THE MOTHER'S DAY HATCH-A-LONG!!!! The last day to join in and set eggs with us is April 28th.

[jandrusrn]

Ok just candled
BBS Marans so hard to see in those!! But I know I saw movement in 2 and I think there are blobs in all..... But I can't see a thing so I guess I'll find out in 17 days

there are 11 in the incubator.
Silkies 14 growing 1 blood ring and 8 blanks.......
I have 4 eggs under my broody..... No idea when I'll have time to candle those..... Maybe I'll just see what happens on hatch day.

Wooooo Hooooo! That's so exciting. grow grow grow wee chickiefuzziebutts!

 

[aaggjg]

Wooooo Hooooo! That's so exciting. grow grow grow wee chickiefuzziebutts!

Yeah well.... The dark eggs could all have blood rings ... Who knows .... All I know is I saw a bigger dark yolk area then when I started.... It was the 2 lighter eggs that I saw through.... Maybe as they grow and get even darker if that is possible I'll be able to tell if they are growing.....

How are your Orps?

 

[jandrusrn]

Yeah well.... The dark eggs could all have blood rings ... Who knows .... All I know is I saw a bigger dark yolk area then when I started.... It was the 2 lighter eggs that I saw through.... Maybe as they grow and get even darker if that is possible I'll be able to tell if they are growing.....

How are your Orps?

Sad. I'm pretty sure that I've got quitters. Will be doing official candling tonight. It's ucky. Down to 13 in the bator. Will inevitably removing quite a few tonight. I'm not sure, but I think I smell something a bit yukky... don't want any CO2 wrecking anything so I'll be peeking today before my daughter gets home. She has a tough time with letting go. I'll weep in private! Whaaaaa.....

Who knows? Maybe when we candle tonight, there'll still have movers and shakers in those eggs... but I'm not counting my chickens before they...err.. are candled.

Jane

 

[HEChicken]

I weigh goose, muscovy and emu eggs.. the rest I just toss in any let them do their thing..

What is different about these eggs that you weigh them and not the others?

 

[yinepu]

What is different about these eggs that you weigh them and not the others?

by monitoring weight it's easier to decide if I need to raise or lower humidity.. it will vary from hatch to hatch and even egg to egg since the porosity of the shell seems to make a bigger difference in them than it does in other types of eggs

emu eggs can not be candled at all.. so there's no way of knowing if an egg is good or bad until late in the incubation.. since they also don't have "lockdown" you need to monitor weight loss to make sure they aren't in the danger zone of too much weight loss (16%) or too little (10%) since either end of the spectrum will cause problems during and well after hatch.. since the weight loss can affect the heath of the chick after hatch it's also important to know if you need to force some liquids in them early or to be on the lookout for bad navels or other problems.. even eggs in the same incubator can have varying weight losses because of the shells or the proximity to the fan... by monitoring them I can make any adjustments early on and hopefully avoid a bad hatch or a damaged chick

the muscovy eggs are actually easy to incubate and hatch.. but a lot of people will swear they are almost impossible.. by monitoring the weight I can keep them right on track and have 90 to 100% hatch rate on them as well (shipped eggs tend to be a bit lower because of postal service damage).. if you have the humidity too high or too low for them then the hatch rate will drop.. I have seen so many people get them right up to lockdown then lose the entire hatch because their humidity was off during incubation..

goose eggs are pretty much the same as muscovys.. "harder" to incubate and hatch out than chickens.. but not very hard at all once you know where you stand with the weight loss

I think the one big reason why I don't bother to weigh chicken eggs, turkey and quail eggs is that they are so darn easy to hatch just by tossing them in the bator and "forgetting" them that just monitoring the air cells gives me all the info I need

 

[aaggjg]

Sad. I'm pretty sure that I've got quitters. Will be doing official candling tonight. It's ucky. Down to 13 in the bator. Will inevitably removing quite a few tonight. I'm not sure, but I think I smell something a bit yukky... don't want any CO2 wrecking anything so I'll be peeking today before my daughter gets home. She has a tough time with letting go. I'll weep in private! Whaaaaa.....

Who knows? Maybe when we candle tonight, there'll still have movers and shakers in those eggs... but I'm not counting my chickens before they...err.. are candled.

Jane

Oh no ..... Well I hope you have a few still wiggling!

I always leave my clears in the bator just in case I made a mistake or wishful thinking .... I hate throwing all those eggs away. It is SO DEPRESSING!!!! And I have thrown A LOT AWAY this year.... Of course now because of my bad luck with shipped eggs I started setting some every week or so .... this way if I have an total epic failure a few days later some joy might arrive in the form of a fuzzy butt! I go into lockdown tonight on my poultry show silkie eggs.... 3 or 4 out of 8 .... Half blanks.... Keep us posted...

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks for that detailed explanation Yinepu!

 

[Arielle]

I am continuing to work on what works for me in my bator. I would like to see 80% to 90% hatch rate. I seem to get 100% out of my own eggs. I just received my turkey eggs today. I will be placing them in the bator tonight. I am so looking forward to learning about the turkeys.

To get high hatch rates so many many things must be right. From the feeding and health of the hen providing the egg, to the handling while waiting to set to the incubation itself.

I charge more for my hatching eggs than my eating eggs because I care for them while they are waiting to be sold as hatching eggs. I have a special area with the RH much higher and a stable, low temperature to maximize hatching potential. And I turn them 3 times a day.

I also feed my breeders that are penned grass and protein as if they were free ranging.

We love the turkeys. I have a few in the incubator now!

Quote: Yinepu, I'm betting with your vast years of experience incubating, you know how everything works like it is second nature! ( This is a compliment , in case it's sounding otherwise!) I'm more relaxed now than when I first started! LOL Just needed some practice to get it right. ANd when I got too lax, the % hatch fell.

I'm still learning the ropes because I change the set up a little each time, experimenting, and learning what works for me and what doesn't. ANd it's all FUN!

 

[yinepu]

Thanks for that detailed explanation Yinepu!

Yinepu, I'm betting with your vast years of experience incubating, you know how everything works like it is second nature! ( This is a compliment , in case it's sounding otherwise!) I'm more relaxed now than when I first started! LOL Just needed some practice to get it right. ANd when I got too lax, the % hatch fell.

I'm still learning the ropes because I change the set up a little each time, experimenting, and learning what works for me and what doesn't. ANd it's all FUN!

thanks guys... I've been around poultry, incubating and hatching all my life (over 50 years now.. even though I hate to admit I'm getting that old!

).. so for me it's just another day

i actually envy a lot of you since you guys still get the thrill of candling an egg for the first time and finding veins.. or looking into a bator and seeing your first zip.. I was just a little squid when it happened for me (my mother had eggs in the bator when I was born.. and all the time after that too) .. and well.. even though I do love hatching out these little guys I don't have that awe and excitement that many of you are experiencing.. don't get me wrong.. i still get happy when I see an egg progressing nicely.. and am still disappointed by a clear egg... but I don't have the frantic excitement that so many of you get at hatch time.. I suppose you could say I'm just a wee bit jealous!

 

[Cynthia12]

thanks guys... I've been around poultry, incubating and hatching all my life (over 50 years now.. even though I hate to admit I'm getting that old!

).. so for me it's just another day

i actually envy a lot of you since you guys still get the thrill of candling an egg for the first time and finding veins.. or looking into a bator and seeing your first zip.. I was just a little squid when it happened for me (my mother had eggs in the bator when I was born.. and all the time after that too) .. and well.. even though I do love hatching out these little guys I don't have that awe and excitement that many of you are experiencing.. don't get me wrong.. i still get happy when I see an egg progressing nicely.. and am still disappointed by a clear egg... but I don't have the frantic excitement that so many of you get at hatch time.. I suppose you could say I'm just a wee bit jealous!

Bet I'm older than you!

But, bet I haven't hatched as long as you!! 50 yrs.!!

We'll just say you are an old timer at hatching, not old.