Filling the incubator 6-3-2011 Join me for my 1st attempt?

[floridachickhatcher]

Quote:
Im glad I learned this from YOU, but what is shrink wrapping?? loss of humidity causing membrane to dry up around a chick or something? excuse me but I know absolutely nothing, thats why Im reading this.

Yes ChicWannaB thats EXACTLY what is it

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
Im glad I learned this from YOU, but what is shrink wrapping?? loss of humidity causing membrane to dry up around a chick or something? excuse me but I know absolutely nothing, thats why Im reading this.

Yes ChicWannaB thats EXACTLY what is it

OK, thanks, Im so sorry for your loss, but it IS the best teacher.

 

[floridachickhatcher]

Quote:
Im sorry for your loss my hatchs are only ever 50% i had 3 chicks in the zipping process and they died i think the hatched chicks rolled them around too rough and killed them i wanted to wait until the chicks were fully dried this time before taking them out of the bator but they are too rough on them eggs so im going back to taking them out after i see their butt is fuzzy half dry and half wet and with more chicks in there to snuggle up to they are dry in about an hour and i keep my humidity at 70 to 90% so that when i open the lid it doesnt effect the membrane too much and when it does drop to 65% im done and it comes back up in in a few mins

 

[Mmmatt13]

So far I have 4 visible pips (one pipped early this morning, and now doesn't look so great.. But we'll see) and then one is pecking away.
3 Ameraucanas and 1 Marans. I've never hatched a dark brown egg before, so I'm excited.
I'm just a nervous wreck, though. No big deal.

 

[wowmanacat]

I got some rockin and rollin going on. I might wake up to some chicks are at least some pips.

Here is a good laugh for all
My cat Diesel loves to lay on the top of my incubator and we say that he is incubating the eggs. It is just so cute.

 

[floridachickhatcher]

yeah my cat katie when the chicks first hatched i woke up one night to cheeping and there i see her standing half on and off it i quickly yell at her to get off cause when she looks down at them she licks her lips

 

[Mmmatt13]

Cats are so silly. Mine like to lay on top of pizza boxes when we order delivery.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

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i'm going to be attemping to incubate and hatch eggs for the first time too in a week or so

trying some of my dad's muscovy hen's eggs becuase i fell in love with the breed and want a couple of my own

working on getting an incubator right now, probobly ordering or picking up one tomorrow. can't wait

hopefully i get some to hatch. good luck to you

 

[Taylorhens]

I have a chick!!

Just one so far--one of my little bantam mottled cochins. It is cheeping up a storm and flailing about vigorously in the bator. Looks healthy to me.

I have one other cochin pipped and it was chirping and wiggling all afternoon, so hopefully it will be out yet. And one of my Marans is finally wiggling.

Stitch, don't beat yourself up too badly. What was your humidity up to the point that you opened the bator? Cuz I thought they couldn't shrink wrap that fast unless they had pipped.

I have a confession to make. Yesterday, I had seen NONE of my eggs move or heard them chirp, but I thought I smelled a bad egg (I had already had 3 go rotten before lockdown). I was afraid that if a hatched chick bumped into a rotten egg it would break and make a huge stinky mess. So...I opened the bator. I was at day 19/20. I was picking up each egg and smelling it when the egg in my hand cheeped! I was so startled that I almost dropped it!

I quickly put it back in the bator and closed the lid, and I'd no sooner gotten it settled when the egg pipped, followed within just a few minutes by the other pipped cochin. Guess what? That first one to pip is the one that has hatched. Before I opened bator my humidity was at 67%. I had the bator open for about a minute smelling eggs, and it dropped to 50%.

I'd say calibrate your hygrometer. Maybe your humidity wasn't what you thought it was. Or maybe it was uneven, with some parts of the bator more humid than others.

Still, congrats on your 8 chicks. I'm not sure I'll get that many.

 

[stitch81]

Quote:
As my hatcher was a fish tank with a flimsy styrofoam lid, the cat issue was a problem in our house. After the first chick hatched (at 5 a.m.) I thought I would get to go back to bed, but my cat Cooper had other ideas. Every time my back was turned the darn cat was up on the counter trying to find a way to get at the chick. Now the chicks are in the porch and the cats can hear them chirping. They sit and stare at the door to the porch and then just look at me, waiting for me to open the door for them. Yeah, right.

I think if I do another hatch I will put the eggs in cartons for the hatch. I had cut up a paper towel tube and set the eggs on those for this hatch, but it didn't seem to help at all, and the little tubes seemed to be a hindrance, as once a chick was hatched and hopping around in there knocking into the other eggs, the eggs would sometimes fall into the tube and get stuck (come to think of it, I had to open the lid a couple other times to reposition the egg, the chick had zipped and was trying to push out but was stuck in the tube stand that I had made for the eggs). The tubes were only 1/2 inch tall. Anyway, live and learn I guess.