Colorado

[Pozees]

Oh I like that! I have yellow plastic trays I use to hatch in for the same reason, and when I overflow them I put the eggs in the bottom half of egg cartons. I don't know if 3 days or 5 makes a difference, but after 5 days most air cells have settled. The other thing I've read is not to move them on day 4, there is something about the development process on that particular day that makes them more sensitive to handling.

 

[Ashdoes]

Oh I like that! I have yellow plastic trays I use to hatch in for the same reason, and when I overflow them I put the eggs in the bottom half of egg cartons. I don't know if 3 days or 5 makes a difference, but after 5 days most air cells have settled. The other thing I've read is not to move them on day 4, there is something about the development process on that particular day that makes them more sensitive to handling.

These rings are 2 inch PVC pipe, cut to 3/4 inch high. Two inch is perfect for the regular size eggs, but I'd need much bigger to hatch our sex link eggs, they're huge. We can only fit 36 rings at lockdown, and have 42 eggs in the turner. I'm pretty sure we'll have plenty that need to be pitched though, so it should work out fine. If by some miracle more then 36 go into lockdown, I'll just put extra eggs in the middle of a couple rings.
Not moving on day 4 makes total sense! We candled early our first hatch, and had four blood rings right after that. This last hatch I didn't pick up any of the eggs, just put the light on the top and checked for the veins. It worked out, I found the clear one on day ten, which was the first time we candled.

 

[suncatcher]

This is a great article, but keep in mind he is incubating in VA or West VA, so his humidity will be higher than ours here in Colorado. Just a thought.......... Also, I think this is why some people are adding a humidifier to the room where their incubator is, makes total sense.

To keep the levels correct, I do have to add more water then he stated, but I keep my numbers very close to what he recommends. Keeping the initial humidity lower already improved our hatch rate. 40% for the time prior to lock down was too high, so I keep it no higher then 40, and then don't add water again till it's under 20.
I'm really hoping dry hatch works out for these shipped Cochin eggs.

I think 40 percent humidity is a great number to start with, and agree if it gets under 20 percent one should in our climate add water. Looking forward to seeing your hatch rate on your shipped eggs too! And pictures of your hatchlings.

 

[suncatcher]

Oh I like that! I have yellow plastic trays I use to hatch in for the same reason, and when I overflow them I put the eggs in the bottom half of egg cartons. I don't know if 3 days or 5 makes a difference, but after 5 days most air cells have settled. The other thing I've read is not to move them on day 4, there is something about the development process on that particular day that makes them more sensitive to handling.

I have read that too about not bumping them around until after day six, something about blood vessels forming at that time (I think), it has been awhile since I read it, and not even sure where I read it??? Maybe in the book written by Janet Stromberg, A Better Guide To Hatching. It is a science this incubating thing, dosen't have to be 100 percent accurate, but has to be darn close!!!!

 

[suncatcher]

Ashdoes, I have had better hatch rates with shipped eggs since I let them incubate without turning the first five days. Is that what you are doing as well?

Yes, after researching and talking on the CLB thread, we decided not to start the turner right away. I was going to do three days, I wonder if five makes a difference?
Someone also said something about keeping them pointed up even during hatch. After our first hatch we made little holders to keep the matched chicks from rolling the unhatched, because we lost a Silkie chick to that. They worked really well. W
e're not sure how many we'll be able to use this hatch, because we have the whole turner filled.

This is a great idea! Some breeders make wire baskets out of hardware cloth to keep the breed separated while hatching, would talk up some room I imagine, but what ever works!

 

[Ashdoes]

I can't take credit for the rings, someone on the January hatch along had them, and after the Silkie drowned in its egg, from being rolled over by a hatched chick, I knew we needed to do something.
I don't plan on separating our eggs for this hatch, because the Cochins will be feathered legged. If I was hatching breeds that looked similar, I would.
I only took a couple pics last night, after we took the chicks out of the incubator...
Girls-Available for purchase. The woman that wanted them is not responding to emails.

Boys

 

[trsturself]

I like the ring idea. Our hatched chicks were constantly rolling the eggs around. I wonder if that had an impact on those last 8 that didn't hatch. I have mine in egg cartons with the bottoms cut out during incubation. Maybe I'll try leaving them in that during hatch.
I candle when I set the eggs just to make sure there are no hidden cracks. Then I don't candle them again until day 7.
I also read that article about the dry hatch, that's what I did the last time. I was having it drop down to 10% each morning until I added a shallow bowl of water. Now it stays above 20 a lot easier.

 

[trsturself]

Update on Amber... She still hasn't laid an egg but she is getting back to her old self. She was walking around with the other chickens scratching and pecking at the ground today. She even flew out of the garden area to explore the yard with the other girls. Her tail is back to a normal position and she isn't hunched over and fluffed up anymore. I made her eat some cottage cheese and she ate 2 bites on her own but then lost interest and fought me on the force feeding. She looks at the food the other girls are eating but doesn't go for it. I've seen her take a couple bites but not a lot. I haven't seen her drink at all (other than what I forced on her). Hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to eating/drinking on her own.
update on Amber. She still hasn't laid an egg but she is getting back to her old self. She was walking around with the other chickens scratching and pecking at the ground. She even flew out of the garden area to explore the yard with the other girls. Her tail is back to a normal position and she isn't hunched over and fluffed up anymore. I made her eat some cottage cheese and she ate 2 bites on her own but then lost interest and fought me on the force feeding. She looks at the food the other girls are eating but doesn't go for it. I've seen her take a couple bites but not a lot. I haven't seen her drink at all (other than what I forced on her). Hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to eating/drinking on her own.


We've made progress on our electronic chicken door. It's all put together now we just need to install it in the coop and test it to make sure things are working as they should. The spool is off the drill because I need to glue it in. The green is tape to cover the wires. I should've cut them so they weren't all over the place, but I was too lazy at this point. The plastic container in the middle of all the tape holds the electronic components. I can't wait for this to be working!

 

[Chickenuts]

This is how I was taught. My hubby's family used only this method, so that's what this city girl learned. They did die instantly. I couldn't do it now and I ended up with a messed up neck from it. We had 50ish meat birds years ago. Now we're just about the pets & their eggs.

 

[Chickenuts]

Oh, I am so happy for your 4 survivors, and hope they have long & healthy chicken lives! And so very sorry for your losses.