5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[chiqita]

sniff.  Mail came.  No eggs.  This means they will arrive in the middle of the day when I am at work, and be set on my porch to freeze in this extreme cold spell we are having. 

worry worry worry

Any neighbors who can check the porch for you? Or can you call early and ask the Po to hold em? I can pick up eggs at 6 at my po.

When rotating in bator, buts of the egg should be facing up correct? To allow the air spot up for the pip hole?

Yes! Fat end up.

 

[FeyRaine]

When rotating in bator, buts of the egg should be facing up correct? To allow the air spot up for the pip hole?

If they are in any sort of tray (like an auto turner, or in egg cartons) then the wide end of the egg goes to the top, pointing up.

It is possible to incubate & hatch w/ them laying on their side, like they would be in a nest,
so you'll notice that in that position the fat end of the egg w/ the air is still up higher than the pointy end.

When I did my first few hatches I had the eggs on their sides from LD onward, but I have since switched to LD/hatching
with the eggs upright in egg cartons. I have had a couple wrong end pip either method, I don't think the strong chicks have any harder time getting out
of the upright eggs (the weak stragglers I've had maybe did, hard to judge) but I can see what is going on much better, esp. re how long things are taking,
and humidity issues like when I had one that was zipping fine while get stuck and glued in and I did jump in and help that last one out, which saved that chick,
and I don't think I could have seen what was going on or decided to act if the egg had just been on its side where I couldn't tract the progress very well.

Everyone does it different, but if the eggs are vertical then fat end (air) up is important.

Re-shipped eggs, detached air cells, I have a ?
Anyone had a chick develope w/ the air cell on the side of the egg-- I have had 2 go all the way to try to hatch but apparently drown on pip, if this sort of air cell position is known is there any way to save the chick, or is it just doomed?

I

 

[Cynthia12]

So ron, the chicken diagrahm you posted....does that mean my air spaces are ok tilted? They were in the fridge.....so it may jsu be that.

They were in the fridge? Does that work? Hmm, maybe this cold weather won't be too hard on our eggs after all. :/

 

[ronott1]

If they are in any sort of tray (like an auto turner, or in egg cartons) then the wide end of the egg goes to the top, pointing up.

It is possible to incubate & hatch w/ them laying on their side, like they would be in a nest,
so you'll notice that in that position the fat end of the egg w/ the air is still up higher than the pointy end.

When I did my first few hatches I had the eggs on their sides from LD onward, but I have since switched to LD/hatching
with the eggs upright in egg cartons. I have had a couple wrong end pip either method, I don't think the strong chicks have any harder time getting out
of the upright eggs (the weak stragglers I've had maybe did, hard to judge) but I can see what is going on much better, esp. re how long things are taking,
and humidity issues like when I had one that was zipping fine while get stuck and glued in and I did jump in and help that last one out, which saved that chick,
and I don't think I could have seen what was going on or decided to act if the egg had just been on its side where I couldn't tract the progress very well.

Everyone does it different, but if the eggs are vertical then fat end (air) up is important.

Re-shipped eggs, detached air cells, I have a ?
Anyone had a chick develope w/ the air cell on the side of the egg-- I have had 2 go all the way to try to hatch but apparently drown on pip, if this sort of air cell position is known is there any way to save the chick, or is it just doomed?

I

That is a great Question. Leaving them upright in the incubator with the big end up and not turning for 3 to 5 days can help the air cell recover. If the air cell is wonky, draw a line around the outline. If the chick pips outside of the line, try to get the pip open and the liquid clear so that it does not drown. You have to be watching for it though.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

sniff. Mail came. No eggs. This means they will arrive in the middle of the day when I am at work, and be set on my porch to freeze in this extreme cold spell we are having.

worry worry worry

At this point, if you know when your mail delivery normally is, I'd ask a neighbor or dear friend to come over and gather them up for you.

If you live close to the post office, you can go early in the morning(like 6 AM) go around back and knock on the door. There are people there and tell them the issue.
When I have chicks or bees coming in the mail I go to the PO the day before to tell them they're coming. Even though they're supposed to call me, sometimes they don't.
I have the sorting room phone number written on one of my feed bins. They won't answer the number in the phone book until business hours - which is too late.
They will answer the sorting room number though. They're always grateful to be rid of the bees and the cheeping chicks.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Looks like I will not be setting eggs after all. There just isn't room in the camper we are staying in right now for the bator. I will have room in the new house though so will be doing the Easter hatch.

 

[Brookhavens]

If they are in any sort of tray (like an auto turner, or in egg cartons) then the wide end of the egg goes to the top, pointing up.

It is possible to incubate & hatch w/ them laying on their side, like they would be in a nest,
so you'll notice that in that position the fat end of the egg w/ the air is still up higher than the pointy end.

When I did my first few hatches I had the eggs on their sides from LD onward, but I have since switched to LD/hatching
with the eggs upright in egg cartons. I have had a couple wrong end pip either method, I don't think the strong chicks have any harder time getting out
of the upright eggs (the weak stragglers I've had maybe did, hard to judge) but I can see what is going on much better, esp. re how long things are taking,
and humidity issues like when I had one that was zipping fine while get stuck and glued in and I did jump in and help that last one out, which saved that chick,
and I don't think I could have seen what was going on or decided to act if the egg had just been on its side where I couldn't tract the progress very well.

Everyone does it different, but if the eggs are vertical then fat end (air) up is important.

Re-shipped eggs, detached air cells, I have a ?
Anyone had a chick develope w/ the air cell on the side of the egg-- I have had 2 go all the way to try to hatch but apparently drown on pip, if this sort of air cell position is known is there any way to save the chick, or is it just doomed?

I

What I do with shipped eggs is let them sit on the counter for about 12 hours to get to room temperature. They are then placed in the incubator and not turned for the first 7 days. On day 8 they start to get turned and on lockdown they stay in the upright position in an egg carton or egg tray. By allowing the eggs to sit for 7 days you are helping the embryo get stronger so it has a better chance of going the full 21 days.

I just had a batch of Crele Polish eggs shipped to me and all 12 aircells were detached. The post office did a real number on them. This past Friday was day 7 and I candled them. Three of them did not start to develop, 1 had a blood ring and the remaining 8 have beautiful veining and all the aircells have reattached but some of them are sloped along the side of the egg.

 

[ESofVA]

Quote: Would like to hear if the refrigerated eggs hatch for you. I tried about 15 once and none hatched!

 

[mspj]

Questions:

1) I have a still air incubator that I want to add a pc fan into, I have the link and know how to do this. My question is:

"What changes should I make in temperature & humidity between still air and circulated air, and when should the vent plugs be in or out?"

2) I want to add some sort of turner, I'm thinking about making something like this:



My question is:

"Which would be better to use, Styrofoam or Paper cartons?"

I am planning to set 24 eggs for the hatch-a-long, 11 assorted Brahma's (light, dark & buff) plus 1 green egg, unsure of the breed, as I stopped at a local seller of fresh eggs and picked up a dozen. The Grandma took me to the coop and we gathered eggs and she said her daughter had one chicken with feathers on its head but knew the main flock was the Brahma's. Woo-Hoo Surprise breed!!

12 from my flock (roo is RIR, hens are RIR, red sex links & 2 black australorps) I know I have 2 eggs saved from my lorps as I snagged the eggs from them after they laid them.

I would love to set some type of white layer also, I will be doing a mad search in the next couple of days - wish me luck!

 

[Pozees]

Questions:

1) I have a still air incubator that I want to add a pc fan into, I have the link and know how to do this. My question is:

"What changes should I make in temperature & humidity between still air and circulated air, and when should the vent plugs be in or out?"

2) I want to add some sort of turner, I'm thinking about making something like this:



My question is:

"Which would be better to use, Styrofoam or Paper cartons?"

I am planning to set 24 eggs for the hatch-a-long, 11 assorted Brahma's (light, dark & buff) plus 1 green egg, unsure of the breed, as I stopped at a local seller of fresh eggs and picked up a dozen. The Grandma took me to the coop and we gathered eggs and she said her daughter had one chicken with feathers on its head but knew the main flock was the Brahma's. Woo-Hoo Surprise breed!!

12 from my flock (roo is RIR, hens are RIR, red sex links & 2 black australorps) I know I have 2 eggs saved from my lorps as I snagged the eggs from them after they laid them.

I would love to set some type of white layer also, I will be doing a mad search in the next couple of days - wish me luck!

I have never used a still air, but what I've read is that with the fan you can keep the set temp a bit lower since theoretically all the air in the box is the same temperature, where with a still air the air at the top is warmer than the air at the egg level. Most people say never put the plugs in, for me that doesn't work because it is so arid here, so I leave them in, but I have yet to have a great hatch, so you might not want to go by me LOL. It's tough to hatch at this elevation (5400+) and aridity, but usually if my own birds lay eggs that are fertile I do okay. Still have failures but not nearly as bad as with shipped eggs. Anyway, for just about everyone else I'd say leave the plugs out to improve air flow.

I would use stout paper just in case there's any condensation when setting eggs. Sounds like you will have an interesting hatch!