chick hatched, day early, first hatch EVER

[Chiko]

My first hatch of 15 I got 10 rotten eggs, 1 deformed baby, and 4 dead babies.

I've hatched over 50 batches since then and I've gotten better and not opening the bator.

 

[thoward]

I have an Rcom Mini incubator and have hatched 3 chicks so far. A lot of peopl say don't help them hatch. This is true however, all of mine poked through the egg but did not have much progression, even after 12 hours. That is whenI started to help. I may get some flack for assisting, but it works for me. If you peel some of the shell away from the hole and the white membrane just under the shell, it will help them climb out. I am not sure why my chicks are having trouble getting out. It could be the humidity even though the unit is supposed to be controlled. The key is not to break too much of the egg. Just a little bit at a time. I peel enough to help a bit. Do not mess with the membrane around the chick. This is where the blood supply is. I learned the hard way in an old incubator. I peeled the membrane and the chick bled to death.

 

[Nicky Mackenzie]

Just waiting to move last chick into brooder, hatched this morning. My first time. Ten eggs, 9 developed chicks, 4 doing well in brooder, one died last night, might have landed on its head in the incubator as had a slightly bleeding beak. Two breached shells then got no further. Final one, not sure yet will leave another 24 hours.

 

[RcoM]

temp has been a constant 99.5 and I did dry incubate, at lockdown I brought the humidity to 60 percent.

I got three chicks now that hatched. I wasn't sure about my last candling because I didn't have a good candling method. but tonight I candled the rest of my eggs and turns out that out of the 15 I placed in there only were actually fertilized :-( one died as previously mentioned, 2 are still in the incubator, as I did see chicks in there when I candled but uhmm not really sure if they are still alive, they didn't pip yet and I hear nothing coming from them, I will give them till tomorrow night. the three that did hatch are all doing really well.

as I mentioned this is my first time hatching anything successfully. the last time I attempted it nothing hatched.

I am getting the eggs from my own hens and I think maybe the roos are just not fertilizing all the eggs, and obviously impossible to tell if they are all fertilized by looking at them from the outside lol.

in 2 days time I will clean out the incubator and try again, another batch and this time I will add a tiny bit of moisture throughout the fist 18 days and then back to 60 percent during lockdown. and hopefully I will be more successful. Only way to learn is to do it, so I am not discouraged yet, we will see with the next hatch how things go.

the last chick that hatched was really downed, the membrane was dry but the chick on the inside was really wet, I placed her right away under the brooder lamp I was afraid to leave her in the incubator with the fan running as wet as she was I felt the humidity and fan might be detrimental to her. the dryer heat of the brooder lamp helped her out immensily and she is doing well.

they are crossed between a columbian X roo and Rhode Island red hens. we will see what they turn out to be like eventually.

thanks for your help,

Ema

I am absolutely fascinated by this thread! Waiting with bated breath until the last bit of info. I do have hopeful eggs hatching under broody in a couple days. First hatch of mine under a broody was very successful: 7/8 eggs and so I thought that was normal. Imagine my disappointment when I only got 2/11 hatch under a young broody 10 months later. They were super cute though and I managed to get at least one hen. Now that hen is trying to hatch another dozen. She has certainly left the nest, less often and for shorter periods, this time. I’ve been had feeding her. She looks really well. I am feeling so nervous! My concern was hot Australian summer days, often 38 degrees and one nearing 40 degrees Celsius. I’ll be looking out for issues including for early hatchlings. Wish me luck!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am absolutely fascinated by this thread! Waiting with bated breath until the last bit of info. I do have hopeful eggs hatching under broody in a couple days. First hatch of mine under a broody was very successful: 7/8 eggs and so I thought that was normal. Imagine my disappointment when I only got 2/11 hatch under a young broody 10 months later. They were super cute though and I managed to get at least one hen. Now that hen is trying to hatch another dozen. She has certainly left the nest, less often and for shorter periods, this time. I’ve been had feeding her. She looks really well. I am feeling so nervous! My concern was hot Australian summer days, often 38 degrees and one nearing 40 degrees Celsius. I’ll be looking out for issues including for early hatchlings. Wish me luck!!

The person you quoted hasn't logged on since 2013 so is unlikely to respond.

You may want to start a new thread. Many here will happily cheer on the broody hen and future chicks.