August Hatch along?

[Jules929]

Thank you! Unfortunately, there are no signs from the other eggs.
I have successfully been to TSC 3 times recently without buying any chicks (I was very proud of myself!). But I don't want this one to be alone. I have to work tomorrow, so I went to TSC to see if they still had chicks. They just received cuckoo marans! So... My hatchling now has 4 "siblings" in case she is the only incubator baby.

 

[LittleMoss]

I've hatched in an incubator once before and now we're hatching under a broody for the first time. I think they should hatch next Sunday and I wanted to ask about food. When we used an incubator, we fed chick crumb - is that the same with a broody - or does the hen regurgitate food and feed it to the chicks? If you feed chick crumb, does that mean the hen has to eat chick crumb too, or do you give her pellets? If so, do you have to put those where the chicks can't get them?
The broody is in a little coop of her own, with a run. There is sawdust in the coop, but the ground in the run is rather mucky. Should I put sawdust in the run before the chicks hatch?
Thanks for any advice!

 

[Trinitydraco]

WOW this has been a rough hatch. well, the HATCH was fine but I have had a string of freaky accidents and lost 4 chicks! One was pecked to death over night by a hatched chick, (no more chicks in the bator! Lockdown be damned!) One had splayed leg and struggled so much it had a heart attack before I could get the splints on, one was drinking at the chick waterer and another chick hopped on it and scared it so it inhaled a lung full and died in my hands about a minute later, and one seems to have suffocated by stuffing it's little head down into about 3 inches of straw in the brooder! (I removed some straw and checked the temp) Holy Hell! I know that each of these incidents are just freak accidents but to have them all happen together? 9 chicks remain and I get 6 more Ayam Cemani hatchlings on Thursday to make up for the loss but still! I don't think I have ever cried this much during a hatch! Poor little ones!

 

[Amiloo928]

Hello all, I’m a little late to the party, but I have 8 EEs in the incubator with 10 days to go!

It’s our first time using an incubator, and I’m very nervous about it. We candled at 9 days and everyone looked on track according to a couple of others here on BYC. (Here’s the link to the video of anyone wants to have a look and let me know what they think:

)

I’m a little concerned about the last one, but we will candle again in a day or two and look for change.

I do have a question though. The incubator we bought came with instructions to keep the humidity level between 50-55% (aiming for 52%) until the last 3 days, then bump it up to 75-80%. However, other things I’ve read stated to start it out between 40-45%, and bump up to as high as 87% during the last three days.

Is this a “grey area” or have I unintentionally caused harm by following the incubator instructions?

Also, what exactly does “lockdown” refer to? I know we are supposed to stop turning/touching them, but is there more involved in that?

The last chicks we hatched under a broody and she did all the work, which meant we were very hands off in the process. Since we no longer have a broody hen, that wasn’t an option this time so we are learning as we go.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PouleChick]

Put 4 Marans and 14 cream legbar under my 2 silkies and 3 CLs and 3 vorwerks in my neighbours incubator for her - her hubby is going to kill her but she said she wanted chickens so I have enabled her So we'll be an early September hatch!

 

[PouleChick]

I just realised due to my faffing around getting the eggs I'm due 3rd September so need to start a new thread! Will do it in the morning!

 

[Sakai]

Hello all, I’m a little late to the party, but I have 8 EEs in the incubator with 10 days to go!

It’s our first time using an incubator, and I’m very nervous about it. We candled at 9 days and everyone looked on track according to a couple of others here on BYC. (Here’s the link to the video of anyone wants to have a look and let me know what they think:

)

I’m a little concerned about the last one, but we will candle again in a day or two and look for change.

I do have a question though. The incubator we bought came with instructions to keep the humidity level between 50-55% (aiming for 52%) until the last 3 days, then bump it up to 75-80%. However, other things I’ve read stated to start it out between 40-45%, and bump up to as high as 87% during the last three days.

Is this a “grey area” or have I unintentionally caused harm by following the incubator instructions?

Also, what exactly does “lockdown” refer to? I know we are supposed to stop turning/touching them, but is there more involved in that?

The last chicks we hatched under a broody and she did all the work, which meant we were very hands off in the process. Since we no longer have a broody hen, that wasn’t an option this time so we are learning as we go.

Thanks in advance!

This is my second go at hatching, the first one failed so I did a bunch of research. But I'm sure there are more experenced people on here that can chime in.

Humidity is always an iffy thing and everyone had a different answer (I've discovered) I'm doing a "Dry" incubation. Meaning I'm keeping my himidity between 30-40% It's humid here right now due to monsoon. Any other time of the year I would raise it a bit.
What humidity you want to use depends on your incubator and your enviorment. From what I've researched, the most important thing is that the water inside the egg evaporates enough for the chick to not drow when it hatches.

At lockdown, you do not turn or touch the eggs, you do not open the incubator and you jack up the humidity.
There is always exceptions though. You don't want to touch the eggs because the chicks are getting into position to hatch and if the eggs are moved, the chick could be interupted or knocked out of position. if you MUST move them, pick them up one by one and set them down exactly the way you picked them up.
If you must open the incubator (to remove a chick/cluttered up egg shells/ anything inthe incubator) do it as fast as possible so that the drop in humidity is reduced.

 

[anvia]

WOW this has been a rough hatch. well, the HATCH was fine but I have had a string of freaky accidents and lost 4 chicks! One was pecked to death over night by a hatched chick, (no more chicks in the bator! Lockdown be damned!) One had splayed leg and struggled so much it had a heart attack before I could get the splints on, one was drinking at the chick waterer and another chick hopped on it and scared it so it inhaled a lung full and died in my hands about a minute later, and one seems to have suffocated by stuffing it's little head down into about 3 inches of straw in the brooder! (I removed some straw and checked the temp) Holy Hell! I know that each of these incidents are just freak accidents but to have them all happen together? 9 chicks remain and I get 6 more Ayam Cemani hatchlings on Thursday to make up for the loss but still! I don't think I have ever cried this much during a hatch! Poor little ones!

That really is awful luck! Poor you - I hope the survivers are all doing well & thriving.

 

[Amiloo928]

I’m now on day 12, and I’m concerned that one of my eggs isn’t growing. Out of eight total eggs, I have 7 that look like this:

And one that looks like this:

Is this one a dud?

 

[mzhof]

WOW this has been a rough hatch. well, the HATCH was fine but I have had a string of freaky accidents and lost 4 chicks! One was pecked to death over night by a hatched chick, (no more chicks in the bator! Lockdown be damned!) One had splayed leg and struggled so much it had a heart attack before I could get the splints on, one was drinking at the chick waterer and another chick hopped on it and scared it so it inhaled a lung full and died in my hands about a minute later, and one seems to have suffocated by stuffing it's little head down into about 3 inches of straw in the brooder! (I removed some straw and checked the temp) Holy Hell! I know that each of these incidents are just freak accidents but to have them all happen together? 9 chicks remain and I get 6 more Ayam Cemani hatchlings on Thursday to make up for the loss but still! I don't think I have ever cried this much during a hatch! Poor little ones!

Those ARE freaky to happen at once. Sorry for your loss.