APRIL FOOLS HATCH, give or take a day.....who's in ??

[kfchickenlady]

Day 9 I have 10 good eggs left out of 13! So much better this time, so far anyway...Im going to do the egg carton hatch method too, makes sense. I have all silkie eggs so they should be ok.

 

[jettgirl24]

I'm on day 10 and I have 5 out of 6 viable. One *miiiiight* be developing a blood ring but it's one of my Marans so it's hard to see. I put it back in and I'll check it again in a few days. I'm crossing my fingers that it's all good and we'll have 5 healthy babies from my test hatch!

 

[tgperg]

My broody is supposed to hatch her clutch on March 31. It's pretty close, right? I've got five good eggs under her. Three are Dominique / RiR and two are pure Dominique.

 

[fatbassetvineyards]

We candled the eggs today. It looks like 22 are growing, 6 were not fertile. Not bad for my young hens. My students were very excited about seeing the development. The 30th should be our hatch day. I will be posting some pictures of the candling in my classroom.
Very excited middle schoolers and teacher.

 

[fifelakelooper]

Thanks for the welcome Emj....this is day 13 and I have candled several times but think I will again on Saturday. The Brinsea incubator brings temp and RH back up really quick so I don't think it will hurt them. It will be the 3rd time and I know some people have said it isn't good to do very often but am trying to get some experience on how they look at different stages this being my first hatch.
Expecting 24 more eggs first week of April....except the chickens aren't cooperating with the breeder and laying good yet.

 

[emjay]

day 14 here. sitting on my eggs, not literally... haha. But, I haven't tried candling any since day 5, of which I only looked at 6 of teh 40.

I have no foul odors coming out of the bator, whew. so far the bator is somewhat holding it's temp, is fluctuating some but not off the map.

man, I hope some are gonna hatch, haha. it will be a surprise at the end for sure. with not candling, and not really knowing if my thermometer and hygrometer are accurate.

 

[fifelakelooper]

My temps vary from 99.5 to 99.7 but figure that is ok...the humidity goes from 42-45...but the Brinsea says 40-50 is ok. So Emj you are a day ahead of me...I only have 10 eggs now...2 were infertile and 3 questions. Yesterday...I opened quickly and pulled out just one of the ??? because I really was sure it was not viable. I did it so quick I am not concerned about the very slight humidity dip. Anyway...it was a fertile egg that must have died almost immediately. I suspect the other two are also...which will give me 8 ...IF those hatch. At this rate I will be happy to get one or two for my first hatch. I hate to use shipped eggs but no one nearby has what I want! Not sure I will candle on Saturday ...may wait until Monday.

 

[Mmmatt13]

It's day 15 here, I candled at day 10 and out of 28 I had 2 clear and 2 looked like quitters. I put them all back in and will candle again in 3 days and take the not so good looking ones out. I can't wait!

 

[maryrob]

OK I MIGHT HAVE ASKED BEFORE BUT DONT REMEMBER

I HAVE ADDED EGGS TO INCUBATOR SINCE I HAVE STARTED MY FIRST FEW
I HAVE A TOTAL NOW OF 16

BUT

ONLY A FEW OF THEM WILL BE HATCHING NEXT WEEK

SO LOCKDOWN FOR THEM IS THIS SATURDAY

WILL IT HURT TO LEAVE THOSE OTHERS THAT ARE NOT HATCHING YET IN THERE WITH
THOSE THAT WILL BE HATCHING?

I AM GOING TO CALL THE COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE I HEARD THAT THEY LOAN OUT INCUBATORS TO THOSE THAT WANT TO DO THIS
SO I GUESS I COULD TRANFER THEM WHEN I GET IT

BUT THAT POSSES ANOTHER GUESS

IF I AM IN LOCKDOWN I AM NOT SUPPOSE TO OPEN THE INCUBATOR RIGHT?
WHAT SHOULD I DO

 

[MobyQuail]

Quote:
in my humble opinion, all the eggs should be set within just a couple days of each other.
being my first time, I too wanted to add more, but only did for one day- so all mine should be hatching within a day of each other.

I understand it that, earlier in development, you turn the eggs to keep them from sticking to the inside of egg wall and make sure all sides are heated equally,
during lockdown, you stop turning the eggs to allow the chick to orient themselves within the egg before making a break for it.

during lockdown, the last couple days, you also want to allow humidity to rise and stay the same. opening the incubator and exposing cooler, drier air to the eggs and chicks will cause membrane to dryout, sometimes trapping chick.
so what should you do,

as someone mentioned, the first chicks to hatch could move the other eggs around, and that is why people use egg cartons.
maybe, put your earlier hatching eggs in one carton during lockdown, put your later hatching eggs in another in the same incubator.
figure out some way to raise and lower one side of the carton for the later hatching eggs over course of their incubation, without opening incubator.

maybe, my coffee also says, you could bring the bator in the bathroom, with a hot shower running if you have to open it for anyreason during lockdown... to keep it humid.

just my thoughts, would not hang from a bridge by it.

anyone else want to add?