FEBRUARY Hatch-A-Long 2015:Please Read First Post To Join H-A-L

[ChickyChickens]

I am sure they will be beautiful! Here's my crazy cool chicks from yours...

VERY CUTE!!!

I had 4 more quitters, so i'm down to 18 of the 25 eggs I set. These are shipped eggs, so if I can get 15 to hatch i'll be happy. This is only my second time hatching from my homemade bator. last hatch I had a 50% hatch rate, so I hope I can keep that percentage going up. 1 week till hatch day

Just took the shoes off it a few minutes ago! Looks great, only 36 hours after hatching! I'm glad I put the shoes on first thing...

Very cute little chick!

Congratulations on your first pip, best of luck with your hatch.

X2!!!

SO exciting! Love this thread!

Twiddling my thumbs on day 5....

 

[jennianne]

I fill the channels under the egg basket with water at lockdown....even then the humidity pump churns quite a bit. So in answer to your question, yes, it can seem like it's going nonstop.

Ya know, I feel a little like "duh", I probably should have been using the water channels all along. I will add some warm H20 if I open the lid for something. I bet that is why I had my humidity set higher than I though it should be but since I was weighing, I went by weight and increased the humidity. The RH reading is measured at the top and without water under the eggs, all the humidity was pooling in the top half. Luckily I weighed. I am crossing my fingers I get some lovely little fluffers. At least I have one so far!

 

[Griffin Nest]

I just joined the HAL and I set 7 chicken eggs a friend gave me on the 8th! My incubator is homemade and I'm expecting a hatch on the 28th!
These eggs are just from everything in his farm so I don't know what I'm going to get!

 

[Purpletie3]

I just joined the HAL and I set 7 chicken eggs a friend gave me on the 8th! My incubator is homemade and I'm expecting a hatch on the 28th!
These eggs are just from everything in his farm so I don't know what I'm going to get!

Welcome & good luck!

 

[Purpletie3]

Day 20 here...21 starts tonight...and my hatch rolls onward.

I finally got my humidity to 65% where i wanted it. Brinsea said to add more evaporating blocks (kinda a big sponge type thing and reduce the air vents) And I being a rebel hating to open that door unless it's on fire...Went and bought two more humidifiers and made a steam bath for it and reduced the air vents to 1/3 open. I did not want to open that door for anything or close the vents to pinholes.... I have these two svart hona eggs I want to see hatch & chicks need that oxygen!

Hatching tray 1-
My Bama 1's best auction had 13/14 eggs go to lockdown. I have at least 6 hatched already. She's doing something right because I have never seen such good development from shipped eggs. They are BBO, ST, ST/LB, L, NH

Hatching tray 2-
My SoNew auction crew I sent 23/29 to lockdown. There are several iffy's though because I can not see at all in these eggs. So, I lock them down too! They are CCL,OE,BCM. I have at least 3 of these guys who have hatched now! Looks like I am going to have some beautiful chick from her too!

Hatching Tray 3-
I had 8 Americauna I had shipped from MI...4 are in lockdown...4 didn't even start. EBAY

I also had 8 BCM from Fl shipped and all of them developed to lockdown and 6 Blue Isbars...None of them even started. EBAY

Hatching tray 4-
Svart Hona eggs

So, with the hatching trays I can not see into them to see what is going on in the incubator...which is good for keeping your hands off and bad because I feel less involved then when I can hover above it every 15 minutes to check on the progress!

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Day 21 was yesterday for my unlucky hatch with the temperature fluctuations. So far only 1 D'anver hatched. No one else seems viable. I'm going to leave it be for a few more hours and then open it and pull out the lonely baby. She better be a she. I'll give the other eggs a listen with my stethoscope before giving up.

I feel bad for the single chick - I have adult chickens but they are young and non are broody. I'll have to get her a stuffed animal. Too bad Tractor supply does not have any chicks in here yet.

 

[antyler]

I fill the channels under the egg basket with water at lockdown....even then the humidity pump churns quite a bit. So in answer to your question, yes, it can seem like it's going nonstop.

What a pretty collection of eggs!

Peep_show, thank you. I have quite the assortment of chickens.

 

[antyler]

Day 20 here...21 starts tonight...and my hatch rolls onward.

I finally got my humidity to 65% where i wanted it. Brinsea said to add more evaporating blocks (kinda a big sponge type thing and reduce the air vents) And I being a rebel hating to open that door unless it's on fire...Went and bought two more humidifiers and made a steam bath for it and reduced the air vents to 1/3 open. I did not want to open that door for anything or close the vents to pinholes.... I have these two svart hona eggs I want to see hatch & chicks need that oxygen!

Hatching tray 1-
My Bama 1's best auction had 13/14 eggs go to lockdown. I have at least 6 hatched already. She's doing something right because I have never seen such good development from shipped eggs. They are BBO, ST, ST/LB, L, NH

Hatching tray 2-
My SoNew auction crew I sent 23/29 to lockdown. There are several iffy's though because I can not see at all in these eggs. So, I lock them down too! They are CCL,OE,BCM. I have at least 3 of these guys who have hatched now! Looks like I am going to have some beautiful chick from her too!

Hatching Tray 3-
I had 8 Americauna I had shipped from MI...4 are in lockdown...4 didn't even start. EBAY

I also had 8 BCM from Fl shipped and all of them developed to lockdown and 6 Blue Isbars...None of them even started. EBAY

Hatching tray 4-
Svart Hona eggs

So, with the hatching trays I can not see into them to see what is going on in the incubator...which is good for keeping your hands off and bad because I feel less involved then when I can hover above it every 15 minutes to check on the progress!

Question for you. Were your eggs shipped with heat packs or not? I have some eggs shipping on Tuesday and am on the fence about adding heat packs.

Good luck with your hatch!!

 

[bekkanblue]

OK, I think 'lockdown' for my incubator is tomorrow and I'm starting to stress out. : ) How do people determine a 'quitter' before lockdown? And lockdown really just means putting in the shelf paper/paper towels for footing, getting the humidity up, and then keeping my hands off right? With the hands off part being key. What else am I missing?

Luckily I have to work a ton at night so can't completely obsess. Too cold to plug the incubator into the truck and take it with me! Which would be stupid anyway but I did consider it. I should set the next batch AT work, since I'm here as much as I'm home! Lol.

 

[Purpletie3]

Question for you. Were your eggs shipped with heat packs or not? I have some eggs shipping on Tuesday and am on the fence about adding heat packs.

Good luck with your hatch!!

Some were and some were not. Quite honestly if they were double boxed and sent quickly they were in pretty good shape. Anything under 2 days for shipping. Anything that was 3-6 days in shipping really didn't develop and the heat packs are usually gone by then anyhow. Also, how intact the air cell is upon arrival.

I have some right now that were overnighted and almost all of those are in development.