Hands on hatching and help

[AmyLynn2374]

Okay, lockdown is Wednesday. I have 5 eggs that have very active little ones in them.

Cochin - lively embryo, still a loose air cell and it's huge and saddled

Easter Egger - great air cell, large embryo, very active in there

Black Australorp - active, air cell solid on almost all sides but wobbly on one side.

Leghorn - same as Australorp

Naked neck - huge air cell, totally wobbly, small embryo but moving

So do I want to lay down the eggs that are okay (Easter Egger, Australorp, Leghorn) and use carton cups for the NN and the Cochin?

You can, or you can leave them all upright.

 

[ShanandGem]

Anyone know if young pullet eggs are less viable than a more mature hen's? I'm having trouble getting my chicken's eggs to develop for more than a few days before quitting.
I have only owned this pullet for a week so her nutrition before coming to my house may be a factor too.

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Yay! I have one chocolate runner that has externally pipped! Maybe they aren't all dead in there. I will keep you all updated.

 

[RubyNala97]

**Sigh**.  Runners have been in the hatcher for 28 hours now.  I had 2 babies rocking the eggs when I put them in and whenever I would talk to them they would wiggle around.  I havn't seen any movement for 2 days now after I saw them wiggling in the incubator the day before lockdown, 2 days ago.  Pretty sure my humidity made the air sacs too big and they got shrink wrapped inside the egg.  They are just starting day 27 so they aren't late.  It just disturbs me that they quit moving.  To make matters worse, I saw one baby chewing on the air sac trying to internally pip 2 days ago and now he's done moving.  Humidity at 40% and somehow I dried them out......

Have you candled them? We're these shipped? That's what happened with my call egg that was doing good (the bad egg is the one that hatched). I saw movement up until day 25 and then it just never internally pipped.

They are shipped eggs, I put 4 in 2 are good. 1 blood ring & the 4th is weird , maybe loose air cell but looks like it developed a little bit.
The geese are Chinese (brown & white). I've never had geese.
Maybe I'll just revamp my other incubator, I tried some shopped Pekin eggs last month & it ended sadly. My hygrometer turned out to be broken the whole 28 days. I don't want to risk these Buff eggs.

Shipped eggs are so hard as it is, maybe it would be better to put the geese eggs seperate if you can.

Okay, lockdown is Wednesday.  I have 5 eggs that have very active little ones in them.


Cochin - lively embryo, still a loose air cell and it's huge and saddled

Easter Egger - great air cell, large embryo, very active in there

Black Australorp - active, air cell solid on almost all sides but wobbly on one side.

Leghorn - same as Australorp

Naked neck - huge air cell, totally wobbly, small embryo but moving

So do I want to lay down the eggs that are okay (Easter Egger,  Australorp, Leghorn) and use carton cups for the NN and the Cochin?

Still loose!? Wow. I've never had air cells that stayed loose till lockdown. Hopefully they will firm up as the air cell starts drawing down. I probably would keep the ones with the loose air cells in the carton since they are doing good that way. Why risk it.

Anyone know if young pullet eggs are less viable than a more mature hen's?  I'm having trouble getting my chicken's eggs to develop for more than a few days before quitting.
I have only owned this pullet for a week so her nutrition before coming to my house may be a factor too.

My pullet eggs have been great for hatching. Maybe try her eggs in a month after you've been able to take good care of her for a few weeks.

Yay!  I have one chocolate runner that has externally pipped!  Maybe they aren't all dead in there.  I will keep you all updated.

Yay!! Good news!!

 

[FridayYet]

Okay, lockdown is Wednesday.  I have 5 eggs that have very active little ones in them.


Cochin - lively embryo, still a loose air cell and it's huge and saddled

Easter Egger - great air cell, large embryo, very active in there

Black Australorp - active, air cell solid on almost all sides but wobbly on one side.

Leghorn - same as Australorp

Naked neck - huge air cell, totally wobbly, small embryo but moving

So do I want to lay down the eggs that are okay (Easter Egger,  Australorp, Leghorn) and use carton cups for the NN and the Cochin?

Anything loose or wobbly at lockdown I leave in cartons. I only lay down the completely firm ones.

In my last batch, one of the super loose, extremely saddled cells hatched! It pipped way at the bottom of the loose tract and I planned on assisting it in the morning. Since the pip was near the bottom, I took it out of the cut down carton and laid it down before I went to bed. Found it hatched just fine when I woke up.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Anyone know if young pullet eggs are less viable than a more mature hen's? I'm having trouble getting my chicken's eggs to develop for more than a few days before quitting.
I have only owned this pullet for a week so her nutrition before coming to my house may be a factor too.

My best hatch (100%) was from my pullet eggs last year. They had been laying 4-6 weeks when I collected for set. I'd say something going on with the pullets or the incubation.

Yay! I have one chocolate runner that has externally pipped! Maybe they aren't all dead in there. I will keep you all updated.

Yay!

 

[Blooie]

From my first batch of eggs on, air cells have been the biggest and most frustrating issue. The two eggs that hatched out of the first 28 had air cells that firmed up pretty well, just a little wonky on one side, and even that wasn't real bad. The others were just bad..and stayed bad.

I do everything I can to help the reattaching process along, aside from opening them and using Gorilla Glue to anchor them. I let them sit undisturbed. I don't turn them the first few days in the incubator. I keep them upright in the incubator. I maintain a steady humidity - not high but with minimal fluctuations. When I candle them I keep them upright and candle from the top down.

Got new eggs coming from @RubyNala97 and she said the air cells in the ones she sent are so small she can barely make them out. That and the fact that they were gathered yesterday and today and then shipped right away today should help. It's just a sad fact that here express mail means Pony Express! But I have more confidence in this new batch of eggs - although what I'll do with a dozen Silkies in a rough cowboy kind of community I ain't sure!

Here kids ride their horses in town and stop at the convenience store for an ice cream or can of pop! They just tie the horses to the bracket the tire air hose is wrapped around!

I'll keep the three I'm most concerned about upright in carton cups, then. I wonder how I'll know if they are pipping on the bottom if I can't see the bottom, but that's a small potato problem compared to just keeping them alive through hatch.

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Have you candled them? We're these shipped? That's what happened with my call egg that was doing good (the bad egg is the one that hatched). I saw movement up until day 25 and then it just never internally pipped.

Yep, they were shipped. I've had such horrible luck with shipped eggs. I will NEVER buy shipped eggs again. From here on out I will buy chicks and then wait til the following spring to hatch their eggs. For the number that hatched out of my first 38 shipped eggs (4) I ended up paying 45 dollars a duck, and one of them died at 3 days of age. I coulda just had ducklings shipped for ten bucks a piece from somewhere. Absolutely ridiculous. I will be shocked if I get 2 out of the 10 in the hatcher to hatch. That makes the last batch of 20 eggs cost me 45 dollars a duck too.

I also found out that my hygrometer that I thought went haywire and caused my first 38 eggs to get the bacterial infection actually did not go haywire. I've got 2 new ones in the Lyon bator that are both reading the exact same with the same amount of water I put in the first time around. The 2nd batch of runner ducks that I had in the incubator did not get any bacterial infections nor do the 2.5 week old eggs out of my yard that were also in the Lyon incubator up until I moved them to my Brinsea when I converted the Lyon to my hatcher and locked down my runners (nor did the first batch of eggs from my yard get the bacteria). I did not clean the Lyon out after removing the bacterial infected eggs since I still had the previously mentioned eggs inside of it.

All of this tells me that I did not cause the bacterial outbreak by getting the humidity too high. It also tells me that the outbreak did not occur because the bator was not properly cleaned or disinfected before setting the eggs because if it was due to the incubator being unclean, then my 2 sets of eggs from the yard and this last batch of runners would also have the bacterial infections since they were in the same incubator. It tells me that the bacteria was carried in on one of the 2, or both sets of shipped eggs that I first put in the incubator. Yet another reason I don't want to mess with shipped eggs.

Anyone agree or have any thoughts on this theory???

 

[AmyLynn2374]

From my first batch of eggs on, air cells have been the biggest and most frustrating issue. The two eggs that hatched out of the first 28 had air cells that firmed up pretty well, just a little wonky on one side, and even that wasn't real bad. The others were just bad..and stayed bad.

I do everything I can to help the reattaching process along, aside from opening them and using Gorilla Glue to anchor them. I let them sit undisturbed. I don't turn them the first few days in the incubator. I keep them upright in the incubator. I maintain a steady humidity - not high but with minimal fluctuations. When I candle them I keep them upright and candle from the top down.

Got new eggs coming from @RubyNala97 and she said the air cells in the ones she sent are so small she can barely make them out. That and the fact that they were gathered yesterday and today and then shipped right away today should help. It's just a sad fact that here express mail means Pony Express! But I have more confidence in this new batch of eggs - although what I'll do with a dozen Silkies in a rough cowboy kind of community I ain't sure!

Here kids ride their horses in town and stop at the convenience store for an ice cream or can of pop! They just tie the horses to the bracket the tire air hose is wrapped around!

I'll keep the three I'm most concerned about upright in carton cups, then. I wonder how I'll know if they are pipping on the bottom if I can't see the bottom, but that's a small potato problem compared to just keeping them alive through hatch.

Don't be surprised if you have trouble finding the air cells in Ruby's eggs when you get them. The first couple days I was actually really worried because I was having trouble seeing them at all. The ones that wobbled a little I could make out, but most of them I struggled just to see an outline of the air cell. I am totally

for you that this is the best hatch for you!!!

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Have you candled them? We're these shipped? That's what happened with my call egg that was doing good (the bad egg is the one that hatched). I saw movement up until day 25 and then it just never internally pipped.

O, and I have not candled them since putting them in the hatcher. I candled right before putting them in lockdown on Saturday afternoon but have not since. No internal pips then although on Friday I did see one nibbling on the air sac when I candled. It then ceased to move on Saturday. Should I candle them again to check progress? I am afraid I am gonna have to help these guys out again just like the other babies. I've only had 2 out of all 8 of my ducks hatch on their own without help and had a bunch that I might have been able to help had I known they were struggling so hard to get into position.