Hoping for Christmas day hatch...

[iluvsedward]

AHHHHH!!! I. WANT. SILKIES!!! gimmie gimmie gimmie!!!

 

[cherylcohen]

Hatching today..wheaten marans....early xmas presents!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I set my eggs on the 3rd and 4th of December, hoping for Christmas Day and Christmas day hatches. I have 21 E.E. eggs, 9 barred rocks, 14 White Leghorns and 18 "barnyard mixes".

I candled tonight (day 4-ish) and learned a few things:

1. you can't see into a green egg (at least I couldn't)

2. most of my white leghorns from a cheap ebay auction are infertile.

3. eggs are really fragile, at least the white leghorns. Handling them in a dark room is bad with all the lights off, I noticed 1 cracked white leghorn egg when I turned them back on. EDIT- I cracked open the cracked white leghorn egg this morning and nothing! Just a hot egg! If they weren't smeared with poo, I would suspect they were storebought!

4. I have several fertile and growing eggs in the barnyard mix and the Barred Plymouth rocks!

I have decided to keep all of the eggs until day 10.

The temp seems to hold pretty well between 99 and 100, but I have had a couple of panic moments finding it at 102 or 97, but hopefully....

 

[Buugette]

I haven't candled yet... trying to hold off till next week. Temp holding well... little trouble with humidity. Hygrometer not registering in the bator... and when I pulled it to recalibrate it... it was at 70 rather than 75... so it should be registering something inside the bator and then add 5. Hmmmm... more water?

Son turns them like clockwork... and I have so far been able to KEEP MY HANDS OFF THEM. Desperately trying not to think about them. Can't wait for them to hatch... but no where near ready for Christmas.

Oh well... must run to a boring meeting... would rather be home with my girls. They were so cute this morning...

D

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I have given up on hygrometers. I think I need to go buy a real one! I currently have a digital (non-probe) and an old-fashioned dial type. The dial type reads 10% lower than the digital. The digital has a low end at 16%, which is where it was 24/7 before I put it in the bator. The dial has a low end at 40%.

With a large sterilite tray full of water with a sponge and a ultrasonic fogger, I can keep the humidity about 40-50% by cycling the fogger on for 5 min every hour.

I guess I am inadvertently using the "dry incubation" method shown here - https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html

 

[iluvsedward]

yup same with my green eggs, its SO hard to see in them

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I have searched for any tips or tricks to seeing inside a green egg. I guess I will just have to wait.

I hope none of the nogo ones explode!

 

[silkie_sue]

Hi

I'm expecting a X Mas hatch. Sat eggs Dec. 3 at 9 pm, sooooo hopefully

they'll hatch late X Mas eve into X Mas day.

Yea!

....blue and splash silkies.

And I just finished a hatch of 6 Showgirl chicks (F12) from my flock on Dec. 1 st.

Awww see how cute, they were 3 days old in this pic and are now 6 days old.

Suz

 

[Buugette]

How is everyone's eggs doing?

I finally candled mine the other night... sadly had to remove 6 eggs. 3 stoppers and 3 that never started (maybe infertile)... That leaves me with 18 silkie eggs well on their way to becoming silkie chicks

Temp is good, humidity is good (finally got control of it)... all is good and Christmas is on its way!

"Silkie_Sue... OMG how cute!

Diana

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I too, have had to discard several quitters. I did have several temperature fluctuations that are now corrected and they all had a rough ride in the holiday mail system, so I am grateful to have a few still moving.

The green eggs are easier to see now that they are further along.

I think I am still on for my Christmas day hatch with at least a few chicks. I may be a bit early on some eggs because of some days where the bator averaged 102.

Now the thing is stable at 99-100 and 30-40% humidity.