California - Northern

[waititout]

I just loaded up my daughter's kindergarten class with eggs from Chiqita. The teacher hatches every year and used a little giant. She had only a mercury thermometer in there. No means of seeing the humidity. She told me she just fills up the wells when they look low. I was having a heart attack. She has successful hatches every year. I was trying to decide whether i should bring mine in for her to use or not. I can't belive how much i stress about having everything right and she just loads and goes. Maybe she is the smarter one after all. IDK? She was open to any advice. What do you think?

It is wonderful that she hatches! Help her out--get her a good thermometer and a hygrometer, especially if she is hatching Marans. They really do better on the dryer side. She may need a better candler if she does that with the students. Good for you getting the eggs for her too [IMG]http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/grinser/grinning-smiley-003.gif[/IMG]

I think i will drop mine off for my sanity. Oh, and i may just have been more excited to do so!

I just loaded up my daughter's kindergarten class with eggs from Chiqita. The teacher hatches every year and used a little giant. She had only a mercury thermometer in there. No means of seeing the humidity. She told me she just fills up the wells when they look low. I was having a heart attack. She has successful hatches every year. I was trying to decide whether i should bring mine in for her to use or not. I can't belive how much i stress about having everything right and she just loads and goes. Maybe she is the smarter one after all. IDK? She was open to any advice. What do you think?

uhhh... Maybe leave well enough alone? "Some" of us are really OCD about incubation and hatching. I could be, but I trust my Binsea incubator(s). I, too, set and go. But with an LG, that IS amazing. Maybe it's all the combined wishes of the kids in the class?

I like that thought.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote: So does either one say that one is a better egg then the other or just the way it is? I was just so surprised that the one's that were darker were easier to see through. Not that I could see much anyway.

Quote: I'll try the two flashlights. Yesterday was Day 11 and I could see the one's that are developing and the glowing. I've gotten pretty good at candling over the last couple of years I was just more surprised that the outside color didn't mean I could or couldn't see inside.

I wonder if the denser eggs are thicker eggs and will have a hard time hatching? It should be interesting.

Quote:

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking! From leaving it alone to her just crap shooting in and LG and getting successful hatches!

 

[tommysgirl]

I just loaded up my daughter's kindergarten class with eggs from Chiqita. The teacher hatches every year and used a little giant. She had only a mercury thermometer in there. No means of seeing the humidity. She told me she just fills up the wells when they look low. I was having a heart attack. She has successful hatches every year. I was trying to decide whether i should bring mine in for her to use or not. I can't belive how much i stress about having everything right and she just loads and goes. Maybe she is the smarter one after all. IDK? She was open to any advice. What do you think?

I am borrowing an LG from a friend who used it with her Kindergarteners too and she was the same way. She just used the therm that came with it, kept some water in the wells turned three times a day and that was that. She had a lot of success with it too and here I am pouring over every bit of info I can to learn whatever I can to prevent whatever may happen badly from happening...

 

[tommysgirl]

Good morning everyone.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed up here. The EO eggs just left the sorting center! I let our mail lady know they were coming. Hoping for a smooth shipping and good hatch. It's going to be a long month. Forewarning-lots of shipped egg questions coming.

I will say a prayer for your little embryos and for the gentleness of all the mail carriers they encounter

 

[tommysgirl]

Last night I candled my non-shipped eggs. Every one of them seems to be developing

or rather they all looked similar so either they are all developing or they are all bad in the same way. I took the hygrometer back to the pet store and my friend there set it for me. Stuck the probe in the bator and it read 25% so it was a good chickie day.


Not touching the shipped eggs again until Friday or Saturday...i think...

Deerling what day are you on??? I am living vicariously through you because your hatch is a few days further along than mine I think.

In a wee non-chicken brag I would like to share that our son who had never played tennis before decided to go out for the team this year he not only made it but moved from exhibition play to second doubles to first doubles. I am a proud mommy. He's a senior and has played football for years but I am tickled that he has worked as hard as he has in a sport he never played before...OK, back to chickens.

 

[Deerling]

Last night I candled my non-shipped eggs. Every one of them seems to be developing

or rather they all looked similar so either they are all developing or they are all bad in the same way. I took the hygrometer back to the pet store and my friend there set it for me. Stuck the probe in the bator and it read 25% so it was a good chickie day.

Not touching the shipped eggs again until Friday or Saturday...i think...

Deerling what day are you on??? I am living vicariously through you because your hatch is a few days further along than mine I think.

In a wee non-chicken brag I would like to share that our son who had never played tennis before decided to go out for the team this year he not only made it but moved from exhibition play to second doubles to first doubles. I am a proud mommy. He's a senior and has played football for years but I am tickled that he has worked as hard as he has in a sport he never played before...OK, back to chickens.

Haha That's awesome! I'm on day 19. Got them all locked down last night and am trying to just ignore them. The room the incubator is in also has a brooder and computers and I'm worried about it getting too hot. The humidity is at bout 70% (maybe a point or two less). I'm so excited and in total disbelief that we'll actually hatch out some babies.

That is so cool about your son! Congratulations! That's really impressive that he had the confidence to go out for a sport he wasn't familiar with, and so cool that he is doing so well! Malcolm is saying new words every day (he's 19 months old) and that has been really exciting. His sense of humor and sweetness is really coming out - he put his fingers gently on a chicken's head yesterday and kept saying "hat! hat!" and cracking up. He's finally started to grasp the concept of being gentle. It seemed like it was a long time coming. He also gave me an unsolicited hug, which was a first and so sweet. Kids are awesome.

 

[Ali707]

Thank You!

We do have a great community here!

I like that smiley!

I just loaded up my daughter's kindergarten class with eggs from Chiqita. The teacher hatches every year and used a little giant. She had only a mercury thermometer in there. No means of seeing the humidity. She told me she just fills up the wells when they look low. I was having a heart attack. She has successful hatches every year. I was trying to decide whether i should bring mine in for her to use or not. I can't belive how much i stress about having everything right and she just loads and goes. Maybe she is the smarter one after all. IDK? She was open to any advice. What do you think?

The 2nd grade class next to my daughters did a hatch in February with a rented Genesis from 4H that had the two smaller windows. She put a regular ole thermometer on the eggs for temps and away they went. They were hand turning too, which means on the weekend they just let them go for TWO HOLE DAYS with nothing! No turning, no checking, no water refills.... in February too, it was still kind of cold! *Gasp* And out of about 9 eggs, 6 hatched. So I am thinking less is more in some cases and all of us on here are REALLY interested in our eggs doing well, so we are all a little obsessive. On the other hand IF we had been watching, hovering, adjusting, candling, etc. like I am prone to do, then maybe one or two more or maybe all of them would have hatched. OR god forbid..... less would have hatched!!! We will never know for sure.

The point of that observation was just to share what I witnessed, and in the end it was a good learning experience for the class too!

Ron, I've never found your postings to be lacking! You and so many others on this thread are so giving with help and information.

I second the Ron is super helpful comment!!!

Last night I candled my non-shipped eggs. Every one of them seems to be developing

or rather they all looked similar so either they are all developing or they are all bad in the same way. I took the hygrometer back to the pet store and my friend there set it for me. Stuck the probe in the bator and it read 25% so it was a good chickie day.


Not touching the shipped eggs again until Friday or Saturday...i think...

Deerling what day are you on??? I am living vicariously through you because your hatch is a few days further along than mine I think.

In a wee non-chicken brag I would like to share that our son who had never played tennis before decided to go out for the team this year he not only made it but moved from exhibition play to second doubles to first doubles. I am a proud mommy. He's a senior and has played football for years but I am tickled that he has worked as hard as he has in a sport he never played before...OK, back to chickens.

Well since you are a few days before me, then I guess I have to live vicariously through you! I also have shipped and non shipped eggs.
I am at the boring, I can't touch stage until at the earliest this Sunday.

I need three more spaces to put my eggs so they all have a spot in the turner. Do you think it is safe getting rid of any that look like they are not developing at that time? Or is it too soon?

Congrats for your son! I know nothing about Tennis but it all sounds good!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Yay for 20,000!

So, my new girls are doing well so far. When I open the coop door in the mornings the all run to the food an water like they have not eaten in weeks. Should I be putting food and water in the coop at night? They range in age from 10 to 14 weeks.

Also my little BO was picked on pretty heavily at the farm where I got her from. She is missing a ton of neck and back feathers. There seem to be pin feathers coming back in. Should I up her protein until she is fully feathered? Funny thing.....she is the most skittish of them all. I guess since she was picked on. I brought her home because I was worried no one else would since she looked so bedraggled.

A little extra protein probably won't hurt, and if you can give her treats by hand, she may calm down a bit. If no one is picking on her now, she should be fine (and much happier

). From what I've seen, the skittish birds tend to be the ones that get picked on repeatedly. Dominant birds only get picked on once! Having a lot of space for your flock and places for the timid birds to get away from the meanies can help.

 

[waititout]

Has anyone ever tried using an ultraviolet light to candle dark eggs? Every time I use it at work I think about that!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Has anyone ever tried using an ultraviolet light to candle dark eggs? Every time I use it at work I think about that!

Um.. I don't know what power you are using, but none of mine will penetrate the egg shell, much less go through the center and back out the other side - and this is a WHITE egg! I guess you could take one to work and see what it does...