APRIL HATCH-A-LONG come join in

[Illia]

Great News! I'm only on day 7, but here's how the fertility is rolling out:

BBS Ameraucanas - 5/6
Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas - 100%
BBS Jersey Giants - 100%
BC Marans - 65%
EE x Polish - 30%
EE x EE - 0% - one had a bloodring, the others were quitters

To me, that is GREAT news. I'll be expecting a LOT of babies!!!

 

[stirkle]

has anyone had eggs pip with 4 days left to hatch and then hatch with 3 days left?

I know that ducks and chickens do hatch early a lot... but is it possible for eggs to hatch this early?

 

[Illia]

Quote:
If they do that early, it is often a problem with too high of a temp or humidity - It convinces the chick it is time to pip. I often hear this really isn't a good thing.

 

[Penturner]

Stirkle, Early hatch is a sign of to high of a temperature. early is not good as chicks did not have the time required to develop correctly.
some of the smaller breeds tend to hatch early though even up to day 19 and as far as I can tell it is still considered normal.

Illia, congrats. Except on the EE and EE crosses.

I candles the remaining 15 of my original 28 eggs last Wednesday evening. I now have just 9 eggs in the incubator. 2 that are due to hatch on the 8th 7 due on the 14th. Since these are Serama eggs I am debating weather to move the eggs to lock down on day 16, 17 or 18. one of the eggs looked awfully full at day 13. the other one looked like the pictures say it should.

I have also been researching what went wrong. some of the eggs where simply clear, but many had blood rings. this means they started then failed. At this time I think the cause was one of the following two or possibly a combination of both. 1. they got to cold during storage (who knows what happened to them during shipping) or 2. I have ventilation issues with my incubator. since I open the bator every 3 hours to turn the eggs I am not sure ventilation would be that much of an issue but could be. Just in case I am a bit anxious to move them to the hatcher since it is much better ventilated.

 

[stirkle]

yes yes i had read all that... i had read various temperatures to keep the incubator at... the two main ones were 37.5 degrees celsius and the other 37.3...

I had it on for the first 10 days at 37.5 turning every 3 hours or so... then turned it down to 37.3 for the rest... and past two days had turned it every 75 minutes...

But I think that it will be grand, on candling the air sac looked a healthy size, the duckling is kicking or tapping or watever it is doing to the shell, it is an indian runner duckling by the way... the temperature was never over 35.7 degrees... only one of four have pipped so far so I imagine things should be fine... it will be hatching closer to the 2 day mark anyways as the 24-36 hour rest is not due to be over until tonight or even tomorrow evening if it is to be 36 hours...

But... fingers crossed anyway just incase there is something wrong...

I am so tempted to check the other eggs for any more pips but I shant anyways...

 

[newduckie]

I have 7 geese due on the 12 or 13th. And 5 geese under the goose due a day later. My 6 ducks are about 5 weeks now and my other 5 ducks that I hatched are 3 weeks. My poultry population is EXPLODING!!!

 

[chickenmeadow]

Madcap621: Thanks for the heads up on posting a pic of a pip. I'm at work now & all of my great pics of egg pips are at home at that computer. So, here is one I found on BYC of chicken eggs with a pip & also with some zipping (additional pipping going around the egg, like unzipping for the shell top to come off when the chick is ready to push out). Sometimes the pip still has the shell piece attached (like a trap door) & at first you can only see the crack (like someone just mentioned, the pip can look like a "V" or something).
See post #13 on the site https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=37000&p=2

stirkle: This is so exciting for you & us too! Be sure to take some deep breaths, try to relax, take pictures if you can & enjoy the process of life hatching before your eyes. Also, be patient; I know it's hard to do. These little creatures have to do everything in their own timing, as even when they pip the inner membrane, they are still developing ability to use lungs & even other things are going on. So, tie you hands behind you & just watch. It sometimes takes several hours for them all to finish hatching. My last hatch in March was 24 hrs from the first pip to the last one that popped out. Looking forward to hearing about your duckies hatching out. Happy hatching!

 

[PandoraTaylor]

Wensday nights Candling did not make me a Happy Camper...

Out of the 30 eggs set for hatching 4/8/2010
we are now down to 24 possible.

Egg Culls:
# 1-3 EE infertile (none of her eggs left in the incubator)
# 15 & 18 infertile
# 23 - Culled Day 7 (blackspots on egg) assumed Baterial contamination. Eggtopsy revealed a developing chick.

there are several that look like they have movement and a couple that might have bloodrings. so I will leave them for another day oe two and recandle again.

I did see movement clearly in a couple, however I believe the incubators temperature has been very low. New Thermometer added last night, showed temp to only be 97.3, so adjustments were made.

I will candle again on Saturday, and attempt to adjust the hatch date by my findings at that time.

ETA : Day 6- 7 hour Power outage
Day 13 incubator Temp 96.7 Replaced Thermometer!

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Quote:
Congratulations! These are great pictures of hatching, too.

I want little heads sticking out of my eggs! (I'm on day two, it'll be a while.

)

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Just found this post and today is day 21 for us!!!

We have 26 eggs in, the first hatched last night, the 2nd this morning and a 3rd is zipping + we have 6 more pipped.

I'll post teaser pics soon!!

Tamara