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

[TheCosmos]

Hatching mutts is so fun. You have no idea what the chicks are going to look like, and then they change even more when they get their adult feathers. The eggs they lay can be surprising too! My first hatch was a practice hatch using eggs from a local farmer's mixed flock. It was the most hilarious looking mix of birds. I wound up with a barred half Polish rooster, with a full headdress of funny striped feathers. I also wound up with this lady:


I'm not sure what she is, but what a personality. I think she looks like Gonzo.

Gonzo is perfect! I love this chicken! lol

 

[SilkieSensation]

I started to figure that. I went out and gathered them. I already have 18 in the bator anyways

that's ok for now.

For future reference, if you have a hen going broody you will KNOW it. She will be guarding the eggs, fluff up her feathers when you come near, make strange growling noises & likely try to bite you if you try to take her eggs.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I'm confused to, everyones talking about preferring their humidity to stay below 40 ish. I was going with this https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken and keeping the humidity around 50%ish. I know dry hatches are low but is everybody that is controlling their humidity keeping it below that?

Humidity is one of those things that there are basiclly 2 sides to , 50% ish is the typical , read about just about everywhere. And if your hatching eggs for the first time there is no problem with this , altitude and local humidity play a roll. But you wont really know what will work for you or your bator unless you do a few hatches , keep notes in a notebook and tell us about your hatch and get feed back and all that . I find that I seem to get better hatches especally in my brinsea mini eco if I use less water and have a bit lower humidity. You should keep carefull notes of your humidity a couple times a day every day and then eggtopsy the eggs that dont hatch ( if there are any some times you get lucky

) and find out if your chicks are badly effected by to low or to high of a humidity then you will know at least for you at that time of year and that bator what you should do , dry hatch or normal hatch.
This is just my opnion on the TWO sides to humidity in hatching. Everyone I am sure will have there own ideas and thoughts.
What kind of incubator are you useing? What kind of eggs? Im just always curious about new hatches

 

[gabrielle1976]

I would like to share my thoughts on humidity for everyone.
I know there are a lot of die hard dry hatchers that view this as the only way to hatch end of story. Theyr advice is priceless , the whole point of the community is that we all have valuble information to share. But its not the end all be all, you dont have to be afraid just becuase somene on here says OMG you are doing it wrong when it comes to humidity . Maybe they live half way up a mountain range in some dry place and need more humidty , Maybe they live in the byoue of Florida and need there water wells empty till day 18. They arnt you , they dont live where you live and incubate in your incubator, so listen to them , try there advice if you like it could be really good advice , but allways keep track of what exaclty your humidity is doing right it down figure out what works best for you , it might be Exactly what there saying or it could be Exaclty oppiste , so listen , learn , try but try not to stress. Hatching is fun and amazeing try to enjoy it as you learn , we are all learning everyday.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Gabrielle makes a really good point.

There is no magic formula for the perfect hatch. If there were, we'd all know it. It's different for every climate/incubator/egg/person.

Now some folks are lucky enough to find their own magic formula, and then share it with the rest of us. Try one of those. Take notes. Do eggtopsies and research the potential cause of death on lost eggs. And then try again! You'll definitely want to. It's addicting.

There are two things you'll find a lot of on BYC... chickens and opinions

 

[Kunjun]

Does anyone know if you can buy a candler from a store or only online? Brinsea HQ is about 2 hours drive from me. Seems excessive to drive up to buy a candler but I'm just that desperate that I may have to ...

 

[SarahJaneB]

For future reference, if you have a hen going broody you will KNOW it. She will be guarding the eggs, fluff up her feathers when you come near, make strange growling noises & likely try to bite you if you try to take her eggs.

Thank you

I had a broody hen just once before. She growled at me when I was collecting eggs from under her, we didn't let her sit. I just didn't know if collecting eggs and leaving them in a spot happened sometimes before broodiness. But nobody was guarding the eggs so no broody right now.

Humidity is one of those things that there are basiclly 2 sides to , 50% ish is the typical , read about just about everywhere. And if your hatching eggs for the first time there is no problem with this , altitude and local humidity play a roll. But you wont really know what will work for you or your bator unless you do a few hatches , keep notes in a notebook and tell us about your hatch and get feed back and all that . I find that I seem to get better hatches especally in my brinsea mini eco if I use less water and have a bit lower humidity. You should keep carefull notes of your humidity a couple times a day every day and then eggtopsy the eggs that dont hatch ( if there are any some times you get lucky

) and find out if your chicks are badly effected by to low or to high of a humidity then you will know at least for you at that time of year and that bator what you should do , dry hatch or normal hatch.
This is just my opnion on the TWO sides to humidity in hatching. Everyone I am sure will have there own ideas and thoughts.
What kind of incubator are you useing? What kind of eggs? Im just always curious about new hatches

I'm using the still air incubator that's $60 from feeders supply. You can see it in these pictures.


I read right after we marked the eggs with X's and O's that you're not exactly supposed to use markers but pencils

(My nephew first Pic). Yet another thing that will be different with our second go around. Second picture is me hovering over the bator watching the temperature (ignore my long johns ... I always wear them when I work outside).

And here are the parents! Black Australorps

 

[gabrielle1976]

You have such beutifull birds? Do you ever sale the eggs I would love to have some for hatching.
WIth the still air styro bators the most important thing besides haveing enough accurate therms to check temp is a VERY stable room temp. Watch them closely and they can have good hatches , the more the room temp fluctuates and the more you have to mess with the controls the more horrible spikes you can get.
I cant wait to follow your updates on how things are going.
Oh one thing with these guys next time around is get a couple jars , such as old cleaned and sanatized suace jars or any nice tightly sealing canning jars and fill them with warm water and lay them down in there IF you have room , that is a make shift heat sink and some times helps with tempature fluctuations.

 

[SarahJaneB]

You have such beutifull birds? Do you ever sale the eggs I would love to have some for hatching.
WIth the still air styro bators the most important thing besides haveing enough accurate therms to check temp is a VERY stable room temp. Watch them closely and they can have good hatches , the more the room temp fluctuates and the more you have to mess with the controls the more horrible spikes you can get.
I cant wait to follow your updates on how things are going.
Oh one thing with these guys next time around is get a couple jars , such as old cleaned and sanatized suace jars or any nice tightly sealing canning jars and fill them with warm water and lay them down in there IF you have room , that is a make shift heat sink and some times helps with tempature fluctuations.

Thank you very much, I've never sold eggs before but this is my first time with chickens so maybe soon

i like the water jar idea. Maybe baby food jars in the corners? It seems to stay pretty stable at the moment well I say that and just checking now it was 98 at bottom and 99.5 on top of the eggs it was staying at 99 on bottom and 100 at top.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Small variations that dont last for a long time are ok they dont tend to effect the inner temp of the eggs unless they stay that way for awhile. Personnally with my LG still air that I use to have and my LG forced air , if the temp changes and dosnt go to where its sapose to in a half hour or so I click my room temp up one or two degrees or cover half of it with a light towel and check in like 15 minutes to see if that gets it up and for high temps I simply open the bator a crack for 60-90 seconds then sit and watch and see where the temp settles back to in a bit.
I have used a few baby food jars as well. It depends on how much room you have .