January Hatch-a-long 2018

[UThobbyfarmer]

No pips yet over here. Should have some shortly.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

ok know that i got a good look at the egg i an see that it is a pip

That's so exciting!

 

[ambe0487]

Can some one remind me how to tell hatch rates again?

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Chicks hatched/ number of eggs you started with

Or

Chicks hatched / (number of eggs at start - infertile eggs)

I've seen it both ways.

 

[jennifer reich]

ok know that i got a good look at the egg i an see that it is a pip

Mine pipped through! Just one so far.

 

[ambe0487]

Thank you @UThobbyfarmer! I set 54 but apparently my cockerel didn’t like 4 of my hens so non of theirs were fertilized.
Day 7- 33 were growing.
I had 3 early quitters
So 30 went into lockdown.
4 left to hatch (26 hatched)
26/30=Is 86% if none of the rest hatch. Did I do that correct?

 

[Cynthia12]

Around my neck of the woods, in my house at least hatching did nothing to humidity level. My house is DRY so I had to add water every day to keep decent humidity in my circulated air bator. Let me ask you this, what risks do you think are worse for the chick (if humidity during regular incubation was normal and egg had correct air cell at lockdown): too low humidity or too high? I only ask because personally I think the risks of shrink-wrapped chicks due to low humidity at hatch are worse than the chick not fluffing out as quickly due to high humidity. If the egg has correct air cell at lockdown what are the risks of high humidity on hatch? Would a "sticky" chick be caused by humidity issues before lockdown and not during? Just my inexperience talking!

Circulated air! Makes a difference for sure. I try to keep saying I am using dry. I just took this batch of eggs out of my bator with a fan for this reason. I also had to keep wetting a sponge I had in there to keep it up just a bit during icubation. Low humidity during the First part of incubation won't cause any problems with shrink wrap. Even getting into the second week you aren't going to have to worry about a shrink wrap. The third week I'm still not too worried about my humidity being low..in the mid 30's. to low 40's. In the third week is when the eggs will start to... keep.. extra moisture. Has anyone ever checked an egg that didn't hatch to find a real thick .. real thick, and a lot of that wet sticky gunk? This is happpening during the third week and lockdown. You mentioned that ...in .. your house. Yep, Everyone has different situations as to..... keeping.. the humidity up...or down. It may take more water to keep it up, but you still want to keep it under the mid 60% range to keep the egg from getting filled with that goop. I rarely hear of folks having a shrink wrap problem. Often times when someone opens an egg with a dead chick in it, they think they are seeing shrink wrap. When if they look close, it's just that an air cell has moved up during lockdown, which is what you want. Don't want that air cell too big during incubation, but do want it to move up during lockdown. Man, it's a miracle we get chicks at all after having said all of that! People that have hatched for years do what they have found works for them.. of course. I find having a bator in a different room in the house is different. I still don't have to have humidity way up into the 60's. That's when I start getting goopy eggs/drowned chicks. That's here, that's mine. Again, having a calibrated thermometer/hydrometer is best to know where you really are wth things. A lot of folks just aren't getting the right readings. And start adjusting according to what they are seeing. They may be seeing it reading 50%, When I'm fact it may be really 55%. Good ol Walmart brands are really known to be off after a while. I used to calibrate, but now know how to read these crazy things without. Hope I made some sense here. :/

 

[Cynthia12]

i candled my eggs and they do look fertile it looked like the chick was n the pointy end of the the egg it is day 19 is this a promblem that it is in the ponty end

Day 19, are you in lockdown? They are turning at this pount. .

 

[Cynthia12]

ok know that i got a good look at the egg i an see that it is a pip

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Can some one remind me how to tell hatch rates again?

Thank you @UThobbyfarmer! I set 54 but apparently my cockerel didn’t like 4 of my hens so non of theirs were fertilized.
Day 7- 33 were growing.
I had 3 early quitters
So 30 went into lockdown.
4 left to hatch (26 hatched)
26/30=Is 86% if none of the rest hatch. Did I do that correct?

26/33=78% or 26/54=48%. But I would definitely count those early quitters either way. When I start hatching my own eggs this spring I'll include all eggs, even infertile, into my hatch rate as an overall indicator of my flocks' health and fertility.

Edit: If you're only looking to dial in your incubating you can definitely go with the 1st number.