BYC's 4th of July Star Spangled Hatch-Along

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One!

#8 is one of the EE mixes from my friend. Hopefully I get other pips soon. This is day 20.
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I have this nagging (possibly paranoid) fear that my chicks are going to start pipping before I actually have the turner taken out and put them onto lockdown. Lol I have double checked more than once just to make sure... Today they have 7 days left!
 
I had a rough time candling today. I set 16 eggs and candled on days 6, 11, and 17. On day 11 we took out 3 clears and 1 early quitter (looked like it died on day 5), and put question marks on two. So we had 12 left, 10 that looked really good, and 2 that were definitely moving. Today (day 17), only 4 looked good to me. No movements observed. 6 are question marks because they either looked full but a little bit sloshy, or just not quite full enough for day 17. I kept those in, and threw out my two question marks from before because they had definitely quit halfway through.

These were mostly shipped eggs, with a couple locals in there. The incubator has been set at 100.5 and 50 percent humidity, but according to my cheap Amazon hygrometers it's been closer to 100.8 and 42 percent. The incubator was used 2 months ago by my friend and they had 11/13 hatch.

I'm feeling discouraged and worried that they all died. And I have to wait 4 days to find out. I'd love some moral support.
You're not off by enough to cause any issues. I'm wondering why 100.5 though as I've always done chickens, ducks, and quail at 99.5, though ducks and quail only once each. Still, it's okay though as experts say we can be 1 degree either way with zero issues. More than that long-term can start causing problems with mortality or neck/legs/hips issues.

I have hatched shipped eggs at least 6 different times this year and at best I got 40% hatch rate. I just finished hatching 35 purchased eggs and have 11 to show for it so 32%. In other years, I'd get around 75% on shipped eggs. I have heard so many others too having the same luck as me, so we're blaming the USPS for being rougher with the boxes this year than in the past.

I have 22 of my own eggs due the 4th, after tossing 2 unfertilized ones. I expect 100% of the rest. We'll see. :)

It's always a learning experience so don't be hard on yourself. Each hatch usually gets a little better, but you can't do much to improve the shipped eggs as some of those are just not going to make it.
 
I have this nagging (possibly paranoid) fear that my chicks are going to start pipping before I actually have the turner taken out and put them onto lockdown. Lol I have double checked more than once just to make sure... Today they have 7 days left!
I sometimes have silkies start pipping on Day 18 so I do a 5-day lockdown (Day 17). The turning of eggs their last week isn't that necessary anyway as they're turning themselves by that point so it doesn't hurt if you want to go into lockdown early.
 
I had no choice but to set 35 silkie eggs on the 6th as they were delayed a month, then suddenly shipped and got here in two days. Due: 6/27/2024 so will still count unless they hatch a day early. :pop

I've been saving my fancy silkie eggs so I'll set a bunch on the 13th or thereabouts.
11 made it (shipped eggs) were hatched yesterday. Here they are this morning. Horrible hatch rate but I'm tickled with what I got!

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B C
One!

#8 is one of the EE mixes from my friend. Hopefully I get other pips soon. This is day 20.
View attachment 3875451
2 more pips. 10 and 6. I'm excited because two of these were ones I thought looked iffy on day 17. So if they're all right, maybe the rest will be all right. Still on day 20.
 

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