Egg weight

Sydney65

Crowing
Aug 2, 2019
1,986
4,485
346
Indiana
Coming down to final days before lockdown. The 360 has been great,consistent temp & humidity. I still keep the jelly jar in it. In the 360, it maintains humidity for days rather than hours.
The eggs are no longer jiggly, they are nice and solid with bird. I've kept them upright in carton the whole time & something @R2elk said abt the way he "turns" inspired me to just use a block of wood to tilt the incubator 45° instead of touching/turning the eggs.
I did some reading on humidity management and egg weight loss. Does anyone use that method? I decided to try it this time, weighing the eggs on arrival and as scheduled throughout incubation period.
The way it said to do the measurement was to weigh all, combine total,determine 13% loss for the total. I did that, but I also noted the individual egg's 13% loss goal.
So the final step is "don't do lockdown until you have reached the total 13% loss."
Here's the question- one egg may have started at 46g, another at 36g. So I may be near total target weight loss for all eggs combined, but some are on target, some close, and some +2 or 3 grams higher.
Which is the best way to go, try to get that +2 or 3 lower or be more concerned about the ones on target going too low?
Something else,I'll find and post - said turning wasn't about the embryo getting stuck and dying, but the fact that air and gases moving through permeable shell & keeping those pores open. Seems like there was something abt the development of the chorio...that white string.
Here's the link. Thread 'Guide to Humidity and Weighing in Incubation' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guide-to-humidity-and-weighing-in-incubation.632744/
Of 18 shipped, I am down to 8 viable, which is fine, considering they were end of season shipped eggs. In the end I had 3 cracked, one dropped🤦‍♀️, 3 nonfertile, & 3 quitters. But I have 8 active eggs.:fl
Oh oh - in reading through old threads, you guys used to up humidity to 65% at lockdown. Do you still do that? Bc if you do, I totally skipped a step all summer and it's a wonder I was having hatches at all. So please update my brain before Thursday so I get it right this time.
Oh, and the egg weight thing- if everyone is at target before the 25th day, do I lock down early?
 
I increase the humidity to 65% to 70% at lockdown. If you have reached your desired weight loss goal and it is nearly time for lockdown. It will be okay to lockdown early.

Turning the eggs is very important at the start is very important. Turning the eggs during the last 10 days or so is not critical. By that time the embryo is advanced enough to provide sufficient movement on its own.

Good luck.
:celebrate:celebrate:wee:weeHouston, we have hit target, 3 internal pips, and have proceeded to lockdown. Temp 99.5 humidity 65%.:th
 
Coming down to final days before lockdown. The 360 has been great,consistent temp & humidity. I still keep the jelly jar in it. In the 360, it maintains humidity for days rather than hours.
The eggs are no longer jiggly, they are nice and solid with bird. I've kept them upright in carton the whole time & something @R2elk said abt the way he "turns" inspired me to just use a block of wood to tilt the incubator 45° instead of touching/turning the eggs.
I did some reading on humidity management and egg weight loss. Does anyone use that method? I decided to try it this time, weighing the eggs on arrival and as scheduled throughout incubation period.
The way it said to do the measurement was to weigh all, combine total,determine 13% loss for the total. I did that, but I also noted the individual egg's 13% loss goal.
So the final step is "don't do lockdown until you have reached the total 13% loss."
Here's the question- one egg may have started at 46g, another at 36g. So I may be near total target weight loss for all eggs combined, but some are on target, some close, and some +2 or 3 grams higher.
Which is the best way to go, try to get that +2 or 3 lower or be more concerned about the ones on target going too low?
Something else,I'll find and post - said turning wasn't about the embryo getting stuck and dying, but the fact that air and gases moving through permeable shell & keeping those pores open. Seems like there was something abt the development of the chorio...that white string.
Here's the link. Thread 'Guide to Humidity and Weighing in Incubation' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/guide-to-humidity-and-weighing-in-incubation.632744/
Of 18 shipped, I am down to 8 viable, which is fine, considering they were end of season shipped eggs. In the end I had 3 cracked, one dropped🤦‍♀️, 3 nonfertile, & 3 quitters. But I have 8 active eggs.:fl
Oh oh - in reading through old threads, you guys used to up humidity to 65% at lockdown. Do you still do that? Bc if you do, I totally skipped a step all summer and it's a wonder I was having hatches at all. So please update my brain before Thursday so I get it right this time.
Oh, and the egg weight thing- if everyone is at target before the 25th day, do I lock down early?
I increase the humidity to 65% to 70% at lockdown. If you have reached your desired weight loss goal and it is nearly time for lockdown. It will be okay to lockdown early.

Turning the eggs is very important at the start. Turning the eggs during the last 10 days or so is not critical. By that time the embryo is advanced enough to provide sufficient movement on its own.

Good luck.
 
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Well, I think I have 4. There was one external pip Thursday when I got up, and it had zipped 1/4 of the way around by Friday a.m., then nothing. By Friday evening I had decided if this was to be my only one, I was helping it out, and put pin holes in the rest. Candled, some had internally pipped, not all.
I decided to start helping this a.m. The 1st 2 had died. I've apparently gone from one extreme to the other, bc this batch were sticky & wet. In the 1st,a lot of fluid poured out. It was the only one that wet. The second one was much smaller, and had been, weight-wise. It was also sticky but no overflow of fluid.
The rest were sticky STUCK, so they each got their own warm wet wash cloth and are drying in the incubator now in their own little egg crate space.
The last two I did -🤷‍♀️ I think are dead. I think, bc I think my eyes were playing tricks on me, so just incase, I cleaned them up and put them back in the incubator as well, at the other end.
One was so stuck her little toes were stuck together and curled. They uncurled after I washed them and were apart.
The other was active when I got it out of the shell, but I'd let them rest in warmth before bathing. That one's "umbilical cord" (?) was still attached to the shell so I put it back in still attached.
When I got it back out, it was no longer attached to the shell, but it was unresponsive. There was no bleeding, but it *looks like* it might have hemorrhaged internally? A dark bubble next to and displacing the absorbed yolk. So it's in the warmer for the moment.
The 4- my 1st little guy - Buff Dundotte? I always complain about this camera- the spot on the head isn't brown, it's -hard to describe- looks like a gray shadow w/a few very dark hairs.🤷‍♀️
20211002_084434.jpg 20211001_200502.jpg
20211002_093511.jpg
The rest -no pics as they're still drying. One is lavender, I think there's a coral blue and I forget what the 3rd is bc brain is stuck on the last two. Lol. I'll get pics later. For now they need rest.
 
Oh no, I’m so sorry about your Violet!!!! :hitIt would have still had yolk it was absorbing, so probably nothing would have helped it. Sad for it though. Of your current trio, it looks like two fully pearled (dotted) and one… ??? Is one keet Pearl grey and one brown? Wasn’t Bella brown? For the lightest keet, there are a lot of light colored attenuates that wouldn’t have head stripes, like ivory, light powder, lite sky, etc. Could also be something like opaline where the lines are too faint to see well… Did the seller give you a list of possible colors? It will be fun to see how your keets develop!

As for the weather, I’m relieved to hear someone has had keets roosting in the cool weather! Maybe the keets will crowd together and stay warm? I have a heat light on in the day, which the keets seldom use, but I’m afraid to use it at night. If something disturbed the birds and they went nuts, they could likely start a fire. I wouldn’t want to start eggs this late for me, with my situation of trying to bring new birds in via broody hatch. I can totally see it working though with an incubator, brooder, etc. In fact I did that with chicken chicks one year. It was more work on my part getting them acclimated to the cold and integrated into their new flock, but it worked out ok. For my broody hatches though, I think I need to draw the line at July hatches…
His flock are coral blue, lavender, light blue, buff dundotte, brown, pied, violet, and white.
Shoot, I used the tablet camera again. - I'll post one from camera after this.
These 3 are, I believe,buff, buff dundotte, & lavender. ...you don't want me to tell you the colors that didn't make it. 😔 That's what @R2elk & I were trying to fig out, was the color of the undotted. "She's" creamy colored, white wings, belly & face. She's a sweetie, 1st one hatched and wants to cuddle w/me. Took her awhile to cuddle w/mates, kept 6" from them w/her back to them.🤷‍♀️ I guess overnight it got lonely bc she's w/them now.
Yes, the temp dropped the night Rosie's hatched, it was actually the twins, not triplets, that I had moved out that day. They nestled in between the boys and triplets.
 

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