August Hatch-A-Long!

[BY Chicken Lady]

My last egg hatched this evening! That makes 15/15 quail and 3/3 chickens . After all the failure this year a 100% hatch feels great!!!!!!

Is that how many you set or how many went into lockdown?

 

[dvoice]

Well, Day 22, was getting very frustrated. 1 hatch out of 96 eggs(with heat problems starting day 3) I did a quick candle of the remaining 45 in bator. Don't worry, open door grab 2 eggs candle and back in bator within 12 seconds, doing all eggs temp only made it down to 97.5 for about 4 mins. then back up within 2-3 mins. humidity never made it below 56 and was back to 65 within 2 mins. Lots of near clears that I missed at lockdown. many dark only filling 2/3 of the space not taken up by air sac. opened up 2 of those and found 2 chicks that looked like they were within a day or 2 of hatching but no movement. Not sure if this means they were dead before I opened them? 25 left in incubator, I guess I'll leave them till day 25. Hatched chick finally lost it's umbilical cord that was attached to the shell that it was dragging around. How soon should I remove the single chick? it hatched at 6AM and lost the cord at 7PM. worried about leaving it in there for another 3 days waiting on his siblings.

 

[epmchickens]

Lol...haha...and poor little chickie that drowned My broody doesn't like me, she gives me a nice mean old obnauctious cluck and pecks my hand if I even try to get those eggs from her.
Wow...wish I could experience that... Congrats!

Thanks it was a long sad year with a very lucky month

 

[epmchickens]

Is that how many you set or how many went into lockdown?

Lockdown. I set 20 quail...3 were infertile and 2 stopped developing and I set 4 chicken eggs and one quit around day 15. I only count lockdown eggs lol. Makes me feel better ;-)

 

[epmchickens]

That is awesome!!

Thank you so much my daughters and I are very proud mamas !

 

[DeannaA]

I'm glad to hear lots of people are having better luck lately. I am too. My other hatches until now where so sad. Tis one made up for it. But I am still waiting on those two slow pokes. One has had an internal pip since very early this morning. How much air is in the air cell? Does antone know how long it lasts? I don't want to open it up if I don't have to but if it needs more air, I will.

 

[familypendragon]

Well, Day 22, was getting very frustrated. 1 hatch out of 96 eggs(with heat problems starting day 3) I did a quick candle of the remaining 45 in bator. Don't worry, open door grab 2 eggs candle and back in bator within 12 seconds, doing all eggs temp only made it down to 97.5 for about 4 mins. then back up within 2-3 mins. humidity never made it below 56 and was back to 65 within 2 mins. Lots of near clears that I missed at lockdown. many dark only filling 2/3 of the space not taken up by air sac. opened up 2 of those and found 2 chicks that looked like they were within a day or 2 of hatching but no movement. Not sure if this means they were dead before I opened them? 25 left in incubator, I guess I'll leave them till day 25. Hatched chick finally lost it's umbilical cord that was attached to the shell that it was dragging around. How soon should I remove the single chick? it hatched at 6AM and lost the cord at 7PM. worried about leaving it in there for another 3 days waiting on his siblings.

If it was still alive when you tapped into the air cell it would still be alive. You'd see movement of the heartbeat and breathing. If it was totally still and lifeless it was already that way. You didn't cause it. If your temps were low and variable it is possible you have some in there still developing that won't be out till day 25 or more. I've seen it happen on here Have you read the assisted hatch article yet? If not its a good time, as sometimes the delayed chicks seem to have trouble getting out on their own. As for me, if the lone chick is all dry and fluffy I'd just up the humidity a tad and snatch it out I am still new, but I hear the pros doing it all the time, LOL!

 

[familypendragon]

Also, when you candled you said you saw either clears or underdeveloped looking chicks. Were they all that way or were there some that looked "right" to you? And did you happen to notice if the one that hatched had seemed small in the egg too? What kind of eggs are they? Just trying to think of anything that might help....

 

[familypendragon]

Reposting these for reference

 

[familypendragon]

I just candled my Blue Breda eggs that will go into lockdown tomorrow. I was shipped 18 eggs and am down to 10 eggs. There are 2 I am not sure are still viable but I am not sure enough that they aren't to toss them. As a matter of curiosity, here is how they arrived in the mail:

I found it interesting to note that of the "survivors" 7 of the 8 healthy wigglers are the ones that had circles marking intact air cells. 1 was marked with a "?" as these were probably so fresh they didn't yet show an air cell. The 2 questionable eggs are 1 with a "?" and one with a circle. ALL the ones marked"Det" for Detached Air Cell failed to develop properly as did the one with the rolling air cell. With what I now know about USPS shipping insurance and the hatchability of detached air cells - I will be making at least a partial insurance claim anytime I receive eggs with detached air cells.