April Hatch Along

[orrpeople]

We have had quite the up and down day in Orr Chickenland (kind of has a ring to it - maybe I need to change the name of our farm??) Anyhew... first there was the awesome hatch of our Biele girl, then there was a used coop from CL we went to go see for $40 in fairly decent shape (going to need extra room for the new hatches!), and the purchase (cringe...sorry. i really don't like supporting the big hatcheries) of a couple BLRW chicks from a farm store because my daughter's face made me do it - oh, and we are not sure if our Biele will have any friends from this hatch... but mostly it was DD's face. Then things kind of fell apart... my sweet DH and I went to go take apart the coop and it torrentially downpoured on us... like we were suddenly in the Amazon or something... while we worked to get the "new to us" coop taken apart enough to fit in our van.... ugh... and it did not fit. Not even close. Thankfully, we know a lovely young man who just bought a big truck. Bless his 21year old muscles, he not only helped us load it, but brought it out to the house, unloaded, and stayed and talked chicken with us a moment then left (with 20$ in his pocket for his troubles)... but back up. While we were transporting the coop home, my sweet daughter called, completely upset. It took a while to figure out between sobs, that one of the newly purchased chicks had gotten itself crammed behind the heating pad somehow and had suffocated. Oh no -the poor baby! So, new Biele in the bator is going to have to come out to the brooder soon to keep the remaining lonely little farm store bird from crying. But, there's still a pipped egg in there that I do not want to de-humidify. So, as I write this rambling tale, the daughter is snuggling baby-farm-store until I can safely remove baby-not-farm-store from said bator. Whew. Pour me a glass of wine.

 

[Calichicken2015]

I decided to upgrade my incubator to a hovabator genesis. OMG what a differences! I thought my LG was ok. And it is but now I have the genesis with the automatic egg turner and I loooooove it.
The only problem is that it only holds 42 eggs with the Turner in it. I'm using my LG for the other 11.
When I candle on day 4 i will toss the non-developing ones which will make room.

Congrats! I just purchased the same one

I had the same kind...but it was SUPER old and finally quit working. So far I love it and have always had good hatches with this brand! I did not get a turner, so I turn them by hand.

 

[orrpeople]

Ok, I need votes....

I loaded my bator about 48 hours ago with Serama and SDW OEGB eggs. Today, I sold a couple of Serama cockerels, and the guy gave me 4 eggs from his girls. I definitely want to set these eggs, but I don't have space for them.

My choices:
1. Toss 4 eggs that are already set, and put these 4 in.
2. Wait a couple days to be able to check development on the current ones, pull any clears, and add these 4.
3. Put these 4 in the other incubator until I pull clears from the full one.

I don't really want to fire up the other bator, but I guess for a few days, that's probably my best option, to not make these any more behind, developmentally.

How old were the eggs you received? If they're fresh enough, you could wait for the candle.... but if you've got another bator, and you might have to use it anyway because, of course, this will be the group of eggs where you have a 100% hatch rate, you might as well fire it on up!!

 

[Calichicken2015]

We have had quite the up and down day in Orr Chickenland (kind of has a ring to it - maybe I need to change the name of our farm??) Anyhew... first there was the awesome hatch of our Biele girl, then there was a used coop from CL we went to go see for $40 in fairly decent shape (going to need extra room for the new hatches!), and the purchase (cringe...sorry. i really don't like supporting the big hatcheries) of a couple BLRW chicks from a farm store because my daughter's face made me do it - oh, and we are not sure if our Biele will have any friends from this hatch... but mostly it was DD's face. Then things kind of fell apart... my sweet DH and I went to go take apart the coop and it torrentially downpoured on us... like we were suddenly in the Amazon or something... while we worked to get the "new to us" coop taken apart enough to fit in our van.... ugh... and it did not fit. Not even close. Thankfully, we know a lovely young man who just bought a big truck. Bless his 21year old muscles, he not only helped us load it, but brought it out to the house, unloaded, and stayed and talked chicken with us a moment then left (with 20$ in his pocket for his troubles)... but back up. While we were transporting the coop home, my sweet daughter called, completely upset. It took a while to figure out between sobs, that one of the newly purchased chicks had gotten itself crammed behind the heating pad somehow and had suffocated. Oh no -the poor baby! So, new Biele in the bator is going to have to come out to the brooder soon to keep the remaining lonely little farm store bird from crying. But, there's still a pipped egg in there that I do not want to de-humidify. So, as I write this rambling tale, the daughter is snuggling baby-farm-store until I can safely remove baby-not-farm-store from said bator. Whew. Pour me a glass of wine.

Oh WOW!!! What a day you have had

In California here too! Rain is coming to our mountain soon! Good plan to get your new little hatchling a friend, just in case

So sorry about your baby

but happy your daughter is enjoying baby-farm-store until her friend gets outta that bator

 

[WVduckchick]

We have had quite the up and down day in Orr Chickenland (kind of has a ring to it - maybe I need to change the name of our farm??) Anyhew... first there was the awesome hatch of our Biele girl, then there was a used coop from CL we went to go see for $40 in fairly decent shape (going to need extra room for the new hatches!), and the purchase (cringe...sorry. i really don't like supporting the big hatcheries) of a couple BLRW chicks from a farm store because my daughter's face made me do it - oh, and we are not sure if our Biele will have any friends from this hatch... but mostly it was DD's face. Then things kind of fell apart... my sweet DH and I went to go take apart the coop and it torrentially downpoured on us... like we were suddenly in the Amazon or something... while we worked to get the "new to us" coop taken apart enough to fit in our van.... ugh... and it did not fit. Not even close. Thankfully, we know a lovely young man who just bought a big truck. Bless his 21year old muscles, he not only helped us load it, but brought it out to the house, unloaded, and stayed and talked chicken with us a moment then left (with 20$ in his pocket for his troubles)... but back up. While we were transporting the coop home, my sweet daughter called, completely upset. It took a while to figure out between sobs, that one of the newly purchased chicks had gotten itself crammed behind the heating pad somehow and had suffocated. Oh no -the poor baby! So, new Biele in the bator is going to have to come out to the brooder soon to keep the remaining lonely little farm store bird from crying. But, there's still a pipped egg in there that I do not want to de-humidify. So, as I write this rambling tale, the daughter is snuggling baby-farm-store until I can safely remove baby-not-farm-store from said bator. Whew. Pour me a glass of wine.

Wow-wie! Hope you got that glass of wine, and hope all is well now, 9 hours later...

How old were the eggs you received? If they're fresh enough, you could wait for the candle.... but if you've got another bator, and you might have to use it anyway because, of course, this will be the group of eggs where you have a 100% hatch rate, you might as well fire it on up!!

Thanks. I did fire up the other one, but the fan started making that weird noise again, so I took it out, thinking it would be ok without it. Couldn't get it up to temp, so I will order a replacement fan, and pick 4 eggs from the first Bator to remove this evening and put the other 4 in. I have no idea how old they are, air cells are small though. The eggs are super tiny, so they may not even hatch, but I have plenty of my eggs, so I won't feel bad either way.

 

[orrpeople]

Wow-wie! Hope you got that glass of wine, and hope all is well now, 9 hours later...
Thanks. I did fire up the other one, but the fan started making that weird noise again, so I took it out, thinking it would be ok without it. Couldn't get it up to temp, so I will order a replacement fan, and pick 4 eggs from the first Bator to remove this evening and put the other 4 in. I have no idea how old they are, air cells are small though. The eggs are super tiny, so they may not even hatch, but I have plenty of my eggs, so I won't feel bad either way.

Things are good - DD quickly scooped out little Biele girl and put her with baby farm store. They acted like long lost friends and snuggled in together. Then, late in the night, Biele #2 hatched!! We have a boy!

The last unhatched egg that's in there was one where the air cell was not only saddled, but extended oddly down two sides of the egg. I will candle it this morning and see if there's any sign of life. Then put in the next batch, set to hatch on Tuesday!!

 

[PeepsInCarolina]

Hi, it's me again! This is day 21, and I have 4 lively chicks! I sneaked them into the brooder, and they are already eating and drinking, wow! The remaining eggs are against the side of the incubator close to the shells, and I can't tell if they have pipped. Also, it is really nasty and smelly in the incubator. Should I rearrange the remaining eggs, candle them, clean out the incubator and put them back or just chill a couple more days? Thanks!

 

[Ella2017]

This is only my second time hatching and first time hatching shipped eggs. Well, I'm going to be in trouble because I told my husband only 6/12 at the most would hatch because they were shipped and I just woke up to 9 walking and peeping and 1 more zipping out. They were blrw eggs I got off eBay and traveled from Missouri to California. Also, I made the mistake of putting them right in the incubator with the turner on and then read after about letting them settle. I thought for sure I would have a terrible hatch rate. I just wanted to share my excitement and relief with this hatch. All my new babies look perfect and I couldn't be happier! Now to tell the husband about my chicken math...

 

[Cerise1924]

We have had quite the up and down day in Orr Chickenland (kind of has a ring to it - maybe I need to change the name of our farm??) Anyhew... first there was the awesome hatch of our Biele girl, then there was a used coop from CL we went to go see for $40 in fairly decent shape (going to need extra room for the new hatches!), and the purchase (cringe...sorry. i really don't like supporting the big hatcheries) of a couple BLRW chicks from a farm store because my daughter's face made me do it - oh, and we are not sure if our Biele will have any friends from this hatch... but mostly it was DD's face. Then things kind of fell apart... my sweet DH and I went to go take apart the coop and it torrentially downpoured on us... like we were suddenly in the Amazon or something... while we worked to get the "new to us" coop taken apart enough to fit in our van.... ugh... and it did not fit. Not even close. Thankfully, we know a lovely young man who just bought a big truck. Bless his 21year old muscles, he not only helped us load it, but brought it out to the house, unloaded, and stayed and talked chicken with us a moment then left (with 20$ in his pocket for his troubles)... but back up. While we were transporting the coop home, my sweet daughter called, completely upset. It took a while to figure out between sobs, that one of the newly purchased chicks had gotten itself crammed behind the heating pad somehow and had suffocated. Oh no -the poor baby! So, new Biele in the bator is going to have to come out to the brooder soon to keep the remaining lonely little farm store bird from crying. But, there's still a pipped egg in there that I do not want to de-humidify. So, as I write this rambling tale, the daughter is snuggling baby-farm-store until I can safely remove baby-not-farm-store from said bator. Whew. Pour me a glass of wine.

What a day! Life, death, pouring rain, crying, cuddling, a new coop and a friend to the rescue.

Farm Store Baby and Biele will be best friends in short order.

 

[Cerise1924]

Hi, it's me again! This is day 21, and I have 4 lively chicks! I sneaked them into the brooder, and they are already eating and drinking, wow! The remaining eggs are against the side of the incubator close to the shells, and I can't tell if they have pipped. Also, it is really nasty and smelly in the incubator. Should I rearrange the remaining eggs, candle them, clean out the incubator and put them back or just chill a couple more days? Thanks!

"Really nasty and smelly" could be a bad sign of a spoiled egg about to explode all over the place. I guess it depends how bad the smell is. I've never experienced it, but I hear the smell is unmistakable. Before you touch them, I'd take a look to see if any of the eggs are seeping/oozing. If so, very careful removal of the offending egg is in order.

Mildly smelly may just be normal humid incubator/eggshell smell.

If it's just Day 21, I would probably wait for more chicks to have a chance to pip and zip.