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

[Ms Steak]

I think everyone has you covered, but see the image below and how to lay the eggs for hatching.


Candle day 18 is to determine growth, weigh, pencil mark air cell size and dispose bad eggs. It will look pretty dark and FULL in there! You may or may not see movement on this candle. Its ok if not, don’t panic! The chick may easily be resting! See how that air cell is beginning to dip more to one side and if you lay the egg down it will roll into the hatching position. I set my eggs with lowest dip in the aircell up. This position for hatching is good so the chick is able to turn into position and I can easily see my pips too! Day 18 laying horizontal for actual hatching helps a chick hatch 1-2 hours earlier. I lay my eggs down LOWEST DIP of the AIRCELL UP! This is the normal and most likely hatching position and the chick will break through or Internally pip and externally pip in that probable area. See the image below with the x, x being lowest dip in air cell and probably pip area/s.
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Thank you Sally (nice to see you back by the way, and ultra cute chicks!) That makes sense

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hey Sally glad you are back.......
Quote: oh WOW Mich! YAY!!!! beautiful girls!! I almost missed the pipssqueaks looking at the hens! LMAO! Wondering why I just sold all four of my babies!!!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

sure! sorry for the confusion, most times I will suggest you go to that hatching 101 article instead of the thread, we have changed so much and figured out ALOT since we started chatting on here! So glad your with us! How is the veining in the eggs at candle? How large were the air cells at start? like smaller than a dime fresh or old like a quarter or ancient like a 50 cent pc? can you snap a pic of next candle and weigh? want to make sure your ok with weight loss, sometimes older eggs that come to us don't need to loose that much from the start, which the weighing links don't actually walk you through.

Another words if your eggs were older and already have too large air cells at first set, you wont have to loose as much, does that make sense? Its sorta a guessing game with shipped eggs, I usually do ok, unless I have a bunch of mixed eggs in the bator with all dif sized air cells. Take these last Muscovy I got last week, all of them were old eggs with huge air cells which in turn got loose and rolled with all that shipping, two eggs were fresh with tiny air cells and are doing good at day 7 candle the rest were just aweful and didn't even make veining : ( it happens, and when ever you get eggs again I highly suggest that you take this letter and request the way your eggs be collected/handled and shipped... this is an word file from OZ you can copy paste and edit as needed, but I SUGGEST EVERYONE USE IT to some degree, don't be afraid to ask, as your the customer and paying good money for eggs!

Letter written by ozexpat

An open letter to egg shippers.doc 27k .doc file

 

[Ms Steak]

sure! sorry for the confusion, most times I will suggest you go to that hatching 101 article instead of the thread, we have changed so much and figured out ALOT since we started chatting on here! So glad your with us! How is the veining in the eggs at candle? How large were the air cells at start? like smaller than a dime fresh or old like a quarter or ancient like a 50 cent pc? can you snap a pic of next candle and weigh? want to make sure your ok with weight loss, sometimes older eggs that come to us don't need to loose that much from the start, which the weighing links don't actually walk you through.

Another words if your eggs were older and already have too large air cells at first set, you wont have to loose as much, does that make sense? Its sorta a guessing game with shipped eggs, I usually do ok, unless I have a bunch of mixed eggs in the bator with all dif sized air cells. Take these last Muscovy I got last week, all of them were old eggs with huge air cells which in turn got loose and rolled with all that shipping, two eggs were fresh with tiny air cells and are doing good at day 7 candle the rest were just aweful and didn't even make veining : ( it happens, and when ever you get eggs again I highly suggest that you take this letter and request the way your eggs be collected/handled and shipped... this is an word file from OZ you can copy paste and edit as needed, but I SUGGEST EVERYONE USE IT to some degree, don't be afraid to ask, as your the customer and paying good money for eggs!

Letter written by ozexpat

An open letter to egg shippers.doc 27k .doc file
I think this is to me? In case it is. The cells at the beginning were tiny. Like a nice fresh egg should be. Those eggs are not doing so bad. 5 out of 6 silkies developing, one I am not so sure will make it to lockdown. Its veins aren`t as strong as the others. The other 4 look good! Of my maran eggs I am not so sure. I have 4 out of 6 left, but they are very hard to see into. I can just see the wonky cells and darkness. I also have 6 polish frizzle eggs. 4 started, one gave up, 2 look ok and one I am thinking is going to quit. Of course, I really want these to hatch. They make me smile just thinking of them. These had larger air cells to start, not massive, but older. They are on day 7 tomorrow. I will weigh them all again then.

Off to read hatching 101

 

[kaybee123]

If you mark the side where the dip is you'll know which way it is supposed to be at all times.

 

[Ms Steak]

If you mark the side where the dip is you'll know which way it is supposed to be at all times.

Thanks kaybee. I am planning to do this with my maran eggs just prior to lockdown. I have already drawn on the silkie eggs to track the cell growth, so will do that again tomorrow (day 14) and again at lockdown. I really hope it goes well and I get some chicks.

 

[silver1313]

Today's Summary 5/28/2003

kaybee asked what does low temps do to the eggs
sally replied that low temps cause chicks to mature at a slower rate and can cause all kinds of issues in the end and says looking at what went wrong in the hatching 101 thread has some visuals explaining

lizanne is having weird hatch issues - see post # 16681
sallys response to her is on post 16684
and added to have a look in the assist article as well in case she does need to assist any

mikkles says there are hawks but they haven't bothered the chickies so far !!

lizanne assisted one chick and got her out ..one more to go ..

confused turtle posted candling pictures then opened egg pictures.. it does indeed look like the poor things were scrambled badly in shipping

kaybee had a temp spike of 115 and ask if she should throw in the towel or wait for a miracle or two .. i sy let them go and candle again to recheck .. i had some that spied that high for over 45 minutes and still hatched out several ..
gardeningmama said she would wait too
as did sally.. she said to try candling again as well

gardeningmama and everyone likes sally's kids pics

doug said for first 18 days he does 20/30% and is adding very little water at the end this time to see it that helps

chickengirl said 20~40 for first 18 then 65% for lock down has worked best for her

sumi wished cochins good luck with her hatch

and a few people suggested confusedturtle try to find eggs closer to home

mikkles 18 eggs went into lockdown - 10 polish and 8 sizzle/silky

kaaybee has what appears to be a 3 day old roo that is trying to crow and was going to try and film it for us when she got home

chicksooner hopes everyone had a good weekend

hill has 7 eggs in lockdown and welcomes sally back
and says that her question is this, anyone here care to document on a chart for the various "rare" breed eggs and their troubles,findings etc.?

My theory is that with some of the rare breeds seem to be more fragile initially then the "regular" or "mutt" eggs? Let me know, I'm interested to learn if I'm on the right track.
cochins has 2 goslings have internally pipped

sally still suggest . if possible, that doug weigh the eggs

sally replied to confused turtle and does not recommend MPC at all and said maybe find some local -even if that means the next state over

sally threw more eggs in the bator ..WHITE FACED SPANISH ROO OVER BLACK POLISH ... thoughts ? she asked

no pips and then this :

made sally squeal like a mama with mice running over her toes lol
mainly b/c she didnt think they would be viable and was so glad sara picked her up some grow gel

waffle couldn't find the hatching link so sally reposted it for her
and waffle asked about 96.2 and sally said say whaaaaaa

dougs advice to kaybee leave them in .. he had 120 spike and some of them made it to lockdown yesterday
and said 120 is worse than 96.2
and said lol can't wait to check the thread anymore cause SALLY IS BACK - tell me about it ... have a little pity on the secretary folks !! LOL

confusedturtle thanked sally and gardeningmama for the advice and is going to try and cancel her order

chicksooner said it certainly cant hurt to try and cancel it .... and she wants to state for the record that the bators or emptied and stored .... but...she does have two broodies that were being laid to for days til she could put a stop to it !!

mssteak posted
I am reposting this as my question didn`t really get any answers. I know this thread is busy.

Hi.

Right, I am on my second try at this hatching lark, having had a terrible outcome first time around. I was so pleased that my new incubator was keeping the temps lovely and steady. I decided to do a dry hatch, but the humidity is staying around 20% so I added a little water to raise it to 28 / 30 ish. I am also trying a hands off approach. I candled the eggs on day 7, and every egg has a saddle shaped air cell! I then checked the Polish eggs I had put in 7 days later, and they are the same.

I had the first eggs lying down as there is a semi automatic turner, but I have now put them into an egg box wide side up. The Polish eggs have always been in a box as I am going to have to trust my home made incubator for a few days when the first eggs go into lockdown.

Are these eggs doomed? What can I do to ensure chicks this time. I really cannot stand the thought of another failed hatch. The older eggs are now on day 13. Help!!!!!!

cochins replied: What exactly are you asking? If the eggs with the saddle shaped air cells are doomed because they were on their sides for the first 7 days? If so, then no. They are not doomed.

Are the air cells still loose? Or have the re-attached?

and doug replied :
Did you cut the bottoms out of the egg carton? Did you candle to make sure that the air cell is on top? Sounds like you are doing it right. Im sure others will chime in. I had a decent hatch of saddle shaped eggs the last time.

kaybee replied that she had read saddle air cells couldnt hatch and said that is what she was asking and asked if she should cut holes in them

and chicksooner told her that saddle shaped cells are fine just keep the big end up and do cut holes in the carton and watch the air cells - if they seem too big increase humidity .. too small and reduce humidity according to sally's article

cochins says yes they can hatch although they are more difficult ..and personally even lays them on their sides like the other eggs

I personally put mine upright in the egg carton that had saddle air cells, as suggested by sally, and they did good .. no assistance needed and 4/5 hatched ...

cochins stated that the egg should naturally roll so that the dipped in is facing up .... and said next time try minitoring weight loss ... and asked if we could have pictures of the air cell sizes

also see sally's post # 16759

mstricer says she is glad sally is back and also said for confusedturtle to find eggs more locally if she could

and posted a cute picture of her d'uccles on post 16760

and sally apologized for the confusion and said
How is the veining in the eggs at candle? How large were the air cells at start? like smaller than a dime fresh or old like a quarter or ancient like a 50 cent pc? can you snap a pic of next candle and weigh? want to make sure your ok with weight loss, sometimes older eggs that come to us don't need to loose that much from the start, which the weighing links don't actually walk you through.

and kaybee says if you mark the side where the gip is you'll know which way it is supposed to be at all time


WHEW !! Done !!!

YEP SALLY IS BACK LOL

For Now

Secretary Silver

edited to add the picture of what made sally squeal lol

 

[Ms Steak]

Today's Summary 5/28/2003

kaybee asked what does low temps do to the eggs
sally replied that low temps cause chicks to mature at a slower rate and can cause all kinds of issues in the end and says looking at what went wrong in the hatching 101 thread has some visuals explaining

lizanne is having weird hatch issues - see post # 16681
sallys response to her is on post 16684
and added to have a look in the assist article as well in case she does need to assist any

mikkles says there are hawks but they haven't bothered the chickies so far !!

lizanne assisted one chick and got her out ..one more to go ..

confused turtle posted candling pictures then opened egg pictures.. it does indeed look like the poor things were scrambled badly in shipping

kaybee had a temp spike of 115 and ask if she should throw in the towel or wait for a miracle or two .. i sy let them go and candle again to recheck .. i had some that spied that high for over 45 minutes and still hatched out several ..
gardeningmama said she would wait too
as did sally.. she said to try candling again as well

gardeningmama and everyone likes sally's kids pics

doug said for first 18 days he does 20/30% and is adding very little water at the end this time to see it that helps

chickengirl said 20~40 for first 18 then 65% for lock down has worked best for her

sumi wished cochins good luck with her hatch

and a few people suggested confusedturtle try to find eggs closer to home

mikkles 18 eggs went into lockdown - 10 polish and 8 sizzle/silky

kaaybee has what appears to be a 3 day old roo that is trying to crow and was going to try and film it for us when she got home

chicksooner hopes everyone had a good weekend

hill has 7 eggs in lockdown and welcomes sally back
and says that her question is this, anyone here care to document on a chart for the various "rare" breed eggs and their troubles,findings etc.?

My theory is that with some of the rare breeds seem to be more fragile initially then the "regular" or "mutt" eggs? Let me know, I'm interested to learn if I'm on the right track.
cochins has 2 goslings have internally pipped

sally still suggest . if possible, that doug weigh the eggs

sally replied to confused turtle and does not recommend MPC at all and said maybe find some local -even if that means the next state over

sally threw more eggs in the bator ..WHITE FACED SPANISH ROO OVER BLACK POLISH ... thoughts ? she asked

no pips and then this : made sally squeal like a mama with mice running over her toes lol
mainly b/c she didnt think they would be viable and was so glad sara picked her up some grow gel

waffle couldn't find the hatching link so sally reposted it for her
and waffle asked about 96.2 and sally said say whaaaaaa

dougs advice to kaybee leave them in .. he had 120 spike and some of them made it to lockdown yesterday
and said 120 is worse than 96.2
and said lol can't wait to check the thread anymore cause SALLY IS BACK - tell me about it ... have a little pity on the secretary folks !! LOL

confusedturtle thanked sally and gardeningmama for the advice and is going to try and cancel her order

chicksooner said it certainly cant hurt to try and cancel it .... and she wants to state for the record that the bators or emptied and stored .... but...she does have two broodies that were being laid to for days til she could put a stop to it !!

mssteak posted
I am reposting this as my question didn`t really get any answers. I know this thread is busy.

Hi.

Right, I am on my second try at this hatching lark, having had a terrible outcome first time around. I was so pleased that my new incubator was keeping the temps lovely and steady. I decided to do a dry hatch, but the humidity is staying around 20% so I added a little water to raise it to 28 / 30 ish. I am also trying a hands off approach. I candled the eggs on day 7, and every egg has a saddle shaped air cell! I then checked the Polish eggs I had put in 7 days later, and they are the same.

I had the first eggs lying down as there is a semi automatic turner, but I have now put them into an egg box wide side up. The Polish eggs have always been in a box as I am going to have to trust my home made incubator for a few days when the first eggs go into lockdown.

Are these eggs doomed? What can I do to ensure chicks this time. I really cannot stand the thought of another failed hatch. The older eggs are now on day 13. Help!!!!!!

cochins replied: What exactly are you asking? If the eggs with the saddle shaped air cells are doomed because they were on their sides for the first 7 days? If so, then no. They are not doomed.

Are the air cells still loose? Or have the re-attached?

and doug replied :
Did you cut the bottoms out of the egg carton? Did you candle to make sure that the air cell is on top? Sounds like you are doing it right. Im sure others will chime in. I had a decent hatch of saddle shaped eggs the last time.

kaybee replied that she had read saddle air cells couldnt hatch and said that is what she was asking and asked if she should cut holes in them

and chicksooner told her that saddle shaped cells are fine just keep the big end up and do cut holes in the carton and watch the air cells - if they seem too big increase humidity .. too small and reduce humidity according to sally's article

cochins says yes they can hatch although they are more difficult ..and personally even lays them on their sides like the other eggs

I personally put mine upright in the egg carton that had saddle air cells, as suggested by sally, and they did good .. no assistance needed and 4/5 hatched ...

cochins stated that the egg should naturally roll so that the dipped in is facing up .... and said next time try minitoring weight loss ... and asked if we could have pictures of the air cell sizes

also see sally's post # 16759

mstricer says she is glad sally is back and also said for confusedturtle to find eggs more locally if she could

and posted a cute picture of her d'uccles on post 16760

and sally apologized for the confusion and said
How is the veining in the eggs at candle? How large were the air cells at start? like smaller than a dime fresh or old like a quarter or ancient like a 50 cent pc? can you snap a pic of next candle and weigh? want to make sure your ok with weight loss, sometimes older eggs that come to us don't need to loose that much from the start, which the weighing links don't actually walk you through.

and kaybee says if you mark the side where the gip is you'll know which way it is supposed to be at all time


WHEW !! Done !!!

YEP SALLY IS BACK LOL

For Now

Secretary Silver

Thank you Secretary Silver. Loving your work.

 

[silver1313]

Thank you Secretary Silver. Loving your work.

TY Ms Steak !!

 

[silver1313]

p.s. Ms Steak i still love your name lol