April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[Luckyleaf]

So a few days ago was my 10-day point with my eggs. I have 6 in the incubator and 4 under a broody hen. The ones under the broody hen looked great when I candled them. Pretty much completely dark on all sides. The ones in the incubator were only half dark half light, split right down the center of the egg. The incubator has an auto-turner and it seemed to be working but maybe it wasn't enough? I'm guessing the half-half means the chick is stuck to one side way too much, right? Should I consider the incubator eggs a lost cause at this point?

 

[ariri30]

So a few days ago was my 10-day point with my eggs. I have 6 in the incubator and 4 under a broody hen. The ones under the broody hen looked great when I candled them. Pretty much completely dark on all sides. The ones in the incubator were only half dark half light, split right down the center of the egg. The incubator has an auto-turner and it seemed to be working but maybe it wasn't enough? I'm guessing the half-half means the chick is stuck to one side way too much, right? Should I consider the incubator eggs a lost cause at this point?

Happened to me exactly like that and I was trying to get some answer but I didn’t get any answer. Only one egg hatched from that batch. Ever since I got my Dutch and sebright I let them take over the incubation. They do a 100 percent job.
Good luck

 

[livhatcher]

My current favorite of this hatch. Only one little golden spangled spitzhauben made it, but it's so darn cute.

 

[Fatimetta]

Such cute babies popping out everywhere!

I am tempted to candle today to see where my air cells are, but don't know if I should or not. I'm on Day 7. I've been reading all night about incubation and it seems like most people candle at day 7, but I just did at day 5 and dont' want to disturbe the eggs. I think one of the olive eggers has a porous shell.

Also I was wondering what you all keep your humidity at until lockdown? And then at lockdown what do you put it at? Mine has been staying between 22%-43%. Kind of a large ratio... ugh. Also is it Day 18 that is the lockdown or Day 19? I keep hearing two different things on that.

 

[Pennys Mama]

I finally got quail I'm nervous about them though.

What are you going to do with the buttons? Just for eggs and pets?

I think they'll just be for pets/entertainment. I love watching ALL my feathered critters, they calm my nerves, more than people would ever think possible. How many eggs you set?

 

[CindyinSD]

@Fatimetta
If you're doing chickens, I'd lock down on the 18th or 19th... sometimes the 20th if I space out on the time. Certainly if you see pips, it's time.

For incubation I try to keep humidity around 40-45°. If there's condensation inside your lid, your humidity is too high. Humidity during hatch needs to be higher... 60-80%. I typically aim for around 65-70% for non-waterfowl, but I don't stress if it gets a little above or below that. People develop their own preferences and learn what works best for them.

 

[Fatimetta]

@Fatimetta
If you're doing chickens, I'd lock down on the 18th or 19th... sometimes the 20th if I space out on the time. Certainly if you see pips, it's time.

For incubation I try to keep humidity around 40-45°. If there's condensation inside your lid, your humidity is too high. Humidity during hatch needs to be higher... 60-80%. I typically aim for around 65-70% for non-waterfowl, but I don't stress if it gets a little above or below that. People develop their own preferences and learn what works best for them.

Thank you! I almost wish I didn’t have such cool breeds for this first hatch because I haven’t fine tuned anything and never hatched before. Hopefully all goes well. I do see developing eggs from my day 5 candling so I just hope they make it til hatch.

 

[CindyinSD]

Thank you! I almost wish I didn’t have such cool breeds for this first hatch because I haven’t fine tuned anything and never hatched before. Hopefully all goes well. I do see developing eggs from my day 5 candling so I just hope they make it til hatch.

You're gonna do just fine. I had no roosters, so ordered a barnyard mix on Ebay for my first try. Some of my favorites came from that hatch, but they weren't very well-packed. Out of 20-something eggs they sent me, seven hatched. nearly half never even started. I think, like five, were cracked and I didn't even put them in. (Yeah, I know better than that now.) A couple were leaking and had to go. But I got my feet wet anyway, and some nice birds.

 

[FortCluck]

I think they'll just be for pets/entertainment. I love watching ALL my feathered critters, they calm my nerves, more than people would ever think possible. How many eggs you set?

For quail? 22

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Such cute babies popping out everywhere!

I am tempted to candle today to see where my air cells are, but don't know if I should or not. I'm on Day 7. I've been reading all night about incubation and it seems like most people candle at day 7, but I just did at day 5 and dont' want to disturbe the eggs. I think one of the olive eggers has a porous shell.

Also I was wondering what you all keep your humidity at until lockdown? And then at lockdown what do you put it at? Mine has been staying between 22%-43%. Kind of a large ratio... ugh. Also is it Day 18 that is the lockdown or Day 19? I keep hearing two different things on that.

I keep my humidity between 35-40% of I can. Keep in mind humidity is only a tool to affect weight loss in the eggs. You can gauge this by checking aircells or weighing eggs.

As for lockdown. To answer your question you must understand why people lockdown. It's to allow the chicks time to get into position for hatch. And increase humidity so that when they pip externally they won't dry out between pip-zip. There is no set day. The reason day 18-19 gets thrown out is to make sure the humidity is correct for any early hatchers you might have. I've seen posters "lock down" from days 15-20. If this is your first hatch day 18 is a good starting point.