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

[ronott1]

is it to late for me to join in? it will be my first hatch, I'm getting 12 hatching eggs shipped out on Tuesday, so depending when they get here I'll be setting them a few days late. I didn't originally plan to set for new years day lol. I just think I need the support since its my first hatch!

I will go add you to the list now.

Congrats, Daniel! They look great! I hope to see you around here a lot!

Here is my set pic. That's 18 total eggs. The light brown ones are Black Orpingtons, and believe it or not, they're pullet eggs! The dark ones are BCM from my flock. This is really a test hatch in preparation for starting my spring staggered hatching on the Silver Campines. That is, if they ever start laying. I plan to put them under lights as soon as the weather breaks and I can get them in a coop where lights are available. Until then, I will lead this hatch off (unless someone else had already set) and participate here to have fun and so y'all can help me pass the time until I can get some SC eggs.

I have copied your information for the contest!

Good luck hatching!

 

[Avlana]

Loving all these pics of everyone's eggs. Such a variety of colors!

 

[ronott1]

Ron,
If I understood you correctly, in troubleshooting low hatch rates, if the unhatched have developed say to day 17 or 18 & then died so when you open & look in you find that they have not absorbed the yolk at all, & often not actually turned right side up as they would need to in order to pip, but they appear in all visual ways to be correctly formed so it looks like they should have continued those last couple days, & you find that you have a large number or even all your eggs do that then the issue is ? (a) slightly low temp or (b) lack of oxygen ie not enough airflow into the bator in the final week.

That would explain so much about the failure of my DIY bator last year!!

I've long since upgraded to the a LG incubator but even so this clears up some puzzles for me.

As a note to the newbie hatchers & others -- last year after several; failed hatches my DH bought me 12 yes 12 of those little outdoor thermometers so I could test temps in diff. places "looking for hot spots" etc. several weeks and lots of dead eggs later, I finally put them side by side & discovered a 10 yes TEN degree difference in readings across the 12 of them
So, yes calibrate, or at the very least realize even the $20 fancy one w/ remote readout could still be way off. I also found candy/meat thermometers tended to be more true in readings as far as low cost options & you can slide the tip into the air hole (unpluged plug hole)s of LG & I figure other type bators as a way to further verify or cross check readings (my "fancy" $20 unit that gave temp & humidity remotely apparently went wonky during my first lock down , ironically I think it could not withstand the heat&/or humidity & itself overheated, so the more manual candy/meat thermometer was a trusty backup when I needed a reality check on my literally *blinking* "fancy" one). So I hope that info helps someone, and saves some time/money/effort/eggs.

Yes!

We often focus on humidity when temperature is much more important. Too low causes development problems like you saw.

 

[Wisher1000]

Haha I love the "test runs" people do they should really be called "excuse to hatch some chicks". Especially when it comes to "testing an incubator".

I see what you are saying, Rambling Rooster, but when you have the capacity to load 6 trays of 48 eggs each, hatching less than two dozen can legally be called a "test hatch."

 

[mspj]

Ron,
If I understood you correctly, in troubleshooting low hatch rates, if the unhatched have developed say to day 17 or 18 & then died so when you open & look in you find that they have not absorbed the yolk at all, & often not actually turned right side up as they would need to in order to pip, but they appear in all visual ways to be correctly formed so it looks like they should have continued those last couple days, & you find that you have a large number or even all your eggs do that then the issue is ? (a) slightly low temp or (b) lack of oxygen ie not enough airflow into the bator in the final week.

That would explain so much about the failure of my DIY bator last year!!

I've long since upgraded to the a LG incubator but even so this clears up some puzzles for me.

As a note to the newbie hatchers & others -- last year after several; failed hatches my DH bought me 12 yes 12 of those little outdoor thermometers so I could test temps in diff. places "looking for hot spots" etc. several weeks and lots of dead eggs later, I finally put them side by side & discovered a 10 yes TEN degree difference in readings across the 12 of them
So, yes calibrate, or at the very least realize even the $20 fancy one w/ remote readout could still be way off. I also found candy/meat thermometers tended to be more true in readings as far as low cost options & you can slide the tip into the air hole (unpluged plug hole)s of LG & I figure other type bators as a way to further verify or cross check readings (my "fancy" $20 unit that gave temp & humidity remotely apparently went wonky during my first lock down , ironically I think it could not withstand the heat&/or humidity & itself overheated, so the more manual candy/meat thermometer was a trusty backup when I needed a reality check on my literally *blinking* "fancy" one). So I hope that info helps someone, and saves some time/money/effort/eggs.

Thank you for this information!

I have just completed my very first hatch (3 hatched from 12 set), I had a lot of issues with thermometers but I will definitely be using my kitchen thermometers for this next hatch as I know they are spot on with temperatures. I was thinking about getting a probed meat thermometer to use with a water wiggler, your comments have helped me make the decision to go ahead.

 

[chickengirl1193]

thank you! I'm excited! ill let you guys know when my eggs get here! my puppies 1st birthday is on the third so maybe he will get baby chicks as a present he loves my chickens and they don't mind him since he is a small docile jack russell

 

[Blarneyeggs]

As for culling roosters..... I had never done it before, but I read, and watched vedios on the internet and thought maybe I could try it. I rehomed all of them except 3 (I had 12) and in one afternoon, figured it out and had some pretty nice looking chicken for the freezer. I made chicken noodle soup the other day and I have to say it is the best I EVER tasted. 
I hate to have to take a life, but on a farm an animal has it's place..... the hens provide food through eggs and the roos through meat. 

Myfourladies, I agree, chicken is DELICIOUS, especially home grown.

@Bantambury' yup, I'm in the hatch along, but set too early to qualify for certain contests, I set Olive Eggers, Porcelain D'Uccles (thank you MsLadyHawke!) BBS Orpingtons, Creole Orpingtons and Rhodebars.

@Aphrael: the purplish looking eggs are OEs with a lot of bloom.

@Ramblinrooster. I sure hope stacking doesn't effect hatch...although I assume come day 10 there will be a few clears that I can clear out n make some room.

 

[ronott1]

Here is a hatch problems sheet:



Temperature, humidity and ventilation at 7 to 17 days. Lots of other causes for 18 to 21 but still the same three things in order of importance.

 

[Wisher1000]

On one of my hatches last year, everything seemed perfect, temps were constant, checked with two separate thermometers that agreed consistently, humidity was good and was kept in the correct ranges for the setting and lock-down. Not one egg hatched. I later discovered that the two digital thermometers, different brands, bought in different stores, at different times, were both EXACTLY two degrees too low. I had cooked my eggs. It pays to triple check and quadruple check but if you get too many, how do you know which one(s) are right? This year, I am trusting my digital bator and have two SpotChecks for verification. Of course, I also have a digital meat probe and a water wiggler, a regular cooking thermometer and about five of the cheap digital ones on standby........

 

[msladyhawke]

Fingers crossed...I might still get eggs.................................

Crossing my fingers for you too!