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

[ronott1]

Thank you..It will be nice to have a better hatch rate,,As my flock all were ebay eggs.. Should have a better hatch rate this spring...So Fredge eggs can still hatch ,,i thought temps would need to be above 40?

It depends on your incubator and how well it can hold temperatures.

 

[Pozees]

Here is a link for hatching at higher altitudes. http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Tech_C...les/RossTechNote_HatchingAltitudes2013_EN.pdf

A lot of the problem seems to be the reduced air pressure at higher elevations. I wonder if you set up a small room for positive air pressure (pumping more air in continually) if it would help mitigate the problem?

Great reading - not sure how feasible it will be to try any of the suggestions, but it certainly is useful information! I wonder how expensive Oxygen Concentrators are?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

AK Flock Swap - Looks to me, like your DIY hatcher should be your DIY bator.....just saying.......

X2

 

[SoManyHats]

They will be fine!

They will be big and outside before you know it too.

I don't know if this will help you feel better or not, but here it's been near or below zero the last five nights.  I have 5 chicks in a brooder in the unheated, uninsulated coop, they have a heat lamp, their 1 qt waterer is no more than 18 inches away from the heat lamp and it has frozen every night.  The chicks are fine.  The thermometer said it was 10 degrees in there this morning, 5 outside.  I keep a 1/2 patio block wrapped in a throwaway towel under the heat lamp, which helps I think.  The towel has to be replaced every few days for the obvious reason.  Worth it to me.  The block keeps their little feet warm.  The chicks are 3 Silkies and 2 Egyptian Fayoumis ranging in age from 2-4 weeks. 

Thanks! I feel better. I think they're getting used to it - spending less time under the heat and more time playing. I'm sure they will toughen up...and be pretty bada** winter hardy chickens.

 

[Aphrael]

Look who poked her head out to meet me this morning............8 eggs to go

Auntie has faithfully been helping set the eggs.......but Mom won't share the hatching. Kept all the eggs to herself.........



Sun rise this morning. Camera



did not do the colors justice

SO cute!!

I just love seeing the babies peeking out from under mom's feathers. That sunrise is just breathtaking.

 

[Pozees]

Cynthia12, I figured we must be having very similar weather - we are cheering because we finally hit 20 degrees for the first time since Wednesday!

 

[Penny Hen]

Great reading - not sure how feasible it will be to try any of the suggestions, but it certainly is useful information! I wonder how expensive Oxygen Concentrators are?

I think a lower tech solution would work instead of an expensive (I haven't researched it by the way) industrial one. If you constructed a small room with an ante chamber, i.e. a double door entry, and put a rubber seal on the door frames and had a force fan continually blowing air into the chamber from the outside (for cold weather you may want to heat this air a bit) it should by definition (squeezing more air in a small space) raise the amount of oxygen in the room. If the oxygen levels still aren't where you want them (there are tools to measure this) then do what the high altitude mountain climbers do and buy a can of oxygen that you release periodically in the room. The double door seals will slow it from escaping if you have built you room tight. Of course follow the warnings that are in the PDF link I gave and never go above 25% oxygen because you can risk an explosion. You have to have a way of measuring the oxygen if you are going to use it.

I have been researching this for a friend who is buying land in Colorado and wants chickens.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

Quote:
It hold better than the styro. just no turner,,

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

Quote:
I have no turner for it,,,,

 

[chiqita]

I need help!!
With 11 newly hatched chicks in the  already incubator the humidity went way up and  and there were droplets of water on the window, viewer My previously hatched chicks were wet again after having dried out. A few hours. I took the chicks out and opened the vents to lower the humidity. I opened 5 late eggs. 3 contained chicks that appeared to be mature but they were dead.
My question is: Can high humidity drown chicks in their shells and do you think the other eggs that aren't due for another week will be dead, too? Now I am really worried about getting a couple of Frizzled bantam Cochin chicks!!!
TY for any help!!!!!

If the internally pipped they probably smothered. Don't use those plugs!

I might not be able to participate after all. Turns out I'm going to be going out of town for Christmas. Just for a few days, but I won't be home to turn the eggs. Will they be ok if they go three or four days without turning?

They will survive. Keep an eye on their feet when they hatch they can have toe issues but it is easy to fix.