The 8th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!

[TJChickens]

Thanks for the info

It's weird cause most of the eggs, even from the same hen, I can tell but then sometimes I just get a more round egg. So if I got a rooster, don't incubate any of that hens eggs? Or just not the round eggs?

And sorry, dumb question lol, but what side is the air cell supposed to be on? Round end? So facing up?

The round, or bigger end, has the air cell. Air cell goes up. I often get oval eggs that look the same on both ends. Just have to candle them.

 

[cforrester]

@BantyChooksWell candled my eggs on day 7 and....NOTHING! Either they got too chilled before incubation or its hit and miss with my rooster's fertility. I did a test hatch before this and had 13/14 hatch. All these have been from my own flock. So now I've got to find some more eggs and set it all back up. This time will be for a 2nd grade class. Fingers crossed this one goes well!

 

[ChickAsThieves]

HELP! The humidity in my Brinsea Mini is at 45-50% and I'm told that is too high. There is barely a coating of water on one side of the reservoir. I think it's just humid in my house because we've gotten so much rain. Should I remove ALL the water from the bator reservoir? Or should I just let things be?? It's Day 13, in case that is relevant!

Thank you!

 

[BantyChooks]

HELP! The humidity in my Brinsea Mini is at 45-50% and I'm told that is too high. There is barely a coating of water on one side of the reservoir. I think it's just humid in my house because we've gotten so much rain. Should I remove ALL the water from the bator reservoir? Or should I just let things be?? It's Day 13, in case that is relevant!

Thank you!

Candle them, how do air cells look? If they're small, remove all water, if not, you can leave it be.

 

[ChickAsThieves]

Candle them, how do air cells look? If they're small, remove all water, if not, you can leave it be.

Unfortunately, I have to leave for work so I don't have time to candle. I candled on day 10 and all looked good. Now the humidity is up to 55%, but I think it's because it's on cooling mode right now and the humidity raises as the temp lowers?

 

[BantyChooks]

Unfortunately, I have to leave for work so I don't have time to candle. I candled on day 10 and all looked good. Now the humidity is up to 55%, but I think it's because it's on cooling mode right now and the humidity raises as the temp lowers?

Candling now vs later won't make any difference... If you were having good success with lower humidity before the rain came, then I'd go ahead and remove the rest of the water.

 

[candirroberts]

I candled my eggs last night and pulled 7 yokers and a blood ring. I am down to 16 eggs. A lot of them are questionoble because I can't see through the shell.the ones I pulled I cracked open to make sure because I am a beginner (this is my first attempt) and I was correct on what I thought. I am feeling more confident. I have 11 days to go.I can't wait.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Lol, I guess my count will be much less, because I have ducks on nests all over the yard, and I have no idea when they started sitting.

Take your best guess.

Quote: The Arboretum is beautiful. My son is considering Davis for college, so we'll be scheduling a visit soon.

I candled tonight and I have a question. What does it mean if an egg is totally dark. No air cell no nothing. Just blackness from top to bottom. It was one of my light blue eggs so I should have been able to see something, right?

Darkness usually means you have a chick in there. Is it a really small egg?

You guys ever have eggs that you can't really tell the round side from the pointy side? There kinda is no pointy side? I had an Easter Egger egg like that today and I've had a few brown eggs like that too and I've always thought if I were to hatch any (which I can't cause I don't have a rooster anyway) that the chick would probably wind up being incubated upside down/pipping at the wrong end.

How do you tell which end to put down? Or would incubating on the side solve that problem?

Maybe I just need a broody hen LOL

Barnevelder eggs are very round, sometimes I have to candle them to find the side with the air sac.

 

[Faraday40]

I'd like to join the hatch a long thread but not be counted in the numbers b/c mine have already hatched.

Our Little Cookie is happily clucking away with her BIG family. My final count:
6 lav orps
4 choc cuckoo orps
5 black orps (2 are from Oopsie, so who knows what genes are in there. One of Oopsie's may actually be a blue, but I can't tell while it's under Cookie.)
1 sexlink hybrid female or a pure black orp (Egg looked like it came from my Dominique, but chick looks like a purebred, so I marked it with red leg band to examine later)
2 sexlink EE females (green leg bands)
3 penciled rocks from shipped eggs



Don't know how she does it, but Cookie has 21 LF (mostly giant English Orpington ) chicks under her! She's a bantam orpington..... but what a spread!

Often I'm not seeing any chicks under the back up Mama Heating Pad. They're all squeezing under Cookie. It reminds me of the Nutcracker's Lady with the big skirt. The chicks are under, on top of, or running around her.

Thankfully chickens can't count! She went broody about a week before the hatch date. Two eggs got put under her on day 18. (A roo trampled one.) Cookie hatched the remaining egg, but WHAT AN EGG! I kept slipping more chicks under her as they hatched, so she must think she's Superhen by hatching 21 chicks from a single egg in less than a week!

(Note: Cookie will only adopt chicks that she thinks are hers. She must feel an egg hatch under her in order to switch into mommy mode.)


We also hatched 15 quail. Those have a heat lamp.

Here are a few chick pics that were taken just before giving them to Cookie.
Lav orps


choc cuckoo orps


black orps (& a hybrid orp on right)


penciled rocks


and this little one who had lots to say

 

[The Cottages]

Candle Day. We have candled one location so far today, started with 38 eggs, ended with 24 in the incubator. I will candle one more time before lock-down. We have candled in second location, started with 24 eggs, ended with 21 in the incubator.

As a total started with 62 and we have 45 fertilized eggs. 6 of which are bantam.

Cheers!

This egg is a Bantam Salmon Faverolle
.