12th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-Along

[CluckNDoodle]

Well sure, on growing embryos! But hatching eggs being mailed shouldn’t be growing yet.
But I’ll take a look at the study. Thanks.

Well because of the way eggs are produced the embryo development basically starts from the time of fertilization and pauses until the appropriate heat is introduced to continue development. I would think the cells in the blastoderm/zygote would still be sensitive to radiation. I'm sure there's a more thorough study somewhere, lol. I spent a lot of time reading through poultry studies a couple of years ago but I really backed off to try to enjoy the simplicity of hatching baby chicks more but I swear if you look hard enough there is a study for everything!! It's amazing! My husband says I'm too analytical.

 

[ronott1]

Day 20 here and this morning 6:00 am I unexpectedly discovered an external pip in one of my bantam silkie eggs! Increased humiditiy immediately, then started to recover from my shock Saw the little grey beak moving and the little one talked a lot 9:30 am I discovered a second external pip on a neighbouring egg! 11:10 discovery of the third external pip (again a neighbour)!
First egg:
View attachment 2595821

Now three external pips:

View attachment 2595823

It is getting close to hatch time!

 

[ronott1]

First chick hatched:

View attachment 2595900

Hatch time is here!

 

[chicken1234]

I have 6/7 eggs pipped and I think the last is the muskovy egg. I guess if it pips then it is a muskovy mix but nothing yet. I wish I knew what I am hatching. I know one is a runner egg and I guess the others are crested but who knows?! I guess thats what you get when you buy mixed eggs lol

 

[sekeyslaks]

Found two eggs have pipped this morning!

 

[LynnaePB]

i set them on march 13 at noon they were rocking around yesterday and the day before but haven’t moved since

If they were set on the 13th today should be day 20 so it's not too unusual to not see much yet.

The day they are set counts as day 0 and doesn't rollover to day one until 24 hours after set. A good rule of thumb is eggs are due to hatch on the same day of the week you set them on (so if you set on a Saturday the 21st day will also be a Saturday).

A lot of my eggs wiggle a lot getting into hatching position but once they are in position there is often a period where they do a lot of resting. Once they've internally pipped it's not too unusual for them to not move around for a while as well as they need to adjust to using their lungs and aren't trying to make an external pip yet. Sometimes they are pretty quiet during this period too, (my silkies don't tend to peep often during this stage). Hopefully everything is fine with your little guys and they are just resting getting ready for the next stage of hatching!

 

[Lydia Huizenga]

Out of the seven eggs I set, only one was viable. The other six were all pullet eggs which was dumb on my behalf. So far, the chick has peirced the air cell and I can hear them chirping through the shell. No external pip yet though.

 

[ronott1]

Two pips already!! Actually on my birthday... best birthday present EVER, right? This is actually day 20, so they're a little early.

--goldbean's older daughter

Happy Birthday!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My gut feeling is that it's the pretty near constant vibration of transport that affects hatch rate. The eggs can be well protected against sudden shock so they arrive perfectly intact, but I'd think even a low level vibration wouldn't do the blastoderm any good.

I tend to agree with you. Any rough handling can completely detach the air cells. Case in point; I was candling a likely infertile egg that had a perfectly intact aircell (one from my own birds) and I accidently dropped it about 2 feet. It did not crack, but I was curious, so I candled it again and the air cell was completely detached. Does not take much to damage them internally.

 

[KalahariFerrari]

Two pips already!! Actually on my birthday... best birthday present EVER, right? This is actually day 20, so they're a little early.

--goldbean's older daughter

Happy birthday!!