Hatch-Along - Setting eggs week of Feb 4th..anyone else?

[misskeeter]

Candled the remaining eggs... all 9 were dead. I opened one up, perfectly formed chick inside, internal pip it seems.... I'm thinking the humidity was too high and they all drowned. I'm going to me marking air cells and weighing this set of eggs, and trying the dry incubation instead of 50% like I did for this last batch

 

[mendocinosunris]

I'm loving all of the chick pictures! As far as the Rock Island eggs go, I believe that someone else hatched that brand and ended up with leghorn crosses, but I'm not positive.


I was talking to my goose egg and it started rolling around!

It hasn't internally pipped yet, but I know that the little guy is trying.

I bet you're right on the leghorn crosses. It looks like they're mostly girls (I'm guessing from their combs). So I decided to name them chicken, chicken, chicken and stew.

How exciting about your goose egg!! Go goosy go!!!

Candled the remaining eggs...

all 9 were dead. I opened one up, perfectly formed chick inside, internal pip it seems.... I'm thinking the humidity was too high and they all drowned.

I'm going to me marking air cells and weighing this set of eggs, and trying the dry incubation instead of 50% like I did for this last batch

Oh, I'm sorry! That's what I think I did wrong with my previous hatch (before this one). I had made sure to keep the humidity at or above 50%, and didn't weigh the eggs. Only two hatched out of over a dozen eggs. The rest were exactly the way you described - died right at hatch time.

This last hatch, I used the dry hatch method & my humidity hovered between 40 & 45%. I only added water if it got down to 30% (which was rare). I weighed the eggs weekly & they lost 6% of their original weight the first week, then another 6% the second week. Since they're only supposed to lose 13-15%, I got a little concerned. But I stuck to my plan & didn't change my method until day 18. Then I upped to humidity to 60%.
I also marked the air cells & put them in a cut-down egg carton for hatching. MUCH better hatch this time.

Here's some of the documention I read:
http://www.brinsea.com/pdffiles/Brinsea_Handbook.pdf
http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/humidity.html

I hope this helps - Good luck with your next hatch!!

 

[Adam7]

Candled the remaining eggs... all 9 were dead. I opened one up, perfectly formed chick inside, internal pip it seems.... I'm thinking the humidity was too high and they all drowned. I'm going to me marking air cells and weighing this set of eggs, and trying the dry incubation instead of 50% like I did for this last batch

Most people are doing the dry hatch method any more. 30-45% then 55-65% for lockdown. You may have to try a few times to dial in what works best for your area. I can't tell you how many stories I've read of chicks drowning from too high humidity..

 

[eggorthechicken]

Well all of my flock eggs hatched. I got an EE and several cochin faverolle cross...and these are so cute. Only 2 of my shipped eggs hatched. ...both olive eggers. Im not having luck with shipped chicken eggs. However, so far my shipped duck eggs are busy little bees...another week on those.

 

[misskeeter]

Most people are doing the dry hatch method any more. 30-45% then 55-65% for lockdown. You may have to try a few times to dial in what works best for your area. I can't tell you how many stories I've read of chicks drowning from too high humidity..

That makes me so so sad.

These little chickies are the noisiest chicks EVER... they kept me up ALL night with their chirping. I thought my husband was going to throttle me for bringing them home over the weekend. The chicks last year were so quiet. I think if they had been this loud, my husband would never have let me keep my two. They lived in our back bathroom for two months with no problems. One of them woke me up one night because it had gotten out of the brooder box and couldn't get back in. Other than that, no noise issues. These little puffkins NEVER STOP... I'd be fine with it. I love chickies, but my husband was saying some very NOT nice things. We don't see eye to eye on the whole chicken thing. lol.. I want to move to a farm and have bunches and bunches... he wants me to get rid of the two I have...

 

[Adam7]

That makes me so so sad.  

These little chickies are the noisiest chicks EVER... they kept me up ALL night with their chirping. I thought my husband was going to throttle me for bringing them home over the weekend. The chicks last year were so quiet. I think if they had been this loud, my husband would never have let me keep my two. They lived in our back bathroom for two months with no problems. One of them woke me up one night because it had gotten out of the brooder box and couldn't get back in. Other than that, no noise issues. These little puffkins NEVER STOP... I'd be fine with it. I love chickies, but my husband was saying some very NOT nice things. We don't see eye to eye on the whole chicken thing. lol.. I want to move to a farm and have bunches and bunches... he wants me to get rid of the two I have... 

I had one chick that did the same thing! She was so noisy! After 3 days or so she calmed down. After she learned how to eat and drink.

 

[Crisses]

That makes me so so sad.  

These little chickies are the noisiest chicks EVER... they kept me up ALL night with their chirping. I thought my husband was going to throttle me for bringing them home over the weekend. The chicks last year were so quiet. I think if they had been this loud, my husband would never have let me keep my two. They lived in our back bathroom for two months with no problems. One of them woke me up one night because it had gotten out of the brooder box and couldn't get back in. Other than that, no noise issues. These little puffkins NEVER STOP... I'd be fine with it. I love chickies, but my husband was saying some very NOT nice things. We don't see eye to eye on the whole chicken thing. lol.. I want to move to a farm and have bunches and bunches... he wants me to get rid of the two I have... 

I turn all lights in the room off except the red heat bulb and they get pretty quiet all night. If you're using a white light bulb, they can't tell day from night. They're birds, leave a white light on in the room for "daylight" and just the red one alone for night...they should conk out for night, mine wake and feed quietly a few times at night, but usually no hubbaloo.... of course, during the day I get a lot of 'Where'd momma go?' clamoring....

 

[misskeeter]

I turn all lights in the room off except the red heat bulb and they get pretty quiet all night. If you're using a white light bulb, they can't tell day from night. They're birds, leave a white light on in the room for "daylight" and just the red one alone for night...they should conk out for night, mine wake and feed quietly a few times at night, but usually no hubbaloo.... of course, during the day I get a lot of 'Where'd momma go?' clamoring....

hmm... I may need to run out and find a nighttime light then.. I only have the 250 watt white one that I got at the feed store with my lamp.

I did cover part of the box up last night. That seemed to calm them down a bit. Although I spent the next hour and a half running and checking the temp to make sure it wasn't going to get too hot in there for them.

 

[Crisses]

hmm... I may need to run out and find a nighttime light then.. I only have the 250 watt white one that I got at the feed store with my lamp. 

I did cover part of the box up last night. That seemed to calm them down a bit. Although I spent the next hour and a half running and checking the temp to make sure it wasn't going to get too hot in there for them. 

The 250W white bulbs are very bright, so I've seen suggestions to use the red bulbs for their eyes too....

I'm pretty sure that's the problem, though.

 

[misskeeter]

The 250W white bulbs are very bright, so I've seen suggestions to use the red bulbs for their eyes too....

I'm pretty sure that's the problem, though.

okay... Thanks. Wish they'd sell the red ones at the feed store... Where can I get the red one I need? Pet store?