Hatch On Dates: Oct-nov? Dont Forget About This Post!!!

[scoopy82]

Well my hatch is over except for 8 eggs due next tuesday. There were 8 live chickies from the lot due today (last night really) and after they were all out, none of the other eggs had even pipped so I got suspicious. So one by one I checked the remaining eggs and ended up opening each to find mostly fully formed dead chicks that never broke into the air cell. So that was a 8 out of 24. Not so good, but I did have a few hiccups and have learnt heaps. Not sure about the ones due tuesday either, will go and candle them now. All in all a bit disappointing, but there is always next time to perfect it!!!

 

[JEH1984]

Hope next time you get a better hatch! I am still waiting for mine to hatch out.. This waiting game is fun!! Post some pictures of your little ones??

 

[Stuck in the Coop]

Quote:
It is fine, I would leave it alone, they turn in a complete circle while zipping, so it will be facing down at some point anyway. It just impedes your enjoyment of watching the progress

I bet it has hatched by this time anyway. Hope it made it.

 

[Stuck in the Coop]

Quote:
Congrats on your hatch. That isn't too bad a number for the first time. Were your eggs shipped?

Started 37 shipped eggs. 20 eggs went into lock down including 5 iffy eggs, with no visible movement (none of these hatched). 12 chicks hatched. That was actually a better average then I expected. The postal service is not kind to eggs.

As a control, I am also incubating eggs from my own chickens. Those eggs are 100% developing, with 2 due to hatch in the next couple days. Having non-shipped eggs allowed me to see if I was doing everything correctly and not causing the deaths. I will be more confident to pitch eggs now that I know what to look for when they quit.

 

[abundantwife]

My hatch is complete! The last chick hatched at around 2:00 am. Started with 10 eggs, one quit at around a week, the remaining 9 hatched in just about 24 hours total time. This is my most successful hatch ever. I really believe that leaving your eggs alone is the way to go! I let the auto turner move the eggs for me and I only candled three times-- at 1 week/ 2 weeks and lockdown. I used a Fall Harvest forced air incubator (which is just an LG under another label) with an automatic turner. I ran my temp at 99.5, started humidity between 35-40% first eighteen days- then bumped it to 65% for lockdown. I think if you just leave the cheaper incubators alone, they do better at holding a steady temp and humidity. I have an R-Com King Suro incubator which has a turning cradle, automatic thermostat and a humidity pump (basically set it and forget it), but it's on the fritz, so I used this LG which is usually my hatcher. I'm going to try the "leave them alone" approach with my next hatch-- just to see if this was a fluke. It's torture to not candle, but it was worth it! As soon as my last chick finishes drying, I'll post some pictures of the little cuties!

 

[JEH1984]

Quote:
Congrats on the 9 babys!

 

[Barbedwirecat]

Quote:
That actually look perfect to me for a incubator with a fan. Humidity too. I incubated between 99-100 with spikes of 102 very briefly and after the first 2 days of waaay too high humidity (like 60%) I kept my eggs about 30-39% the whole time, exept RIGHT when the first chick pipped (day 19) and I got it up to around 60%. 35% was always my goal with humidity during incubation and I did it dry. My chicks came out nice and not too wet.

Good luck Steph!

 

[Lady EE]

Day 22, no pips, no chirps no nothing. They all dead?

 

[Lady EE]

Oh wait and I forgot to add, I candled on day 21, and there was a very large mass taking up about 3 quarters of the egg, but a very small air cell. The humidity is about 50.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

Quote:
50% may be high for them. It sounds like they have not lost enough weight. 6-12 hours before you hatch you'll notice a very large difference in the aircell mass and it should start to dip down. Were you at 50% the entire time incubating? what was temp and incubator?


ETA: did you see and shadowing inside the aircell, like a beak or anything?