First Time Hatching Anything! (Seramas!)

[WVduckchick]

If you sit them in just the right position after lockdown, you can still candle thru the window!

 

[MadChickenMama]

Ooo I'm going to do that when lockdown comes.

So I noticed today that one or two of the eggs in the center kept getting rolled to resting on the edge of the cell they were in. Figured things must be changing inside the shells to make them do this. So I picked out the one that had done it the most and checked. No changes I could see since yesterday. Decided to try and find the one that was further along than the rest and found it and took a picture.

I set these at 7:45am Monday morning the 21st. There are a few others with a definitely darker spot among the webbing veins, but they're still pretty faint. This one is very obvious. I get the feeling the feeling it'll hatch early if it does.

So I've noticed my thermometer is now reading more at 99* than the roughly 99.5/100 it has been. Do y'all think I should turn the temp up to 100* on the incubator? Maybe 100.5?

I also have stopped putting as much water in the incubator to keep the humidity down. The incubator seems to be within 1 or 2% of what it actually is. It stays around 42% now rather than the 51-53% it was when I kept the water filled to direction specifications.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Last night before bed I noticed my own thermometer was off. It was reading at 99. Left it until this morning to see if maybe it was a fluke. Still read 99 thia morning.

Tried calibrating my thermometer to see if that was it and have found it is messed up :/ but I know the incubator wasn't as warm as it should have been. I could feel the air was more on the cool side.

Had to get a new hygrometer anyway so just opted for a dual purpose digital one. Got it all set in the incubator and after a bit checked on it and it was reading 101.7, but the incubator was reading at what I'd set it at, 100.5 (trying to account for poor warming).

Had to mess with it again. I'm happy the heat is working again but not happy the thermometer that came with it is reading so poorly now. Have it set at 98.5 and my own new thermometer is reading at 100. I figured that's going to have to be good enough as anywhere between those two temps is good for forced air.

I am worried now that all the fussing with the incubator and whatnot is going to have a negative effect on the eggs.

I've got plenty with embryos with a visible eye. I think I'm at about 14 or 15 that look good. Two seem to not have air sacs so I'm not including them in the total viable count.

22 eggs and 17 looked good on Wednesday. Now with the 2 that don't seem to have air sacs that's 15. Then the one I posted about that seemed to be ahead may not go any further. I didn't notice an eye on that embryo today.

So that's 14. Then I think there maybe be 2 or 3 that may not have embryos but I saw veins. We will see on day 7.

I'll be happy if I can just get 4 out of all this.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Oh yeah here is one of the eggs that you can see the eye.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Went to say hi to my sister's chickens and guess what I found?

A broody hen in a nesting box! First one! Thinking I may see about giving her a few eggs. Not sure, though as they're tiny babies and these hens are standard.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Went to say hi to my sister's chickens and guess what I found?

A broody hen in a nesting box! First one! Thinking I may see about giving her a few eggs. Not sure, though as they're tiny babies and these hens are standard.

I've heard of giving banty girls standard eggs, I don't know about giving banty eggs to a standard sized girl.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Yeah I definitely don't want to risk giving her chicks that even if she hatches she may kill cuz of their size.

 

[WVduckchick]

Yeah I definitely don't want to risk giving her chicks that even if she hatches she may kill cuz of their size.

I would be more concerned about a larger hen breaking the tiny eggs. I don't think she would intentionally kill the chicks though.
I've had serama hens accidentally step on their own chicks, being so tiny and fragile, I personally probably wouldn't risk it. Unless you just want to experiment...

 

[MadChickenMama]

Day 7 and 17 out of 22 eggs are looking good! The other 5 don't seem to have been fertilized. Look at this ome wiggling! ^.^

 

[happybooker1]

I just set 8 Serama eggs in my Brinsea Mini II. So can you update your thread? Did they really begin hatching on the 20th day? What humidity did you maintain? How many finally hatched? Pictures?? Thanks!