Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Looking forward to the Easter Hatch-a-long!

 

[ozexpat]

Thats cool! How have you done with turkey so far over there?

poorly

but that was a disasterous hatch all round.

It was when I discovered the humidity issue almost a year ago

I feel I have worked to resolve it and am excited about another try

 

[HenchantedAcres]

stable air cells are good! Do you have a little dollar store basket or a piece of wire you can bend just for these eggs? see the right image, even wire can be bent into a box, or a dish of any sort will work! just dont want to overheat that egg, thats why the baskets work well, note air flow!

I dont worry about soccer playing, it stimulates them and makes them get a move on. And you will have to keep an eye on those specific eggs anyways...

Okay, back to weight loss. Just weighed my 20 eggs again. Weight lost ranges from 10-16.4%. I read Pete55's article on Humidity, weighing and lockdown. He suggested a weight loss of 15-16% until external pipping. Now I am really confused. I thought my eggs weight loss was okay, now I'm not so sure. And yes, my incubator is a hovabator 1588 with a fan. My first hatch I started with 6 lemon cuckoo orpington eggs. All were fertile, one quit about day 10, 4 hatched, and the last was fully formed and looked like it was too big and my humidity was too high. Their weight loss was only 10-11% by day 18. Ran humidity at 50-55% day 1-18, and 65% at lock down. Second hatch started with 10 salmon faverolles eggs. 2 were clear, 2 leaked, so I had 6 going into lock down. Once again only had 3 hatched out of 6. 2 never internally pipped, and 1 internally pipped and never progressed. I assisted that chick on day 22-23 with Sumi and Jeremy coaching me. The chick died. He was perfectly formed, yolk sac absorbed, possibly malpositioned. The weight loss on day 18 was 10-11%. I kept the humidity at 60% for that lock down. Maybe I am making this more complicated than necessary. I guess I just want everything to turn out perfect. I can buy a little basket to put my saddle shaped eggs into for lockdown. Should I wait and lock down when I have internal pips or just lock down on day 18?

 

[dolfi]

Looking forward to the Easter Hatch-a-long! 

what are the rules and is there a number of eggs to hatch I get to start incubating on March hum forgot date lol but how they determine the winner. I wouldn't be one of those but it would be fun.

 

[ozexpat]

oz at this point how do you hatch your eggs? upright or do you lay them?

i incubate in trays upright and hatch in baskets lying down.

 

[dolfi]

i incubate in trays upright and hatch in baskets lying down.

OMG oz you can't possibly candle those eggies. You must be a true expert on this. I would love to see more pictures specially of that bator. It must be homemade and huge. How many eggies do you hatch at once. I am so impressed that I sure have lots of questions. Lol

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Quote: March 29th I believe. I'm not quite sure how it works, there isn't that much info up yet.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: Shweet.... what are the chickies with the dark brown spot on head?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: you will do fine if the eggs do the trip ok..... When I did those turkey in the fall I treated them the same as everything else and had no issues, well until the brooder, they are a pain to teach to eat and drink.... nothing like chicks who know what to do, but you will have plenty of chicks to teach them.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

KEEP in mind what he is saying.... 15-16% until EXTERNAL pipping which technically is end of day 20-21 so you wont be weighing up until then, only until day 18
and like I said I think your doing perfectly, you will want to prevent dehydration of the embryo and the membranes...

My thoughts are this..... Visually I think your air cells look good, but your weighing so I think you need to find your average weight loss..... The links in the Hatching 101 article explain how to average? I am not sure if it is by tray or not?

Your doing your homework, your being a responsible hatcher my friend! Worry and second guessing comes with the territory! YOU GOT THIS!