April Hatch Along

[MaggieMay'sMom]

My bourbon red turkey hatch is starting. We were just checking for internal pips for the heck of it. 1 and a half days early though, should still be good right?

Don't forget pictures.:

 

[Calichicken2015]

So this web-site http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/2908/incubating-eggs-at-high-altitudes/

does not consider anything under 4921 high altitude?

This link was from Sally Sunshine's great incubating tread.
What Things are Different at Altitude?

Air always contains about 21 per cent oxygen but at high altitudes (1,500 metres, 4,921 feet, or more above sea level) the air pressure decreases - put simply, there is less air. Less air means there are fewer molecules bumping into each other so all the molecules move around faster. Thus, gases can move through the pores in the eggshell more easily (Table 1). This only partially offsets the shortage of oxygen at high altitudes but it results in eggs losing carbon dioxide and water faster than they would at sea level. The extra loss of carbon dioxide does not appear to affect the embryo.



I guess I will have to experiment.

Wow, this is new to my. I'm hatching for my first time and live at 6,000 ft. Our ambient humidity had been high due to a lot of rain and melting snow, but the last week things have dried out some and this time when I candled my eggs, I think the cells are too big. I have all the troughs in my incubator filled with water and am barely holding 35-37% humidity. Time to put the plug in I guess.

Last night was the beginning of day 10. I candled all the eggs. I think my air cells have grown too large as mentioned above. But, I saw LOTS of one chick dance parties going on in there. HOW COOL!!! One SFH and one CCL looked to be decent development but I saw no movement so I put a ? on them. 4/5 of the FBCM are too dark to see a stinking thing even in a pitch black room. One I can just see a dark blob on one side of the egg. I can see the air cells... kinda. I'll take the, if they don't stink, they fine, approach with them! lol

Hi There! I am incubating at high altitude...6500 ft...and watching air cells CLOSELY! Last year my air cells grew large WAY too quickly. So my hatch did not go well, as they ran out of room for development before they hatched

Like your eggs @Kyanite I saw good development and movement until the last week before my hatch. It is very dry...little humidity here so I am running at 50-55% humidity and my air cells are growing normally this time. Fingers crossed it goes well this time!!!!

 

[Calichicken2015]

My bourbon red turkey hatch is starting. We were just checking for internal pips for the heck of it. 1 and a half days early though, should still be good right?

Watching and waiting

 

[Calichicken2015]

When I read the article, it sounded to me like vents should stay open too. At first I thought close them to help keep humidity up, but that makes less O2 circulation which is bad. So they key is increasing humidity another way. And yes, it seems that from the article at least, local eggs should have better hatchability than eggs from a lower elevation. This gives me some hope. The eggs in my incubator came from just 1,000 lower in elevation which around here, is still pretty high. I can't believe that in all the reading I did before getting started, I didn't come across this. Not much was mentioned about elevation honestly. I know it affects a lot... my cooking and canning for example. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that it would affect incubation too.

Well then I'm glad I mentioned it

Ventilation and elevation are definitely overlooked alot.

And I think that's a good guideline, if you have to adjust your cooking, then your incubating probably warrants the difference too.

And while I'm at it, humidity is raised by adding water surface area, not necessarily amount of water. Spread it out as much as possible will get higher results than more water that is deeper.

YES...I am incubating with vents open as well! Unfortunately we are a small mountain community so I can not find eggs up here

I am on day 7 now, but air cells are looking normal and eggs are showing veins and movement

with humidity at 50-55%

 

[orrpeople]

1st pip, 2nd set of Bieles!! Also just put a batch of CLs in lockdown too !! And, i think my extra hygrometer is on the fritz... grrr. I have the same amount of water, etc and it's saying 100% humidity...really? Awesome.

 

[Calichicken2015]

1st pip, 2nd set of Bieles!! Also just put a batch of CLs in lockdown too !! And, i think my extra hygrometer is on the fritz... grrr. I have the same amount of water, etc and it's saying 100% humidity...really? Awesome.

YAY!!! Here come more babies

 

[orrpeople]

Oh, and my buff girl is broody!!! She's been on all day and has some bald spots on her chest now!! But, she moved nests, so we had to exchange eggs so she has the correct ones. Thankfully, we want her to hatch the blue eggs so it's easy to pull the rest out from under her!!

 

[Kyanite]

1st pip, 2nd set of Bieles!! Also just put a batch of CLs in lockdown too !! And, i think my extra hygrometer is on the fritz... grrr. I have the same amount of water, etc and it's saying 100% humidity...really? Awesome.

I think my hygrometer loses its mind when the temp gets higher. I think the temp isn't accurate either. Both backups. Yay. Salt tested the hygrometer, so it should be ok. But sometimes it doesn't make sense.

Oh, and my buff girl is broody!!! She's been on all day and has some bald spots on her chest now!! But, she moved nests, so we had to exchange eggs so she has the correct ones. Thankfully, we want her to hatch the blue eggs so it's easy to pull the rest out from under her!!

Yay for broodies! I had two EE who were taking turns making threats of going broody, but neither got serious about it. I also have Australorps who are supposed to tend to want to brood, but nada because only one of them is even laying right now! My SLW couldn't care any less about being broody, but they are at least laying. Sigh... chooks, gotta love em.

 

[MontainBourbons]

3 eggs pipped that I can see. 1 day early in my books but it should be okay. Better early that late right?

 

[mich9510]

Just did my first candling. Had to toss 26 of the 53 I set. Most were araucanas. The rest look good with good air cells. Loving the hovabator genesis with auto egg turner!