DECEMBER Hatch-A-Long!😊

[MaryAlice]

Anyone doing a December Hatch-A-Long? I know it is winter and too cold for many folks, but there must be others out there that have warmer temps, too? I am planning on setting some of my own eggs in about a week, so will be early December hatch date.

yes I just had a good hatch from papa's eggs but he had some lavender Orpingtons eggs and hope to get a female similar to my favorite which is one of his lavender laced Carme. l a roo so going to try again. eggs in transit should be here tomorrow. in so cal not hard to get them outside in a few weeks. Im hooked. may have to move so I can keep roosters. are eggs just as fertilities in winter? Just less? any difference ?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

yes I just had a good hatch from papa's eggs but he had some lavender Orpingtons eggs and hope to get a female similar to my favorite which is one of his lavender laced Carme. l a roo so going to try again. eggs in transit should be here tomorrow. in so cal not hard to get them outside in a few weeks. Im hooked. may have to move so I can keep roosters. are eggs just as fertilities in winter? Just less? any difference ?

Welcome to the December hatch along! Your babies will hatch in January, so you might want to jump on that thread but you are also welcome here! I love the Orpingtons at Papa‘s poultry, they are all so gorgeous and so many different color varieties. I would like to see photos of the babies you hatched! I have a silver laced English Orpington pullet, but I got the egg she hatched out of from a local breeder here. She is one of my favorites!
Good question about fertility, I’m not sure. I live in Hawaii and I don’t think the weather seems to have much of an affect on fertility here. We have minimal changes in the amount of light we have throughout the year. My little Silkie cockerel seems to be quite fertile here in December! All the girls are as well.

 

[rottngrrl]

Too much to do!! I haven't had hardly a moment to sit down!! I added the muffin fans to the Farm Innovator 4250s as suggested and that worked fabulously. It was really easy to do: Aligned 4 holes off to the side of the control panel, drilled a few holes, and placed some cut squares of insulated packing foam that the muffin fan was in to create a gap between the lid and the fan, and ran the cord out of the side where the turner cord comes out. The fans I had are equipped with a plug so you just plug it into an outlet. Voila! I'll post some pics and a link to the fan below my post here.

So with the fan installed, it's a little harder to keep the humidity up at 55%...wherein lies the problem I am facing now on Day 18. Too much humidity??

Today is day 18 for the shipped eggs, and day 17 for the eggs from my flock, but everyone's air sac's look on the smaller side (except 1 with a huge saddle). So apparently I have had too much humidity. I checked the air sacs on Friday, and they looked a bit small then, and they have barely expanded at all. The average weight loss from day one is about 9% (smallest around 3% and largest around 10.5%), so I thought that was pretty good, but now I am wondering if that is not enough.

Aside from hatching the shipped chicks semi-upright, should I let them all cook for another full day to see if the air sac will get any bigger? There is no "to one side" curve in the air sacs at all. Should I also hatch ALL of them semi-upright, not just the shipped eggs (was not in the plans). Should I turn the humidity down next time?

Side note on the actual peeps: All but 3 are a movin' and a shakin' in their cozy little eggs! I never realized how much they move around! AND, on Day 10, I had 18 "maybe" eggs that I left in the incubator upon the advice given here even though I had my doubts, and sure enough, on Day 15, 16 of those 18 eggs are alive and kickin! 2 were very questionable to begin with, and I had a 10-day "Yes" quit on me (but they are still in the bator until I move everyone into lockdown). LESSON LEARNED: IT AINT' BAD UNTIL ITS **BAD**.

I have too much to do. Sorry for just popping in with questions and then racing away. I really do want to contribute and participate here!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OWVUJ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So with the fan installed, it's a little harder to keep the humidity up at 55%...wherein lies the problem I am facing now on Day 18. Too much humidity??

Today is day 18 for the shipped eggs, and day 17 for the eggs from my flock, but everyone's air sac's look on the smaller side (except 1 with a huge saddle). So apparently I have had too much humidity. I checked the air sacs on Friday, and they looked a bit small then, and they have barely expanded at all. The average weight loss from day one is about 9% (smallest around 3% and largest around 10.5%), so I thought that was pretty good, but now I am wondering if that is not enough.

Aside from hatching the shipped chicks semi-upright, should I let them all cook for another full day to see if the air sac will get any bigger? There is no "to one side" curve in the air sacs at all. Should I also hatch ALL of them semi-upright, not just the shipped eggs (was not in the plans). Should I turn the humidity down next time?

Side note on the actual peeps: All but 3 are a movin' and a shakin' in their cozy little eggs! I never realized how much they move around! AND, on Day 10, I had 18 "maybe" eggs that I left in the incubator upon the advice given here even though I had my doubts, and sure enough, on Day 15, 16 of those 18 eggs are alive and kickin! 2 were very questionable to begin with, and I had a 10-day "Yes" quit on me (but they are still in the bator until I move everyone into lockdown). LESSON LEARNED: IT AINT' BAD UNTIL ITS **BAD**.

I have too much to do. Sorry for just popping in with questions and then racing away. I really do want to contribute and participate here!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OWVUJ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you are concerned they haven’t lost enough weight, then you can remove enough water from now, to get the humidity around 40-45% at this point, until you see the first pip. It requires that you check them frequently to see if they’ve pipped.
You can do this until as late as day 19 if you don’t see any pips.
As soon as you see the first pip then you increase the humidity to lockdown levels. That will give them a little more time to dry out.

*Edited for spelling errors

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

Well, I came home to find one of my 4 eggs that are day 18 has internally pipped, one is externally pipped, and the other two are still cooking... I'm definitely going to have at least one baby tomorrow!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

So far 9 of my 10 Cochins have hatched, the last one is struggling and I'm giving it some extra time in the incubator. Today was officially their hatch day.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So far 9 of my 10 Cochins have hatched, the last one is struggling and I'm giving it some extra time in the incubator. Today was officially their hatch day.

Photos?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Day 18 for the Christmas hatch! Moved them over to the NR360 that I am using as a hatcher. All look great! A few have relatively small air cells for 18 day eggs, though the little chicks are moving around actively and are quite irritated by the light shining on them.
Going to keep the incubator dry until later today.
Managed to sell all the other chicks except for the two that I’m keeping. Photos of some of them attached just for fun. I called them the little crow babies!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I have Blue, Partridge and Black Large Fowl Cochins (Splash wasn't with them yet when I collected the eggs). Trying for Lemon Blue coloring...