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

[chicken pickin]

did i do it right? Are the eggs ok spread apart?

They look good. Are they in lockdown? Hows your humidity?

 

[bantambury]

So i repositioned the eggs just a bit closer so the give more heat to each other.

The final count is 12 eggs of the 24 original. 5 OEs and 7 silkies


Here are our two smallest eggs, bit smaller than a half dollar. Tiny chickies will come out of those hopefully!!!

 

[Myfourladies]

Lockdown day 2 for me. I stood in front of the incubator and chirped then listened and no answers yet. My mom taught me this trick. When the babies are internally pipped they will answer back.

 

[chickengirl1193]

Sounds like she is getting ready to lay her first egg. Keep checking on her, youll  find it soon.

thanks i will

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I typically assist wrong end pippers after a few hours. Once the membrane begins to turn clear from the blood leaving the veins I take my fingernail & gently zip the egg ariynd from the pip. I give them a couple hours to push out then assist further if needed. Often they are so fat they can't tuurn but occasionally they have a deformity that prevents them from hatching.

here's some related info.
http://www.pasreform.com/academy/fr...the-effects-of-setting-eggs-small-end-up.html

Hens that have had Infectious Bronchitis lay eggs with wrinkles. It permanently damages their reproductive organs. Have any of your hens ever had it?

True, I haven't had IB but I did have a hen that laid check eggs. Not all the time but perhaps a couple a month. It was like the egg was split in half and glued together. They break in the shell gland and reseal.
I have another that lays an egg with the small end bent like one of those candle lamps. I never incubate those eggs.

Ugh! I'm so impatient! I keep reading about all y'all with already hatched/hatching chicks and am now standing in front of the bator going, "come one babies! I'm ready!"

Patience is a virtue. AND I WANT IT NOW>

We always have early ones. Then late ones.

Lots of cute hatched chicks!

I think that's inevitable with eggs from different sources and flocks.
If each setting is from the same flock and breed and stored comparably, the hatching window will be smaller.

im not sure if you guys will be able to help but one of my chickens is acting weird today. while the others are out foraging she just keeps walking in and out of the goat housemaking a lot of noise. and she also keeps going on top of the piles of hay I have out for the goats and making a nest between the corner and the hay but then she leaves right away looking at the ceiling making a bunch of noise. she seems okay other than the fact she's running around making so much noise. this chicken always seems a little morestressedthan the rest of them but today especially so.

As others have said, check for egg binding. The vent will pulse also.
If she's 6 months and you've had her 2 or 3 months and she's been on layer feed the whole time, that may be her problem.

 

[ronott1]

to check for a stuck egg you just put some.lubricant on your fingers and feel around in her vent?

She is working on the first egg. She will lay it soon!

 

[Pozees]

Sounds like she is getting ready to lay her first egg. Keep checking on her, youll find it soon.

Yes, I thought the same thing. Sounds like she will be okay once she gets started.

 

[ronott1]

here's some related info.
http://www.pasreform.com/academy/fr...the-effects-of-setting-eggs-small-end-up.html

True, I haven't had IB but I did have a hen that laid check eggs. Not all the time but perhaps a couple a month. It was like the egg was split in half and glued together. They break in the shell gland and reseal.
I have another that lays an egg with the small end bent like one of those candle lamps. I never incubate those eggs.

Patience is a virtue. AND I WANT IT NOW>

I think that's inevitable with eggs from different sources and flocks.
If each setting is from the same flock and breed and stored comparably, the hatching window will be smaller.


As others have said, check for egg binding. The vent will pulse also.
If she's 6 months and you've had her 2 or 3 months and she's been on layer feed the whole time, that may be her problem.

She is working on the first egg. She will lay it soon!

I had one lay her first egg on Friday. She was funny, looking for a place to lay the egg. Of course the nest box with the egg in it is not the place!

She was checking out the space under the BBQ



Later that day I found her first egg in front of the BBQ

 

[Pozees]

Patience is a virtue. AND I WANT IT NOW>

 

[bantambury]

They look good. Are they in lockdown? Hows your humidity?

right now, 62%......temp at 98.....put them in lockdown a bit earlier. now everything is just catching up because I had the lid off while placing the eggs.