i'm a dork and i need advice on my current hatch!

[fallenweeble]

so . . .
let's get this part out of the way. i'm a total dum dum. i know. i admit it. you don't have to tell me.

moving right along . . .
being the total hatchaholic that i am i put some of my own eggies in the bator five days ago. in this batch are some serama eggs (yea!) and also some mutt eggs from my "big little chicken" pen (a few seramas, a naked neck, a couple of silkies, a showgirl roo, and a beautiful cochin pair).

sounds fine right?

well, i THOUGHT these eggs were all relatively fresh and new - all laid within a couple of days of each other because i had collected eggs just a few days before. apparently i missed some along the way and someone has been sittin' on em.

when i candled today (yup, i candled at day five, what can i say? i'm an impatient chicken mom) i found a whole spectrum of stages in development. everything from what you would think a five day old incubating chicken egg should look like to a few that are nearly packed full of chicken to the point that you can barely see what's going on in there!!!! (the serama eggs are all looking like they are around 5 days in, it's the mutt eggies that are much more variable).

eeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

now what do i do? i have the eggs in the R-Com and the eggs get turned randomly several times a day. i don't even know when i should stop turning the more developed eggs because i have no idea what day they are on.

any advice/ideas regarding how i should procede? i'm thinking of turning off the turning function and hand turning all of the eggs so that i can look for pips over the next few days in the developed eggs.

thanks!

 

[kellim]

I had some eggs that I was unsure of the hatch date on because I had to take them from a broody hen. I just put them in the incubator with my others and they have hatched out just fine. I would take them out of the turner and just hand turn. I turned those up til the day I saw the first pip and they hatched out just fine. I actually just kept my humidity at about 45 to 50 percent the whole time and they did great!

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

After day 14 it isn't absolutely necessary to turn them anymore. If they are almost full of chick, then they're past day 14. I would keep the humidity at the upper level of normal for incubating...around 45% maybe up to 50% at the most until they hatch. That is assuming they hatch within the next 4-5 days. Then get the humidity back down to the lower end of normal...say 35% - 40% for the remaining eggs. The worst thing you can do...in my opinion...is have too much humidity for too long. The eggs just don't lose enough water and the chicks drown.

 

[fallenweeble]

thanks ya'll!

 

[Hooterville]

I often wonder if the hen quits turning on day 18??!! Doesn't she still get off the nest and eat a bit? Wouldn't that mean the eggs still get moved a bit?
I guess I'm just unclear on why they shouldn't be disturbed those last 3 days.

 

[turnerstar31]

I have actually had some of my eggs hatch in the turner and everything and did not know that they were ready. They did fine even with the humidity low. I just let them dry off a bit than put them in a brooder.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Well done!!

 

[fallenweeble]

update:
the most developed egg hatch yesterday!
the chick seems fine.
i didn't see him pip or zip - he was FAST!

because i was using the r-com i couldn't take the turner out, i could only turn it on or off. i opted to leave it on and leave the humidity at a normal level. apparently that didn't bother this little baby one bit!

thanks again everyone for advice and support. ya'll rock.

 

[kellim]

Congratulations!!!