Easter-to-Mother's Day hatch-along?

[AUChickenGal]

This morning is day 3.5 for my shipping disaster eggs. Three are for sure developing, including the tiny (Silkie?) "mystery" egg! There's a fourth that I *think* is also developing. Two don't seem to be doing anything, as far as I can tell, and one has a badly dislodged/saddled air cell. But I'm going to give them several more days before discarding any, just in case.

 

[Knighstar679]

I have a case of wiggly eggs on day 8. I am super excited.


Only about 13 more days till lockdown.

 

[DPWPDX]

I have a pip! Today is day 20, hatching should begin in earnest tomorrow!

Also I heard the chickie peeping in there and the egg rocked a little bit when I cooed at the incubator.

And one of my hens went broody this week, here’s hoping to having her take care of the babies!

Happy almost-Friday!

 

[julskinka]

I have a pip! Today is day 20, hatching should begin in earnest tomorrow!

Also I heard the chickie peeping in there and the egg rocked a little bit when I cooed at the incubator.

And one of my hens went broody this week, here’s hoping to having her take care of the babies!

Happy almost-Friday!

Good luck! We expect photos! Tonight is my D14 candling for the bulk of my eggs (I have a few staggered that will come later). 21/26 I originally set were still going strong the last I checked. Suddenly I realize there is SO MUCH to do.

 

[DPWPDX]

Good luck! We expect photos! Tonight is my D14 candling for the bulk of my eggs (I have a few staggered that will come later). 21/26 I originally set were still going strong the last I checked. Suddenly I realize there is SO MUCH to do.

Thanks! And me too - I need to clean out & spray down the extra coop and baby chick-proof it, move the broody into it, and clean out the backup rabbit cage / brooder. for if mama doesn’t adopt the babies ... most of the hatching action should take place tomorrow and Saturday fingers crossed!

Also gonna set seeds this week!

Good luck and looking forward to hearing how D 14 candling goes!

 

[AUChickenGal]

Day 6.5 candling on my "missing" eggs this morning. The tiny mystery bantam eggs looks pretty good, one Favaucana egg looks very good, and another Favaucana egg looks like it might be developing - the shell's pretty dark, so I'm not positive. I pulled the other four that were obviously not developing and cracked them open. Two were completely addled, and two looked like they had started to develop but quit very, very early - like maybe day 1 or 2.

So I'm down to 3/7 eggs now. I really hope I don't end up with a single chick out of this. With my luck, it'll be only the bantam (I have only LF chickens otherwise) that hatches!

 

[DPWPDX]

Day 6.5 candling on my "missing" eggs this morning. The tiny mystery bantam eggs looks pretty good, one Favaucana egg looks very good, and another Favaucana egg looks like it might be developing - the shell's pretty dark, so I'm not positive. I pulled the other four that were obviously not developing and cracked them open. Two were completely addled, and two looked like they had started to develop but quit very, very early - like maybe day 1 or 2.

So I'm down to 3/7 eggs now. I really hope I don't end up with a single chick out of this. With my luck, it'll be only the bantam (I have only LF chickens otherwise) that hatches!

Good luck! I had a batch of shipped eggs take 10+ days to get here and I wasn’t hopeful but I set them anyway, 3 hatched, 2 made it, and 1 was a girl. I have a lone silkie living happily in my LF flock so hopefully it will all work out

 

[DPWPDX]

5 am, day 21. 4 hatched so far (OEs), 1 BCM is unzipping and 2 more BCM are pipped. (Out of a dozen shipped from WA to OR) — Will take pics in a little bit!

Will attempt to slip them under a broody hen tonight!

 

[julskinka]

Here are the tallies from my D14 candle. I am dealing with shipped eggs from pretty far afield (CA, AZ, and OH to NJ)

20/26 look great.

• The 6 culled were:
  • 2 infertiles
  • 3 early quitters (D2-5)
  • 2 medium quitters (D9/10). One of the latter was an egg that was cracked that I tried to repair with wax. There's another one in there with a repaired crack that's still going, though!
• 6/20 have air cells that are still wobbly, so moved those into an upright position in a carton for the last week, but the rest of the air cells have all repaired themselves.
• Weights/air cells were a bit on the dry side at D7, so I upped the humidity, and most everything's back on track. Going to keep humidity in 40-50% range for the last four days before lockdown.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with these results, for eggs that shipped most (or all) of the way across the country! (Shout out to @Peep_Show, whose eggs are ALL still kicking.)

I've been throwing extra eggs in behind as I pull duds out, so I also have another 7 at varying earlier stages of development. I've done this before and the second wave doesn't have as good results as the first, but it's never been 0.

So far, I much prefer this Incuview to the forced air Farm Innovations I used to use. It seems to do a significantly better job regulating its own temperature, no major hotspots, and once I calibrated the temp on the incubator's heating element, it's held consistent with my laboratory-grade probe. The hygrometer is also accurate enough for government work. I find myself stressing out a lot less about the eggs!

Next up - day 18!

 

[DPWPDX]

So far 9 have hatched!

6 OEs all unassisted.

3 BCM hatched (slight assists on 2, both were mostly unzipped but air cells were smaller so they attempted to unzip too close to the end of the egg) + 1 pipped and actively unzipping now ..

1 BCM quit partway and 1 BCM quit early or never developed.

I have a brinsea octagon 20 that’s on it’s 3rd year (5th or 6th hatch) and I’d say it’s been worth the premium to not have to worry about temps or humidity or turning. Temps been a little low so I’m gonna up it to 99.8 for future hatched.