hatching shipped BCM eggs, PIC heavy. HATCHING started 9/25!!!!

[6littlechickies]

Today is day 17--tomorrow is lockdown!!!

When we candled on Friday we tossed eggs that looked bad. Took out 8 eggs, leaving 21 eggs in there. Yesterday when I went to do the turn mid-day, I noticed one of the eggs had a couple of 'weeps' that were sticky?! hmm, it wasn't sticky before, that's strange. Also, had kind of a funny smell to it, nothing like i thought it would explode right then and there but certainly different than any others. I did a quick candle and saw darkness--everywhere except the air cell. i candled a couple others that a knew were fertile (for comparison) and had DH take a look too. We both decided better safe than sorry and we pitched it. I didn't even open it so I'm not sure but i wasn't going to risk it. We saw nothing that came close to movement and it just looked to me like it was ready to blow soon. for anyone keeping track, this was egg 18. Taking that egg out brought us to 20 eggs.

So, when i turned this morning I decided to take the remaining 7 eggs we felt were questionable and moved them to the empty LG bator...just to be safe. I didn't recheck them today but used my notes from Friday. I'll candle again tonight before I lockdown tomorrow.

Also need to cut and fit the rubber grippy mat i bought for the bottom, my (almost) 4 yr old DS decided we needed this periwinkle color for them! LOL...i actually think it will look pretty with the dark brown eggs. I've asked DH to bring home some cardboard dividers too. He is a pharmaceutical chemist and has these cardboard dividers they use to separate vials of medicine, they are about 2 in square slots so I think we can work with that. The pieces interlock so if we need to make some areas bigger we can.

Right now we have 7 good eggs from *R*, 2 good eggs from *D* and 4 good eggs from *J* for a total of 13 eggs. Should be too hard to divide things up.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Lockdown time already?? Wow!! I hope you have a great hatch, I've not had any luck hatching super dark eggs before! Do you know about the water trick to check the eggs? Now would be a good time to do that.

 

[6littlechickies]

I KNOW, i've been so preoccupied with the September swap I almost lost track of days!

Do you know about the water trick to check the eggs? Now would be a good time to do that.

what is this magical water trick of which you speak?

guide me oh wise one....​

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
what is this magical water trick of which you speak?

guide me oh wise one....

I've never done it, so this is purely from reading on here. You take a bowl of 'warmer-than-the-egg' water and gently place an egg in it. You have to wait until it 'settles'. If the egg is floating like a fishing bobber on top of the water, it is no good. But good eggs will float as well, just not as high. The key with good eggs is that, once the water settles, the eggs will move

This is from the chick moving inside the egg.

 

[6littlechickies]

hmm, ok so now i'm going to show my inexperience by asking a stupid question....if you put the egg in water won't you wash off the bloom and make them more susceptible to germs and whatnot? also would the shell absorb any of that water and make hatch more difficult? or is this just a trick to use on the eggs you are unsure of? going to do a BYC search on this...

 

[shelleyd2008]

You only wash off the bloom if you rub it. The ''warmer-than-the-egg' water is so that the shell doesn't contract and pull bacteria in.
Many people do this, and this late in the game it won't hurt them. I've heard that BCM need high humidity, so it might actually help them? The eggs won't absorb the water, they won't be in there that long. Just put them in the water for their float test, and once it's determined stick them back in the bator. You can 'dab' them with a paper towel if you want, to get excess water off, but don't rub! I don't think that would affect them at this point anyway, but just in case. Just be sure your hands are clean

 

[6littlechickies]

INITIATE LOCKDOWN!!!!

Locked everyone down this morning.

DH forgot to bring home the dividers so I just hobbled something together with cardboard. not the best job but I think it will work.

We have a total of 12 eggs on lockdown, when we candled last night we saw movement in all 12

we had one more egg we think quit in the last few days and I put that in the currently empty LG bator. we also have one of the 12 that has movement even confirmed again this AM, but looks to be quite a bit smaller than the others?! hmm, guess we'll see.

I do have to agree with my DS, the blue does look really nice against the eggs! lol I also moved all the bator's to an interior room, setup a table and just HAD to cover it with my easter hatching chicks tablecloth.

In this pic, the bator's from left to right have duck/surprise chickens, one possibly quitter BCM egg and then on the right is the hatching BCM bator. The calendar on the wall I have dates to stop turning, hatch etc on. the other paper on the wall is my chart for turning eggs. and yes that IS a carrot light sitting on the table! LOL! my aunt gave it to me, perfect height to shine nice light to see them, need to get a cute shade to go over it though.

here is a pic before I divided the bator, you can see I have them sectioned off, we have 7 in one area, 2 in another and 3 in the third. I'm still amazed at the color difference between the breeders. some of those are lighter than our other brown layers!

after I divided. Again, not very pretty but functional. If DH remembers to bring his dividers home tonight I may try to change it out really quickly.

I'll keep updating as things progress.

 

[6littlechickies]

well, it's day 21 now and there have been no signs of hatching yet...no peeping, no rocking, no pips?! what's up with that? I'm hoping if I post something on here that will get them moving and they will start doing SOMETHING!!!

come ON babies!

I"m even doing my crazy hatch dance...come out already!!!!

 

[texasgal]

Come on chickies ....

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Geesh!! Hope ya get something!! Come on eggies hatch...