Incubating eggs first time

[newbechicken]

Sorry for your loss Big Daddy. I have good news so far all four of my Henry egs are fertile. One of them was in the fridge for 3days before going into the incubator. Her eggs should start hatching Sat 3/5 and the following 3 eggs the next week. Friday 3/4 is the hatch date for my first 7 of the total 13 eggs. These first seven are all standard chickens Rhode Island with barred rock, EE, light brama and other Rhodies. It will be exciting to see these but Henry's are what we are really anxious about. Repost again soon. Happy hatching all.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Thank you! I have 12+ one more zipping..... more then I could have possibly dreamed for.....and yes, I have dreamed chicks in the last 3 weeks!

Great news on your progress! I'll watch for your updates.

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
Nature. lol. Honestly... a broody hen is something to experience. She knows which eggs are infertile as she goes along and kicks them out even! Won't waste time or energy on them. Those last three days she barely moves. Then her babies hatch and stay under her. When they are all out (if she is good at it... bad mothers think one is enough) she will start to teach them right away how to each and scratch and where water is, what bugs are good, ect ect.

There is a incubator by Brinsea that is so cool. It sets a "balloon" on top of the eggs to warm them... like the mother's skin. It's UBER expensive, but so cool. If I win the lottery I'll get one.


Good luck with your babies!! Enjoy them.. soon they will get their wings and tail feathers and be EVERYWHERE!! lol. That is my favorite part, personally. When they are bad. lol.

 

[newbechicken]

Spent the last two nights with my 8 yo daughter and 6 yo son sleeping on the kitchen floor next to the incubator!! Thursday night 2 pipped and luckily Friday i have off work so I watched chicken TV on and off all day. Even the two eggs due to hatch today finished about 10 last night. Out of 10 eggs there are 8 fluffy chicks now in the brooder!!! And yes one is the ever important Henry baby!! Waiting on 3 more Henry eggs that are due to hatch next Saturday. Thankfully I had them fenced off from the others because boy is hatching a rough go of it. And they just tromple around everywhere. The two eggs that did not hatch were standard size eggs. One looked like it stopped about day 14 the other was fully developed yolk sac absorbed. I wonder if this chick got jostled too much with the others hatching and got lost? 80% is awesome and Henry's egg was part of the success Yeah.

Congrats to Big Daddy enjoy the little fuzzy buts!!!

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
YAY! Congrats!

Sounds like a possible drowing on the other two... especially the fully developed one. Possibly from the others rolling it around. In a natural nest, it's harder to roll a egg with all the bedding than it is in a incubator floor. It is a belief of mine that those babies flopping around isn't the best thing for the unhatched eggs.

But you did GREAT!!! 80% on your first attempt! AWESOME!!

 

[ROCKIN R FARM]

congrats on your new fuzzy butts. Was glad you dd was able to share it with you. I make mine 17 and 14 watch with me as well. Even if they do not want to ha ha.

They just think I am weird. Post pics when you can would love to see the star of the hatch
deana

 

[newbechicken]

Update!!! The final 3 eggs 2/3 heathly happy chicks!!! They were weaker than the first group and I could not resist helping a little once they pipped. They just seemed so slow making progress and their little peeps seemed to weaken. I'm not sure it was necessary to help but the results were great. One was so weak it layed around for several hours. Boy was I worried even gave it a little sugar water. The chick from the longest refrigerated egg 2 or three days in the fridge is named Chili ha ha. The one that didn't make it looked like it stopped around day 14-18. Maybe the trauma of the first hatch. So much humidity and temp fluctuations. I concer with the post about drowning and all the jostling being traumatic. I put the eggs in little tin foil rings just tall enough to keep the egg in place but short enough to allow the chick to puch the egg out of the way at hatch and allow good airflow. I also separate the two hatches with a plastic fruit container with the lid cut off and turned smooth side down. This allowed great visibiltiy and good air flow but kept eggs and chicks separated.

I really enjoy all the posts so much fun to know others are perched in front of their incubators as well staring for hours waithing for those little guys to make their appearance. Happy hatching!!