April Hatch Along

[RoseViewFarm]

I'm hoping that I'm not too late to the party! I received my first ever shipment of eggs today. 14 BBS Ameraucanas! This is my first ever hatch so I am beyond excited! None of the aircells seemed detached, so I was very happy about that! They are happily waiting for their BBS English Orpington companions to arrive (fingers crossed for tomorrow!) while just settling.
I am going to be trying the lower humidity method of incubating, currently without any water in the bator it is sitting at 25% humidity. I will monitor it closely and add water if it drops below 20. I have weighed my eggs upon arrival and will be weighing at each candling (7,14,18) and adjusting humidity as needed. While most of the eggs looked pretty good (to my entirely untrained eye), this egg has me wondering. I will set it, but will watch closely.

I will be incubating in a Hovabator 1588 with the automatic egg turner.

 

[orrpeople]

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.

Aw, very sweet! Is she all by herself? If so, you will really be needing to get her a friend... chickens are like that friend that follows you into the bathroom and talks to you the whole time...they do everything in social units!!

 

[slantrhymes]

Aw, very sweet! Is she all by herself? If so, you will really be needing to get her a friend... chickens are like that friend that follows you into the bathroom and talks to you the whole time...they do everything in social units!!

I have four 2wk oldish chicks (a polish and three D'Uccles) in a brooder next to her. I'm going to try integrating them without endangering my tiny cheep; there's a runty little D'Uccle (saying something, since they're bantam) who I might try to give her as a roommate.

 

[Kyanite]

I have four 2wk oldish chicks (a polish and three D'Uccles) in a brooder next to her. I'm going to try integrating them without endangering my tiny cheep; there's a runty little D'Uccle (saying something, since they're bantam) who I might try to give her as a roommate.

That sounds like a good plan. I'm sorry that you lost the rest of your eggs. Good luck with the new roommate integration!

 

[orrpeople]

I'm hoping that I'm not too late to the party! I received my first ever shipment of eggs today. 14 BBS Ameraucanas! This is my first ever hatch so I am beyond excited! None of the aircells seemed detached, so I was very happy about that! They are happily waiting for their BBS English Orpington companions to arrive (fingers crossed for tomorrow!) while just settling.
I am going to be trying the lower humidity method of incubating, currently without any water in the bator it is sitting at 25% humidity. I will monitor it closely and add water if it drops below 20. I have weighed my eggs upon arrival and will be weighing at each candling (7,14,18) and adjusting humidity as needed. While most of the eggs looked pretty good (to my entirely untrained eye), this egg has me wondering. I will set it, but will watch closely.

I will be incubating in a Hovabator 1588 with the automatic egg turner.

Kind of looks like it's really porous - I don't tend to have a lot of luck with eggs with shells like that.
Did you get the chance to read the "hatching shipped eggs" thread? It's really good.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ally-sunshine-bantychooks/53840#post_16540512

 

[slantrhymes]

I'm hoping that I'm not too late to the party! I received my first ever shipment of eggs today. 14 BBS Ameraucanas! This is my first ever hatch so I am beyond excited! None of the aircells seemed detached, so I was very happy about that! They are happily waiting for their BBS English Orpington companions to arrive (fingers crossed for tomorrow!) while just settling.
I am going to be trying the lower humidity method of incubating, currently without any water in the bator it is sitting at 25% humidity. I will monitor it closely and add water if it drops below 20. I have weighed my eggs upon arrival and will be weighing at each candling (7,14,18) and adjusting humidity as needed. While most of the eggs looked pretty good (to my entirely untrained eye), this egg has me wondering. I will set it, but will watch closely.

I will be incubating in a Hovabator 1588 with the automatic egg turner.

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!

 

[orrpeople]

I have four 2wk oldish chicks (a polish and three D'Uccles) in a brooder next to her. I'm going to try integrating them without endangering my tiny cheep; there's a runty little D'Uccle (saying something, since they're bantam) who I might try to give her as a roommate.

Great plan! My solo chook cried and cried unless she was being held. We finally had to pull a baby out of the bator before it was fully fluffed to make her stop!

 

[Calichicken2015]

39 Bourbon Red turkey eggs in lockdown. Hope I get a lot of birds. They are so much better as chicks than chickens. They are so much more curious and playful. Chicken chicks are fun, but I believe turkey poults are better.

Baby Turkeys are the CUTEST things ever!!!

PLEASE post pics when they hatch!!!

It's my second attempt at a hatch, our first one was a fail unfortunately. We live in a humid place and I followed instructions on the incubator to keep humidity at 50% and think we drowned them, it was an awful heart breaking learning experience. Hoping this one goes better!!! My humidity is holding at 30% with no water added, so hoping that will make a difference. Temp. seems to be keeping at 99.5. I might put them in today,lol. I don't know if I can wait another day! My biggest hen is losing more feathers than usual so I thought she might be starting to melt, and isn't laying everyday. But my little red is just trying to hide hers so I thought she might be going broody. I went out of town not to long ago and left my chickens in the care of my in-laws, when I came back it took a few days to figure out that she had a nest in the woods with 9 eggs in it. they were soaked so I got rid of them and she went back to lying in her box for a few days, then started trying to lay in new places again. She's a sneaky one!

I have the opposite problem...no humidity up here! last year my air cell were too big so my hatch didn't go well

Good luck to you!!!! LOL...to your crazy little hen hiding her eggs all over the place

She is not giving up any eggs without a fight

Lets see, I'm at @4000 ft. When I candled my eggs at 7 days the air cells looked bigger, but I think my humidity was too low. @20%. So I upped it closer to 40% and haven't candled again, but yours look pretty good IMHO.

Thank you for your input! I feel pretty good about them so far...just watching closely!!!! I figure I can always lower humidity if needed if I need the air cells to grow more..but can't undo TOO large air cells

 

[RoseViewFarm]

Kind of looks like it's really porous - I don't tend to have a lot of luck with eggs with shells like that.
Did you get the chance to read the "hatching shipped eggs" thread? It's really good.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ally-sunshine-bantychooks/53840#post_16540512

I wasn't sure because of the bulge. Thank you! I am not sure if I found that post in my days of research, but I will absolutely read it! Thank you!!

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!

I will definitely set it! With the way my luck goes, that will be the one that hatches! I will be very careful about clean egg handling to maybe help with that.

 

[Calichicken2015]

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!!

Maybe she is starting to go broody and will decide to help you out soon????

Congrats on your new layer there!!!! Never gets old, that first egg

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.

Sorry about your loss, but congrats on that little cutie!

Glad to hear she is getting a friend!!!