California - Northern

[Ali707]

Hatching eggs will be ok if not turned the first week or the last. Shipping does not change that as far as I know. Leaving shipped eggs upright for incubation and tilted at hatch is the best way. It is also the best way for not shipped eggs and is the way hatcheries hatch eggs too!

I leave them in the turner until day 19. Not turning them for the first couple of days does helped with eggs that have been treated poorly or packed poorly. It is amazing how much better hatching eggs do if they are correctly packed.....

Ron: I had the Wheaten Ameracauna shipped to me in the mail and she did an awesome job with the packing. I still don't understand how the yolks that look like a horse shoe will develop correctly compared to the ones that I see that I picked up from Deann? They are pretty thick shells too so they are hard to see through and I can't really identify an air cell in all of those that are developing that way? Have you ever had ones that look like that and if you did, did they hatch? I see veins, but.....it just seems weird.

 

[fatcatx]

I want to make sure I understand - you are not incubating them on their side but tilted upright? Do you do this by using an egg carton or some other means? How does this contribute to a better hatch?

 

[tommysgirl]

You are two days ahead of me on hatching. What else are you trying to hatch aside from the Chantecler? I couldn't keep my hands off the eggs last night so I pulled a couple of the ones I had marked as "clear" on the day 7 candle I did and they are still clear. I was able to see through a couple of the Welsummer this time and did see the air cell and that they are developing. Last time they just seemed too dark to see through. The white Polish eggs are SUPER easy to see through.

In the Bator I have:

5 Silver Grey Dorking eggs from BethBug

6 misc red production Xs Mamas are Reds Star, Buff Orp or New Hampshire...Dad is a Golden Comet from my uncle's flock
1 Australorp x Barnyard mix and 1 Red Star x Barnyard Mix from my flock (started with 7 fro my girls down to 2 but think only 1 is vialble)

If you want any of the red girls let me know. They won't be sex links but they are all sired by a sex link and two of the mamas are. I won't be able to tell if they are girls or boys for awhile. Of course there will be plenty of pictures

And from Chooks Chick's project flocks
1 Lemon Cuckoo Orp
2 Chocolate/Mauve Ameraucana I saw movement in one...no clue in the other
2 Chocolate Rocks
3 of what she calls Konza Prairie Rangers a dual purpose bird that she is developing...really excited about these
and the 2 remaining Part Chant


Do you have anything hatching besides the white polish and Welsummer? Bethbug said that there is a possibility that she mistook some of the Polish eggs as Dorkings...Her roo is SGD and he runs freely with all the girls. I guess I will find out when they hatch if that is what happened. I love candling the Dorking eggs....wish more things in life could be so easily seen.

 

[ChickNmamma]

I want to make sure I understand - you are not incubating them on their side but tilted upright? Do you do this by using an egg carton or some other means? How does this contribute to a better hatch?

Welcome to the thread.. boy do you have a lot to learn!

Just a friendly warning.. do NOT research the breeds talked about on here, do NOT get an incubator and be very careful about putting a list of chickens you would like to have on here.. you may get them all and then some!

Just to start you off on the wrong foot - Most incubators hold the eggs in a semi-upright position (pointy end down) to allow the air sac to be at the top. The eggs are then tilted back and forth to give the turning motion necessary to keep the embryo from sticking to the shell in one position. Depending on the incubator people have used egg cartons or turning racks or egg racks. When you have shipped eggs the post office usually tries to scramble them before you get them - and shaking and dropping them causes the air cell to detach from its normal position. By putting them air cell upright hopefully you can re-attach it to the big end, which is where it needs to be for the chick to use it to break into to learn to breathe and operate its lungs before breaking out into the big wide world. If the air isn't there, the chick "drowns" in the shell.

There, you have been warned.. do NOT ask any more questions that can get you into chicken trouble...

P.S. - I went from 5 chickens to 45 in one year and I just put 3 dozen eggs in the cabinet incubator I just bought.. just sayin...

 

[tommysgirl]

I want to make sure I understand - you are not incubating them on their side but tilted upright? Do you do this by using an egg carton or some other means? How does this contribute to a better hatch?

Yes you incubate them in an egg carton with the bottoms of the cups cut out, fat end up in order to help the air cells that may have been damaged in shipping stabilize in the right spot. It helps to maximize your hatch because they chicks are instinctively driven to pip out the fat end into the air cell and if it isn't there you could loose a healthy chick at hatch. Ron knows best but I think I got that right.

 

[lawatt]

There, you have been warned.. do NOT ask any more questions that can get you into chicken trouble...

P.S. - I went from 5 chickens to 45 in one year and I just put 3 dozen eggs in the cabinet incubator I just bought.. just sayin...

heh -- similarly, i went from planning to get 4 chickens to having 14 and if all the eggs that are under my four broodies actually hatch (chances are that it will not be a perfect 100% hatch, of course), i'll have somewhere around 40 chicks running around... ooops.

 

[tommysgirl]

Welcome to the thread.. boy do you have a lot to learn!

Just a friendly warning.. do NOT research the breeds talked about on here, do NOT get an incubator and be very careful about putting a list of chickens you would like to have on here.. you may get them all and then some!

Just to start you off on the wrong foot - Most incubators hold the eggs in a semi-upright position (pointy end down) to allow the air sac to be at the top. The eggs are then tilted back and forth to give the turning motion necessary to keep the embryo from sticking to the shell in one position. Depending on the incubator people have used egg cartons or turning racks or egg racks. When you have shipped eggs the post office usually tries to scramble them before you get them - and shaking and dropping them causes the air cell to detach from its normal position. By putting them air cell upright hopefully you can re-attach it to the big end, which is where it needs to be for the chick to use it to break into to learn to breathe and operate its lungs before breaking out into the big wide world. If the air isn't there, the chick "drowns" in the shell.

There, you have been warned.. do NOT ask any more questions that can get you into chicken trouble...

P.S. - I went from 5 chickens to 45 in one year and I just put 3 dozen eggs in the cabinet incubator I just bought.. just sayin...

Yeah...what she said!

Heehee I did start hanging out on this thread in the hopes of learning a little about hatching 3 mos ago. I am now about to quadruple the size of my flock...from 6 to 24 and I have a list as long as my arm of what I want to own in the future.

So you have been warned.

 

[Ali707]

In the Bator I have:

5 Silver Grey Dorking eggs from BethBug

6 misc red production Xs Mamas are Reds Star, Buff Orp or New Hampshire...Dad is a Golden Comet from my uncle's flock
1 Australorp x Barnyard mix and 1 Red Star x Barnyard Mix from my flock (started with 7 fro my girls down to 2 but think only 1 is vialble)

If you want any of the red girls let me know. They won't be sex links but they are all sired by a sex link and two of the mamas are. I won't be able to tell if they are girls or boys for awhile. Of course there will be plenty of pictures

And from Chooks Chick's project flocks
1 Lemon Cuckoo Orp
2 Chocolate/Mauve Ameraucana I saw movement in one...no clue in the other
2 Chocolate Rocks
3 of what she calls Konza Prairie Rangers a dual purpose bird that she is developing...really excited about these
and the 2 remaining Part Chant


Do you have anything hatching besides the white polish and Welsummer? Bethbug said that there is a possibility that she mistook some of the Polish eggs as Dorkings...Her roo is SGD and he runs freely with all the girls. I guess I will find out when they hatch if that is what happened. I love candling the Dorking eggs....wish more things in life could be so easily seen.

I have to wait and see what hatches I want to do one more hatch around the end of May maybe. I want some of Deb's HRIR and some others.

I have:
15 Wheaten Ameracauna from here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/739826/12-wheaten-blue-wheaten-ameraucana-eggs-buy-it-now
The shells are so thick on these they are hard to see through so we will see what hatches.
2 maybe 3 English Orps, either Blue or Lavendar
1 Basque - the other isn't developing
3 Welsummer
5 Polish - Mystery colors. I am not sure what she gave me
3 Olive Eggers
2-3 Cream Legbar - one of them wasn't developing either I think

and...... I think something else, but I can't really remember! How sad is that? There must be something else because that doesn't add up to a full incubator and mine is over full.

 

[tommysgirl]

heh -- similarly, i went from planning to get 4 chickens to having 14 and if all the eggs that are under my four broodies actually hatch (chances are that it will not be a perfect 100% hatch, of course), i'll have somewhere around 40 chicks running around... ooops.

Lawatt What is your hatch date? are any of your broodies sitting on SPRs? Are they feather sexable??? No Reason....just curious

 

[Ali707]

Yeah...what she said!

Heehee I did start hanging out on this thread in the hopes of learning a little about hatching 3 mos ago. I am now about to quadruple the size of my flock...from 6 to 24 and I have a list as long as my arm of what I want to own in the future.

So you have been warned.

Me Too! They aren't hatched yet but will be by the end of the month, and I am planning my next hatch! You know I do believe that it makes it SEEM okay because we all talk about it in terms of just numbers. You see everyone else doing it so it must be okay right?

It is when you get that look from relatives that says, " so young to have lost her mind already".