April Hatch Along

[WVduckchick]

I'm going to sub here... even if my next hatch is a little after April... probably first week of May if I can get my eggs here and set in time. I do have a question though? What would make a chick completely develop and then die right at the last moment, without even pipping?

Welcome! Whatcha got cookin?

Several things can cause them to quit very late.
Incorrect humidity throughout incubation can cause them to be too large or too small to hatch.
They can get in the wrong position and not make their way out.
Improper ventilation.
They can have physical defects that can cause them not to hatch.
Temp fluctuations...

The list goes on...

Joining the April hatch-a-long. 53 eggs. 24 araucana 28 ayam cemani. One jersey giant/ayam cemani mix (just want to see how it looks, planning on eating it eventually).
My last hatch was terrible. Only about 33%. I do believe that humidity was a problem with the dry winter air. My incubator just are through water like crazy. And we have radiator heat.
This was evident to me when two of my eggtopsies showed completely shrink wrapped chicks. Fully developed.
Now that it's warmer and the furnace isn't on so much I should be a little better.

Awesome! Good luck!

Check your seal around the edge of the bator, maybe its not sealing completely?

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Welcome! Whatcha got cookin?

Several things can cause them to quit very late.
Incorrect humidity throughout incubation can cause them to be too large or too small to hatch.
They can get in the wrong position and not make their way out.
Improper ventilation.
They can have physical defects that can cause them not to hatch.
Temp fluctuations...

The list goes on...

Planning on hatching some more Bantam Cochins and maybe some Dominiques. I might just get Dominique chicks though, we'll see. I guess next hatch I'll try to be more careful about the temp and humidity.

 

[spruce creek]

Getting ready to set our eggs too!, they will be early May hatchers too if everything goes well. I had a couple of chicks die at the end, fully developed and chirping with no external pips and believe they drowned due to high humidity during incubation. I plan to try a dry incubation this round as we live in a very humid place, and the incubator(Farm innovator 2200 with fan) was reading 25% humidity last time I ran it to check with no water added.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I absolutely love candling! But I have found myself like you, and rarely candling any more. I incubate with them upright, so I'll stick the flashlight on top of them quickly, every now and then, but rarely pick one up to totally check it.

.

I know what you mean! I do love candling, too, don't get me wrong! I will probably candle sunday just to see if I have any duds that need to come out. Last year I used to keep a candling schedule that I would follow, but I was also hatching a lot of shipped eggs so I had a lot of $ and stress invested! After this batch of Marans and EEs I would like to separate my SQ silver penciled rock bantams and do some hatching from them, but we'll see if the dept of ag comes knocking on my door before then lol :/ Some local poultry swaps have already had to be canceled.

 

[hensareus]

I better move over here too. Have only 2 ducks left from what I started end of March. Due to hatch April 24. I'm paying close attention to them and keeping fingers crossed.

 

[Kyanite]

I use an 800 lumen flashlight and even then i have to wait until about day 10 before I can distinguish veins and embryo with certainty. The brightest light possible certainly helps when it comes to Marans eggs.

Good to know! Thanks for that tidbit of info. I'm not panicking just yet, but I may resort to sniffing the eggs if I can't tell! LOL

Most new flashlights show the lumens number. 250-300+ is a must! The higher the better.

Surprisingly, my lav orp eggs are my hardest to see in. Light-mid pinkish color, but man they are dense. I rarely see veins, but growth is evident within a few days, I can usually tell by internal color.

OK good. I'll watch for color changes and darkness changes too. Thanks!
Hubby has a huge floodlight flashlight that I think we're going to try to build a simple tube for.

 

[WVduckchick]

I know what you mean! I do love candling, too, don't get me wrong! I will probably candle sunday just to see if I have any duds that need to come out. Last year I used to keep a candling schedule that I would follow, but I was also hatching a lot of shipped eggs so I had a lot of $ and stress invested! After this batch of Marans and EEs I would like to separate my SQ silver penciled rock bantams and do some hatching from them, but we'll see if the dept of ag comes knocking on my door before then lol :/ Some local poultry swaps have already had to be canceled.

Would love to see the silver pencileds!

Wait, you're in Maryland? What's up with the Ag up this way?

 

[rookhomestead]

...

Guineas are annoying but the keets are my money makers so I have three pairs just for that reason. They can be good about sounding a predator alarm but sometimes they just scream for the fun of it.   

Yes they are fantastic alarms. They let me know if anything is in the yard that doesn't belong, or even at the fence. QUESTION... I only have 3 left of 6, the others escaped and disappeared

. One will bed down in a small bushy patch and the other 2 stand on alert. Is the one bedding down a hen? When do guineas start laying? I think they're about a year old, maybe a touch less.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

...

Guineas are annoying but the keets are my money makers so I have three pairs just for that reason. They can be good about sounding a predator alarm but sometimes they just scream for the fun of it.   

Yes they are fantastic alarms. They let me know if anything is in the yard that doesn't belong, or even at the fence. QUESTION... I only have 3 left of 6, the others escaped and disappeared

. One will bed down in a small bushy patch and the other 2 stand on alert. Is the one bedding down a hen? When do guineas start laying? I think they're about a year old, maybe a touch less.

Go check when they aren't over there. If you try to check while she's sitting there, they may draw blood (trust me, I know, those beaks aren't for show). The male will guard while the hen lays. So either you have two males or you have a male and two hens and the other hen is waiting her turn.

 

[rookhomestead]

Oh poo. My last post got goofed up. I'm new here, sorry. Wanted to know about guineas laying!