Help - No progress since last night

Poor little guy didn't make it. He just didn't have enough strength... so sad...he was such a cute little one.
 
Two pips in other three eggs. I'm hoping they make their way out. Please........................................
 
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How exactly do you do this, Gypsy? I think this might be something that I would like to try!
The kids are I opened up the eggs that didnt hatch, didnt have movement during the float test AND showed no movement during candling...we were making sure they were DEFINATELY dead before we opened them, lol. Anyways~ We opened them up and they were fully developed (except for 2 so far; 1 was unfertile and the other was super little <prob died shortly after 2nd candling.>) with almost no yolk sac left. There was 1 that looked fully developed but had a big yolk still. I think I drowned them :0( I read online that you were suposed to have 60% humidity during first 18 days and didnt find out that wasnt true until I was putting them in lockdown... I did however get 11/29 so Im happy about that (didnt know if you saw the updated thread). I now know and wont make that mistake again! I might be starting a new batch tonight so I look forward to hearing about the weighing thing and talking to you soon!
 
Quote:
How exactly do you do this, Gypsy? I think this might be something that I would like to try!
The kids are I opened up the eggs that didnt hatch, didnt have movement during the float test AND showed no movement during candling...we were making sure they were DEFINATELY dead before we opened them, lol. Anyways~ We opened them up and they were fully developed (except for 2 so far; 1 was unfertile and the other was super little <prob died shortly after 2nd candling.>) with almost no yolk sac left. There was 1 that looked fully developed but had a big yolk still. I think I drowned them :0( I read online that you were suposed to have 60% humidity during first 18 days and didnt find out that wasnt true until I was putting them in lockdown... I did however get 11/29 so Im happy about that (didnt know if you saw the updated thread). I now know and wont make that mistake again! I might be starting a new batch tonight so I look forward to hearing about the weighing thing and talking to you soon!

during incubation eggs need to lose a certain amount of moisture which corresponds to a loss of weight of around 13 to 16% depending on what kind of bird it is.. so you would need to know which species you are dealing with (chicken, duck, and so on) weigh the eggs prior to setting them in the incubator (weight in grams is preferred) .. take the average weight of all the eggs and plot it on a graph.
for chickens it would be 13%.. ducks I believe is 14%.. parrots are 16%
the moisture loss needs to be pretty constant and steady during the length of incubation.. once you know the percentage.. and the average weight of the eggs at set.. you can calculate to see what the desired hatching weight should be.. plot that on the graph as well.. then every few days weigh a sampling of the eggs.. average their weights and plot them on the graph to see how much water loss there has been.. and adjust the humidity from there to keep with a steady decline



edited for typos that i missed
 
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Yeah, that's basically it. Weigh your egg before you set it, calculate what weight it's supposed to end up at, then do your best to get it there!

I don't do average weights, and I've never plotted a graph. I just do a quick calculation and keep notes on a sheet of paper. Like, if the egg's starting weight is 75g and it's supposed to lose 13%, that would leave 87%. So the calculation is 75 x 0.87 = 65.25. You don't need to be mega accurate and I only use scales that weigh to the nearest gram anyway, so I round it up or down to which ever whole number is closer. So I'd be wanting this egg to end up at 65g, though if it ended up at 64g or 66g I wouldn't worry too much.

So this egg is supposed to lose about 10g. Once you know that, it's easy to keep track of how it's getting on. The way I do it is to candle and weigh on days 6 and 12 and then on day 18 just before lockdown. That divides the incubation period into three equal parts. Then I mentally divide the 10g by 3 as well, to get roughly 3 and a bit. So, the first time I weigh the egg on day 6, I'd be expecting it to be at about 72g, and the second time I weigh it on day 12 I'd be expecting it to be at about 68g. If it's not where I want it to be, I adjust the humidity either up or down.

I number each egg that I'm incubating and I also write the starting weight on the shell just in case I lose my notes. On my notes, I write down the starting weight of each egg, and also the weight I want it to end up at, just so it's there in front of me. It probably sounds more complicated than it really is. Here's an old page of notes from one of my hatches, in case I'm not explaining very well. This was a hatch where I was experimenting with hatching old eggs, as well as with disinfecting and washing them, which is why there's extra scribbles about that stuff. Normally I just write the number of each egg down and keep track of the weights...

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This would be a great way to bring a math lesson into incubating eggs in the classroom. I am going to do it when I incubate eggs in the spring. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yes it is math for sure. You made a chart there. You've calculated weight. You have to use a scale. Learn about measurements like grams. You calculate the percentage of weight loss. You estimate what it should be. You compare by subtracting... and I could go on. Lots of math in incubation. Thanks.. I've never weighed the eggs. I will have to get a little scale that measures grams.
 

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