July Hatch-a-Long

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Today is lockdown day for my incubator eggs and day 19 for my broody hen. I candled the remaining incubator eggs one last time to check for quitters and had to discard 5 more eggs that had stopped developing (these were the eggs in the suspected cold spots of the incubator). The remaining 19 eggs all look great, and had visible movement during candling. With any luck we'll hear some chirping in the next 3-4 days. Went to feed mama hen some treats and when she left the nest I observed that one of her eggs has externally pipped and a baby is chirping inside. :)
 
2 chicks are out and 2 more are pipped as of right now! It's only day 21 so I am hoping more will still hatch out of the 9 but I am not complaining! 1 of the pipped eggs is one that got cracked so the nail polish/early lockdown worked! EEEEEE baby dinosaurs!:jumpy:yesss: Chick1.jpg chick2.jpg
 
Day 18 here. Still not happy with the size of a couple of air cells, so I think I'll wait until early tomorrow morning (technically, "day 18" starts at 4:30 pm today) to remove the turner and up the humidity. Only saw movement in one egg today, but most of them are getting pretty full now, so it's hard to see much. I have 1, maybe 2, that seem to be behind the others (maybe late quitters?), but I'm going to leave them in just in case they're still viable.

The next 3-4 days are going to feel like a lifetime! I don't foresee getting much sleep this weekend.
 
PortlandHen said:
Dealing with broody hatching hens and hot weather: for anyone still hatching under hens, what are you doing when it gets real hot? Tomorrow is a very hot day for Portland, OR and my hens are not used to it. Any tips for keeping them cool while they work on hatching?
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I had a broody hen hatch eggs exactly one year ago today. Temperatures were in the high 90s for the entire incubation. I worried that she was going to die of heat stroke (she insisted on sitting in the stifling nest box, despite my best efforts). I had no way to cool her off, and she did just fine. I did move her and the chicks to the floor of the coop, for better air circulation, as soon as the eggs had hatched, just to be safe.

Good luck!
 
PortlandHen said:
Dealing with broody hatching hens and hot weather: for anyone still hatching under hens, what are you doing when it gets real hot? Tomorrow is a very hot day for Portland, OR and my hens are not used to it. Any tips for keeping them cool while they work on hatching?
Click to expand...
I've currently got a broody sitting on a clutch of Day 20 eggs, and a newly hatched chick. We've had a heat wave where I live for the duration of her incubation, reaching heat indices of over 105 some days. I've got her in a well-ventilated area, and provide fresh ice water daily, along with some refreshing treats like cubes of watermelon. I was really worried that the heat would be too much, but she's handled it without issue. The resilience and strength of chickens is indeed impressive :) Good luck.
 

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