I hate to start but

[rancher hicks]

Well it's out, but not til I poked it with a straw throught the vent hole. It was 75-80% out but just couldn't push out. It's been 24 hrs. It's a big chick too. One had already zipped and was staggering all over the place. A smaller chick. I expect they have to turn around in the shell right? How else could they zip all the way around. The first chick was large and last time the one the died in the shell was big too. This one is a CM and the father is huge, at least 21-24 in tall and very wide breast. The first to hatch I think is a mutt. I was certain that the only one in the incu were pure Dels and CMs'
So I guess the thing to do is choose wisely?
When you consider this is day 22 or 23 ,depending on whether you pick the day of set at 1, and there are over 24 eggs in the incu this was not a good hatch.
It is only my second hatch experience and I've learned more, so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

 

[IggiMom]

My turkey poults that I had to help out of the shell were likewise very big. I truly do not see how they could have gotten out on their own, because there just wasn't any room in there for them to move at all.

It took them a while to unfold once out!

Catherine

 

[rancher hicks]

Well here's my final posting on this hatch. The furnace is blowing cold air and we're waiting for the repair man. Done this every year we've lived here (3).

The one I helped out is still kicking but flopping around on it's back and doesn't want to stay upright. This chick is from an egg from a hen less than a year old.
One chick I think is a mutt zipped and is doing ok but small. It would be from an egg from a hen less than a year old also.
Another hatched last night and is pure Del from a hen over a year old.
These just got put in the brooder.

So here's what I learned from this hatch, I think.

Chicks that don't zip fast are trouble and should be left alone. Better they die than be weak and die anyway. I don't know if it will make it.

I turned more times this time (by hand). I would stick to the 3 times a day rule as last time I had a better hatch. Though many eggs were from older hens they still did not hatch. I figure every time I opened the incu the temp fluctuated to much. 24 eggs takes some time to turn. I won't do more than 12 next time.

There are other things that may have affected this hatch too such as. Ambient room temp. It's winter and the thermostate is set at 65-68. My thermometer was taped to a piece of cardboard unlike the last time it was just set on the eggs with it's gradient strip.

One warning sign that things were'nt going well was a non rise in temp. With that many eggs the heat should have rose and I should have had to turn the temp gauge down sooner as the chicks develope their body heat should have cause the temp in the incu to rise. It did the last time and didn't this time so that made me concerned. I am certain that more eggs were fertile than hatched.

Tempwise. The last time the temp would rise to over 100 on my thermometer. This time I kept it at 100 but it would dip to below 100 before it kicked back on. I wonder if I need to replace the wafer thingies? They do show some rust. The PP mag says temps of 103-105 are good, but that could be to locale as sea level can affect temps. Many baking temps are determined by sea level above or below.

So my plans are if the good lord wills is to.
1. get the furnace fixed and replaced.
2. clean and move the incu to my office where it is warmer.
3. start another hatch of 12 eggs. Hey I figure I got time to do another before my Georgia eggs get here and I ain't a quitter.

Happy hathcing. Rancher

 

[onthespot]

grab that flopping chick and push a paper towel down inside a coffee mug so it lines the bottom and all sides and set that chick back inside the coffee mug and put it back into the bator for another day. It might be perfectly normal the next day!!!

Also, on the hand turning, I have a new way that is working well for me. I just put a "lot" of eggs in the bator and three times a day I just lay my hand flat on top and gently roll them all at once, and pull the ones from the outside ring toward the middle. Next go, (today) I am going to put a fleecy barrier around the outside of the clutch because the eggs toward the outside seem to get cooled off and my hatch took two and a half days because of temp differentials I think. Still, I got quiet a few to hatch. The marans did not fare well at all, but all the ameraucanas did, the silkies, orpingtons, olive eggers most of them. I can fit nearly a hundred eggs without the turner. I'd rather take my chances with the flat hand, quick and dirty turning on a hundred eggs than only 40 in a turner.

Edit: for those concerned, by "quick and dirty" I meant that I was my hands first and do a less exact, precise angle turning of the eggs. No dirt involved, just faster and more chances for different angles for the egg to rest at. Some might make a full revolution or two in the process, but the chances of them landing in the same position they started are a bout a hundred to one. Probably a million to one if you split hairs on what constitutes "the same position" but I digress... Sorry for any misunderstanding.

 

[Bettacreek]

He should flip around for a little while. One that I had to actually manually hatch completely (wasn't even pipped) did that for awhile. He very slowly got his legs under him after spinning circles for HOURS. I just knew he'd die when I put him in the brooder, because of the spinning. The entire clutch (including this guy and some others who were helped) grew up just fine without any issues. I didn't know which ones were helped after they were two days old or so.

 

[IggiMom]

OT--Bettacreek, I just love the picture of that little girl. I presume it is your daughter. Kinda resembles my little granddaughters.

Catherine (IggiMom)

 

[halo]

I dont understand why the temp. should rise in the incubator. The heat is controlled by a thermostat which is at a set temperature. I have never heard of chicks raising the temp; mine stays the same throughout the incubation. If there were such a thing as chicks causing heat, then the thermostat would adjust for that.

Am I missing something here?

 

[onthespot]

I use a hovabaotor still air, took the turner out and have been turning by hand the past few batches, will probably continue to do so. The last five days or so I need to REALLY watch the temps several times a day through the little window. The chicks become larger and create much more living, metabolizing biomass as opposed to metabolically innert whites and yolks, which do not produce heat on their own. Living, kicking chicks do. The more they kick around and get into position for hatching, the more heat they create. In a full incubator that is already at optimal temp, the increased heat created by the developing, moving, excercising chicks has no place to dissipate in a small styro incubator. There may be more room to disperse the heat in the larger sportsmans, don't know... If would be like taking forty little third graders all hot sweaty and from kickball at recess and locking them in the janitor closet as opposed to letting them cool down in a regular sized classroom. That janitor closet is going to get hot and stuffy even without a heater or heat vent in it. The hovabator is more or less a janitor's closet and you have to open and close the door some so the kids don't overheat the past few days before they hatch. Not exactly open and close the door, that would ruin your humidity, but you need to open more vent holes and adjust the heat settings to compensate for more air passing through, as well as more heat being produced by the chicks. It really is a juggling act the last couple days with those styrofoam bators, but if you stay on top of it, many happy hatchings can result.

 

[megcpat]

Quote:
Somebody's got a nice bator.......

 

[halo]

Ive never heard of incubators working that way. I have 3 Hovas that I use for incubating and for hatching, and the temp never changes in them. If they were as airtight as you are saying, the heater element would never come on once it warmed up to 99.5. Mine clicks on and off all day.

I have also never had to adjust the temperature because it went up at the end.

Ive never seen a single reference to this happening.

EDIT:

Well, butter my biscuits, I just read the Hovabator site, and it says that you might have to adjust the thermostat half way thru incubation due to chick generating heat.

My apologies...I learn something every day, it seems.

But Ive still not had to adjust mine.