January Hatch Buddies?

[geebs]

Mine are due on the 7th

 

[chkinut]

Yea! a January hatching thread!! i read a LONG thread entitled "Humidity in the Bator" and i have learned a LOT! this will be my 2nd year hatching. my 1st year i hatched 2 batches of silkie eggs with terrible hatch rates! they were shipped.....but i think i hatched 3 out of 14 eggs on the 1st one, and then 1 out of 14 on the 2nd batch. i think it had a lot to do with them being shipped AND them being silkies (i hear they're hard to hatch). but when i look back on how i did things....i think i let the humidity get too low, i opened the bator too much, i candled too much.....i just kept messing with them! well this time i'm leaving them alone....other than checking humidity and temps. and after reading that thread, i'm gonna keep my humidity at around 40%ish on days 1-18 and then around 55%ish around lockdown. of course i know everyone has their opinions on it....and you have to do what works best for you. anyway, i'm hatching 2 batches of BCM eggs and one batch of supposedly "true americanas"....the eggs look lt green like my EE eggs! i have almost a full bator now....unfortunately the batch is staggered....long story...but i set one batch on Thurs, one batch on Fri, and one batch on Sat.....they were shipped....and i was unsure when they'd all get here, that's why i got myself into THAT predicament. ANYway.....i've decided to put them ALL into lockdown on Jan 3rd. SO.....everythings going great so far....temps and humidity are steady. i have a hovabator 1588 with auto egg turner.

 

[shellyga]

I think the last of my first eggs might be done (7 of 11 Buff Orpingtons).. BUT

the other 31 go on lock down tomorrow so honestly.. except for the questionable one that candled strange (remember I am a newbie) I will leave the other 3 in there just in case they are late bloomers. I am sure I made many mistakes - yes I opened the incubator to take the chicks out and put them under the light since they didn't dry after 2 hours or more.. no.. I did not have a hygrometer for this first 11 (do now for next lock down) - yes I sprayed water warm water on the eggs if I opened to scoop up a chick...no.. I did not assist any chicks in hatching although I did cheer on one hatchling that was stepping all over a zipped chick..

The results are 7 beautiful fuzzy butts - all walking and talking.. so I consider myself successful.

Now I have some eggs coming on the 27th so my hatch date will be towards the mid to end of January. Can't wait to hear what everyone will be putting in their incubators. I am hooked on hatching.

Shelly

 

[pkw]

I have 2 incubators loaded with eggs due January 6th plus I have 2 hens that are sitting which should hatch January 6th/January 7th.

 

[Crazy Chicken Fever]

I have some BCM, showgirl silkies, and sizzles set to hatch on Jan 6th. I have a GFQ incubator and I LOVE IT! Last year I used the LG and Hubavator incubators. I did like the hubavator, it gave me WAY better hatch rates then the Little Giants. However, the LG'S were still air. Thru trial and error over the 100's of eggs I have hatched I would say your hatch rate depends most on how reliable your bator is. The stryos seem to flux way to much, and tend to spike the temp more often then they should in my opinion. If your buying a bator, a fan is a must. They cost more but will save you money in the long run. Your hatch rates will be much better, I know because I had a total of 6 stryos running at once.

The dry hatch is not a good idea in my opinion. I believe the chicks will not be able to zip properly if they do make it to hatch day. I am not really picky about humidity, I just fill my water container in the bator and let it run. Before lock down I put a diaper into the water to help boost the humidity, it seems to work perfect for me. My humidity during days 1-18 runs between 20-40 then up to 50-60 for the last 3 days.

I know some humidity is important during incubation. Think about it, if you have ever had a chance to pick up a broody hen off her nest you will see the eggs will have persperation on them from the hens bottom sweating. Humidity is a part of the natural incubation process. I know some people do dry hatch and succeed, but I am not willing to risk it on my expensive eggs.

Anyway, I am very excited for hatch day......this is my first hatch since back in August

Good luck everyone, please post hatch day pics if you are able.

 

[daze333]

Hi, my name is Sherry and I am a hatchoholic.

I have a large homemade bator that holds 3 auto turners. So I can fit 122 eggs at a time. I have hatching trays that I replace the turners with when it's lockdown time. Here is a pic;

I have 22 silkie eggs due to hatch 12-21
5 cuckoo marans eggs due 12-22
22 silkie eggs to hatch 12-27
2 giant cochins due 12-31
3 giant cochins due 1-5
24 giant cochins due 1-8
and 24 SQ silkie eggs to arrive this week.

See what I mean about the hatchoholic thing?

Happy hatching everyone!

 

[daze333]

Quote:
Hi,
Did you see the showgirl hatching eggs on BYC auctions? They might have closed today.

 

[gitlost80]

Hi there! I just built a styrofoam brooder today ,and for the past 10 hours the humidity has been 50% and 100.9 degrees.I cant believe it has stayed at perfect numbers right off the bat! If it stays that way untill tomorrow all I have to do wait is wait on my Standard Cochin hens to give me a couple more eggs. I have one egg set aside already, waiting for more brooder buddies. This is my first attempt at hatching. Im guessing I will start on the 21st or 22nd

P.S. Santa is hopefully bringing me the new Canon Rebel t1i Camera, so after Christmas I will have some awesome pics of my progress! -If I figure out how to work the camera...This is fun. Im gonna post a pic of my little homemade brooder tomorrow too...

 

[daze333]

Hi Gitlost,
It is so exciting to get a new bator! And it was pretty much ready to go-how nice! Mine took like a week to regulate.

Happy hatching!

 

[gofasterstripe]

I put my 6 duck eggs in then added 1 for Good Luck!!! Mine will be due to hatch on the 14th Jan. Good Luck everyone. x