LoneStarBrian
Hatching
- Jul 26, 2019
- 2
- 0
- 4
Hello,
I have spent quite a bit of time reading and trying to learn more about incubation and hatching eggs
I have Little Giant forced air and still air incubators
My goal was to hatch some guinea keets instead of paying premium prices for them.
I know someone with a yard full that will occasionally call me and say he has found a fresh nest and give me the eggs. These are nests that he finds that were not there a day or 2 before he is sure so we know they are fresh eggs.
First attempt I set 12 and hatched 5. I did not have a way to monitor humidity and the 7 that did not hatch showed various stages of development, so I studied and tried to improve on next batch
They made it until around 4 weeks when a coon tore into their pen and killed them all.
My current batch started with 19 that I picked up on 6/25 and set on 6/29
I have an automatic turner and after I got them set I only opened the incubator to add a little water
I kept temp right at 100 and humidity from 40-50% until lockdown and bumped it to 65%
From the information I had gathered they should have hatched on day 26 but I got a pipped shell on day 25 and they slowly started to hatch through today which is day 28
The last 2 have had pieces of the membrane stuck to them after they came out
I have hatched 9, one was weak and had some kind of deformity and did not make it.
I candled what was left and discarded one that was not fertile(0 development) and one that had a dead chick at about 80% developed (guessing, had feathers but was still way smaller than others )
The remaining eggs look to have developed but no sign of hatching (8)
1) How long do I wait to see if the remaining 8 will hatch?
I am thinking by Sunday they will not hatch
2) Any suggestions on what I can do to improve my hatch rate?
3) I am using the still air unit as the hatcher:
a) How do you keep the hatched keets from moving the unhatched eggs around?
b) I have read that opening the hatcher during lockdown can cause failure in unhatched eggs so how does one remove the hatched ones?
We have about 16 chickens and a rooster so I have chicken eggs I plan on experimenting on before I try another batch of guinea eggs. Particularly interested in trying the "dry" method
Thanks for any suggestions or tips
If the topics have already been covered feel free to direct me there, I have tried searching but apparently I have not figured out the terminology
I have spent quite a bit of time reading and trying to learn more about incubation and hatching eggs
I have Little Giant forced air and still air incubators
My goal was to hatch some guinea keets instead of paying premium prices for them.
I know someone with a yard full that will occasionally call me and say he has found a fresh nest and give me the eggs. These are nests that he finds that were not there a day or 2 before he is sure so we know they are fresh eggs.
First attempt I set 12 and hatched 5. I did not have a way to monitor humidity and the 7 that did not hatch showed various stages of development, so I studied and tried to improve on next batch
They made it until around 4 weeks when a coon tore into their pen and killed them all.
My current batch started with 19 that I picked up on 6/25 and set on 6/29
I have an automatic turner and after I got them set I only opened the incubator to add a little water
I kept temp right at 100 and humidity from 40-50% until lockdown and bumped it to 65%
From the information I had gathered they should have hatched on day 26 but I got a pipped shell on day 25 and they slowly started to hatch through today which is day 28
The last 2 have had pieces of the membrane stuck to them after they came out
I have hatched 9, one was weak and had some kind of deformity and did not make it.
I candled what was left and discarded one that was not fertile(0 development) and one that had a dead chick at about 80% developed (guessing, had feathers but was still way smaller than others )
The remaining eggs look to have developed but no sign of hatching (8)
1) How long do I wait to see if the remaining 8 will hatch?
I am thinking by Sunday they will not hatch
2) Any suggestions on what I can do to improve my hatch rate?
3) I am using the still air unit as the hatcher:
a) How do you keep the hatched keets from moving the unhatched eggs around?
b) I have read that opening the hatcher during lockdown can cause failure in unhatched eggs so how does one remove the hatched ones?
We have about 16 chickens and a rooster so I have chicken eggs I plan on experimenting on before I try another batch of guinea eggs. Particularly interested in trying the "dry" method
Thanks for any suggestions or tips
If the topics have already been covered feel free to direct me there, I have tried searching but apparently I have not figured out the terminology
