April Hatch Along

[WVduckchick]

#1 duck baby has cracked it's shell! I won't sleep tonight.

You have a long wait. Get some sleep tonite. Future nights may not be so fortunate.

 

[Calichicken2015]

My brooder as of today.



Hope to thin it down tomorrow

WOW!!!! Now that's a FULL brooder!!!

Choc orp and bantam cochin.

Congrats!!! I just LOVE broodies with their babies

 

[Calichicken2015]

WOW!!! life got busy for a few days and I am sooo behind!!!!

Congrats to all the new babies

And sorry for the losses

Exciting day!!! 4 quail babies are OUT!!!

One had hatched over night, and the rest hatched throughout the day! So teachers and students spent all day stuck to the incubator window and brooder watching all the action..LOL! One more quail egg that may hatch, but not sure? They were "officially" due tomorrow, but these babies had a plan of their own..LOL! Chicks are due to start hatching on Monday

 

[Kyanite]

#1 duck baby has cracked it's shell! I won't sleep tonight.

LOL That's pretty much how I'm feeling! Good luck with the little duckling.

WOW!!! life got busy for a few days and I am sooo behind!!!!

Congrats to all the new babies

And sorry for the losses

Exciting day!!! 4 quail babies are OUT!!!

One had hatched over night, and the rest hatched throughout the day! So teachers and students spent all day stuck to the incubator window and brooder watching all the action..LOL! One more quail egg that may hatch, but not sure? They were "officially" due tomorrow, but these babies had a plan of their own..LOL! Chicks are due to start hatching on Monday

Oh my, they are so darn cute! Congrats on the little quail. My chickens were a day early. Good luck with your chicks on Monday!

 

[Kyanite]

I'm up to 4 chicks out. The two legbars (one of each sex so far) and one Swedish flower. I think the SFH is a dark blue or black. It looks a bit lighter than the Black Copper Marans chick that hatched a little later. I'll get pics up eventually.

I have one SFH that might be stuck. It has zipped most of the way, but stopped. The chick is alive and resting but it's been 7 hours since it started zipping and probably 4-5 hours since it made any progress. It pipped at the very end of the shell in spite of having the air cell nice and big and low (according to my trace of it anyhow), so the circle it zipped might be too small for it to get out. And the little malpo first pip from last night is still in the game. I saw a hint of movement from inside the pip. Looks like the chick made it through the membrane. There are a few other pips and a few other late bloomers just hanging cozy waiting to make a grand entrance after all the fuss is over with their siblings.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I might have heard of this but don't remember anyone explaining it. They don't get their nails stuck? Do you have an example? I love the idea because they would work well in my system. Do tell me more.

I know there are at least 3 that started to zip but died in the shell last night. My need to open the bator probably caused them to stick. I was trying to avoid that. I'm learning.

Here's a quick pic from this morning. 21 so far and today is Day 21.

There are 2 that I won't be able to officially identify until I get shells out. I have Gulls, Marans, Ameraucana, and Pavlovskaya in there.

I really hope today goes well. I want at least 10 more to hatch, but 20 more would be even better!

Nope, they don't get stuck or caught up in them... took me a bit, but found similar ones, albeit larger than the ones I got (got my set from cjwaldon as a gift)...

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Recyclable-Me...-of-50-Green-Glotech-/322429828785?nav=SEARCH

Just search 'poly mesh bags' and a bunch come up... the regular plastic mesh produce bags require you to knot the bags, which could be a pain to undo after the chicks hatch, otherwise you'd have to cut the bag... these have reusable plastic clips and you put the end of the bag through the loop and slip the collar down over and snap into place... easy to control bag size that way too... pic for ones who can't follow link...

Granted, you don't stuff the bag tightly full like that pic, lol... think I might have a pic of some of my own chicks hatched in a bag...

ETA: and these being all plastic are washable and sterilizeable for reuse...

 

[tao chick]

Nope, they don't get stuck or caught up in them... took me a bit, but found similar ones, albeit larger than the ones I got (got my set from cjwaldon as a gift)...

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Recyclable-Me...-of-50-Green-Glotech-/322429828785?nav=SEARCH

Just search 'poly mesh bags' and a bunch come up... the regular plastic mesh produce bags require you to knot the bags, which could be a pain to undo after the chicks hatch, otherwise you'd have to cut the bag... these have reusable plastic clips and you put the end of the bag through the loop and slip the collar down over and snap into place... easy to control bag size that way too... pic for ones who can't follow link...

Granted, you don't stuff the bag tightly full like that pic, lol... think I might have a pic of some of my own chicks hatched in a bag...

ETA: and these being all plastic are washable and sterilizeable for reuse...

Thank you! I'll be looking up some options soon. I love how fluffy the chicks are from your picture. I think I can combine some techniques with this to make it work well for my incubator.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thank you! I'll be looking up some options soon. I love how fluffy the chicks are from your picture. I think I can combine some techniques with this to make it work well for my incubator.

Very welcome! Hope it works better for you too...

Thank you... I quit raising humidity for hatching and stopped getting the too much hair gel look, lol...

 

[tao chick]

Very welcome! Hope it works better for you too...

Thank you... I quit raising humidity for hatching and stopped getting the too much hair gel look, lol...

I will definitely try to adjust the humidity next time too. I had many sticky hair-gel chicks this time. I dry hatch (35%) with my own eggs and bump humidity for lockdown, but with shipped eggs maybe I should keep a steady 45% and not raise it for lockdown? What are your general humidity guidelines?

 

[feedman77]

Very welcome! Hope it works better for you too...

Thank you... I quit raising humidity for hatching and stopped getting the too much hair gel look, lol...

If you don't raise humidity what percent do you incubate at?

Have you noticed a better or worse hatching percent?

I know I have had some hatch early where I haven't raised humidity or been off on my days.

They seemed to hatch fine. Was even debating doing a batch with not raising it to see what would happen.

Then your and tao chick discussion came along. Just prying for info.