Jan./Feb. 2014 hatch a long

[Cynthia12]

I find regardless of what day you lock down, the chick will hatch on day 21. Mama hen is still moving eggs around when they hatch on day 21. I've had them hatch while I'm still turning them..to my surprise! The earliest being on day 18. Really surprised me. Have had several hatch on day 19, the day after I stopped turning. Guess they hatch when they are ready.

Whoops, I have some EE, and OE eggs in that go into lock down on Wed. I can't see in them either. If you are seeing a nice air sac, they are probably doing just fine. All we can do now is cross our fingers.

 

[Aacre]

I am now on day 8. I tried to candle. I can't see any veins, of course I have never done this before though. The air sac rings have gotten bigger on every egg. I did notice that on two of the eggs, when I move them around, the yolk rolls with the egg, and on the other egg, it does not. I wasn't exactly sure if these eggs were fertile. However, I cracked open eggs since the ones I put in the incubator and they have been fertile. I'm so unsure. This is frustrating. I'm holding a smaller L.E.D. flashlight and not letting any light escape. I wonder if it is a strong enough light?

What color are your eggs? I find it tougher to see development in my brown eggs. Are you putting the big end of the egg on the light?

 

[Cynthia12]

These are the pics of the wooden cover for the galvanized stock tank brooder. And you see the inside picture where we cut another board (for under the water and food) and cover it with rubber non adhesive shelf liner. It keeps the board clean under the food and water and the shelf liner can be washed over and over.

Very nice! Looks nice and toasty in there.

 

[dfreas]

These are the pics of the wooden cover for the galvanized stock tank brooder. And you see the inside picture where we cut another board (for under the water and food) and cover it with rubber non adhesive shelf liner. It keeps the board clean under the food and water and the shelf liner can be washed over and over.

Cool! I might be able to put together something like that. Thanks for the pics, this will be very helpful.

 

[Jenni77]

They are light brown. Banty eggs.

 

[Timba]

I tried candling but didn't see anything. Maybe the 16 eggs are duds? Maybe it's too soon? Or maybe I just don't know what I'm doing? Is day four too early to candle?

 

[Gen9]

OHHHHH, I want an assistant like that...............   What a cutie and I;\'ll bet a really big help.
My boy is 50.........................  and just is not interested in chickens anymore.

That's a cool looking hen!   And that assistant is quite handsome. 

I just realized this you all prob think that's a boy in the picture... My little girl is wearing a pony tail, but I can see how the gender can be mistaken heehee she isn't a girly girl but she's not a tomboy (like me) either.

Cynthia, she's a blue copper Marans! The farm I bought her from crossed blue & black Marans. I got a black copper, blue copper & one that is all grey with a charcoal grey neck, the roo is a blue copper splash, so all of these chicks *should* turn out blue splash. Oh but for some reason they don't have much feather on their legs, & the roo has clean legs, I'm pretty stumped! Their eggs are a medium brown with dark speckles on them... Not really terra cotta or darker like I expected. Still looks neat

 

[lismarc]

I would up the humidity as soon as there is 1 internal pip.. if it's on the early side, you could just go to 55% and ramp up to 65% the following day.

opening the incubator at this point causes a sudden humidity drop so anything you do to add more water has to be super quick.
I like using pieces of sponge so I can just slip it in very quickly, I don't see much of a humidity drop doing it that way. it's much better than removing the entire lid and pouring some water in

Thanks again. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I'm not quite as worried now.

 

[StewedMammal]

I am looking at hatching coturnix quail after these hatches. First time for me.

This will be my 2nd coturnix hatch that is over 30 eggs. I would be trying to hatch 120 or so eggs.

 

[Gen9]

These are the pics of the wooden cover for the galvanized stock tank brooder. And you see the inside picture where we cut another board (for under the water and food) and cover it with rubber non adhesive shelf liner. It keeps the board clean under the food and water and the shelf liner can be washed over and over.

Nice setup, I like this idea. I was thinking of building my own out of plywood & 2x4s but this would be way easier to clean between flocks