April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!

[Nursiedeer]

Really - a stethoscope works?!? Heartbeats or movement? Now I wish I would have grabbed mine yesterday before heading home.... have 3 I'm still waiting for in my incubator, and 8 in the brooder (6 BCM and 2 EE).

YEPPER!! Just like using one on a human.. in the way that it amplifies sounds! You can hear the little pips! If they are doing it.

 

[tommysgirl]

NO babies for me this time... Today was day 24. WE gave up.
I had said I really didn't think any of the eggs were good. I held out hope for only one.
So when we egtopsied... we found one that didn't make it..almost fully developed. The rest were never any good. Not fertile? Since they never even started.
How does that happen?
I had one very early that was developed but obviously died so I cracked it. Then today one more.
The rest were always clear but I wasn't sure with the color.
so 2 fertile eggs out of 15?!?!?
WOW right?
Several were porous.
Anyway
I just don't know what to do.
these were expensive eggs. Not happy about all the non-starters.
I paid for overnight shipping.
That's what the auction said.
The eggs were shipped so late in the afternoon they took two days instead...and now this...
What would you do?

You must be so disappointed! I am sorry that it turned out this way.I know of a BYCer who bought eggs off ebay and is fairly certain she received grocery store eggs...not the fertile ones you can find at Whole Foods but plain old production line grocery store eggs. It's a gamble whenever you buy shipped eggs but it's what we do to get the breeds we want. I hope you don't give up.

If it was my breeding pen I would want to know that I may have a fertility problem. If I were the seller I also think that I would make it up to you in some way. I think that just contacting the seller and saying what happened is the right thing to do. I know lot of people run their own hatch to see if their eggs are generally fertile but a lot of others don't and maybe this seller is one of them.

Next time you buy eggs you can ask about what sort of hatch rate they are getting from their own birds at this point and if they don't have an answer for you then you know it is even more of a crap shoot. I am sure there are plenty of good egg sellers out there who don't do their own hatches (ETA I mean in incubators) but if that's the case they should be able to tell you if their eggs are fertile just by cracking a few open and having a look.

I thought I had good fertility from my roo who is seeing a lot of action but of the 7 eggs I set from my own hens only 2 look somewhat promising. All of the rest were totally clear and I had been examining blastoderms for weeks leading up to this hatch.

So sorry for your disappointment.

 

[tommysgirl]

It is so nice to be with people that understand ! Some of my friends just don't understand how addicting chickens are. I went out today and what did I come home with? MORE chicks!!! But Honey, I didn't have this kind yet!!! And look at how cute they are! And they are almost the same age as the ones hatching, sooooo they can all go in together.

And look how happy it makes me.

If I come across ANYTHING buff in my neck o the woods in the next three weeks that's gonna be me

Let the seller know that they were not fertile. If they are honest they will get you some fertile ones. If not, do not feel shy giving honest feedback about your experience.

^^^^^ yep!

 

[tommysgirl]

Nor sure if anyone said this. I am a bit behind on posts as usual.
It's a good idea to place the sponge under one of the air vent holes in the bator. That way you can stick a long straw through to add water.
I use a long straw with a 50cc syringe (no needle) attached to it and then just pour water in onto the spnge.
Good luck with the hatch!

This is my first hatch and I am not in lockdown yet but I heard the idea of puttin sanitary napkins in instead of sponges and I am going to try it. You know they are sterile and they are very absorbent so they do the job cleanly.

More babies emerging! Yay. These are from my own EE.

Whooooooooot!!!!!!!!

 

[hokankai]

Ended up with six chicks out of 9 eggs that made it to lockdown. I suppose I should wait another day (that would be day 23) and then do the float test? When do you call it quits?

If all the pipped eggs have hatched I will candle them at that point to check for internal pips, movement, veins (you should still see veins in unpipped eggs. If there are no veins and no movement than it is a quitter)

My two orphaned broody eggs are due today, and this little one hatched at 5:50am! My brain woke me up just in time to watch it zip. The second one is pipped and should start hatching this afternoon.

 

[tommysgirl]

One of the best hatching pics EVER!!!!!!!

 

[annabell254]

for some odd reason it is not letting be quote but this is my letter I sent in responce to my dissapointment to her eggs....... forgot even to comment on the no extra eggs part! but we will see how she handels it

"They did arrive and are in perfect condition..... I am however concerned about their size and the amount of poo on three of them.... They are almost half the size of my sebright bantam eggs and I have certainly never had a standard size hamburg lay such a small egg, my hamburg eggs are 3 times the size of these eggs. If these eggs are from standard size hamburgs then are they from young birds, or do your birds just lay super tiny eggs? Or could they be from bantam hamburgs? As I do not see how these could hatch and grow to a normal size... Also 3 of them have a good amount of poo on them and I am concerned about putting them in the incubator with my other eggs, for fear of contamination... So I will have to clean them which is not something I was expecting or wanting to have to do when purchasing such expensive eggs from a reputable breeder such as yourself... I came to you for these eggs because I could not find standard size citron hamburgs anywhere... but the bantam size is readily available and for much less.... Please let me know you thoughts on this, as right now I am at a loss, as I had hoped to come back to you for your Isabel Brahma eggs... but now I am worried that I would be equally disappointed in them as I am the citron hamburg eggs... to small and to dirty.... but I do know that some times crazy things can happen and that this may not be the normal quality of your eggs and I would like to give you a chance to show me that this is the case
Thank you for your time and I look forward to resolving this matter
Ann"

Comments????????????

 

[Member 151789]

You said it!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Nor sure if anyone said this. I am a bit behind on posts as usual.
It's a good idea to place the sponge under one of the air vent holes in the bator. That way you can stick a long straw through to add water.
I use a long straw with a 50cc syringe (no needle) attached to it and then just pour water in onto the spnge.
Good luck with the hatch!

O are you supposed to have that plug off the vent holes the whole time or just before you go into lockdown? Because I haven't took them off yet.

 

[LBKS]

O are you supposed to have that plug off the vent holes the whole time or just before you go into lockdown? Because I haven't took them off yet.

Just plug/unplug as needed. Sometimes I need both in to maintain humidity, sometimes just one in does it (and sometimes I need both out to lose a little humidity). If I have both in I just unplug one to add water then put it back in.