She will make an adorable house chicken!This is the only one. She's lonely only. I think her name is Blackberry and I think she may be a house chicken
What cute cheepers!
I set all of my eggs on the correct day. I still have live chicks in eggs. I did not poke any holes in any eggs. I use a flashlight and check for movement. All of my chicks from my flock,that I set, are done. All healthy. I did not assist. I tossed three eggs that I put into lock down. My humidity was too high for delayed development. Delayed development is the result of faulty equipment. My temps were too low to place in lock down so early. I should have held off on lock down for at least an additional day or two. I am impatiently waiting on 5 shipped eggs that are still alive.The blue egg did not make it.
It must have drowned from excessive humidity too early in development. loss is a learning experience that I do not cherish. I know that next time I need to invest in reliable equipment. Assisting chicks is a two edge sword. If it survives, you assist again and can't stop. You end up killing more than saving. Bacteria spreads and you kill healthy ones. Healthy chicks hatch all by themselves. Strong chicks will hatch even when you mess up and make the temps too low and humidity too high, as long as you correct it in time. They might not all make it...things do happen that are beyond our control.
So many of you have beautiful chicks!!! Congrats!
So many of you have sad stories..my heart breaks for all the heartache out there from the dead chicks and no chicks
I wish for each and everyone of you a wonderful New Year and a better hatch next time. Easter Hatch is a few months away!
VERY well, I think...and we are so toatally taken with them!
Out of 12, two whites were very clear at first candle. At lockdown, one black had been an early quitter....so 9 went to lockdown, I have eight healthy active chicks, with one B&W still in the 'bator. I did a quick candle (2 of my own, the one silkie...none of which had pipped). The silkie hadn't pipped the internal membrane yet, but I thought I saw movement, so back in the 'bator it went. It may be my imagination...but I really I believe I see it moving, but can't see an external pip yet.
Congratulations to who won!!We have a Broody picture winner.
Sally, was this your picture?
I just thought it was interesting that years later after having bought the first still air, that they changed the temp set. Oh well, it's close enough. My eggs in the new bator are doing well. I've had all sorts of bators. Three nice air forced, and Reptpro..and the still air. I have better hatches in the still airs! I would say the Reptpro..spelling..came in second best. Holds the humidity like the still airs do really well. Don't need it high during incubation, or during lock down.
).So my strange little guy finally hatched a few hours ago... but most of my chicks within an hour of being hatched are up and walking around the bator.... (or the grey one, who hatched, rolled over, and walked away... xD) but this little chick just kind of lays there on his side... I've been watching him for three hours now... he just kinda lays there chirping... and sometimes kicks his legs out.. what's wrong with him? I gave him some brown sugar water, as I read that was supposed to help... he swallowed that down, but he's still just laying there.. he's gone poo... but can't seem to stand up...
Is there anything I can/should do for him? Right now he's in the bator where he's warm, and away from the older chicks...
)So my strange little guy finally hatched a few hours ago... but most of my chicks within an hour of being hatched are up and walking around the bator.... (or the grey one, who hatched, rolled over, and walked away... xD) but this little chick just kind of lays there on his side... I've been watching him for three hours now... he just kinda lays there chirping... and sometimes kicks his legs out.. what's wrong with him? I gave him some brown sugar water, as I read that was supposed to help... he swallowed that down, but he's still just laying there.. he's gone poo... but can't seem to stand up...
Is there anything I can/should do for him? Right now he's in the bator where he's warm, and away from the older chicks...
)
Just checked and I see that I have caught up to almost taking the lead! Thanks to all who voted for my invention. I have been working hard to make it the best and most easy to use device any home hatcher could ever hope for! For anyone who had not voted yet, please check out the contest page, and if you feel my invention warrants it, VOTE FOR ME!! THANKS A LOT EVERYONE!!Just reprogrammed my mincrocontroller to set new parameters for lock down. I have changed it to a timer that can be set from 1-21 days based on the 24 hour system, so now you flip a switch to set the timer. It will start counting down to 21 days and will still monitor and control the conditions inside the incubator per your set parameters (99.5 F and 55% humidity) and on day 19 will change the parameters to lock down mode (98.5 F and 65% humidity). This should help a lot with keeping things in prime condition for hatching. I have also set the alerts to be sent as normal for day 1-18 and to send more alerts if parameters begin to change (high or low) through lock down. I will have to take it apart and rewire it to add the switch but so far I think my next hatch will fair better. Also, I think I am going to go back to the red basking bulb I had instead of the purple night time heat bulb I switch it out for. The red basking bulb is much hotter and so concentrates the heat onto the water tray and creates much better humidity than the purple night heat bulb.
If you have not already seen or read about my invention please visit the "Most Ingenious Chicken Product Design" contest page HERE and check it out. It is the first submission on the thread and includes pictures and a link to the real time graphing system. There a a lot of great designs there that people personally worked hard to come up with and implement. But I would appreciate your vote! I worked very hard on my invention and hope to make it available to BYC members to help make hatching less stressful in the future. Hope everyone is having a great hatch and a fabulous new year!
