2nd try - Blue copper maran/ameraucana eggs(pics)

[zchickens]

This is my second try at incubating eggs. The first time I hatched only 5 eggs out of 23 (low percentage, but five is better than zero

). This time I am incubating 25 ameraucana eggs (10 blue/wheaten, 15 blue/black that I received from pips&peeps) and 14 blue copper maran eggs I received from valentine hatchery. Hopefully I will get a better hatch this time. Change I plan to make:

Keep humidiy between 35%-40% for through day 19 (last time kept it at 40-50%; raised to 65% on day 18. A majority of the eggs that didn't hatch were fully, developed; so I think they may have drowned due to too high humidity or not enough airflow). Day 20 and on - raise humidity to 55%-60%; Last time all five of the chicks that pipped hatched, and did not seem to have any problems with sticking to the shells, so I don't see that it needs to be any higher.

Keep the two to four vent holes open - last time I kept them closed the entire time until day 21 (feared that I could not keep temp/humidity consistent enough, found out once I tried it at Day 20, I could. Having these holes closed the entire time may have caused the eggs in my previous incubation to not get enough air.

I am on Day 3. Any other suggestions that might help would be great. To keep me patient, I have the other chicks from the first hatch (now four weeks old - 2 wheaten marans, 3 banty buff brahmas).

Wheaten maran female

Wheaten maran male

Banty buff brahma male

Wish me luck!

Z

 

[WriterofWords]

Good luck!! I had humidity issues this last time and had 6 babies that didn't make it because it looked they'd been shrink-wrapped in the dry membrane.
K

 

[zchickens]

Update - Well, things didn't turn out as well as I hoped. On Day 18 (Due to cold weather outside and a cooler room that the incubator was in, it took me over 4 hours to get my temp back up to 99.5 after turning off the turner and moving the eggs into cartons. That evening it got down to 27 degrees outside, and my incubator temp dropped to 94 overnight (was 99.5 when I went to bed

) . As a result, my hatch rate wasn't very good -

4 out of 12 blue cooper marans hatched (one splash, two black, one blue ...at least that is what I am guess as I have never had this type of chicken before)

3 out of 6 wheaten ameraucanas hatched (one died two days after hatching as its intestines were outside of its body

)

1 out of 18 blue/black ameraucanas hatched

So I got 7 chicks out of 36 eggs. On the bright side, the seven that made it seem very healthy

Splash maran (I'm guessing)

Blue cooper, black copper, wheaten ameraucana

Hopefully I can get better at this, as I seem to continue to have issues during the last few days of incubation. The best hatch rate I have gotten so far is 33%. My last batch of eggs I am going to hatch this spring is just starting on day twenty (8 golden lakenvelder eggs). Hopefully I can finally hit 50% with this last one....

Z

 

[beakkeeper]

Too cute! I'm sorry about the other eight that didn't hatch. What made u decide to get Marans? I've heard that they are not good in cold weather... I love them though! Do you know anything about them in the cold (MN kind of cold)?