APRIL Hatch-A-Long 2015: PLEASE READ FIRST POST

[Heron's Nest Farm]

That one, and "don't put all your eggs in one basket". That's my justification for needing another incubator

LOL! I was thinking the same thing so i went on CraigsList Saturday and found 2 Farm Innovators (one with the fan broke) for $50! Now I have 3.....

My 6-year-old granddaughter learned what this phrase means. Someone asked her how many chickens her grandma (me) has. She told them a number and my daughter said, is that right? because she couldn't believe she knew. And my gd said, yes, counting the ones in the incubator, lol. So my daughter had to tell her that the saying goes, don't count your chickens before they're hatched. And then I got only 4 out of the 6 I was hatching....case in point.

Super cute!

Day 10 candle - My two maybes are confirmed wigglers. I have one that I really couldn't tell what it was doing. I think I saw movement but never did see the actual embryo like I did in the others. One other I thought might not be doing anything but didnt write which one right away and when I went back to check I couldn't find the one I'd been looking at because they all moved. So long story short I'm going into day 10 with good odds on babies.
Looks like I'm unintentionally going with the dry hatch method. Realized that the water reservoir was dry and I have no idea how long it's been that way. But, since I was initially worried about air cells being too small and they seem on target now I'm going to leave it. Will check again on Friday and adjust accordingly. When I go into lockdown should I fill both reservoirs? I dont have any way to measure humidity so I can't fill it just enough to get a certain percentage. Only 8 days til lockdown! *Kermit arm flail* Aaaaghhh

I am not sure where you are, but my first hatch the so many chicks drowned from too much humidity. I live in Oregon and now I just keep my bator with enough water to keep it from beeping (around 25% humidity according to one of my gizmos) and my hatches are getting better. I am sure it will work out fine. You are only at day 10 so you can weigh and keep humidity higher if needed.

 

[VA Raptor]

Did the Day 10 candle here also. Out of 7, it looks like I have 5 clears, 1 maybe, and 1 that is developing. Pretty disappointing given how few eggs I can set at a time.

Might have to do some troubleshooting with my own eggs.

 

[WalnutHill]

For the first ten days, humidity isn't a factor. Too cool yields embryos that are smaller than calendar age or just don't grow circulatory systems, too hot pretty much kills them, often with dark blood or greenish albumen. Clears you can't prevent once you've started incubation, and blood rings are generally day 3-5 deaths. But if you wait until day 10 to examine, you'll have lost most if not all of the evidence.

 

[Lamancha]

Day 10 candle - My two maybes are confirmed wigglers. I have one that I really couldn't tell what it was doing. I think I saw movement but never did see the actual embryo like I did in the others. One other I thought might not be doing anything but didnt write which one right away and when I went back to check I couldn't find the one I'd been looking at because they all moved. So long story short I'm going into day 10 with good odds on babies.
Looks like I'm unintentionally going with the dry hatch method. Realized that the water reservoir was dry and I have no idea how long it's been that way. But, since I was initially worried about air cells being too small and they seem on target now I'm going to leave it. Will check again on Friday and adjust accordingly. When I go into lockdown should I fill both reservoirs? I dont have any way to measure humidity so I can't fill it just enough to get a certain percentage. Only 8 days til lockdown! *Kermit arm flail* Aaaaghhh

If you don't have a hygrometer you could A: get one (they are cheap), or B: get the humidity up as high as you can without any condensation forming on the windows. Once they start hatching there will be condensation, and that's okay. Keep all vents open as much as possible. I'm sure everyone is different, but I stop turning the pm of day 18, and don't add any water until about halfway into day 19. The only time I have ever had drown chicks or sticky chicks is when I raise the humidity to soon, regardless of how high I raise it. Hope that helps. Oh, and glad you finally found your air cells. Lol.

 

[HerbGir1972]

Here's a pic of the ones we have left. Good hatch

 

[jenntucker2000]

3 hatched one last night about 930 the other 2 early this morning looks like only 3 more are going to hatch but I could be wrong Lol

 

[jenntucker2000]

How would I know if a chick died while hatching?

 

[SoProlix]

If you don't have a hygrometer you could A: get one (they are cheap), or B: get the humidity up as high as you can without any condensation forming on the windows. Once they start hatching there will be condensation, and that's okay. Keep all vents open as much as possible. I'm sure everyone is different, but I stop turning the pm of day 18, and don't add any water until about halfway into day 19. The only time I have ever had drown chicks or sticky chicks is when I raise the humidity to soon, regardless of how high I raise it. Hope that helps. Oh, and glad you finally found your air cells. Lol.

This is interesting. I'm doing my first hatch, dry method and had planned to up humidity at lockdown on day 18/25, but this sounds good.

I'm curious, what day do the rest of y'all raise the humidity?

 

[LBKS]

How would I know if a chick died while hatching?

Depends on what stage of hatching. Here's what I do along with controlled assist/shell breaking to get a better idea if they are fine or passed.

Pipped but no zip: it can take up to 24 hours between pip and zip, so if you aren't sure you can shine a flashlight down the air cell and check for movement. You should see some breathing/heart beat kind of motion most of the time, which can help you verify it's okay still. If you don't see any movement and it's been over 24 hours since pip, you can carefully expand the pip up towards the air cell (away from where veins will be present in membrane because the membrane will not be right next to the shell up in that portion). Get just a large enough hole that you can shine your light in and check for slight movement (breathing/etc). If you see no movement expand the shell up slowly until you are convinced -- if you do see movement, place a warm moist paper towel over the exposed shell portion (leaving an open air gap near pip). This will help keep the humidity up despite the expanded air gap. If there is no movement, not even breathing, the chick passed after pip.

Zipped but no escape: These guys pip around and either only get a little ways around or go all around but don't break the membrane and don't separate the shell. If they have cleared all around the shell, I pull it apart for them so they can get out, it's rather obvious at that point if they have made it or not. There shouldn't be any concern about damaging the blood vessel filled membrane at that point, as they already reached zipping. If they only zipped part way, check if the pipped/zipped area is blocked -- they may have cut of their air turning while not properly breaking the shell. If you lightly touch their exposed skin (if it's large enough) you should hear them peep in surprise. If not, they may just be really weak. You can slowly expand the break upwards to the air cell like in the pip-no-zip scenario. If they are breathing, make sure they have air access far enough up they can't block it off again. If you are going to assist, try catching the zip up to their current location by careful shell breaking.

Before pip I don't know a good way to say if it was a hatching issue or some other problem, but that's my general guideline I use.

 

[Lucky Lemon]

Hi all, I sent a pm to join.

My rooster is a Dominique and I set 3 eggs from my Rhode Island Red, and 3 from my Ameracauna. No telling what these little chicks will look like. (Hoping for a good hatch rate!) I set them on April 7, hatch day should be April 28.

This is my first hatch and I'm feeling rather anxious! Today is day 7 and I'm planning to candle them this afternoon!

So excited!!!!