December incubating

[maidenwolfx80]

We also have a homemade incubator using the Styrofoam cooler it worked pretty well! Hopefully ill be posting in a couple days with pictures of our new chicks!

Mine are due jan 10th. Good luck cant wait to see pics

 

[dblea202]

Did you keep your 6th egg in the incubator? Just wondering cause we had four eggs and thought only two were growing and today before lockdown we candled them and now the other eggs actually look like they may have the chick inside, this is our first batch so we may just be really hopeful too

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I did keep it in there. I am going to just monitor and if I smell a bad smell from the egg or if I see a ring when I candle then I will toss it. There is always hope, sometimes it is hard to tell and I dont like to get rid of it too quick

 

[TherryChicken]

Thanks but sadly 1 went bad so only have the 2 now. Better then nothing ..

 

[dblea202]

Yeahh we were keeping an eye out for the smell but it never hhapppened. We have easter egger and we've read that the blue/green eggs can be hard to see. Our fingers are crossed! Good luck with your chicks!

 

[mhaddon]

up to 16 and a few more pipped. No showgirls pipped yet and I candled all them and they were moving on day 18

 

[Ashburnham]

Last photo of my December hatchlings.
21 out of 22 hatched and all still going strong.
(8 out of 8 under a broody hen, and 13 out of 14 in the incubator)
I think this line of Bantam White leghorns must have outstanding fertility and vigour!
Crossed with Lavender Araucana rooster.

I think that Lavender chick must be a blown-in - impossible that the BWL could have a recessive lavender gene!

 

[gabrielle1976]

how old are they

 

[Ashburnham]

They hatched between 7/12 and 9/12. Photo taken today.

 

[Cox28358]

7th egg pipped! 6 in brooder (I took a chance on last two and pulled from bator and placed in brooder as soon as they hatched and were standing)... change that last one hatching now

The results of my first incubation.

Eggs placed in bator fresh out of the coop the day they were laid. We collect our eggs daily. I have 9 hens (2 BSL's and 7 RIR's) covered by 1 RIR roo. We placed the eggs on the LG bator (with auto egg turner) at 8PM on December 5th. I opted for the egg turner vs manually turning the eggs for one reason. I work 24 hour shifts and wouldn't be around to turn the eggs (Since this time, my wife has decided that hatching eggs is pretty fun; next time may just talk her into The temperature was set at 99.5*F confirmed with the thermometer (which was pretty accurate; I also used a handheld Infrared thermometer to occasionally confirm). Noticed the next morning the temperature was off a little bit (throughout the use of the bator, the temperature would be up in the a.m. and return to normal in the evening. I am contributing this fluctuation in the change in temperature in my home (no reason to keep the heat at 68* in the house when we are snuggled under the cover (Next time I will make sure to keep the house thermostat set to prevent any spikes). I run 1/4" tubing to the water reservoir to add water without opening the bator. I also added some soft sponge to keep the humidity up. Added hot water every other day as needed using a syringe.

Candled eggs on December 13th. Of the 9 eggs. 7 showed fertility, 1 egg thick shell inclusive, 1 egg thin shell but inclusive.

December 23rd.... LOCKDOWN. Before placing on lockdown I candled one last time. 7 with nearly complete developement, 1 egg shell thick evidence of air sac, 1 egg shell with a mass, probably infertile but it isn't producing any smell. Letting it go.

December 26th 7:40 pm.... 1st Pip; hatched next morning at 9am... Noticed 2 more pips.... From the time to the first pip to the last egg hatch, December 26th 7:40PM to December 28th 6pm.

Only major complication, heat spiked on December 28th in the AM. Found temp to be 105*.... After last egg that had pipped hatched, decided to open last 2 eggs... 1 egg had a fully developed embryo however the egg was totally dry (I think the temperature spike and reduced humidity was the cause). The other egg was infertile...

Long story short, I ended up with 7 new fuzzy butts. 5 RIR's and 2 BSL x RIR....

Removed from egg turner