I hate to start but

[speckledhen]

You know, Tim and Kathy, I've read about the temps rising, however, I have never had that happen, at least not perceptibly. Never had to adjust for it.

The "help or not help" is really a case by case basis. There is logic in saying if they can't get out of the shell, they won't be strong anyway, but then again, sometimes a chick is just really large and can't maneuver well in there. If you help, you may end up with a chick who's just fine. I find that late hatchers don't always do so well. Those are the ones that I regret helping because usually, they have something wrong and should not have hatched. If they hatch on their own by the end of Day 22 or beginning of Day 23, that's okay, but I usually count my hatch over before Day 23 starts, if my temps have been on target.

 

[IggiMom]

I have heard of people whose chickies got cooked the last few days for just this reason.

That said, I don't think it should happen in a good incubator. The thermostate should adjust, as someone just said.

I have not had that problem in either the LG or the Genesis, BUT, I have never had quite this many eggs incubating before, so I am going to really keep an eye on them.

Catherine

 

[onthespot]

It happens to me because I cram a lot of eggs in there. The fuller you cram it, the closer you need to watch it. I am thinking of setting up another bator just for splitting the egg load as it gets closer to hatch so I don't miss a temp spike from overactive chicks in too small of a space. Hopefully that would cut the spikes to a minimum.

 

[IggiMom]

If you get another incubator in order to split the load, will you be able to keep yourself from cramming it full?

It is good to know, though, as I do have one quite full.

The flip side of this is that if the incubator, at the the LG, is fairly empty, you will get more temp swings because there will not be the mass in there to help regulate it. So for this reason I do put little bowls of water, keep my mister in there, that sort of thing. It all helps.

Catherine

Catherine

 

[rancher hicks]

Well now I have three in the brooder. One zipped quickly and is running around, a Del cross. One that zipped more slowly and is just flopping around but just hatched over night, a pure Del. And I'm embarassed to say the one I helped and I just found has a deformed foot and now I have the agonzing job of culling. It's foot won't straighten out. This is a pure marans and I'll be e-mailing the person I bought the chicks from to see if the roo and hens are related. The roo is bare legged and one hen is feathered legged, two are bare legged like the roo. I also have two hatchery CM's but I purposely did not hatch their eggs as they weren't dark enough.
I expect I could wait to see if it dies a natural death as it isn't that strong or I could get a friend to do it for me. Either way it has to go. I hope I learned my lesson.

 

[IggiMom]

Are you sure you couldn't make a little brace for its little foot and straighten it out?

And do not feel bad because you helped it.

Bear in mind that there are many little feathery guys helped out of those eggs who do just fine. And I would imagine that there are many who were NOT helped out who died but would have been fine if they HAD been helped? Hard to know.

As I said, the turkeys I had were just too darn big and squished up in there, they couldn't move to get out, and then they had tried for so long that they got all dried out, too.

And now they are fine, going around the yard, and they are a heritage breed, Blue Slate, and I wouldn't have wanted to lose them. Besides, I like them.

Um, culling is an icky job. You have my sympathy.

Catherine

 

[onthespot]

when I have hatched chicks that had feet like that, it was due to temps being off and humidity issues. Don't be so quick to think it is genetic, I think it is incubator caused in this case. Glad you at least got SOMETHING to hatch out. Double good it was not a singleton and lonely and cheeping all night!