1st incubation!! Day 19, 2 eggs are rocking, 1 wiggling slightly!!!!!

[chickienewbie88]

Soo i have 4 silkie eggs and 4 mystery bantam eggs (lol, eggs were obtained through a friend of a friend so who knows what they really are) and today is day 19. I noticed this morning 2 mystery eggs are rocking and 1 silkie egg is slightly wiggling. No visible pips yet! In your experience, does this even remotely indicate how soon hatching may commence or that these early rockers (lol) will perhaps hatch first? Also, i read some conflicting information yesterday.. Some start Day 1 of the incubation process as the day you "set" the egg (24 hous before putting in the bator) and some count the first day in the bator.. which is correct? Because if day 1 isnt the incubator day, im actually day 21 today, as it took approximately 36+ hours to get the new bator stabilized at the correct temp. Do you think this will affect my hatch success? Thanks for any tips you guys can provide!! Im just SO excited and beyond overwhelmed with the little miracles going on in my den

 

[chickienewbie88]

Also, ive seen a lot of pictures where people candle to see inte rnal pips.. how is this possible if im not supposed to open the bator after lockdown? Is there any reason i should open it? And everyone says to leave all the chicks inside until all have hatched.. im worried that they might bump their heads on the heating elements and even read a story where a chick pecked through the fan cage and was decapitated!!! How do i avoid those things if i cant take them out?? Are these realistic worries? Im using a farm innovations 4200 with rubber cabinent liner on top of the hardware cloth bottom so they arent very elevated.

 

[Titanpaul726]

I can tell you what I do and maybe that will help.

I always get the incubator at running temp before adding eggs. Usually a day or so to make fine adjustments. I always count the first FULL DAY of incubation as day one. So I count 21 days from that day. With the 36 hour stabilization time you could be looking at a day or two later than you anticipated. It sounds like your eggs are rocking along just fine.

I would never candle after lockdown. I usually try to candle at day 7 and day 14 only.

You CAN leave all the chicks in the bator until all are hatched, or you can move them as they dry out. It doesn't hurt them at all to leave them in the incubator for 24-48 hrs. I've never seen a problem with leaving the chicks in the incubator for 24 hours. The downside to removing them as they dry is you will lose some humidity and the temp will fall. If it was up to me, I would just leave them. Unless you notice an emergency of some type.

Have fun and enjoy the process.

 

[chickienewbie88]

I can tell you what I do and maybe that will help.

I always get the incubator at running temp before adding eggs.  Usually a day or so to make fine adjustments.  I always count the first FULL DAY of incubation as day one.  So I count 21 days from that day.  With the 36 hour stabilization time you could be looking at a day or two later than you anticipated.  It sounds like your eggs are rocking along just fine.

I would never candle after lockdown.  I usually try to candle at day 7 and day 14 only.

You CAN leave all the chicks in the bator until all are hatched, or you can move them as they dry out.  It doesn't hurt them at all to leave them in the incubator for 24-48 hrs.  I've never seen a problem with leaving the chicks in the incubator for 24 hours.  The downside to removing them as they dry is you will lose some humidity and the temp will fall.  If it was up to me, I would just leave them.  Unless you notice an emergency of some type.

Have fun and enjoy the process. 

Thank you for the reply! Sorry I wasnt clear, i was "setting" the eggs (resting?) while getting the incubator to temp, they werent inside.. i just had read that some people start day one when they set eggs 24 hours before placing in the incubator. So today is my day 19 then. I also candeled at 7 and 14, but then again at 16 because i had some air cell problems and needed to rearrange the eggs in the incubator to fix. By yesterday at lockdown, all air cells were looking good. I didnt think lockdown candling would be okay but ive seen it quite a bit and didnt know if i was missing something. so do you have any experience in how long after rocking you had chicks emerge? Just trying to get an idea of what/when i can expect each milestone in this journey. Im so excited.. i wish i could press fast forward on them! Lol. And theyll be safe in the incubator then?? I have literally never had an animal give birth (or be "birthed" as the case may be) in front of me so my head is spinning with every worst case senario i can think of. Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[Titanpaul726]

Thank you for the reply! Sorry I wasnt clear, i was "setting" the eggs (resting?) while getting the incubator to temp, they werent inside.. i just had read that some people start day one when they set eggs 24 hours before placing in the incubator. So today is my day 19 then. I also candeled at 7 and 14, but then again at 16 because i had some air cell problems and needed to rearrange the eggs in the incubator to fix. By yesterday at lockdown, all air cells were looking good. I didnt think lockdown candling would be okay but ive seen it quite a bit and didnt know if i was missing something. so do you have any experience in how long after rocking you had chicks emerge? Just trying to get an idea of what/when i can expect each milestone in this journey. Im so excited.. i wish i could press fast forward on them! Lol. And theyll be safe in the incubator then?? I have literally never had an animal give birth (or be "birthed" as the case may be) in front of me so my head is spinning with every worst case senario i can think of. Thank you so much for your help!!

I usually see some egg wiggling a couple days before hatch. Sometimes I never see any eggs move at all. It seems like the hatch usually starts within two days of seeing the eggs move, at least with me it does. It looks like you should have some hatching Thursday or Friday. Don't be surprised when they are still hatching on Saturday or even Sunday though. The day 21 thing is really very accurate for the most part.

Leave them in the incubator after they hatch. It won't hurt them in any way. But if you're like me, you'll have to get your hands on one ASAP. That's probably the wrong thing to do, but it's so much fun I do it anyway.

 

[chickienewbie88]

Awesome!! i just cant wait to watch them break out! Luckily im a stay-at-home furr mom so i wont have to miss anything. I almost want to sleep beside them LOL!! Im pretty excited to see what my mystery eggs turn out to be.. the guy did have silkies so im pretty positive the silkie eggs are true, but he said the others were silkie bantam.. which now i know theyre all bantams.. so maybe a cross? And i have no idea what bantam was crossed.. there could be a cow in there for all i know, lol. Sterilizing my brooder as we speak.. i also have 3 week old wyandottes. They were all supposed to be golden laced but one silver got in there somehow, lol. Just moved them up to a 110 gal water bin since theyre so huge so now my small brooder (a storage bin, about 1.5 x 2.5 x 2 feet) is empty and i gotta get it ready. When my fiance decided he wanted chickens, i was like ehh i hate birds (love all other critters) so ill just feed em and theyll give me eggs. now im SO in love with them that i dont think ill ever have enough!!! Any last advice for hatching or moving them to the brooder? My wyandottes were ordered from Mt. Healthy and i got them at a day old so all the hatching drama was over. Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[chickienewbie88]

I naturally woke up 10 mins ago and went to check my eggs. The smallest Silkie pipped!!! Went to put more water on my towels inside through the vent and when i came back, the silkie beside it had pipped too!!!!! Im SO excited!!!

 

[DanEP]

2 Down and 6 to go. Now all you have to do is try not to keep your eye pressed up against the glass waiting for some one to hatch. At least after the first one hatches the wait won't seem as long.

 

[Titanpaul726]

Awesome!! i just cant wait to watch them break out! Luckily im a stay-at-home furr mom so i wont have to miss anything. I almost want to sleep beside them LOL!! Im pretty excited to see what my mystery eggs turn out to be.. the guy did have silkies so im pretty positive the silkie eggs are true, but he said the others were silkie bantam.. which now i know theyre all bantams.. so maybe a cross? And i have no idea what bantam was crossed.. there could be a cow in there for all i know, lol. Sterilizing my brooder as we speak.. i also have 3 week old wyandottes. They were all supposed to be golden laced but one silver got in there somehow, lol. Just moved them up to a 110 gal water bin since theyre so huge so now my small brooder (a storage bin, about 1.5 x 2.5 x 2 feet) is empty and i gotta get it ready. When my fiance decided he wanted chickens, i was like ehh i hate birds (love all other critters) so ill just feed em and theyll give me eggs. now im SO in love with them that i dont think ill ever have enough!!! Any last advice for hatching or moving them to the brooder? My wyandottes were ordered from Mt. Healthy and i got them at a day old so all the hatching drama was over. Thanks for all your help!!!

Sounds like you have everything under control. Now you can just sit back and enjoy the show

 

[chickienewbie88]

Thank you everyone! Im having a hard time finding that fast forward button on the incubator.. can you all help me? Lol