Hatching can be so stressful at lock down, but it is so rewarding watching them hatch.Aggghhhhh!egg cartons, no egg cartons? I keep going back and forth and can't make up my mind and lockdown will be Wednesday morning. I'm freaking out here thinking about all the little details. Like I was planning on putting that rubber mat (like you use to line your kitchen cabinets with) and I bought the tubing for fish tanks so that I can put it through the holes on the top of the bator to add water while in lockdown then I realized with the mat being on top of the wire I'm going to need to cut holes in it so I will be able to stick the tubing where the water wells are. But in order to know where to cut my holes I'm going to need to have the lid off the incubator for a bit.
And again I still can't decide if I want to put my eggs in the egg cartons to hatch or leave them lying on their sides like they have been. It's a big incubator and I just have a few eggs so I am afraid they will get knocked around quite a bit by hatched chicks.
I've been having to add water every few hours today in order to keep my humidity up (the rain we had last week was so nice for my humidity) so I have a feeling I'm going to be adding water all day during lockdown which makes me so nervous to go to sleep at night and not be adding water for at least 6 hours!! I am going to be a wreck the rest of this week!!
Incubating chicken eggs must be like being pregnant and having a baby because at this point I'm thinking oh my gosh I can never do this again because it's so stressful but I have a feeling once I see those cute little fluffy butts I'm gonna forget about all this craziness and be like oh ya let's do that again!!
December Hatch-A-Long 2014
- Thread starter Renee572
- Start date
I've heard that changing the orientation during lock down can result in malpositions in the egg, and that getting kicked around a little can help speed up development for late bloomers to try and synchronize hatch time and get them out of the egg before they are left to freeze (same with peeping in the shell- def not recommending you roll your eggs and screech at 'em tho!) I don't have the hatching experience to say one way or the other if it is true, but I would personally leave them as they are fuss-free rather than worry about if I did more harm than good. As for humidity, to help keep humidity up, you can add another water dish, wet paper towels, wet cotton balls, a moist sponge.. all of these hold additional water and can wick it in to the air to make things a little easier!
Don't worry! I told myself I'd never hatch eggs again because the initial stress made me an insomniac bent on checking those eggs every 15 minutes for the first stretch, but now I have my second batch of hatching eggs on order and an actual incubator on the way. Once you see those babies hatch, it all changes! With experience it also gets a lot less stressful, so it won't be as bad as the first time every time
Don't worry! I told myself I'd never hatch eggs again because the initial stress made me an insomniac bent on checking those eggs every 15 minutes for the first stretch, but now I have my second batch of hatching eggs on order and an actual incubator on the way. Once you see those babies hatch, it all changes! With experience it also gets a lot less stressful, so it won't be as bad as the first time every time
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Hang in there! I do get up to add water at night. Although. I couldn't get away from the bator on my first hatch...too riveting! Don't think I slept for 3 days.
I thought I would try the eggs on the mesh but the one chick that hatched is playing bumper cars with the eggs. Crossing my fingers.
Whatever you decide to do... Good luck!!! Hopefully you did well on your finals!
I thought I would try the eggs on the mesh but the one chick that hatched is playing bumper cars with the eggs. Crossing my fingers.
Whatever you decide to do... Good luck!!! Hopefully you did well on your finals!
I have almost 40 eggs in bator #1, they are due to hatch the 24th or 25th Dec. Have decided to only candle twice throughout the whole process, because of some unstable shipped eggs I received. This is only my 3rd time iccubating so learning a lot by reading post hear on BYC. My dilemma is I had two shipments of eggs schedule to arrive on the same day last week that I was planning on setting in bator #2. Unfortunately the USPS messed up a delivery. Just received it today, 4 days later than the other eggs. I decided to set the others on Friday because they were such great looking eggs & that I didn't want to take the chance of them being delayed by the other eggs arriving late. When my eggs came today all the air cells were detached on the silkie eggs. I have decided to let them sit 48 hours & then add them into the second incubator in a egg carton & not turn them for the entire hatch. Does this sound like the correct thing to do? I'm hoping to be able to move the silkie eggs to incubator #1 when it is time to go into lockdown on incubator #2.
Oops hit submit twice, sorry
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I read in some research article (published by a university I think) that if you don't turn the eggs at all, they will develop but will die at day 11. Not turning them will surely result in them not hatching. If you turned them gently it seems like they would have at least some chance. Maybe you can do your own experiment - turn half of them and leave the other half unturned. See what happens in 21 days.
Thank for the info, I just might try that. Okay after reading all the great info I've decided to add my silkie eggs to my bator after 12:00. That will be 24 hrs rest. I will place them big end up in a syrafoam egg carton & not turn for 3 days. After that I will turn eggs gently each day until lockdown. Thank again for all the helpful information & support.I read in some research article (published by a university I think) that if you don't turn the eggs at all, they will develop but will die at day 11. Not turning them will surely result in them not hatching. If you turned them gently it seems like they would have at least some chance. Maybe you can do your own experiment - turn half of them and leave the other half unturned. See what happens in 21 days.
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@ChickenLady2014
I would not put them in cartons of you've had them on their sides already. The water will go through the mesh too don't worry and good luck on your hatch!
I would not put them in cartons of you've had them on their sides already. The water will go through the mesh too don't worry and good luck on your hatch!
- Aug 12, 2014
- 23
- 1
- 24
I love the idea of hatch-a-longs and I shall join as I have recently (29 of November) set 7 indian runner duck eggs in my brinsea mini advance incubator. I candle them thus Saturday just gone and have a seven out of seven fertility
fingers crossed
it stays that way. They are due on boxing day woop woop
Inexperienced hatcher here....This last hatch I had three with detached air cells and decided to let them rest 24 hours large cell up. They were incubated in a carton large end up and not turned for the first three days. Two did reattach. There is a ton of suggestions out there...you have to find what works for you, it's difficult. Good luck!
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