Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[cjwaldon]

This past weekend I had a really good hatch on my SLW. I set 17 eggs and 15 chicks hatched.

However, I had a horrible hatch on my project eggs. And they have always done very well. I set 24 eggs and got only 7 chicks. When I was cleaning up I noticed some of the egg shells had puddles in them. All eggs were dry incubated and hatched upright in pulp cartons.

If the humidity is to blame for poor hatches, why then did the SLW do so well? The SLW eggs are bigger eggs to begin with. Perhaps their shells are more porous? Perhaps shell density? I'd crack eggs to do a subjective comparison but I need every last SLW egg I can get right now.

Eggs currently in lockdown have very small air cells, indicating they have not lost enough moisture in spite of being dry incubated.

 

[cjwaldon]

Adult geese get 2 hours of free time on grass the day they are leaving. Then we catch them and kennel them with a bucket of water, pan of grain and collard greens to snack on until time to box and ship. They also get a double check on bands (leg and or wing). They are the very last to be boxed before leaving for the PO too.

Does that encourage them to eat more?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

With the intensive hands on I have with goose eggs I have found some have much thicker shells and require more work to get them to proper weight loss and aircell growth. So yes your two sets of eggs could be that different that one did well and one set drowned do to lack of air cell development. Do you have a seperate bator you can test set some of the project eggs in to see what conditions they do best in? If not you can pull just the test eggs out and cool them briefly (5 min max most likely) day 7-18 to help with weight loss and air cells. I know this will sound odd but misting with warm water also aaids in loss and air cell growth.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quote: Yes, morning turn out lets them swim and stretch their wings after being in their stalls. Then once in the kennel they have nothing else to do buy sleep or eat. Plus it gets them DRY since cardboard doesnt do well wet lol.

 

[cjwaldon]

With the intensive hands on I have with goose eggs I have found some have much thicker shells and require more work to get them to proper weight loss and aircell growth. So yes your two sets of eggs could be that different that one did well and one set drowned do to lack of air cell development. Do you have a seperate bator you can test set some of the project eggs in to see what conditions they do best in? If not you can pull just the test eggs out and cool them briefly (5 min max most likely) day 7-18 to help with weight loss and air cells. I know this will sound odd but misting with warm water also aaids in loss and air cell growth.

Mist with warm water? Do I do this during the cooling period, also daily?

In a few weeks the bators will be empty, then I can do some testing like this. I incubate in a Brinsea Echo and a Gensis and hatch in a homemade hatching box.

 

[cjwaldon]

Thanks COF! (I forgot to say thank you.

)

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

yes if you pull the project eggs out to cool, mist lightly when you pull them and let cool then return to the bator. If you see they are getting too large of air cell stop misting and reduce the cooling time, not enough lengthen the time and keep misting.

You are welcome, hopefully this will help

 

[krazykat0373]

Good morning y'all! Gotta run to the old PO today...have eggs that have been sitting there since Saturday, sent Thursday and no DC# sent to me

G'morning peeps! Checked on the new baby rabbits this morning. She had 6 of them and all are looking good this morning. And I'm thrilled to say I have a chocolate silver fox baby rabbit!!!

I'm so happy! Now to hopefully have one of these girls give me a blue.

Mine! lol...congratulations, more chocolate!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Good Morning, Happy Chicken People!

Running late today after a rough night, and still have to clean out the inside babies, but wanted to make sure I said good morning!

 

[pysankigirl]

Good Morning, Happy Chicken People!

Running late today after a rough night, and still have to clean out the inside babies, but wanted to make sure I said good morning!

Good morning to you!