ATTENTION NEWBIES TO INCUBATING

[Ridgerunner]

You can do as you wish. That chick can go three days without food or water since it absorbed the yolk so that is not the issue. If none of the other eggs have pipped I see not real danger removing it though a pip could be on the bottom where you can't see it even if that chick were not rolling them around. Even if eggs have pipped, I usually don't cause a problem by opening the incubator but I did shrink wrap one once doing that so there is a risk, however small. I just consider it good practice to not take unnecessary chances but do as you will.

Some people get all excited and worried when they see the early hatchers playing rugby with the unhatched eggs, but I have never worried about that. The only problem I've ever seen was when half a shell from a hatched egg cupped another egg over the pip. That was one case I opened the incubator to remove that shell. I had 23 out of 24 eggs that developed hatch that incubation, including the one that had the pip covered for a short time.

There is another thread active where someone with a broody had one chick hatch day 22, one on day 23, and the final three day 24. That was under a broody, not in an incubator. People like to think these things run with the precision of an atomic clock, but each hatch has a life of its own.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Thanks. I really want to give them at least another full day. The loner hatched out early, early on the 18th so I should be able to leave it until tomorrow right? I hate to pull it and have it in my big brooder all by itself. I keep hoping that maybe it can give the others a "peep talk" and get them out LOL! I knew I should have done a trial run with some mixed breed eggs but I was so excited about my Wheatens, oh well live and learn! I have heard plenty of people not had full hatches until day 22 or 23 so hopefully I will get at least one of two more. **** power outages!

 

[Ridgerunner]

A story. I had a hen go back to the wrong nest. By the time I found her, the eggs were cold to the touch. I mean really cold. Not quite a power outage but close enough. I just put her back on the right nest. She had been brooding those eggs for about two weeks when this happened. She not only hatched 11 out of 11, but they were a little more than a full day early. Each hatch is different. Sometimes you just can't explain what is going on.

 

[Sylviaanne]

The vent plugs (at least one of them) should be removed anyway. Never refrigerate eggs to be incubated, and you can store them for up to a week at room temperature. You should ether put them in a turner, or at least turn them a couple of times a day while storing. on end with air cell up is best, but they can be laid on their sides if necessary. I store them in egg cartons fat end up and lid open.

Hi, just wondering how you turn your eggs when they are fat end up in a carton? Thanks, Sylvia

 

[Ridgerunner]

Get a block of wood or something like that and prop up one end. When you turn them, prop up the other end instead.

Put the carton on a pivot in the middle, either long way or short way, attach a rod appropriately to an end or a side, and have a way to firmly attach that rod when you move it up or down. This works pretty well if it is in an incubator and you are going through a vent hole at the top. Some people come in from the side instead of on top, especially in homemade incubators.

Your goal is to turn it 45 degrees from level so it goes through a full 90 degree turn each time.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

OK well I got one hatchling on the 18th. But the other 17 aren't doing anything!!! I went ahead and pulled the loner, since there were no visible pips on the other eggs (opened for like 5 seconds). I plan to give them another day or so, but I am kind of heartbroken at the moment!
The little loner is doing good and will have some companions tomorrow or the next day from a broody hen.

 

[Daedalus62]

Hi all,

Just to share a couple of pics of the latest hatch in my foamy homemade incubator... 1 week old... 12, out of 14 fertile, hatched... I did an eggtopsy on the 2 quitters and they were fully developed but (as far as I could see) didn't pip internally... I think they were overgrown/swollen/too big, but I could be wrong... Thinking of lowering the humidity by 5 or 10% in the next hatch, from 40 to 30/35%... What do you think?... Appreciate your opinion on this. Thanks.






Cheers

 

[blucoondawg]

My current hatch is going well with humidity maintained from 20 to 25 throughout most of the process raised to 60 at lockdown but raised further throughout the hatch. I also dropped the temp a degree or so

 

[sellison]

Well, it pretty much looks like we are finished with 13. The 14th must have died from pipping a blood vessel. There are no more pips or eggs moving at all. This morning I quickly pulled the chicks and added water and left the rest for now, but I have little hope. I will be doing an eggtopsy tonight.

My suspicion is, in an effort to keep the weight loss between 12% and 15% as all articles recommend, the air cells did not get large enough. The hatch was 40% which is a huge improvement over the last hatch, but not near where we want to be yet. There is another turner full of eggs in the setter that will lock down Wednesday night. I marked them with a beginning weight, but haven't weighed them since. I will be candling and looking at the air cell instead. There is only a short time left to make any improvement in the air cell, but I have had the humidity considerably lower over the past week already. In my opinion weighing is very deceiving. It cost me about 60% of my hatch. But that is just my opinion. I just can't understand how the weight can indicate they are loosing too much moisture and yet the air cells are too small.

As Sally has said, I think the average hatch should loose more than 15%.....more like 18% to 20%

Did you check out your eggs that didn't hatch? Just wondering if the air cell was the real problem or the extra handling from weighing them stopped them growing. I have been following and have two incubators that are the same and due to hatch on the same day. One adding water, to keep humidity to 30- 40 percent and the other one no water and is at 22% on room air. So just curious how it went. I am not having such good luck this year about 50 percent hatch rate. Last year I didn't know anything and just threw the eggs in and had a 85 percent hatch rate, haven't got that since. I want my beginners luck back.

 

[Dawnrenae]

After eggtopsy, 13 of my eggs were too large to hatch.

Amazing air cells, but absolutely no room to move.

Is my temp too high at 102°?