July 2022 Hatch-A-Long

[junior67]

I was able to thin down the herd enough to start using the turner. 23 eggs developing!

Because it was only day 3 I cracked all eggs I pulled (I typically just toss them). Sure enough zero development. Either from shipping or flock issues but they were all definitely nonstarters.

View attachment 3152955View attachment 3152957View attachment 3152956View attachment 3152958

wow GREAT development for day 3! Were these all shipped? if so I have to ask were the boxes marked Fragile? and anything about hatching eggs? The 2 boxes of shipped eggs I have gotten so far didn't say anything and only had 2 hatch in the first batch and none from the 2nd. have 2 more batches coming next week, I know one will be marked the other said she didn't because they are harder on those packages (this is the same one I got the 2nd batch from that didn't even start..)

oh also did you hand turn them for the 3 days? I have 22+ coming so if they all come in one piece and each seller adds some extras they won't all fit with the turner in so will need to figure out what I am doing.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

wow GREAT development for day 3! Were these all shipped? if so I have to ask were the boxes marked Fragile? and anything about hatching eggs? The 2 boxes of shipped eggs I have gotten so far didn't say anything and only had 2 hatch in the first batch and none from the 2nd. have 2 more batches coming next week, I know one will be marked the other said she didn't because they are harder on those packages (this is the same one I got the 2nd batch from that didn't even start..)

oh also did you hand turn them for the 3 days? I have 22+ coming so if they all come in one piece and each seller adds some extras they won't all fit with the turner in so will need to figure out what I am doing.

Yeah, they’re actually a little ahead development wise. I’m wondering if the incubator is running slightly warm. I use 2 additional thermometers but it’s still hard to know for sure. Another clue is I had almost 11 out of 15 chicks hatch on day 20 last time. Unfortunately the NR360 can only adjust in 1/2 degree increments. I decided to let it ride for now. I’ll probably turn it down to 99.0 later in the hatch.

Yes, I was hand turning. No schedule just when I thought about it. Probably more than they needed (every hour some days). You can squeeze quite a few eggs in the NR360 if you hand turn.

Yes, they’re shipped. I’ll snap pictures of the box, and tag you, in the morning. It had some stickers on it but I don’t remember the exact wording. I think it was “live chicken embryos”. These eggs only traveled about 180 miles. Because of that, and their great condition when they arrived, I opted to treat them as local eggs. Rather than my usual babying of shipped eggs. For the most part I’ve given up on cross country eggs. If it’s that important to me I’ll buy chicks, like my recent Marans. To get my hatching fix I try to stick to shipped eggs within 1 state, ~600 miles, of where I live.

 

[3KillerBs]

I always put a diamond engagement ring in the water dish for my newly hatched poults. Hubs thinks I'm crazy, but they are curious about the pretty shiny thing and peck at it, and in the process get their beaks wet...and the next thing you know, they are drinking water like a pro. But seriously..it's a diamond...a tiny turkey beak and water isn't going to hurt it any. Just have to be careful not to lose it when cleaing out the water dish. Once the poults are drinking well on their own, I take back my ring, polishing it up first. To get the new poults to eat, I slowly sprinkle a few crumbles on a clean white linen or paper towel and "peck" (tap) at it with my finger, doing this a few times a day, and they'll run over and mimic peck at the crumbles, too. By Day 2 they are eating on their own. I've yet to lose a turkey poult.

If I get turkey poults and try that I think I'll buy some glittery beads at the craft store and string them on wire.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@junior67 This is the labeling on these shipped eggs. The only other label was the shipping one. Definitely always “hold for pickup” if you’re not already doing that. I feel like the last leg, with the carrier, is the roughest.

 

[junior67]

@junior67 This is the labeling on these shipped eggs. The only other label was the shipping one. Definitely always “hold for pickup” if you’re not already doing that. I feel like the last leg, with the carrier, is the roughest.

View attachment 3153369View attachment 3153370

Thank you. I have a friend that works at my PO so they already gave my carrier a heads up. Haahaa.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

I have 10 Guinea eggs due to hatch July 12th. I’m hoping they all hatch as last time only 2 out of 7 hatched. I’ll also be setting some Silkie eggs soon to hatch the same day.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I have 10 Guinea eggs due to hatch July 12th. I’m hoping they all hatch as last time only 2 out of 7 hatched. I’ll also be setting some Silkie eggs soon to hatch the same day.

That’ll be an exciting hatch. What colors are you expecting?

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

That’ll be an exciting hatch. What colors are you expecting?

Well I currently only have 2 fully grown guineas, 1 pearl and 1 lavender so the keets will probably all be pearl. My other guineas have all died or disappeared so my guineas currently live with my chickens.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

And the silkies will probably all be black or blue because my rooster is black.

I have 2 Silkie chicks in the brooder that I hatched a few weeks ago. (1 black and 1 blue)

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I'm planning to hatch out EE x silkie crosses on July 11th (it's my birthday) so I haven't set them just yet, but I'm excited.

Here is a photo of my splash Ameraucana/white Silkie cross so yours may look something like this! I love the crosses, they are so unique looking!