April Hatch Along

[WVduckchick]

She is still feathered. But, I was just out watching her fluff up and growl at every chicken that got even close to her little personal space bubble. Any ideas? Normally she's a super friendly BO.

Oh, and in other fun news, the little red chick in my avatar just laid her very first egg!!

She may still be thinking about it. Is she still laying? I sure wish I could send you some broody potion. My 2nd and 3rd chocolate Orpingtons are sitting, and 2 cochin sisters are sharing duties. 3 broodies already done. I just hope they all start laying again before summer is over.

Add that up, plus the one that gave up at day 14, and that is 9 broodies already this year. :/

Hi again, Aprils! I finally gave in and eggtopsied my four remaining eggs. Three badly malpositioned, dead in shell, never pipped. One dead in shell after internally pipping...no shrink wrapping or any other issues that my (admittedly untrained) eye can see. So... 1/5 that made it to lockdown hatched in my first hatch ever. Not great!

I keep reminding myself that these were shipped eggs that got abandoned by my noncommittal broody before being plunged into a cheap incubator by a total newbie. Poor babies.

Anyways, though, we got one gorgeous little Blue Andalusian out of it. She was the malpo that took hours to zip and had a bit of unabsorbed yolk when she finally pushed out. She is strong and soo cute, zipping around her brooder on her newly-stable legs, eating, drinking, and pooping like a champ. My little baby.

Sounds like a good plan for the loner. Sorry you didn't have a better hatch. Keep trying!

That one looks porous to me, which I understand isn't an automatic death sentence for the egg but is considered "subpar" for hatching purposes. Iirc, it's because the porous shell allows for greater transfer of bacteria...so greater likelihood of the embryo succumbing. Set it anyways!

It does look porous, but I have a couple cochins that always look that way, and they hatch fine. May end up with slightly larger air cells, but not too bad.

The bulge concerns me a little, but yea, I'd set it anyway and see what happens. Just watch it closely.

 

[RoseViewFarm]

It does look porous, but I have a couple cochins that always look that way, and they hatch fine. May end up with slightly larger air cells, but not too bad.

The bulge concerns me a little, but yea, I'd set it anyway and see what happens. Just watch it closely.

There is one other that has a much less pronounced bulge, but a bulge nonetheless. I'm wondering if they are both from the same hen.

They will go in and we will hope for the best!!

 

[crazeemomma]

We finally decided to get an incubator after letting two of our ducks have an unsuccessful hatch. I bought a Farm Innovators 4250 with the automatic turner. We put in 27 pekin/mallard crosses plus two extra thermometers and an extra hydrometer on March 24th. I have candled quite a bit because of a humidity problem (one on the FI is 10% off from the other one) Here are some pictures from my first candle at 7 days:

At that point we determined 5 of our eggs were not fertile but we gave them until day 14.

Day 14

Day 17.

Does anyone think I still have a humidity problem? When I candle them, they all move. Thanks for your help. I am just getting a little nervous about our first lockdown.

 

[orrpeople]

We finally decided to get an incubator after letting two of our ducks have an unsuccessful hatch. I bought a Farm Innovators 4250 with the automatic turner. We put in 27 pekin/mallard crosses plus two extra thermometers and an extra hydrometer on March 24th. I have candled quite a bit because of a humidity problem (one on the FI is 10% off from the other one) Here are some pictures from my first candle at 7 days:

At that point we determined 5 of our eggs were not fertile but we gave them until day 14.

Day 14

Day 17.

Does anyone think I still have a humidity problem? When I candle them, they all move. Thanks for your help. I am just getting a little nervous about our first lockdown.

I don't know much about duck eggs, but I do know about your incubator. Do you have a separate /thermometer/hygrometer in there with your eggs? The gauges on that, and a lot of incubators are not reliable. Sadly, I have learned most of my lessons the hard way. You will definitely want to get at least one more gauge, if not two.

 

[orrpeople]

She may still be thinking about it. Is she still laying? I sure wish I could send you some broody potion. My 2nd and 3rd chocolate Orpingtons are sitting, and 2 cochin sisters are sharing duties. 3 broodies already done. I just hope they all start laying again before summer is over.

Add that up, plus the one that gave up at day 14, and that is 9 broodies already this year. :/

Some folks have all the luck
Maybe I need to start using reverse psychology on my gals..."No, ladies, you may not, I repeat, not go broody this year!!"
Seriously though, Buffy (original name, I know) makes a teenager with pms seem polite!

 

[crazeemomma]

I did put two extra thermometers but didn't on humidity until I knew we had a problem. I have been making adjustments to the humidity since then. All our babies are still moving around, so I take that as a good sign.

 

[WVduckchick]

There is one other that has a much less pronounced bulge, but a bulge nonetheless. I'm wondering if they are both from the same hen.

They will go in and we will hope for the best!!

Very likely the same hen. I sometimes worry about the area that looks the weakest, but so far I haven't had issue with them. Just be extra careful handling them, but I think they will be fine.

Yesterday evening, one of my hens was trying to have some privacy, but one of my little cockerels kept going in and standing beside her. I could almost hear her say "close the door, I'm tryin to poop!"...

But anyway, she finally laid her egg, and it had a slight bulge in it, which hers don't normally have. I wonder if the "interruption" is what causes that.

We finally decided to get an incubator after letting two of our ducks have an unsuccessful hatch. I bought a Farm Innovators 4250 with the automatic turner. We put in 27 pekin/mallard crosses plus two extra thermometers and an extra hydrometer on March 24th. I have candled quite a bit because of a humidity problem (one on the FI is 10% off from the other one) Here are some pictures from my first candle at 7 days:

At that point we determined 5 of our eggs were not fertile but we gave them until day 14.
Day 14
Day 17.

Does anyone think I still have a humidity problem? When I candle them, they all move. Thanks for your help. I am just getting a little nervous about our first lockdown.

Veining and development look good to me, and if the rest look like the last one, that air cell looks fine.

Some folks have all the luck

Maybe I need to start using reverse psychology on my gals..."No, ladies, you may not, I repeat, not go broody this year!!"
Seriously though, Buffy (original name, I know) makes a teenager with pms seem polite!

You know something... that's exactly what I did! I said I had one designated broody this year, I was going to break the rest, because I needed the eggs. Wellllll that didn't work. So I think you are on to something!

 

[crazeemomma]

I have one or two that showed up late and the air cell is a little smaller but not by much. So far we have great movement with all of them. With this being our first hatch I'm just a little paranoid.

 

[RoseViewFarm]

Soooo it looks like the BBS Orps aren't going to make it into the bator.

Somehow my shipment that was headed to WISCONSIN ended up being delivered to FRESNO. Come on!!! So now what do I do. Do I put the Ameraucanas in the bator and hope the Orp seller will send another shipment or wait for this package to maybe get here. I suppose I'll contact the seller now.

 

[hensareus]

Soooo it looks like the BBS Orps aren't going to make it into the bator.

Somehow my shipment that was headed to WISCONSIN ended up being delivered to FRESNO. Come on!!! So now what do I do. Do I put the Ameraucanas in the bator and hope the Orp seller will send another shipment or wait for this package to maybe get here. I suppose I'll contact the seller now.

so sorry for you. That's irritating and sad.