August Hatch-A-Long!

[Marynash88]

I like yourself up. Is that a towel under the eggs?

It's a microfiber cloth. I wanted something thin for the eggs to lay on so they could assume their natural position. Humidity finally dropped down. Temp is maintaining between 94 and 102 (its hard to get a smaller gap bc of thermostat but it was successful last time so I will allow it to stay at that range. Would rather have am hatch later than too early)

 

[Gen9]

It's a microfiber cloth. I wanted something thin for the eggs to lay on so they could assume their natural position. Humidity finally dropped down. Temp is maintaining between 94 and 102 (its hard to get a smaller gap bc of thermostat but it was successful last time so I will allow it to stay at that range. Would rather have am hatch later than too early)

I have a water heater thermostat, I had the same problems with the temp ranges but what helped is moving it closer to the light, it's probably only an inch or two (at most) away from the bulb. For the most part it stays in 99-100 range, but it does swing down to 97 and it has gone down to 95 & up to 102 a couple times though it didn't seem to affect them - 16/18 hatched. I have the same thermometer lol. Next time you have to replace the incubator or the thermostat you can try it out and see if you can get a more stable temp range. if for nothing else other than peace of mind
Here was my set up before I modified it for more floor space (for the chicks to run around)


I added another water bottle but you can see how close the thermostat is close to the light, river rocks and pebbles, and sponges underneath.

 

[Gen9]

This is what I did to it yesterday. I had major issues with keeping the humidity stable especially for lockdown which resulted in the inability to sleep. This set up is working out so far. I just might try out dry hatching after this. The hatcheries do it & they have a higher success rate.

 

[familypendragon]

The boys and I candled a few eggs last night on day 7 and one actually had an eye and heartbeat you could see! They thought it was sooo cool My 6 year old even said "Mom, I was wrong - candling eggs is not lame after all." LOL!

 

[familypendragon]

Don't laugh too hard... even though this is my first hatch ever... I am thinking of trying my hand at vent sexing the chicks... how crazy am I? LOL! All I have to go on are youtube videos

Trying to figure out how I will mark which ones I think are boys so I can see later how I did.

 

[Gen9]

Don't laugh too hard... even though this is my first hatch ever... I am thinking of trying my hand at vent sexing the chicks... how crazy am I? LOL! All I have to go on are youtube videos

Trying to figure out how I will mark which ones I think are boys so I can see later how I did.

vent sexing chicks is really hard, I've tried. It's easier to just look at their wings and tell by that. I did it to 5 chicks last time, 4/5 I could tell, but the 5th one was hard to tell - and that ended up being my special, roo - I think he has a brain tumor or something
you can use those toddler hair bands and put on their legs to mark them, or zip ties (just leave some wiggle room for them to grow and you to cut off. I'm actually heading to the store right now to get some

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

Day 7
Candled tonight. 5 have great development
6 look clear
One looks scrambled or something. No air cell looks almost like lava lamp little balls floating around havent seen this before.

How cool! I had a scrambled one in my recent batch, it was among eggs that had been shipped so I guess that one got too much movement and literally got scrambled. When I cracked it open the yoke was broken open.

 

[Gen9]

alright, 14 eggs starting now, Day 0

 

[familypendragon]

vent sexing chicks is really hard, I've tried. It's easier to just look at their wings and tell by that. I did it to 5 chicks last time, 4/5 I could tell, but the 5th one was hard to tell - and that ended up being my special, roo - I think he has a brain tumor or something
you can use those toddler hair bands and put on their legs to mark them, or zip ties (just leave some wiggle room for them to grow and you to cut off. I'm actually heading to the store right now to get some

I read on the feather sexing too, but it says it only works if you have a slow feathering male over a fast feathering female right? Nearly all my chicks from my own eggs have a Cuckoo Marans for a daddy. If my understanding of the cuckoo barring is right - the cuckoo pattern is caused by the extremely fast feathering nature of the breed. So I am figuring that isn't going to do me much good. I would LOVE to hear that I am wrong about that

 

[lilliesanchicks]

I read on the feather sexing too, but it says it only works if you have a slow feathering male over a fast feathering female right? Nearly all my chicks from my own eggs have a Cuckoo Marans for a daddy. If my understanding of the cuckoo barring is right - the cuckoo pattern is caused by the extremely fast feathering nature of the breed. So I am figuring that isn't going to do me much good. I would LOVE to hear that I am wrong about that

There is a breed list for that on one of the feather sexing post but I am not sure where it is.