Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[ronott1]

Ron they are very cute. Thanks for sharing. I joined a Sussex page on Face Book and Steve W. is the admin on the page. He said he has never put his eggs in lock down and has always had a perfect hatch. What do you think about this method Ron?

The word Lockdown is a BYC word. The rest of the poultry world does not use it. The instructions for incubating say to raise the humidity on day 18 and not to open the incubator too much. I bet most serious Breeders do something similar and do not call it lockdown. Many of the things we do to reach the holy grail of the 100% hatch really do not make much of a difference.

I have had all of the eggs that made it past the day 18 toss hatch at 35% humidity. I still raise the humidity and move the eggs from the turner to egg cartons on day 18(unless I forget). Call it whatever you want to but on BYC, lockdown works very well.

Hi ya'll,
Thanks for all the advice I got here. I went over to Sally Sunshine's article and decided to "wait". This morning three are out in Advance #2. I did take advice and filled the second water well last night. Lifting the lid on these mini advances isn't a big deal because the humidity and temp shoot right back up so very quickly. Two more left to hatch in the Advance (#2) then I can put them in their own brooder.

Am having trouble keeping the temps up in the brooder. They are about 80 degrees but the chicks (Advance#1)seem to be doing fine. I continue to monkey with the height of the 250 watt light. Still have one egg left with chick inside in the Advance#1 whose other occupants hatched yesterday. No sign of a pip yet but it is only day 21 for that unit.
Best,
Karen

Good Job!

Waiting works best. Helping is a personal decision too. A lot of the chicks that you help will need specialized care when you get them out. For Heritage breeding and improving the flock, the chicks that need help should not go into the breeding program. They can be sold as pets or moved into a layer flock but let the buyer know that they should not be used for breeding.

Culling does not always equal killing. It can mean not using for breeding.

 

[3riverschick]

Ron,
I have 4 of 5 inbred chicks out and dry in the Mini Advance. The last egg hasn't pipped that I can see.
Think it would be alright to take the 4 out and put them in a brooder? They are climbing all over the
5th egg. I worry they are tiring the chick inside with their jostling of the egg.
Whaddayathink ?
Best,
Karen
Also, think I should take the last egg from the outcross Advance and put it in with the last inbred egg? Maybe they will encourage each other to hatch?

 

[ronott1]

Ron,
I have 4 of 5 inbred chicks out and dry in the Mini Advance. The last egg hasn't pipped that I can see.
Think it would be alright to take the 4 out and put them in a brooder? They are climbing all over the
5th egg. I worry they are tiring the chick instide with their jostling of the egg.
Whaddayathink ?
Best,
Karen

Yes take them out. I take them out after they have fluffed up and not more than 24 hours after they hatch. Use the misting trick.
Since the last egg does not have a pip, candle it to see if the chick has poked it's head through the membrane.

Congratulations on the four chicks!

 

[chickadoodles]

The word Lockdown is a BYC word. The rest of the poultry world does not use it. The instructions for incubating say to raise the humidity on day 18 and not to open the incubator too much. I bet most serious Breeders do something similar and do not call it lockdown. Many of the things we do to reach the holy grail of the 100% hatch really do not make much of a difference.

I have had all of the eggs that made it past the day 18 toss hatch at 35% humidity. I still raise the humidity and move the eggs from the turner to egg cartons on day 18(unless I forget). Call it whatever you want to but on BYC, lockdown works very well.

Thank you Ron. I was just wondering if the could really hatch at 35% humidity. Not that I am going to try it. At least not till I get better at hatching. lol

 

[chickadoodles]

Karen congrats on your 4 chicks hatched!

 

[ronott1]

Thank you Ron. I was just wondering if the could really hatch at 35% humidity. Not that I am going to try it. At least not till I get better at hatching. lol

The traditional humidity level for incubation is 55% for the first 18 days and then 65% for the last three days. Most chicks will hatch fine at 55% and the humidity will go up as each chick hatches. It is more important if you are dry hatching, defined as less than 55%, to increase humidity for the last three days. Some incubate below 25%. That is dangerous. I have read a couple of studies and University papers that said humidity below 25% resulted in lower hatch rates.

 

[3riverschick]

Yes take them out. I take them out after they have fluffed up and not more than 24 hours after they hatch. Use the misting trick.
Since the last egg does not have a pip, candle it to see if the chick has poked it's head through the membrane.

Congratulations on the four chicks!

Ron,
the 5th egg has pips a small pip. What's the misting trick?
Thanks,
Karen

 

[ronott1]

Ron,
the 5th egg has pips a small pip. What's the misting trick?
Thanks,
Karen

When you open the incubator, spray a mist from a spray bottle. Use clean water and do not spray directly on the eggs.

It keeps the humidity up.

Good news on the pip! It should hatch soon.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I always tried to follow the 55% humidity raised to 65% and a lot of times I got sticky chicks. Come to find out it was probably a combination of high humidity and low heat that did it. I have since moved to the desert and the humidity here is even lower than where I lived before. Here, I'm watching very very closely my temperatures and trying to keep them at 99.5 to 100.5 and I have lowered my humidity to 35% (or in that neighborhood) and then the last 3 days, I move them to the hatcher where I raise the humidity to 50% and they are hatching well. Thanks to Ron.

One thing I'm seeing... in my incubator, I have the eggs laying down and they get rolled but I've been noticing a lot of malpositions. Some of them will be either completely upside down and come out the bottom of the egg or they will appear to be sideways/upside down. They'll pip toward the bottom and then the zip will go up the side of the egg instead of around it. So, I have taken to moving my eggs to the hatcher a week early, set upright in cartons with the bottoms cut out of the cells. I tip the cartons a couple times a day until day 20 (I keep them moving because they don't get turned as often as they should and I've had chicks hatch while in a turner (before my turner motor burned out) so I figure the movement won't hurt them. Also, I doubt that a hen counts to day 18 and then stops moving them around. This last group, moving them early and setting them upright didn't help, more of them came out the bottoms. Is this because they are not being turned enough or are there evil upside down genes at work in my flock?

 

[ronott1]

I always tried to follow the 55% humidity raised to 65% and a lot of times I got sticky chicks. Come to find out it was probably a combination of high humidity and low heat that did it. I have since moved to the desert and the humidity here is even lower than where I lived before. Here, I'm watching very very closely my temperatures and trying to keep them at 99.5 to 100.5 and I have lowered my humidity to 35% (or in that neighborhood) and then the last 3 days, I move them to the hatcher where I raise the humidity to 50% and they are hatching well. Thanks to Ron.

One thing I'm seeing... in my incubator, I have the eggs laying down and they get rolled but I've been noticing a lot of malpositions. Some of them will be either completely upside down and come out the bottom of the egg or they will appear to be sideways/upside down. They'll pip toward the bottom and then the zip will go up the side of the egg instead of around it. So, I have taken to moving my eggs to the hatcher a week early, set upright in cartons with the bottoms cut out of the cells. I tip the cartons a couple times a day until day 20 (I keep them moving because they don't get turned as often as they should and I've had chicks hatch while in a turner (before my turner motor burned out) so I figure the movement won't hurt them. Also, I doubt that a hen counts to day 18 and then stops moving them around. This last group, moving them early and setting them upright didn't help, more of them came out the bottoms. Is this because they are not being turned enough or are there evil upside down genes at work in my flock?

The old line or Delawares from last year were the only ones that consistently hatched from the wrong end. I do think it has more to do with the line.

Mark the ones that hatch badly and do not use them for breeding. They are supposed to know where the big end is and move towards it.

Good job on getting the hatch rate up!