Jan./Feb. 2014 hatch a long

[Farmer Viola]

On a side note, My Java that I got last year laid her first egg of the season yesterday!! Went out this morn to tend to the animals and she was already in the nest getting prepped to lay again!! So exited, I would love to have some babies from her, already hoping she will either go broody or I can get some of her eggs, gonna wait a few more days then start saving them, the roo is covering her and the eggs are fertile!!!

I got her last year from a lady because she didn't want a broody hen, of course I didn't expect her to stay broody after we got her and she didn't, but she only laid for a month and then went into a hard molt, I knew she was coming out of it by last week when I noticed her hanging around the rooster more and squatting for him instead of him having to chase her...

oooh that's exciting! should give you some fertile eggs to incubate SOON!

is Java her name or her breed?

Me too. I always tell everyone about hatching weak chicks blah blah blah right before admitting to helping. I try not to but I can't not help.

yeah... I think that I have a responsibility to intervene, because I have already interfered with their natural process so deeply. removed from the hen, shipped 1500 miles and banged up/tossed around, set inside artificial conditions with an artificial turner... even the best I can do, the odds are against them if you were to compare a regular egg - laid in my backyard, set on by my broody, shuffled around in the nest to turn, and eventually hatched under her soft feathers.
I really took the last set of detached chicks who died to heart. I know that if it weren't for my shipping them, they might have lived in ideal conditions. If I could have pipped them before they died (or not laid them on their side), then I might have 6 ameraucanas right now!

It came at such a high loss to me that I now feel confident that intervention is always going to be the right choice for me, even if it's going very VERY slowly over many, many hours and losing all kinds of sleep while I monitor them...
BTW I really want to get some non-shipped eggs next time! lol

for anyone who is considering intervention for the first time, this is a very informative guide you should read:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch

 

[SilkieSensation]

I've hatched chicks up to 6 days late, ducks 7 days late & muscovies 8 days late. I've had temperature issues the past 2 winters dur to moving & power outages. Hatch rates drop, but some always still hatch.

When they are that late do you just leave them in the lockdown stage? As in higher humidity and no turning?

When they are that late do you just leave them in the lockdown stage? As in higher humidity and no turning?

yes.................

No. I monitor development & lockdown when I see internal pips or hear peeping. The ones that I have left in lockdown way before they were ready tend to end up too fat or stuck to the shell & can't turn to pip & zip properly.

 

[dolfi]

Yesterday at 1pm marked the 21st day....

Okay just candled. My backyard eggs looks good I think I even saw internal peepers. Yet my 6 shipped eggs looks like quitters. Still left them in and presided with lockdown. Let's see.

 

[sasimpson77]

So I couldn't get my third incubators temperature to stay consistent so I did some shuffling this morning and moved my Rhodebar eggs in to Lock down a day early and all my barnyard mix into lock down a day late so they are all on lockdown now I could not detect any movement in any of my barnyard mix bummer they looked so good the whole time I am hatching all of the eggs standing up in egg cartons just seemed easier seeing as how some of my Rhodebars had detached air cells. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I get something out of these 3 dozen eggs.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

I can finally join a hatch a long!!

I'm setting bator up today. I am hatching speckled Sussex x wc polish bantam crosses. Hopefully they will hatch.

 

[kimmommy23]

I can finally join a hatch a long!!

I'm setting bator up today. I am hatching speckled Sussex x wc polish bantam crosses. Hopefully they will hatch.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[Timba]

No. I monitor development & lockdown when I see internal pips or hear peeping. The ones that I have left in lockdown way before they were ready tend to end up too fat or stuck to the shell & can't turn to pip & zip properly.

i'm terrible at candling eggs. I think the flashlight that I'm using is not strong enough. The eggs are not clear I'll tell you that much but I don't know if they have that red ring of death thing that I keep reading about. All I can see is a dark mass and red veins everywhere. And I am at day 14.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Welcome and good luck!

Thank you!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Why do some of my eggs have these speckles??

 

[dolfi]

Why do some of my eggs have these speckles??

Yea, some of mine do too. Only that they are usually darker. But they are hard to see vain and all. They do hatch but I don't think it is supposed to be like that. ???