Incubators Anonymous

[gander007]

Quote:
Well I always have an excuse to not do much as it is always too hot to work on the car or go out and check the Mail or just to windy when the 70 MPH winds come by and there really is not much to hunt but I did get 2 dozen bobcats and a fox from my front porch last year ....

 

[Faraday40]

Results so far:
9 Backyard eggs (Easter eggers & mixed)
5 chicks, 3 pips, 1 nothing yet

8 shipped eggs (Coronation Sussex)
Nothing yet, all 8 looked great on day 18.
Could this breed take longer to hatch b/c of the giant size?

As far as the standing upright vs laying on the side, it doesn't appear to matter. The side eggs did hatch faster.
Boy do I want to open the incubator, but I'm patiently sitting on my hands.

 

[ozexpat]

When I hatch multiple batches of shipped eggs I typically have different start times for different batches and can vary by 24hours in the same incubator

 

[Faraday40]

All eggs are the same age, started same day & time, and incubated together under same conditions.
Today's day 21.
Out of 9 Easter egger/mixes: 6 chicks & 2 pips so far. Pretty textbook hatch with nice even zips.
Out of 8 Coronation Sussex (shipped eggs) only 1 pip & that egg is moving. (They were all good sized &/or moving when I candled on day 18.)

My question is the location of the pip. It is closer to the narrow end of egg (not by air cell or not even in the middle of egg). Will I need to help this chick out or will it figure things out on its own? These eggs have pretty bad saddle-shaped air cells from shipping. I'm also not sure how long to wait before doing anything

 

[Sydney Acres]

Results so far:
9 Backyard eggs (Easter eggers & mixed)
5 chicks, 3 pips, 1 nothing yet

8 shipped eggs (Coronation Sussex)
Nothing yet, all 8 looked great on day 18.
Could this breed take longer to hatch b/c of the giant size?

As far as the standing upright vs laying on the side, it doesn't appear to matter. The side eggs did hatch faster.
Boy do I want to open the incubator, but I'm patiently sitting on my hands.

In my experience, there are many things that affect incubation time that are independent of breed and genetics. Things that increase incubation time are egg storage (someone calculated it out on an hours of incubation per days of storage basis once), shipping or other rough handling (one day extra on average, although it can be much longer, up to day 27 in rare cases), low incubation temperature, inconsistent or wrong humidity, inadequate ventilation in the incubator, inadequate egg turning, and using an incubator that doesn't work well. Basically, all the things that would kill an embryo if they were done just a little more severely, but if they're done just a little bit they only delay development instead of stop it. That is why some professional breeders say that if the chick doesn't hatch by 21 days that it will not be a healthy and vigorous chick, and all eggs should be thrown out on day 22. I absolutely do not agree with that, but have known many people to say it, vehemently, with no tolerance for disagreement. Things that I have found to decrease incubation time are slightly higher temperatures, perfect incubation conditions including a daily cooling period on days 7-18, and using a good broody instead of an incubator. My farm-bred, broody-incubated chicks consistently hatch on day 18-19 (day 18 if eggs stored less than 7 days, day 19 if stored 7-14 days), and my incubator chicks out of the same hens consistently hatch on day 19-21 (again depending on storage time).

The side-positioned eggs hatch faster because it is easier for the chick to rotate as it zips in this position. That may be important if you ever have a chick that is malpositioned in the egg. Some malpositionings are so severe that the chick can't even pip, or can pip but can't zip. But many are minor and the chick can pip and start to zip, but gets stuck mid-zip. Getting stuck mid-zip is less likely to happen if the egg is on its side.

I have not found egg size to be a factor in incubation time. I weigh all my eggs, and sometimes have as much as a 30% difference in size, depending on what I'm hatching. But the larger ones are just as likely to be first hatched as last hatched, mostly depending on the egg quality genetics of the hen, the breed of the hen and rooster, but mostly the factors mentioned above.

So who's having more fun with this comparison experiment, you or your daughter??

 

[Sydney Acres]

All eggs are the same age, started same day & time, and incubated together under same conditions.
Today's day 21.
Out of 9 Easter egger/mixes: 6 chicks & 2 pips so far. Pretty textbook hatch with nice even zips.
Out of 8 Coronation Sussex (shipped eggs) only 1 pip & that egg is moving. (They were all good sized &/or moving when I candled on day 18.)

My question is the location of the pip. It is closer to the narrow end of egg (not by air cell or not even in the middle of egg). Will I need to help this chick out or will it figure things out on its own? These eggs have pretty bad saddle-shaped air cells from shipping. I'm also not sure how long to wait before doing anything

Piping at the wrong end of the egg can be a serious problem, but many of those chicks hatch. It is more difficult for them to hatch, it usually takes longer, and they sometimes need assistance. Be sure that those eggs are laying the their side, pip up, as it would be very difficult for a chick to breathe or hatch in a head-down position. You should quickly read this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching. That will answer most of your questions, and give you lots of information as to whether you should assist, when to assist, and how to assist. Those details are really important, so you may need to re-read the information a few times before it makes sense. Be sure your humidity is really high (at least 70%) because it is difficult for the chick to rotate in this position, and the extra humidity will provide some measure of lubrication, and keep the membranes moister (although you may still need to moisten them by hand and wrap the egg in a wet paper towel -- that's discussed in the article). Also, decrease the temperature a little bit, as it's very difficult to do hard physical work in high temps with high humidity. I usually hatch at 98-99 degrees, depending on the situation, but have turned the temp down to 97-98 degrees if a chick was working really hard to get out for a long time. Also, be sure that there's plenty of ventilation in the incubator. If you have an incubator with removable plugs for ventilation, be sure that all the plugs are out so the chick has enough oxygen.

I've only had a few that pipped at the wrong end, and they've all been able to hatch. Since pipping at the wrong end represents a combined internal and external pip, the chicks will often wait longer in this position between the pip and the zip. Monitor closely, but don't rush the hatch -- read the article instead. Once they started to zip, it took 5-6 times longer than normal, and the zips had to be assisted because the membranes did dry out and became tough despite the high humidity. They might have eventually made it out without assistance, but I don't like them to struggle for too long. I've never had to assist before they start to zip, and doing so can be dangerous to the chick if you do it too soon. But once they start to zip giving assistance is much safer, as long as it's done properly.

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks for the quick & very informative response. I'm just watching for now & it sounds like that's all I should do since the temp & humidity are good. I've only assisted hatch when the zipping stops & no progress made for several hours (usually the membrane dried & glued to chick) or when a pipped egg's strong peeping turns into a faint peep. In all of those cases (well all 5 of them), the chicks lived. There have been more times when I waited too long & the chick simply died. Who knows if my help would have been beneficial.

Yes, I think I'm learning as much as my daughter from this experiment. I never hatched shipped eggs before this spring, so there's a lot of little things that can make a big difference.

 

[sonderah]

I would never be able to handle that, if it's 80 deg out I think it's too hot.

I live in Ky and it gets in the high 90's, but rarely. At the moment I am visiting my parents in Florence, AZ, & it is HOT!!!!! I was just thinking the other day how different it would have to be raising chickens here, & trying to keep them cool & alive! I wouldn't want to do it I don't think, it'd be too hot to wanna go out and take care of them! Lol

 

[Tuhmu]

It's currently 44 out, in the middle of july....middle of summer and I'm worrying about trying to keep chicks I recently kicked outside; warm. lol

 

[Penny Hen]

I live in Ky and it gets in the high 90's, but rarely. At the moment I am visiting my parents in Florence, AZ, & it is HOT!!!!! I was just thinking the other day how different it would have to be raising chickens here, & trying to keep them cool & alive! I wouldn't want to do it I don't think, it'd be too hot to wanna go out and take care of them! Lol

Places like that are what Naked Necks chickens are good for. Or Egyptian Fayomis.