August Hatch-A-Long!

[jnjmanning]

Ok so I checked one last time. 5 are definately moving, not sure about the other 2. I will just keep waiting... And waiting.... And waiting.... Come on little chicks.

If day 21 was Friday, you for sure have some temp issues. Either your thermometers arent calibrated correctly or you are having major drops and dont see it.

 

[jnjmanning]

4 1/2 chicks hatched, another 2 zipping and nearly all are pipped

Sounds like you are doing great!! Awesome assist!

 

[jnjmanning]

Lost the little pip from yesterday

. It pipped the wrong end, but seemed to be doing fine, lots of noise, and was zipping, so I figured I'd be ok to go to bed, got up this morning and it had only zipped about 2/3, but no noise, no movement, took it out of the bator to check and it was dead. Really malpositioned, both feet behind head, wings kinda to the front, like the legs pushed them forward. Wish I had stayed up now, poor little guy. The yolk wasn't absorbed all the way either, but the blood vessels had receded fully. Still 2 eggs to go, it's officially day 21 here! 3 little babies have already been moved to the brooder!

This is why I cannot sleep if they are starting to zip. I have lost a couple that way. So sorry!

 

[jammyjammy2112]

my black orp just hatch about 15 mins ago and he has a lump uner his beak or under his eye kindove is it just swelling will it go down i cant uplode pics it wont let me

 

[Roxannemc]

Aw, sorry about your little one.

Whoops for Nicole...Sounds like it died before it was ready to hatch all the way any way.Dont think you could have done that much with the yolk 1/2 absorbed

 

[Roxannemc]

my black orp just hatch about 15 mins ago and he has a lump uner his beak or under his eye kindove is it just swelling will it go down i cant uplode pics it wont let me

Sorry...Don't know if it will go down..
Maybe wait and see cant do much else anyway.

 

[jammyjammy2112]

Sorry...Don't know if it will go down..
Maybe wait and see cant do much else anyway.

thanks one of my other chicks just died of unexplaned reasons

 

[Marynash88]

Day 8 with my freebie eggs and they're all doing great and veining! XD And its even more exciting because the male wasnt a black roo so Im hoping the chicks will be a variety of colors (my first hatch, the chicks were mostly black with only 2 being yellow and 1 being a barred so it had the spot on the head. Very hard to distinguish them all once they got fluffed). The rooster is an ameraucana and the hens are buff orphington, barred rock, red sex link, black australorp and delawares!

 

[Roxannemc]

If day 21 was Friday, you for sure have some temp issues. Either your thermometers arent calibrated correctly or you are having major drops and dont see it.

Any bator can be off.
I thought my Genesis auto set at 99.5 would be exact...uhuh... so
I spent $20 on 10 scienticfic thermometers from Ebay

$20 seems a lot but if you want a good hatch you may be spending more than that on eggs for one hatch For sure on a few.

they are about 12 " long glass metric so have to look online for the celcius to Ferhenheit conversion chart but Easy.
I calibrated them in glass of crushed ice a little water .let sit 10 minutes then put the thermometer in for 15 minutes should be 32 Degrees
. If not on 32...... no biggy .
.if its off 2 degrees higher than 32 say 34 then you have t o mark with a black marker 99.5 at 2 degrees higher than 99.5 woukld be on the thermometer.
Mark with a black indelible marker so you dont have to read againJjust look at the red line and black mark to see if its right .

10 thermometers seems like too many is what I thought ... 9 useless.... but nice to put 2 or 3 in your bator to see they all co-inside on temp .
If you have more than one bator like 3 lot of ppl do... you might use 9...1 spare.... I have!! .

 

[nohbudi]

Day 7 Check... first full blown candling experience, and I made a mess of it. I found that 8 looked great, 2 looked questionable, and 1 looked done. I pulled the clouded egg, and put the rest back. I decided to open it to find out what it looked like. Boy... was that a mistake. I found a perfectly healthy developing bird inside. Turns out the flashlight wasn't bright enough, and I simply wasn't shining adequately through the shell of this maran egg.

I'm bummed out, but knowing this now, and that the 2 questionable eggs were of similar tint, I think I have an otherwise healthy bunch, and my home built incubator is getting the job done.

I'm sure it's been said before, but, white eggs for the first hatch are a safe bet.