Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[TJAnonymous]

Are you able to take a picture? It's hard to say without being any to see it.
Did you mark the air cells before setting them in the incubator? Is it possible that they were slightly older to begin with and the air cells were already larger before setting them?
Saddle shaped isn't a science, lol, descriptions are to help to identify exactly what weirdness is happening with our shipped eggs. Saddled air cells, jiggly air cells, and detached air cells are all slightly different looking but they're all basically from the same thing, trauma from rough handling causes the membrane to separate from the shell. The air cell might not be quite as big as it seems if the membrane is detached the light when candling with still illuminate the area even if the membrane is just below the surface...I'm sorry, that kind of hard to describe.

I did not mark the air cell before setting them. I did briefly candle them when I set them but they were dark and hard to see through. I let them sit for about 36-48 hours after they arrived before I put them in the incubator.

Here's a few pictures. The white eggs are from my Blue Andalusians who are very young pullets so their eggs are still on the small side.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I did not mark the air cell before setting them. I did briefly candle them when I set them but they were dark and hard to see through. I let them sit for about 36-48 hours after they arrived before I put them in the incubator.

Here's a few pictures. The white eggs are from my Blue Andalusians who are very young pullets so their eggs are still on the small side.

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Yes, I would still call that a saddled air cell. It's just a bad saddle. Sometimes they start to correct themselves as the chick develops and fills the egg.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Yes, I would still call that a saddled air cell. It's just a bad saddle. Sometimes they start to correct themselves as the chick develops and fills the egg.

Anything I should do with this hatch then because of the air cells?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Anything I should do with this hatch then because of the air cells?

Nope, there's nothing you can do other than keeping humidity slightly higher so that they don't grow much more but I typically adjust the humidity to benefit the many rather than the one. You only have 2 with saddled air cells correct?

Once the chick develops more you will be able to evaluate the situation better. If the air cell is still really poor once hatch day rolls around you will want to monitor it closely to make sure it's progressing normally with the rest of the chicks and not getting stuck but that's not something to worry about yet. MOST of my saddled air cell babies hatch as usual with zero assistance.

 

[jasonvanorder]

I am beyond excited. Just got home from work and 3 of the 6 are starting to pip!!! This is my first time hatching and I’m almost as excited as when my kids were born

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I am beyond excited. Just got home from work and 3 of the 6 are starting to pip!!! This is my first time hatching and I’m almost as excited as when my kids were born

 

[Parront]

I am beyond excited. Just got home from work and 3 of the 6 are starting to pip!!! This is my first time hatching and I’m almost as excited as when my kids were born

 

[WallyG74]

Hello all! I’ve just finished reading through all 180 pages of this thread and it has been so very helpful!! I apologize ahead of time for this long post.

We were given a small flock of chickens about a year and a half ago and I fell in love! Last year we bought 5 pullets to add to the flock. Not too long after that 2 of my hens went broody. We didn’t want too many more so we took all eggs but 1 from each of them. We figured it would be fun for the kids (and myself of course). Fast forward a couple months and both chicks ended up being roosters. I swore I’d never hatch eggs again, only buy pullets lol. We already have 2 roosters, one came with the flock and another was dumped on the side of the road near our house. We took him in with the intention of finding him a home but he fit in so well and was so sweet that we kept him. So after swearing off hatching our own chicks and having to rehome any more roosters.... my brother got me an incubator for Christmas. Oh boy... lol. Of course I had to try it out. It was one of those off brand ones with the yellow lid. I bought 24 eggs from someone because I wanted something different than what we have and put 2 of our own in there. We ended up with 13 from the 26. I struggled a lot with that incubator especially since it was my first time but I was absolutely hooked! So of course I ran to TSC and got this incubator (sorry brother, I felt bad). I found someone selling BBS ameraucana eggs and went and got them. I currently have 15 eggs on day 5. Luckily last Mother’s Day my husband built me a very large “duplex” coop (had to have 2 sides for the 2 Roos lol) and they free range so we have plenty of room.

I’ve really learned a lot from everyone here and am hoping for a much better hatch on this run. Also, how do you make yourself stop? Because I see myself putting more in right after these hatch but we will eventually run out of room for more lol.

It’s an addiction that doesn’t ruin your life. Run with it!

 

[Parront]

Thought you might like to see some 7 day old duck eggs. Set them last Friday in the NR 360 I just bought at the Tractor Store the day before. I have exactly "0" experience hatching eggs. My Orpington used to do that job for me! 16 of the 17 look very good!

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I decided to give it another go.

I realized the bad luck trifecta of shipped eggs/damaged air cells, the 7 day power outage and my own inexperience/missteps PROBABLY wouldn’t repeat itself, but I waited to share the progress JUST in case of another crushing failure. So. I have babies hatching right now!

This guys a little early, day 21 is tomorrow. Two more have pipped externally. I am ecstatic!

Of course the biggest difference was our power didn’t go out this time, but I also researched and watched every video on shipped eggs and damaged air cells I could find! Totally different approach this time of not laying the eggs down but hand turning and tilting 3x a day for 18 days while upright. I also discovered and purchased an incredible little device that DH ended up helping me buy as an early birthday present! It’s called a Buddy Mark 2 heart monitor. Starting about day 5-10, (I checked on day 7) it will show the heart rate of the developing chick. It just took so much of the guesswork out of it for me. I’m learning as fast as I can but having immediate confirmation accelerated that part of understanding what I’m looking at when I’m candling. Not to mention it really boosted my confidence knowing I had only viable and developing eggs going into lockdown.

( my expanding hatching, egg repair and assist kit!)

As I post this one of the other pipped eggs is ZIPPING!