Did anyone set chicken eggs on April 11th?

[cajun chicken]

We have some "chick-chicks" as my 18 month old calls them. Lol it's like Christmas around here

 

[song of joy]

Day 21 update: Four of the 5 eggs that went into lock down pipped within the past 24 hours, and all 4 of them have hatched!

I violated the "don't open the incubator" rule three times in 24 hours to remove egg shells and hatchlings, with no apparent ill effects. The Brinsea Mini Advance seems to regain temperature and humidity very quickly, so it was forgiving of my transgression.

The fifth egg, which is quite a bit larger than the others, is still in the incubator. It feels light and hasn't pipped, so I'm not sure if it's still viable. I should know in the next day or two. UPDATE: egg not viable; discarded on Day 24.

I had really hoped to hatch out eggs with a broody. Of course, they never go broody when you want them to! I had one go broody yesterday, which was no help at all for this hatch.

 

[song of joy]

We have some "chick-chicks" as my 18 month old calls them. Lol it's like Christmas around here

Congratulations! What a great experience for your child (and you)!

 

[sailingleaf]

That's pretty interesting! A couple of times the troughs have run dry (not for too long), and the humidity fell to about 13% even with this rainy weather we've had. My hygrometer was 1% lower when I calibrated it, which I feel is pretty decent. I'm in the SoPo area. I joined the Dorking Facebook group and they've been saying that the Silver Grey Dorkings are hard to hatch. All of my eggs are Dorking hybrids (how can you not like Dorkings, they're the barge of the chicken world), so I'm wondering if that plus the super cold weather we had right before I set the eggs had some sort of effect? There are a couple of eggs that have been moving, but my worst enemy has been keeping temperature, so I'm not expecting any pips until tomorrow.

I'd love to have chickens at my house in SoPo since they allow it now, but with my job I can't keep them. My parents are the muscle and I'm the paycheck, because with my job I can't have pets/farm animals. Kind of really neat that they allow what they do in South Portland! I got bees last Monday! Although I'd be amazed if they survive the summer what with the pesticides and such that they've put down in my neighborhood.

I've been watching the Bator-vision the past few hours. Every ten minutes or so I jump up in excitement and check to see if there's any changes. No dice. I've been having some pretty crazy dreams lately which may be due to the stress of worrying about the eggs.

 

[themenagerie]

Day 21...Of 24 set (3 are questionable), I have 4 hatched, (Welsummer cross, 3 OEs) plus one Banty Cochin zipping now. One of the OE's had no movement after pipping/zipping for over 14 hours and its' membrane was yellow, so I helped it zip a bit, and it hatched on it's own, but definitely has some blood vessels/yolk or combination attached (don't google it..it's gross lol) and is weak. I've moved the other hatched chicks to the brooder so it can rest and not get trampled on. We'll see what happens. This is a very interesting experience, so exciting and so stressful, all at the same time.

 

[RubyNala97]

Good luck to all of you guys! I'm on my first incubation now. Day 10. 7 shipped silkie eggs but only 3 are viable. I'm leaving the others in until at least day 14.(just incase, I'm wrong). It stinks when you loose half the amount you set. I should have ordered more but I naively thought all 7 would hatch! Now I'm just hoping 1 hatches!! Wish you guys the best!

 

[song of joy]

Good luck to all of you guys! I'm on my first incubation now. Day 10. 7 shipped silkie eggs but only 3 are viable. I'm leaving the others in until at least day 14.(just incase, I'm wrong). It stinks when you loose half the amount you set. I should have ordered more but I naively thought all 7 would hatch! Now I'm just hoping 1 hatches!! Wish you guys the best!

My first incubation attempt was in early April, using 9 shipped eggs. If incubation is stressful, I found that incubating shipped eggs was even more so!! The shipped eggs had a really rough trip, so I had mostly clears and blood rings by Day 7 (confirmed on Day 10). Only 1 egg made it to lockdown. It pipped but died in the shell. I was so discouraged by the Day 7 candling results that I got some local barnyard mix eggs, which have hatched really well. I think the difference in success rates was shipped vs. non-shipped eggs. This is not meant to discourage you, as I'm really hoping your 3 viable eggs hatch out! But if they don't, it's likely that a lack of success would be attributed to shipping rather than your skill at incubating eggs. Best of luck on your hatch!

 

[sailingleaf]

I have four babies that have hatched! With one more definitely working its way out. When I get home I'll snap a picture.

 

[RubyNala97]

My first incubation attempt was in early April, using 9 shipped eggs.  If incubation is stressful, I found that incubating shipped eggs was even more so!!  The shipped eggs had a really rough trip, so I had mostly clears and blood rings by Day 7 (confirmed on Day 10).  Only 1 egg made it to lockdown.  It pipped but died in the shell.  I was so discouraged by the Day 7 candling results that I got some local barnyard mix eggs, which have hatched really well.  I think the difference in success rates was shipped vs. non-shipped eggs.  This is not meant to discourage you, as I'm really hoping your 3 viable eggs hatch out!  But if they don't, it's likely that a lack of success would be attributed to shipping rather than your skill at incubating eggs.   Best of luck on your hatch! 

I totally agree with what you are saying! I'm trying to be realistic about this hatch. I have a brinsea, so I'm pretty confident with the incubator. I'm thinking to try local next! Thanks for the input. Fingers crossed!

 

[Steve Jahnsen]

I set a dozen on april 12 they started hatching yesterday may 2 got two yesterday and three today I'm watching them all day mother seems to be doing fine three are already eating. good luck how many did you set?


Steve