4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[mstricer]

My head hurts from reading 89 posts.

Quote: 42 eggs. You shouldn't block the air holes on the bottom. If you are filling it up then the air can't circulate like it is supposed to.

It looks like I have some catching up to do. The boss was in so I couldn't follow along.

I had a duh moment 3 weeks ago. I was sick of looking at my almost empty incubator so I set 150 eggs, many of which were over 2 weeks old. Well, I put 107 in the hatching trays last night. Even if half of them hatch, what will I do with all those chicks? Nobody buys chicks here in the winter.

I have your RCRIR going into lock down. I think I am down to 8 with a few air cells the I'm crossing my fingers for.

Don't hate me, but I'm going to post in this thread even though my eggs should be hatching tomorrow, not Jan 1. I just see a lot of activity here and I need some advice pronto. Not trying to spam, I just wanna save these babies.

I had 3 fully formed silkies die in shell this morning. (one pipped 3 days late and unzipped halfway then died, the other 2 didn't even pip internally, but they did absorb their yolk sacs). I've been reading reading reading. I'm pretty sure my temperature is OK. I've now learned that my eggs' air cells look way too small, so my humidity must have been too high this whole time! I've had it at 60%ish all through incubation. The air cells look like they should at day 7, whoa! There are fully formed embryos wiggling around in there.

So..... what can I do? Are they doomed? I removed the water. Now the humidity is at around 30%. Should I decrease humidity gradually, or all at once? Will a sudden drop in humidity hurt them? How can I assist them with moisture loss without hurting them?

Is the danger of "shrink-wrapping" the babies only after they've pipped?

I have a little computer fan in there, should I turn it off? Or maybe keep it on but turn it off during pipping?

I'm going crazy over here, somebody please tell me what to do, or tell me who I can ask or what I can read. These aren't particularly valuable chicks, I just hate for them to develop fully and just die when they're so close to making it. Poor little guys.

I'm sorry I hijacked the hatch-a-long thread...

What do the veins look like? Are they still at the point that they haven't internally pipped? I'm an interfering brat, so typically, if someone's having issues, the veins are absorbed, and they're internally pipped and late hatching, I'll start the pipping for them. I've had great success with this and have only lost a few this way (maybe five total in all of the years of hatching and at least 100 that I've helped. Sometimes, if they're very late, they'll have curly toes and might not be able to get back on their feet because they started to develop while crunched up in the egg. :/


On another note, who knows about Easter? We celebrate it with a family feast, but I'm not particularly religious, and always thought that it was a specific Sunday in April (like the second or third or something), but looked it up and apparently it's March 31st this year? Can someone enlighten me to the "rules" of when Easter comes?

Me either most all my family is just not sure where I fall in that spot.

According to the English book of Common Prayer, "Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon, or next after the 21st day of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after."
Why such an odd definition? March 21 is the vernal equinox -- the day on which the length of daylight equals the length of darkness as the days are lengthening in the spring. The traditional Jewish calendar is based on moon phases, which is how the phase of the moon enters into the definition -- when they were determining what day Easter would fall on, they deferred to the Jewish practice of using moon phases to decide the timing of holidays.
Using this method, Easter can only occur between March 22 and April 25.
webjacked from tlc

Good information. Just think, the 21st of this month, is the longest day of the year, after that we gain a min. a day woo whoo

Quote: Jim said in a earlier thread you could use your cell phone as a clock.

BAD!

So so very ticked right now.... Got my only hope on hatching eggs for NYD today from silkies. Stupid guinea jumped up and knocked the entire carton down on the ground. They ALL broke D;

I bet you are not doing this

It's ok

Now I only have ONE EE egg

One is better than none. You still have 4 1/2 days. You also have time to still order if they are willing to send today or tomorrow.

I think it's harder to keep up with this thread this year than it was last... that, or I'm getting old!!!

I'm still EXTREMELY tempted to get out the bator and put in some Trader Joe's eggs.

I've gone from 22 hens to 22 hens and 37 chicks now so NO NEED TO INCUBATE!!!!

I'm a recovering Hatch-a-holic and now I need to learn to stay away from feed stores!!!!

Have you seen all the prizes

you are under the hatching spell, now go get that bator and set it up.

Quote: Did you set 5 dozen

 

[cmfarm]

Beautiful kitty! He looks like a Maine Coon. Mine is about 15 lbs too.


This is Fenarrio next to the portrait my mom painted for me for my birthday

I would probably help a little as it may be too big to turn and complete the zip. You can carefully pick off the edges of the shell and check the membrane to make sure there are no veins before you peel it back. If you still see signs of blood it's too soon. Good luck!

Aw! He's cute too! I just love big fluffy kitties.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Beautiful kitty. Never seen one Like that.

 

[crissycriss]

I have a question for those of you with a homemade bator.Do yall have your fans run all the time or just when the thermostat kicks on?
I have mine wired in with the light to come on when the thermostat kicks on and it goes off with the light. Should i rewire it to stay on all the time?It is a box fan.it looks like a computer fan but way bigger.I tried the computer fans with a 12 volt charger but burnt up 2 so i borrowed the box fan from my BIL. Thanks for taking time to read and anwser my questions.
On another note i think my duck eggs i set for nyd hatch will not make it.My temps are fine during the day but it was down when i got up this morning to 90. Maybe they will be okay.

 

[Pele]

Alright, sorry for the slight OT, but I have 4 Marans eggs that are going to drive me to drink. They started peeping last night at about 10pm, and spent ALL NIGHT just peep peep peep peeping to each other. Which was unawesome because the incubator is in our bedroom due to temperature stability of the room.

As of 7:30 this morning, still no pips on any of them. Still chatting away with each other though. Now I'm starting to worry that they can't get out. I've never had eggs spent this long 'talking'. I keep telling them to 'get on with it!' but no dice.

If I see at 3pm there are still no pips, should I poke an airhole in their shells? I really really want these babies to make it.

 

[cluck-cluck]

Beautiful kitty! He looks like a Maine Coon. Mine is about 15 lbs too.


This is Fenarrio next to the portrait my mom painted for me for my birthday

I would probably help a little as it may be too big to turn and complete the zip. You can carefully pick off the edges of the shell and check the membrane to make sure there are no veins before you peel it back. If you still see signs of blood it's too soon. Good luck!

Your cat is so beautiful and your mother captured him perfectly! Wow, what talent!

I have a question for those of you with a homemade bator.Do yall have your fans run all the time or just when the thermostat kicks on?
I have mine wired in with the light to come on when the thermostat kicks on and it goes off with the light. Should i rewire it to stay on all the time?It is a box fan.it looks like a computer fan but way bigger.I tried the computer fans with a 12 volt charger but burnt up 2 so i borrowed the box fan from my BIL. Thanks for taking time to read and anwser my questions.
On another note i think my duck eggs i set for nyd hatch will not make it.My temps are fine during the day but it was down when i got up this morning to 90.

Maybe they will be okay.

You really need to run the fan all the time, it keeps the air circulating so that the incubator has an even temperature. I bet the eggs will be ok, but if the temp drops at night, just put a blanket on top of the incubator to keep it warm (but check on it often to make sure it's not too hot!!) I find there is no sleep for the hatching mama, LOL

Alright, sorry for the slight OT, but I have 4 Marans eggs that are going to drive me to drink. They started peeping last night at about 10pm, and spent ALL NIGHT just peep peep peep peeping to each other. Which was unawesome because the incubator is in our bedroom due to temperature stability of the room.

As of 7:30 this morning, still no pips on any of them. Still chatting away with each other though. Now I'm starting to worry that they can't get out. I've never had eggs spent this long 'talking'. I keep telling them to 'get on with it!' but no dice.

If I see at 3pm there are still no pips, should I poke an airhole in their shells? I really really want these babies to make it.

I dunno, how far along are they? I would guess that after 24 hours of internal pipping, poking a small hole (carefully) in the air sack area wouldn't hurt and would ensure they get air??

 

[Pele]

Your cat is so beautiful and your mother captured him perfectly! Wow, what talent!
You really need to run the fan all the time, it keeps the air circulating so that the incubator has an even temperature. I bet the eggs will be ok, but if the temp drops at night, just put a blanket on top of the incubator to keep it warm (but check on it often to make sure it's not too hot!!) I find there is no sleep for the hatching mama, LOL
I dunno, how far along are they? I would guess that after 24 hours of internal pipping, poking a small hole (carefully) in the air sack area wouldn't hurt and would ensure they get air??

They're on day 21, right on schedule theoretically. Silly birds need to stop their knitting circle and actually hatch!

 

[mommaclucker]

Alright, sorry for the slight OT, but I have 4 Marans eggs that are going to drive me to drink. They started peeping last night at about 10pm, and spent ALL NIGHT just peep peep peep peeping to each other. Which was unawesome because the incubator is in our bedroom due to temperature stability of the room.

As of 7:30 this morning, still no pips on any of them. Still chatting away with each other though. Now I'm starting to worry that they can't get out. I've never had eggs spent this long 'talking'. I keep telling them to 'get on with it!' but no dice.

If I see at 3pm there are still no pips, should I poke an airhole in their shells? I really really want these babies to make it.

Ive got 4 lavender orps doing the same thing they have some funky aircells so Im sitting on my hands trying not to fuss with them they have been chirping to each other since about 10:30 last night and nothing all day except chatting to each other. Ive been debating on pokeing an airhole also but im gonna try and hold off till later tonight

:

 

[Bettacreek]

Wet and dreary day, so these two decided it was best to stick near their room, lol. Everyone else looks like a bunch of drowned rats!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

I have a question for those of you with a homemade bator.Do yall have your fans run all the time or just when the thermostat kicks on?
I have mine wired in with the light to come on when the thermostat kicks on and it goes off with the light. Should i rewire it to stay on all the time?It is a box fan.it looks like a computer fan but way bigger.I tried the computer fans with a 12 volt charger but burnt up 2 so i borrowed the box fan from my BIL. Thanks for taking time to read and anwser my questions.
On another note i think my duck eggs i set for nyd hatch will not make it.My temps are fine during the day but it was down when i got up this morning to 90.

Maybe they will be okay.

fans both run 24/7