Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[Shellz]

I've been continuing with perusing this thread & I'm seeing some poor hatch rates. I am truly sorry for all of your troubles, folks. I believe I could have had an even better than 75% hatch rate (possibly closer to 100%), if I had just kept the humidity down to 65-70%. I had temp spikes at 103.1 sometimes that had no effect on the first batch of my staggered hatch. Once pipped, they zipped rather quickly & hatched. I saw problems in my second batch when humidity had increased from 72-77%. I will cease using the LG still air, as it was a LOT of work to monitor it! Too much stress, but a great learning experience! Thought I would just share my experience at this point, since humidity was never mentioned when problems occurred. Hope this clears some things up for you folks. Better luck next time, or getting a broody!

 

[SilkieSensation]

So sorry! I've just got this one, & I understand lone chicks rarely survive so it looks grim.
I still don't get what was wrong here -- if it was the 104 temp spike, why did I have 2 wrong end pips and a hatched chick?
I need to figure out what causes wrong end pips, b/c I think that is more my problem here than the flacky digital reading 104 for some short time, if that was true won't _all the eggs be gonners?

Anyway, I can relate, 3 weeks + and the eggs just sitting there not hatching just really feels bad.

I hope ya'll find yourselves a great broody hen and have much future chicken happiness!

I candled the remaining eggs :
1 chicken egg due Sat too dark to tell
5/6 duck eggs due Sat show movement! <-- fantastic, but how is it possible?

I'm completely confused by this given only 1 live chick from the first round of 11 chicken eggs??
This egg incubation project is WAY more difficult that it sounds.

This sounds like low humidity thru incubation. Your 2nd batch is doing better due to the brief time of high humidity during the 1st hatch that allowed them to keep more moisture. I had a whole bator full of backward babies last hatch due to low humidity. They can't turn to pip properly if they lose too much moisture & the membrane gets too tight.

 

[SusanRenee]

Well. This is they only one out of 31 that I am for sure who her mama is, this is the little earlybird, mama has to be my Light Brahama Lucy. Now the game of "who's your daddy" begins! She looks so much like mama, the other feathred feet ones it's pretty easy to see are my Maran El Guapo's, but here it could be my EE Owen's, he's mostly cream and gray.

Then there's this cutie, Maran and RIR? Maran Welsumer? Love the feathered feet though!
Finally, a few peeks in the brooders! The one with only four is my hospital wing, I will dive up a little more when they are totally good. Looking stronger all the time!

 

[fisherlady]

Well. This is they only one out of 31 that I am for sure who her mama is, this is the little earlybird, mama has to be my Light Brahama Lucy. Now the game of "who's your daddy" begins! She looks so much like mama, the other feathred feet ones it's pretty easy to see are my Maran El Guapo's, but here it could be my EE Owen's, he's mostly cream and gray.

Then there's this cutie, Maran and RIR? Maran Welsumer? Love the feathered feet though!
Finally, a few peeks in the brooders! The one with only four is my hospital wing, I will dive up a little more when they are totally good. Looking stronger all the time!

So cute!!

 

[Sally8]

So sorry! I've just got this one, & I understand lone chicks rarely survive so it looks grim.
I still don't get what was wrong here -- if it was the 104 temp spike, why did I have 2 wrong end pips and a hatched chick?
I need to figure out what causes wrong end pips, b/c I think that is more my problem here than the flacky digital reading 104 for some short time, if that was true won't _all the eggs be gonners?

Anyway, I can relate, 3 weeks + and the eggs just sitting there not hatching just really feels bad.

I hope ya'll find yourselves a great broody hen and have much future chicken happiness!

I had 2 chicks hatch with assistance last night. 23 - 24 days. Totally surprised me! One is laying on his back and kicking. His eyes are open now and they weren't earlier. His butt looks a little poopy and I'm going to go in and clean it. The other one has a little membrane stuck to his back but he's just flitting around. the amazing part of all this is these 2 eggs are ones that I brought in out from the broody chickens because they kept leaving the nest. I didn't know that a lone chick wouldn't do well. Have you thrown the other eggs out yet? I have 2 incubators set up, I think I am going to throw all the original eggs out. At this point I don't want to candle them and get blown up on. I smelled that smell once and I don't want to again. I brought other eggs in from under the broodies, so I will candle them, not knowing how long they have been there. Does this sound like a good plan to anyone? The one chick that is down, I'll leave for another day and then make the assessment. I have always dry hatched but helping these 2 last night was a true indication that they lacked moisture. I put warm sponges in but I think it was too late.
My husband made the confession that he adjusted the knob thinking it was too cool and them temps spiked at 108 early on. No more mystery on why the others didn't hatch. As far as the dry hatch, I don't think the middle of a very cold winter, closed up in the bathroom with humidity at 16 is ideal for hatching. When I started this, I stated that it was an experiment, some of the eggs were 3 weeks old, I couldn't store them at temps much below 70. I'm trying to decide if I'm up to looking at a couple. (stinky stinky) I don't feel sad or let down, my biggest feeling is wrapped around that downed chick. Sue

 

[Sally8]

By the way, all your chicks are so cute!

 

[FeyRaine]

Here is my lone chick J (real name pending...)

I have a small hand, note that is a nickle in the pic. J is 36 hrs old already here:





white blob on top of head is yogurt, hand feeding is messy...


I'm hoping I can arrange to get a 1-2 SMALL chicks for buddies on Sat at the poultry show in Dalton GA
-- any of you going to be there or know someone who will be that would have a couple tiny friends for my little J ??

 

[redriver]

Well, I have been a bit of a lurker with this thread. The reason I have been following you guys is that I will be getting hatching eggs in a few weeks. Reading about your experiences has really helped me feel comfortable with hatching for the first time. Since I am getting shipped and local eggs, I am hopeful that I will end up with the number of chicks that I wanted. What was especially helpful was that I will be getting dark eggs. So many of you had them in this thread, so thank you! It is like a tv show with all the drama. No, don't give up on the dark eggs! *laugh*

Something I ran across in my reading on this forums the float test for dark eggs. Might be helpful for those with unhatched dark eggs. It is a way to check dark, late eggs for viability without having to crack them open.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ng-egg-viability-for-late-or-overdue-hatching

Let me know if anyone does it and what the results are, please!

R.

 

[FeyRaine]

ok that sounds very logical, & I've been told to calibrate my hydrometer b/c it maybe off by 5% or more which could make the diff.

I'm just feeling bad b/c this is my 2nd nightmare bad hatch & I thought I was doing better this time, and when I opened the eggs 2 of them looked like they should pop out and start chirping,
I mean one had its beak right there, touching the membrane to internal pip, but it never did ... I know this takes some learning, but wow I didn't expect to feel like I'm just killing one bator full after another , that is no good at all!

I'm going to try using the borrowed Little Giant 30 egg, I'm not sure if I should even get my hopes up,
but I really wanted to hatch out a nice laying flock and 3 live chicks from 6 sleepless weeks of constant bator checking have me at my wits end w/ the diy bator.

I am thankful for all the help and ideas ! I can't imagine how I'd feel if I was completely alone w/o BYC trying to figure this out...

 

[SilkieSensation]

ok that sounds very logical, & I've been told to calibrate my hydrometer b/c it maybe off by 5% or more which could make the diff.

I'm just feeling bad b/c this is my 2nd nightmare bad hatch & I thought I was doing better this time, and when I opened the eggs 2 of them looked like they should pop out and start chirping,
I mean one had its beak right there, touching the membrane to internal pip, but it never did ... I know this takes some learning, but wow I didn't expect to feel like I'm just killing one bator full after another , that is no good at all!

I'm going to try using the borrowed Little Giant 30 egg, I'm not sure if I should even get my hopes up,
but I really wanted to hatch out a nice laying flock and 3 live chicks from 6 sleepless weeks of constant bator checking have me at my wits end w/ the diy bator.

I am thankful for all the help and ideas ! I can't imagine how I'd feel if I was completely alone w/o BYC trying to figure this out...

Having some troubles with Bator 1 here myself. Still no action from the batch that was due Monday & we are now at Wednesday. I had really bad temp flux this round so they may just be running late, but not too hopeful here. I'm going to candle tonight, IF I can find my flashlight (dang kids again

). I DO have 7 quail running around my brooder & an OEGB baby as well, but they are all 2-3 weeks old now except the last 2 quail that hatched earlier this week. HOWEVER, by brooder will be full tomorrow whether these babies hatch or not. I split an order from Ideal with my friend & have 54 chicks in transit as I type. 20 are mine, the rest are hers. I have 10 red broilers & 10 assorted LF pullets coming. I do still have 2 other bators full of eggs running & more eggs on the way, so I'm never out of chicks even if a batch does poorly.