, I actually doubt that I will get any bantam to hatch from this batch. What temperature is your bator set? Mine is between 99 and 101 (it's still air foam - home made). In the past I have had success with the larger eggs but never with the bantams, I'm sure it's just a tweak that I am missing. What I really need to do is invest in one of those commercial incubators (dreaming) or one of my silkies needs to go broody again...

 

[duluthralphie]

I am in,,,,

And for the record I was the first one in.....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/916937/mid-september-hatch-a-long-with-ethel#post_13955726


Anyways Ethel is s setting and I see her every day or two, so unless some hunter gets overly excited and shoots her, I will have turkeys around the 10th...

I have found her general area (of the nest) and am not looking further. She maybe off my land and on government land. I guess she did not see the keep out sign.



I have no idea of how many eggs nor can I candle them, so I am on auto pilot this hatch along

 

[cream puff]

I am in,,,,

And for the record I was the first one in.....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/916937/mid-september-hatch-a-long-with-ethel#post_13955726


Anyways Ethel is s setting and I see her every day or two, so unless some hunter gets overly excited and shoots her, I will have turkeys around the 10th...

I have found her general area (of the nest) and am not looking further. She maybe off my land and on government land. I guess she did not see the keep out sign.



I have no idea of how many eggs nor can I candle them, so I am on auto pilot this hatch along

I am looking forward to how this turns out, be sure to give updates! (and pictures

)

 

[krista74]

Well, things are going along well here. We are on Day 6, and Broody is still stuck tight to her nest.

I take her off once a day to make sure she eats and drinks. And poops, but we won't talk about that. I'm still recovering .....

I haven't candled the eggs, and nor am I going to.

I've never had chicks before so I want whatever happens to be a big surprise.

If I just leave all the eggs under her, will she kick out any 'bad' ones? Or can I expect to find a chook covered in exploded rotten egg at some point?

- Krista

 

[cream puff]

Well, things are going along well here. We are on Day 6, and Broody is still stuck tight to her nest.

I take her off once a day to make sure she eats and drinks. And poops, but we won't talk about that. I'm still recovering .....

I haven't candled the eggs, and nor am I going to.

I've never had chicks before so I want whatever happens to be a big surprise.

If I just leave all the eggs under her, will she kick out any 'bad' ones? Or can I expect to find a chook covered in exploded rotten egg at some point?

- Krista

Hi Krista,

in my experience my hen didn't kick out any duds, but I have heard that some do (I reckon they get smelly if they're bad). I would candle though, because there are those chickens who don't kick out the bad eggs and they explode under them, you don't want that mess. I'd just wait till the last minute to candle, like day 18. You can even hear them chirping in the egg, so that is a really good indication that all is well. Good luck!

 

[darkbluespace]

I always have trouble with the bantam eggs, I actually doubt that I will get any bantam to hatch from this batch. What temperature is your bator set? Mine is between 99 and 101 (it's still air foam - home made). In the past I have had success with the larger eggs but never with the bantams, I'm sure it's just a tweak that I am missing. What I really need to do is invest in one of those commercial incubators (dreaming) or one of my silkies needs to go broody again...

I have a homemade bator too.. in a styrofoam cooler. I put a computer fan in and it is powered by a 12V plug I had. I think the air circulation helps, though the little eggs don't seem to like too much air. For forced air, I am keeping my temp at around 100, 100.5. I heard that bantam eggs do better with a slightly higher temp. I had a collection of Serama eggs from my hens, about 5 in the bator that are ahead of my batch of 28 and one of them hatched and another is internally pipped right now. I have been doing a dry hatch and hope that is going to work out for the 28. It seems to be working for the first eggs!

I think a fan would make a big difference for you : )