Hands on hatching and help

I meant to post these after I took them but then I got hurt a couple weeks ago- anyway check out these crazy air cells! There were 3 shipped Marans eggs like this:

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I've never seen saddles this bad. I couldn't see the air cells in the first few days and didn't candle again til day 7. So they were hand turned as normal and the cells just kept getting lower and lower. I was not expecting them to hatch but all 3 made it to lockdown and 2 hatched!
 
You lockdown today Blooie??

I meant to post these after I took them but then I got hurt a couple weeks ago- anyway check out these crazy air cells! There were 3 shipped Marans eggs like this:



I've never seen saddles this bad. I couldn't see the air cells in the first few days and didn't candle again til day 7. So they were hand turned as normal and the cells just kept getting lower and lower. I was not expecting them to hatch but all 3 made it to lockdown and 2 hatched!
That's great!!



What is the black line it is day 7 of incubation
Eh. incomplete blood ring and or bacteria??? Not what you want to see.
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3 little nns out. The malpositioned pipper is hanging in there. I widened the pip and I think I see yolk, so he's hanging tight for tonight. I'll check him in the morning. Got a new pip and like 5 internal pips I believe. 2 that are goners and 2 that have life, but no internal pips as of yet (probably they'll be bottom pippers too). Looking decent so far.
 
The call eggs just got scanned in NJ!! Should be here by morning!! :celebrate

OH head ache city today. Up and down all night. This $*!@ incubator is going to be the death of me. After remaining rock steady for the incubation it's decided to go bipolar for the lockdown.  Candled and marked air cells last night and adjusted humidity and it's gone all hay wire since. Temps are so out of whack and one side of the heating element is running hotter again. Very little sleep having to readjust. At one check the air temp on that one side had actually hit 104. (Of course it hadn't been that high for long since I was in there every 1/2 hour-hour.) It wants to be  97/98 and 100/101 between the two sides. Frustrating the crap out of me.  

About a half hour ago-forty five minute the first one externally pipped. You have to look close but it's there. From what I can tell 3 others are internally pipped. I have one that I told my sister a couple days ago that I had a bad feeling about that I am pretty certain it's gone. I don't have  good feeling about this hatch. Maybe I'll feel better once I get new batteries and maybe can see something.

So much to do. I haven't even gotten a brooder cage set up for these guys yet.  Still have a crap ton of things to do for our trip this weekend.  I think I need Calgon!

Oh no!! I know you will get it settled down! I have a wedding to go to in Friday and although that doesn't seem like a big deal but with 3 kids it is. I still don't know what I'm wearing and I have to touch base with baby sitters and set up everyone for a night without me. I couldn't even imagine the amount of work that would go into leaving for 3 days! But it will be worth it once you're there!

Finally!  I'm glad to be old and not have little ones to worry about any more!  :gig  

Well, I'm only at day 8, so maybe they will still firm up.  I figured if they were going to, they would have already.  But thanks for the :fl .  I'll take all the help I can get! 

What's the deal with a loose air cell anyway?  I mean, technically, I wonder why it even matters.  I can understand a totally floating air cell, I think.  But just partially loose, I guess I hadn't really thought about it before now.
Imagine being trapped in a swimming pool under a loose layer of plastic, as opposed to a taut cover, I could see where it would be more difficult to cut through a loose one. 

Thoughts anyone?

Yes, your lucky now that you can enjoy your grandchild and your life! My life is on hold for the next 17 years! Lol

I think the embryo attaches to the air cell, doesn't it? So loose air cells make the attachment weaker and can lead to the embryo dying...??

Also air cells usually firm up after day 12. That's when the CAM takes over and seals everything in place.

Wow free?! That's a great incentive to get more people to have the testing done :)
Lol well I know I can't keep all 13 of these mottled Cochins
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If you'd like any after I see what I can keep (a lot depends on which ones are smooth and frizzles) just let me know!
My little lavender boys are starting to crow which is adorable lol so maybe soon I'll have some fertile self blues too
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We are having the utility folks out to mark underground lines this week. My husband has decided it's time to start building another large coop and run :yiipchick
We still have another bantam coop in progress and just finished building this one for the calico Cochins:

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We're now up to 5 coops :oops:


Beautiful coop!! I love it!!
We didn't have any inspections of our coops or brooders. I've read some states do that, but our tester stayed outside the coops the whole time I believe in the interest of biosecurity. She wore a disposable protective jumpsuit and shoe covers (that were bagged up and we threw away after the testing) and we would go into the coops to bring out and put back our birds. The coops were pretty clean but not pristine that's for sure lol. I don't think she even looked inside them, actually! Our birds were all out doing their normal thing. We didn't have any of them closed up in coops or caged up. We just went in to the run or coop and grabbed whoever we knew would be easiest to catch.
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But they're all a pretty friendly laid back bunch so no chicken chasing involved lol.

She knew we had lots of chicks and hatched eggs but there were zero questions about incubators, brooders or birds under 4 months old.

After the tests were over we went over some of the program rules. There was emphasis on any new birds I get should come from other npip sources and to keep those certificates to show any outside birds are in compliance with the program rules.
Any I sell should have certificates included, that type of thing. And we went over what breeds we plan to sell so they can be added to the certificates and database. Every bird on the property is considered tested clean.

It was really relaxed. I didn't at all feel like our coops or birds were under scrutiny.


You're definitely not alone in your sleep deprivation. My daughter didn't sleep through the night until just a few months ago at 24 months
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I almost forgot what it was like to sleep through the night! My older 3 all were great sleepers as babies (and still are). This child hates to sleep
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Hopefully for you and your son its just a tooth- those are quick couple days of discomfort and back to normal! Maybe he will nap well for you today and you can get a little rest too! :fl

Glad to hear the whole NPIP went so smooth. I'll have to talk to someone in NY that has it and see how involved it is here. Thank you so much for all the info!

My first son wasn't a sleeper either! God I can't wait to sleep through the night again. I'm drooling thinking about it! :p

Hi everyone. I am new at this texting thing and also new at incubating. I have eggs coming from a breeder in Florida. Buff Orpington and I'm trying to get my incubator ready. I think I have the temp correct but having difficult time getting the humidity to come down some. I have the incubator in my cellar and I think the humidity is high. So I emptied the incubator to see if it will drop back down. First then I will add the water slowly to see. At this time it is staying at 60 % humidity

If it was in my basement I wouldn't need any water. Try running it totally dry and see where that puts you. Turk gave you some great advice!! Just remember shipped eggs are a whole other ball game. I was crazy enough to do them for my first run too. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Welcome to the thread.

The welshies are coming early! Had one already pipped when I got home from work last night :eek: So I quickly locked them all down and had a bunch of internal pips. The one that had already externally pipped did it on the wrong side, away from the air cell, so I may end up having to help that one, but we'll see.

Wow! Awesome!

2 little nns out!!!

:jumpy

Eta:baby hit submit before I even started.
 
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Um, no.  Was I supposed to?  I had tomorrow as day 19 and lockdown.  I don't even wanna HEAR that we got this far and I blew it!!  


Day 18 is lockdown :) You didn't blow it, I'd just go ahead and lock them down now. They'll still be fine :)
 

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