Incubators Anonymous

[birdworld]

My first broody hen I left in the pen. Things did not turn out good. When the eggs started to hatch the other hens attacked and killed or ate the hatchlings. The next hen I moved out and she hatched out 8 never quit setting after she was moved. Good luck

 

[Zootopia]

I have run out of room in the bators and my guineas are laying like crazy. I have one broody that was sitting one 10 guinea eggs and I dated 10 more about week later and put them under her too. Hope I have another girl go broody soon and I'll give those to her. I have several dummy eggs in the nest boxes to encourage broodiness, since I collect eggs twice a day.

 

[RideRed93]

It is now day 23 for my pheasant eggs in the incubator.. there are no signs of chirping or pipping... my temperature and humidity have been constant during the whole incubating process.. will they hatch??? this is my first time ever doing something like this and I am so impatient and very excited ! Any thoughts?

also could someone explain to me what exactly I shrink wrapped egg is ? or if the baby was shrink wrapped ? I'm not quite sure what this means..

 

[CaCO3]

Shrink wrapped is when it's too dry inside the incubator and the inner membrane inside the shell shrink wraps the embryo trying to hatch because the moisture evaporates and it gets stuck. It's why everyone is always saying dont open up the incubator during hatching. Don't pull the plug in your hatch just yet-- I know nothing about pheasants but I'm here seeking help on my own self doubt re incubation.

 

[CaCO3]

Hoping someone can help me assess my candling accuracy .... If there is a more on point thread please redirect me there.

I just wrapped up a staggered hatch over the last few days using broodies and incubator. I just went outside and broke open my culled eggs and 3 of the 5 had very well developed chicks in them. All of the eggs were pulled out after seriously scrutinized candling, plus even then I usually wait a few more days and recheck to make sure it really looks like the embryo is dead. One of the eggs I gave up on was at beginning of day 22 under the broody and the others had hatched. It was a small pullet egg. Air cell was a much smaller like not as much had evaporates during incubation, and there was a visible clear space below the embryo. I could barely make out thin veins but no obvious shape of a chick and absolutely no movement at all. When I broke that one open there was a very small chick but yolk sac was still not absorbed, if at all. If anyone is following this rambling explanation - I'm thrilled. I guess what I need to know from those more experienced is if it is better to leave ? eggs in the incubator for a few more days instead of guessing wrong. I am really wondering if I have been killing perfectly good embryos by making bad judgment calls at the later candling points. I'm confident about being able to recognize early death blood rings, but I may be seriously wrong with anything past day 7. I usually wait a couple of days and let the eggs cool before cracking them. In my mind that is somehow preferable than cracking it open straight out of the incubator. Obviously I won't be able to tell if I was wrong because its definitely going to be dead at that point, but is that wrong too? Should I not wait? (i.e., you learn your mistakes by cracking it open and finding out you were wrong - if so that sounds too horrible for me, don't think I'd handle that well.)

 

[Runawaylobster]

I watched this little chick trying to zip, all day. I have been having issues keeping humidity up and i figured the little guy was sticking and couldn't turn...

Eventually I decided to help it out.. it was eager to get out of the shell and no
blood appeared on the membrane so i unzipped and let it push itself out. It's a pretty small and weak little chick but then i had the shock of my life..

I thought i had screwed up because i saw something in the shell, i figured it was the yolk sack but then after i looked closer I found it was another little dead chick inside the shell. fully formed and feathered.. it was a twin!! no wonder the little guy couldn't turn around and zip.

I don't know if it will make it but i'm giving it a fighting chance..

wow!!! that was a first.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Hoping someone can help me assess my candling accuracy .... If there is a more on point thread please redirect me there.

I just wrapped up a staggered hatch over the last few days using broodies and incubator. I just went outside and broke open my culled eggs and 3 of the 5 had very well developed chicks in them. All of the eggs were pulled out after seriously scrutinized candling, plus even then I usually wait a few more days and recheck to make sure it really looks like the embryo is dead. One of the eggs I gave up on was at beginning of day 22 under the broody and the others had hatched. It was a small pullet egg. Air cell was a much smaller like not as much had evaporates during incubation, and there was a visible clear space below the embryo. I could barely make out thin veins but no obvious shape of a chick and absolutely no movement at all. When I broke that one open there was a very small chick but yolk sac was still not absorbed, if at all. If anyone is following this rambling explanation - I'm thrilled. I guess what I need to know from those more experienced is if it is better to leave ? eggs in the incubator for a few more days instead of guessing wrong. I am really wondering if I have been killing perfectly good embryos by making bad judgment calls at the later candling points. I'm confident about being able to recognize early death blood rings, but I may be seriously wrong with anything past day 7. I usually wait a couple of days and let the eggs cool before cracking them. In my mind that is somehow preferable than cracking it open straight out of the incubator. Obviously I won't be able to tell if I was wrong because its definitely going to be dead at that point, but is that wrong too? Should I not wait? (i.e., you learn your mistakes by cracking it open and finding out you were wrong - if so that sounds too horrible for me, don't think I'd handle that well.)

I just did the same thing two days ago with a few I set 20 days ago. If they haven't filled up the egg shell by that time - they died early on. You are not killing the chicks when you crack the shell of those aircell/partially dark/bottom all light shells - they died anywhere from day 10 to day 16 I would guess... I too worried that I had killed one that looked like a good air cell - a dark band and then completely light at the bottom. I cracked it and there was a chick in there - only very small, not really formed at all. I watched it very carefully - afraid I would see it dying. There was no movement - it had been dead for days. If it was alive it would have grown with its companions. Only dying would have stopped the growth.

The only ones I would not remove were the ones that had a good sized air cell with visible blood veining around the aircell. To me that is a sign the chick is viable in there. It also usually fills up almost the entire rest of the shell to the bottom. There may be a slight gap.. but that's about it. This is day 18 before lockdown. Any truly iffy ones I set in the hatcher to one side so I know its iffy, and watch. As I recall one iffy one ever hatched - and it was weak and didn't absorb the yolk and died. I have another batch due tomorrow, I will tell you how the "Iffy" ones did. All the others I pulled had obviously quit early on.

I don't give up on any until day 24 though.. day 22 seems too close. Did the broody kick the egg out? If she was still setting on something you think is iffy - let her set until she decides to quit.

Just to let you know though - I had a broody sitting on 9 eggs - 8 of which were almost completely clear and only one hatched.

There are pictures and charts available of the growth cycle of a chick in an egg, I think I will look that one up again - and print it out so I know when it quit next time I do "eggtopsies"..

 

[CaCO3]

Thanks for the reassurance. I just get a sinking feeling when i see a chick and second guess my decision to pull it. That last one she did not kick out, but it was banded on the top and bottom. I have no idea what was going on in that one and maybe, maybe it was alive and super slow I could have thrown it in the incubator and waited i guess. i probably spent 5-10 min candling it to see something, anything. it almost looked like a galaxy of debris inside. but there was a tiny chick when i opened it. It was a tiny egg and I had another one the same size that hatched and it is an itty bitty thing but a total spazzy firecracker. These weren't my eggs and pretty sure it was a pullet but maybe she had bantams in there. The other ?? eggs were BCM. I had 3 cottage hill - all 3 hatched and also 9 Wade jean - 5 hatched. 2 never developed but 2 had chicks in them. I'm taking a hatching hiatus for now but will read up on lit too for next go round. On a side note, these are my first BCM and I am not particularly knowledgable on the different pedigrees, but the two batches of chicks are distinct. The cottage hill ones are little pudge balls and darker downed. The wade jeans are more zippy but lighter and leaner. No idea if that's just their particular parents. They are all cuties.

Wishing you good luck with your hatch tomorrow (or the next day.....). When you get to Day 29 its probably safe to throw in the towel. If they hatch then they probably come out fully feathered and crowing!

 

[DMRippy]

I watched this little chick trying to zip, all day. I have been having issues keeping humidity up and i figured the little guy was sticking and couldn't turn...

Eventually I decided to help it out.. it was eager to get out of the shell and no
blood appeared on the membrane so i unzipped and let it push itself out. It's a pretty small and weak little chick but then i had the shock of my life..

I thought i had screwed up because i saw something in the shell, i figured it was the yolk sack but then after i looked closer I found it was another little dead chick inside the shell. fully formed and feathered.. it was a twin!! no wonder the little guy couldn't turn around and zip.

I don't know if it will make it but i'm giving it a fighting chance..

wow!!! that was a first.

WOW that is cool! I had 2 eggs from my WL and BOTH had double yolkers... I was kinda freaking out about it. They both quit mid way so I didn't have the stress of worrying about them hatching.

Glad you helped him out. Lucky one survived. Very rare for that to happen with a successful hatch of any kind.

 

[Duck Drover]

Thanks for the reassurance. I just get a sinking feeling when i see a chick and second guess my decision to pull it. That last one she did not kick out, but it was banded on the top and bottom. I have no idea what was going on in that one and maybe, maybe it was alive and super slow I could have thrown it in the incubator and waited i guess. i probably spent 5-10 min candling it to see something, anything. it almost looked like a galaxy of debris inside. but there was a tiny chick when i opened it. It was a tiny egg and I had another one the same size that hatched and it is an itty bitty thing but a total spazzy firecracker. These weren't my eggs and pretty sure it was a pullet but maybe she had bantams in there. The other ?? eggs were BCM. I had 3 cottage hill - all 3 hatched and also 9 Wade jean - 5 hatched. 2 never developed but 2 had chicks in them. I'm taking a hatching hiatus for now but will read up on lit too for next go round. On a side note, these are my first BCM and I am not particularly knowledgable on the different pedigrees, but the two batches of chicks are distinct. The cottage hill ones are little pudge balls and darker downed. The wade jeans are more zippy but lighter and leaner. No idea if that's just their particular parents. They are all cuties.

Wishing you good luck with your hatch tomorrow (or the next day.....). When you get to Day 29 its probably safe to throw in the towel. If they hatch then they probably come out fully feathered and crowing!

I think you just solved a mystery for me! I got some Black Copper Maran eggs and some Barnevelder eggs to hatch and the woman told me the BCMs had the "weird genes" but I thought her beautiful Irish accent was what I was hearing and wondered what she was actually saying. I am going to look up Wade Jeans to learn more about the eggs I am hatching. Thank you so much!