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

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Eeeek! I finally had to open the bator. I had one pipped and they(the rugby chicks) flipped it upside down. I quickly opened and threw in a sponge and rolled it. What's done is done. The humidity dropped to about 54 and then is now about 72. It should settle down a little more in the 60s. I hope I did the right thing. One egg has made a nice hole of a pip and I can see it's beak moving but it has made very slow progress. I wonder if beilefelders are just like that. Last night I went to bed with a beil that had been pipped all day and woke up with a chick. Sure hope I wake up to 2 more in the morning. This hatching is excruciating!

The hardest part is ignoring them after they pip! I let them do their thing for 36 hours + before I check up on their progress. I made an exception for the breech this week - I only let that one sit for 24. The wait is just plain painful, but some are just slow hatchers and need a day or two after they pip to finish the job!

 

[oolyboolu]

Hopefully you will get home to some action, but don't start worrying too much if you noticed they were a little behind on day 18. Keeping my fingers crossed for you

Sadly nothing yet :/ on to seeing what tomorrow (day 23) brings

 

[Dispatch273]

6 babies hatched but unfortunately one passed away Pretty little splash too. The other 5 are doing fantastic though! And it looks like daddy is one of my brahma boys because they all have cute little feathered feet, some even have extra toes from Mommy haha. Should be interesting watching these ones grow up. I have no idea what their coloring will look like. Black dorking cross hen and partridge brahma roosters. I think 3 are blue and 2 are black. They are all full siblings too! My other hen has 4 eggs in the bator that are pipped. Hoping for babies when I wake up

 

[Peep_Show]

Got an interesting email today from the folks at Brinsea.... They're taking pre-orders for the new Brinsea 100 (with humidity pump). It's a cabinet-style incubator with the familiar yellow plastic that will hold 96 hen eggs at a time and it'll only set you back....$999.99!

 

[Bobbygoat]

Day 19 and two definite cracks and 2 definite pips that was at midnight. Hopefully I will wake to a couple of coppers. Maybe more

 

[gogetter]

Congrats on the chicks and its normal for them to poop that bright green poop. Are they out of the incubator yet?

Thank you! Yes, they are out of the incubator! 6 hatched Thursday and 4 hatched Friday. The last one out seems pretty weak and was covered with sticky stuff. I think it must have busted the yolk inside the egg during it's exit attempts. I finally helped it. I hope it'll pull thru. Another one died during the attempt. There seems to be no more action in the bator, I'm assuming I've gotten what I'm getting this time. That means quite a few died right around lockdown. Anyone know what causes late quitters?

 

[cedarcovefarm]

The hardest part is ignoring them after they pip!  I let them do their thing for 36 hours + before I check up on their progress.  I made an exception for the breech this week - I only let that one sit for 24. The wait is just plain painful, but some are just slow hatchers and need a day or two after they pip to finish the job!

It really is hard. My beilefelder that had made a hole hatched finally, plus another Orpington and then another beil later. Still waiting on the last beil that I had to roll over and 2 cream legbars(not real sure they're gonna do anything) my brinsea 20 looks like a blanket of fluff when they're asleep! Hoping my last beil is a girl and hatches soon. They can barely move in there. There is no way 20 chicks could hatch and stay in that incubator as advertised. Well, I retract that, perhaps if they were bantams.

 

[Peep_Show]

That has been a familiar complaint about the Brinsea 20....squishy space for hatching. A lot of folks use the Brinsea for incubating and then a Genesis 1588 for hatching. I found that for just a few eggs, though, the Brinsea is superb, especially if you've got a humidity pump that regulates lockdown humidity for you. Also the recovery time to get the humidity back up to speed if you *must* open the incubator is very quick.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

At least one more hatched out under my broody overnight. She is still on lockdown though, and so there will probably be a few more eventually. My last incubator lockdown egg has shown no sign of pipping yet, and may be running behind like its' siblings in the nest. The waiting continues...

 

[cedarcovefarm]

Hope there are more pips and zips today. I hatched my final beilefelders last night. Both boys. Wish one more was a girl but that's ok. Also hatched my remaining buff orps. I have 2 cream legbars left that I'm just not sure will hatch. I was iffy on 1 at day 18, but I will leave then a little longer. I'm very pleased that so far 11 of my 14 hatched from my shipped eggs, especially since it's my first time incubating.

Good luck to the others!