4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[AlivianAcres]

Candled tonight 1 chicken out of 3 looks great. One was a quitter looks like day 6/7...the other still has some veining,but only on half of the egg...I don't see any distinct movement...here is a picture

I left it in until I get your input...should I pull it? Its weird!

My quail eggs look OK...a couple are too dark to see in but I could see darkening and good stuff in 3/4 of them...I hope some hatch! My first time with quail

 

[gabrielle1976]

If it dosnt. Stink lave it you Hav nothing to lose If its not rotten and weeping and evrything to gain.
Goodnight evryone.

 

[AlivianAcres]

If it dosnt. Stink lave it you Hav nothing to lose If its not rotten and weeping and evrything to gain.
Goodnight evryone.

it defiantly passed the sniff test . I'll leave it in then. Thx!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Can you go through this again? I have it about 35 % right now. Do I take it up to 60-62 for lockdown and then up again for pipping or do I take it up to 62 and then that is it?

You'll take it up to 60-65% and leave it. As they start to hatch the humidity will go up on its own. Mines gone up as high as 90%, tho if it gets to about 80%, since my hatcher recovers temp pretty fast Ill vent off the humidity briefly. Remote weather sensors are a godsend lol

 

[mattfulleroc]

Quote: Thank you! I am so excited!

 

[featherz]

I still have 14 eggs going strong into lockdown! Amazing for shipped eggs - I started with 16 and 14 are viable for eggs all the way from texas to NY. Might not get 14 chicks, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.. Cmon naked neck babies! =)

 

[SilkieSensation]

You'll take it up to 60-65% and leave it. As they start to hatch the humidity will go up on its own. Mines gone up as high as 90%, tho if it gets to about 80%, since my hatcher recovers temp pretty fast Ill vent off the humidity briefly. Remote weather sensors are a godsend lol

Unless I'm hatching ducks I leave my humidity between 50-60% if I raise it at all. Quail hatch best around 40%, chickens 40-50% & waterfowl 55-65%. When the 1st egg pips the humidity jumps up a good bit on it's own so I typically don't add any water at all unless I see chicks struggling. When I add water I end up with soaking wet babies that never dry & have to be plopped into the brooder still wet 24 hrs later. If I leave the humidity as it has been throughout incubation, the hatching chicks do the job of raising humidity on their own & it ends up perfect nearly every time. My typical humidity through out incubation usually runs 30-40% without adding any water at all. If there are a LOT of babies hatching at once, humidity often gets 70-90%. If it gets more than about 5-10% above the top of my goal range I will briefly lift the lid to allow some moisture to escape to bring it back in range. If it drops below my goal range I take a bottle of hot water & mist the inside of the lid lightly to quickly raise humidity.

 

[Sahwithchicks]

Also, since lockdown is tomorrow, should I candle NOW or tomorrow just before noon? Easier to do it tonight while it is dark...hum, decisions decisions... Also, humidity from lockdown forward for chicken eggs ideally is what? over 60%?

Haven't gotten all the way through to update myself here..so not sure you got an answer? I personally have found, that if the humidity is set with the old school of mid 70's..that's waaay to high. I keep mine around 60 to 62 %. Not as wet for them to pip through. So many drown when the humidity has been set too high. That's me though..with an air, and still air. Same for both. Good luck to you.

Can you go through this again? I have it about 35 % right now. Do I take it up to 60-62 for lockdown and then up again for pipping or do I take it up to 62 and then that is it?

This has already been answered. I usually hatch mine at 65% (though if you fill the all the water tray on the genesis, it will bring the humidity to exactly 75%, which has worked too). I really think the key is in not opening the Bator. If you run a 50% and do not open te Bator once, you still will have enough humidity for the chicks to hatch with out problems. If you run a 50% and open the Bator for any reason after eggs have externally pipped, you have a high chance of getting glued chicks. I remember talking to some people about the difference between shrink wrapped and sticky(I call tem glued) chicks. Shrink wrapped is caused by low humidity for a duration of incubation, causing moisture loss in the membrane. High humidity can help at hatch, but the biggest problem is the ability for te chick to move in the membrane. Sticky (what I called glued) is low humidity (or draft of low moisture air from opening Bator) after external pip. This causes the normal papery membrane that should be in the egg to get glue like and stick to the chick (stick to anything!) making movement darned hard for the chick to move and properly escape the shell. If you have a seriously glued chick you may have to assist, though last resort. A spritz with a sanitized water bottle can help the egg and the incubator if you open it. I had to help a sebright a few days ago. It pipped in my incubator score I moved it to the hatcher. The time and change it took to move the egg from the Bator to hatcher caused bad glued membranes. Luckily, I didn't have any other pips so I could help it with out worrying about getting into the Bator. Though I don't recommend it for those who aren't familiar with hatching, I have found running a 75% humidity can allow quick peeks into the hatcher to make changes or grab a bunch of chicks if they are being to rough with the other eggs. 75% seems high enough that the humidity doesn't drop down to levels that cause stickiness, if done quickly.

My duckies are rocking and I mean ROCKING!!! WOW So freaking cool!! One has internal pip already and tomorrow ok today is lockdown! So I locked them down FAST! Do ducks chirp like chicks do in the shell?

I have only hatched duck eggs once (never again, I can't stand the mess ducklings make) but mine took a LONG time, compared to chickens, to go from iternal pip to hatch. Mine peeped, and I think it took three days to hatch after I started noticing peeps and internal pips. I really thought they weren't going to make it, but 10/11 hatch just fine!

 

[BHep]

Good Morning...

Don't forget to vote: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...utest-baby-picture-contest-pole#post_10160637

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

morning all ........... bunch of over achieving eggs over here ................ lots of internal pips and peeping going on(ducks). Had to sort load hatching trays and up the humidity early. Need to finish setting up the chicken dividers and be ready to sort them for hatching.