Hands on hatching and help

[RubyNala97]

EEEEK!!!!  Okay, so I'm not ready for this but I just checked the eggs before bedtime and I have a pip on one that hit the beginning of day 26 about 4 hours ago.  I was thinking they would be behind because the temps were low for a few days early on and I could set all 6 eggs at the same time tomorrow afternoon.  Guess plans have changed and I am moving them over tonight.  First lockdown and I've only had the hatchery running for 10 hours so I hope it all works out....  I've got it running steady for the last 4 hours with humidity at 75% exactly on 2 hygrometers while one hygrometer is reading 84.....  I'm gonna try to find a screen to put over the ice tray filled with distilled water to prevent drowning cos I don't have time to adjust and move forward with a new plan so wish me luck....!...!....!...  Hopefully I can send pics of 6 healthy ducklings in a few days!!!!

I'm nervous.  I've got one egg pipped and that lil guy's beak is fluttering around like crazy in the shell when I candled.  The air sack is still not as big as I'd like on him, and the other two that were due to be put on lockdown tonight do not have pips or as big of air sacks on them as the pipper does.  The other 3 eggs in the Lyon incubator with the autoturner aren't pipped either and 2 of them still have very small air sacks compared to where they are supposed to be.  I left those three in the Lyon incubator with humidity around 10-15% RH to try to dry those sacks down.  Gonna try to insert those into the lockdown hatchery tomorrow night or Tuesday morning if I see no pips start up.  Hope I don't shrink wrap the first 3 I just put in and hope the two non-pipped eggs were ready to go in there.  I guess I will see what we have in the morning.  Gonna be a tough night to sleep......

my fingers are crossed for you!! These are all local eggs, right? (Not shipped) which will work in your favor. Local eggs are more forgiving and a lot stronger. I watched a YouTube video yesterday of wild ducks hatching. The mother was not even on the nest half the time and when she was she was not big enough to cover all the eggs. The pips were just out in the open pipped and peeping. The video followed the whole hatch and it ended with a lot of fluffy baby ducks. So I hope that it will all be ok for you! And again, you are gaining a TON of experience with this hatch, which is priceless!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Seems like a REALLY good educated observation to me! I have read&heard bacteria can enter espically thru porous shells but I hadn't seen proof for myself yet,,,feeling bad now because 3 I put in my 31April hatch are really pourus- I validated doing it because they are easier to candle since shells are so dark.

I've hatched out quite a few more porous eggs without a problem. Don't feel bad!

EEEEK!!!! Okay, so I'm not ready for this but I just checked the eggs before bedtime and I have a pip on one that hit the beginning of day 26 about 4 hours ago. I was thinking they would be behind because the temps were low for a few days early on and I could set all 6 eggs at the same time tomorrow afternoon. Guess plans have changed and I am moving them over tonight. First lockdown and I've only had the hatchery running for 10 hours so I hope it all works out.... I've got it running steady for the last 4 hours with humidity at 75% exactly on 2 hygrometers while one hygrometer is reading 84..... I'm gonna try to find a screen to put over the ice tray filled with distilled water to prevent drowning cos I don't have time to adjust and move forward with a new plan so wish me luck....!...!....!... Hopefully I can send pics of 6 healthy ducklings in a few days!!!!

Good luck!!!

my fingers are crossed for you!! These are all local eggs, right? (Not shipped) which will work in your favor. Local eggs are more forgiving and a lot stronger. I watched a YouTube video yesterday of wild ducks hatching. The mother was not even on the nest half the time and when she was she was not big enough to cover all the eggs. The pips were just out in the open pipped and peeping. The video followed the whole hatch and it ended with a lot of fluffy baby ducks. So I hope that it will all be ok for you! And again, you are gaining a TON of experience with this hatch, which is priceless!!

I'm pretty sure that we are over-cautious and crazy. Heck, I'm one one the biggest meddlers, but I still keep humidity up for precaution, but I honestly honestly believe that for so long people have warned against this and that and most of it is BS. I've seen people have chicks hatch early that hadn't gone to lockdown and had no problem hatching in 30% and I don't care what anyone says, I do not believe that you can shrink wrap a chick in 60 seconds, dry out some goo and stick em, sure, but shrink wrap??? That's a long process. I literally cringe every time a newbie asks if they will really kill their chicks just from opening the bator or one is scared to add water because they have to open the bator. Older, stricter hatchers have scared up and coming hatchers so bad that they can't even enjoy the hatch because they are scared they are going to cause certain doom.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh and @RubyNala97 that is too funny. I didn't even realize we did that!!

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Just woke up and ran to the hatcher to check. No progress on any of the 3 eggs..... Yes these are local eggs out of my coop. I don't know what to think now. The egg that pipped had not actually made it all the way through the shell yet, you could just see where he he had started pecking at. It was a small obtrusion on the egg. That still counts as pipping right??? Or should I have waited until he pecked a hole right through??? Now I am worried He just started pecking cos the humidity was too low on my bator since I was trying to dry those sacks down. I'm second guessing myself and thinking I may have doomed them...

 

[BigWeenMachine]

And to make matters worse, the 2 thermometers that read the same temp for the last 3 weeks are now glaringly reading different in the FI incubator I'm using for a hatcher. One is reading right on with the FI incubator's digital reading while the other one is reading 94.8. Man I hate that FI incubator as I dunno what is going on with all the different temp readings inside of it....

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Just woke up and ran to the hatcher to check. No progress on any of the 3 eggs..... Yes these are local eggs out of my coop. I don't know what to think now. The egg that pipped had not actually made it all the way through the shell yet, you could just see where he he had started pecking at. It was a small obtrusion on the egg. That still counts as pipping right??? Or should I have waited until he pecked a hole right through??? Now I am worried He just started pecking cos the humidity was too low on my bator since I was trying to dry those sacks down. I'm second guessing myself and thinking I may have doomed them...

Yes, we consider the bumps and cracks pips. I don't want to do this but I have to:

Ok, calm down. You have done nothing to doom them. Bators have hot and cool spots in there that may cause one to be early or late. They don't start pipping because of humidity issues, they pip cause they want to get the he** out of there. Now, you have them in the hatcher with the humidity up at this point and everyone is still alive right?

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Lol. I don't know. I havn't checked them this morning because I didn't want to drop the humidity too much on them. I think it took almost 2 hours for the humidity to rise up to 75 % after I took the lid completely off in order to put the eggs in there. Should I crack the bator open and sneak my hand in there to snatch them out and candle them or am I just being paranoid? Maybe I should just walk away and find something to keep my mind off the duckies today...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

And to make matters worse, the 2 thermometers that read the same temp for the last 3 weeks are now glaringly reading different in the FI incubator I'm using for a hatcher. One is reading right on with the FI incubator's digital reading while the other one is reading 94.8. Man I hate that FI incubator as I dunno what is going on with all the different temp readings inside of it....

You should see the imbalence I've been having with mine. I actually got the eggs balanced out in there last night so the areas of the bator are all running about the same now. Started with all three the same, then when I laid the silkie eggs down everything was out of whack. One side hotter than the other, the top of one side warmer than the bottom. None of the therms reading the same. I shifted the eggs around and balanced the mass more proportionately and we are back to all three therms reading within tenths and right where I need it-for the most part...lol


At this point it appears that I have development in 14/18 of ruby's silkie eggs, 2 that never started and 2 that quite w/in 24 hours of forming the first veins. I want to get a good pic, but haven't been able to. All 9 of the Spitz were developng and can't see in the greens.

I am worried about the greens. The greens are big....jumbo sized big. I wasn't thinking when I decided to add them. Well, when I collected them, I didn't realize that ruby's silky eggs were so small...lol (My son says to me, mom, they look like banty eggs...lol I had to explain they actually are. Our silkie eggs aren't that small.) Anyhow, I am keepig the humidity up higher than my norm because the silky eggs' air cells were growing fast and half of my Spitz were already getting there because the oldest waas 10 days. But the greens are sooo big that I'm afraid they wont loose enough. Originally I had planned to do the greens at the end of May or June, but without thinking I decided to add 3 days worth with these guys. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[pipAchick]

Good morning to all!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Lol. I don't know. I havn't checked them this morning because I didn't want to drop the humidity too much on them. I think it took almost 2 hours for the humidity to rise up to 75 % after I took the lid completely off in order to put the eggs in there. Should I crack the bator open and sneak my hand in there to snatch them out and candle them or am I just being paranoid? Maybe I should just walk away and find something to keep my mind off the duckies today...

LOL leave them, they are probably fine. They were alive when you put them, we'll keep the faith that they are alive now.