Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Cerise1924]

What a beauty, the bad news is, the guy I had to hatch inside, I told DH upon hatch look at that comb, that has to be a cockerel. He dried off and climbed out of his heating pad mom box and climbed all over me. then go back into the box and warm up and start all over again, until nightfall when I put him under his real hen mom. Notice I keep saying he, 'cause he has a large pinky, red comb and the beginning of wattles, also red. they are only 4 weeks old. LOL

Lol, sometimes you can just tell. Some of the cockerels I've hatched have been so sweet and handsome. Wish I could keep them, but they've gotten good homes. Your sounds like a friendly little guy, who really likes being around you.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Lol, sometimes you can just tell. Some of the cockerels I've hatched have been so sweet and handsome. Wish I could keep them, but they've gotten good homes. Your sounds like a friendly little guy, who really likes being around you.

Sadly I can't keep him

 

[Cerise1924]

Yay!!! Pips at last (in just the right places) from the cooler incubator! One Legbar-Olandsk cross and one more Sebright. Go, chickies!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I have. (I think) at least 3 or 4 cockerels, I will be in Sulfer, Louisiana (outside Lake Charles) on this Monday at about 10 AM, please PM me if you know anyone who would like a full bred FBCM 5 week old (5 on Monday about) cockerel and will give it a good home. If I can get someone here to vouch for someone, I will give him away to a good home. They have really nicely feather feet, and are already showing copper on their wings. I think they will grow to be good birds, I have not handled them much so they should not turn mean as they start to become Cockbirds. Any questions PM me please. Thank you

 

[WVduckchick]

I've had them pop out and one look at them, can tell they are male too.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did the Eco eggs have a comparable hatch rate to the Adv? Were there more problems with hatching from that incubator, or was it merely a delay?

Had to look back at my notes lol. That was a rough hatch for me, and unfortunately I didn't track which ones started in which incubator. I moved them all to the same hatcher, I think I moved the slower set a half-day later. I just remember I allowed an extra day to the overall hatch.

I had set 42 eggs total, removed 4 clear/early quitters, so 38 made lockdown, but only hatched 29. I had 2 die after zipping all the way around, but didn't fully rip the membrane and gave up before they pushed out, I was away at work. I saved several more that zipped and stopped, but I was home. Another one died on its back in the incubator, stuck between two eggs. Weirdest hatch for me ever!

I attribute some of those problems to some of the eggs being older when set. I don't think the temperature difference was any real issue, because I had used the Eco at its lower temp with plenty of success too. I think its just the difference between hatching on days 20 and 21, to hatching on days 21 and 22.

 

[Cerise1924]

I've had them pop out and one look at them, can tell they are male too.



Had to look back at my notes lol. That was a rough hatch for me, and unfortunately I didn't track which ones started in which incubator. I moved them all to the same hatcher, I think I moved the slower set a half-day later. I just remember I allowed an extra day to the overall hatch.

I had set 42 eggs total, removed 4 clear/early quitters, so 38 made lockdown, but only hatched 29. I had 2 die after zipping all the way around, but didn't fully rip the membrane and gave up before they pushed out, I was away at work. I saved several more that zipped and stopped, but I was home. Another one died on its back in the incubator, stuck between two eggs. Weirdest hatch for me ever!

I attribute some of those problems to some of the eggs being older when set. I don't think the temperature difference was any real issue, because I had used the Eco at its lower temp with plenty of success too. I think its just the difference between hatching on days 20 and 21, to hatching on days 21 and 22.

That does sound like a rough hatch! Glad you were able to save some once you got home.

Thanks for checking the notes, and for the info! Now that I have pips, I'm feeling more confident that it's just a delayed hatch.

 

[Kiki]

In the lower temp incubator, still no visible pips at Day 22. I think I've learned that 100.5 is a better hatching temp for my equipment. I've heard that still air incubators need higher temps; while these incubators do have fans, perhaps the fans aren't very strong. IDK about the science, but I can see what works better for my eggs.

THIS makes me happy!
I love when people are able to figure this out with hands on experience.
It is the only way, imo, to learn these things.

I have read so much but sometimes the DOING is the best learning experience.

 

[chantels1]

Kits of chicks popping out for everyone! Yay! Congrats. I am on day 8. 10/27 eggs in the incubator with strong dancing embryos! Shipping has my airsacs messed up. I marked them today. They are big. If they were not shipped eggs, I would up my humidity. Running at 30%. I don't know if I should up it for shipped eggs or not?

Here are the eggs

 

[Morrigan]

Short story: My 4th Maran is out! I ended up making my first assisted hatch.

For those interested in the long version: The egg got rolled into a position where I could finally see what was going on. I could tell that it really wasn't turning and zipping. It had made one big, wide, hole with its beak, and all further progress was because it was splitting the egg open by sheer pushing. Because of the huge air sac saddle running along the side of the shell, I think it was simply too big to turn in the remaining space. The membrane was turning brown, the feathers sticking through the gap were dry, and it had been pushing away for over an hour with no further progress.

It didn't do anything fancy. I took out the egg and put it on a warm towel. At first I chipped carefully away with tweezers, but it was soon very clear there were no blood vessels. So I just pulled the egg slightly further apart at the split line the chick had already made, and put it back it. The chick immediately pushed it completely open and crawled out loudly complaining that it had enough of that shell! It's bumbling about the incubator with the rest of them now.

I guess it's possible it could have pushed itself out eventually, but hearing @WVduckchick stories about partial-zip deaths, I'm very glad I helped.

Thank you so much for all the helpful advice and encouragement!

 

[Morrigan]

So much other interesting news here to catch up on.

@Cerise1924. Your little svart hona is perfect looking! I'm glad your lower temp. bator is finally hatching chicks. It is interesting to learn what setting work best. For my first hatch, I set my temperature at 99.4 (Brinsea recommends 99.5, but their controls allow you to pick only 99.4 or 99.6 ). I had a 90% hatch and they started hatching mid to late on Day 21. In all subsequent hatches I've picked 99.6 and the chicks start hatching, on average, about 12 to 15 hours earlier. I was surprised that such a small adjustment could make such a big difference.

@WVduckchick. Those are some weird deaths. Thanks again for helping me find the motivation to assist my little one.

@Ursuline Chick. Still hoping its a hen. I ended up with some hens with huge combs. It's a shame that you can't keep a rooster. I think they add so much to the flock.

In the past we processed our extra roosters. They were backyard mutts, with poor inherited genetics from Duke, so there wasn't really any choice. Now, if I have some beautiful Marans, I'm going to have to rethink that. I might keep one, which would mean replacing Duke. That would be the smart thing to do, but I'm not sure I'm ready emotionally to replace Duke, so I may do the stupid thing. Bridge to cross later.

I wish roosters would share the hens nicely and not fight and over mate them. They are so beautiful.