July Hatch-a-Long

[aliciaplus3]

Today was supposed to be hatch day and only 1 out of 6 turkey eggs is still alive..... grrrr I hate theses bad hatches..... I will keep trying I have 14 more due on the 8th.

 

[PortlandHen]

Good luck with the rest of your hatch!

 

[AUChickenGal]

Today was supposed to be hatch day and only 1 out of 6 turkey eggs is still alive..... grrrr I hate theses bad hatches..... I will keep trying I have 14 more due on the 8th.

Sorry to hear about your poor hatch. Hopefully the next one will be better!

My eggs are on day 11 now - halfway there! I candled them again this morning. Accidentally dropped one of the RIR eggs and shattered it - I can say with certainty that it was developing right on schedule. Of the eight remaining eggs, two (one RIR, one SF) don't appear to be developing/moving. I'll give them a few more days to catch up before discarding. I have six (1 RIR, 5 Faverolles) eggs with DEFINITE movement, though!

 

[mcclucker]

Oh it’s my biggest fear that I’ll drop one. I actually candle sitting on the floor with the incubator next to me and with pillows all around me and a towel in my lap. I’m so paranoid!! I’m so sorry.

I just have 5 growing now. One quit a couple days ago - I’m giving it a couple more days before I pull it but it really hasn’t changed like the others.

I’m torn now because I was hoping to get up to 6-8 hens total (I have only 2 left from my weasel catastrophe) and I will be lucky to get 2-3 hens out of this batch. I don’t want to go into winter with less than 6 girls because they won’t be warm enough. (I’m in a very cold snowy climate) Do I order some female chicks to raise with these?? Or wait to see how many roosters? Can’t keep a rooster unless I have more hens anyway. Argh.

 

[Knighstar679]

Sorry to hear about your poor hatch. Hopefully the next one will be better!

My eggs are on day 11 now - halfway there! I candled them again this morning. Accidentally dropped one of the RIR eggs and shattered it - I can say with certainty that it was developing right on schedule. Of the eight remaining eggs, two (one RIR, one SF) don't appear to be developing/moving. I'll give them a few more days to catch up before discarding. I have six (1 RIR, 5 Faverolles) eggs with DEFINITE movement, though!

So sorry to hear. I ended up cracking one of mine when I was doing my first candle on my eggs and the flashlight fell on it. I was very sad I hope your other ones hang in there

 

[dancechick915]

I cracked open 4 of my 5 clears at day 12 (one is still in the incubator but I will probably remove it tonight). Are these not fertile or just failed to develop because they were shipped eggs? (The last one had an awful detached air cell and looks completely scrambled)

 

[mcclucker]

My clears look like that. I just chalk it up to failed to develop due to jiggling during shipping. They are so scrambled it’s hard to tell whether they are fertile or not. I did have one this time with a speck of embryo that didn’t even develop any veining, so something really went wrong there.

I did end up ordering 6 female chicks to arrive the same week as my hatch. I’d really like them all to be same age, saves integration troubles. If I end up with more hens from my hatch I’ll give some away. 10 total chickens is my coop/run’s upper limit. I had too many before I lost my flock.

 

[KittyCat13]

Hi everyone! I've got 5 silver laced wyandotte bantam eggs due to hatch tomorrow, one looks like a late quitter, maybe day 16, but I kept it incase I'm wrong (plus it stops the other eggs moving about!). Then 4 due to hatch next Saturday, 2 dorkings and 2 warrens.

I put a batch of 10 eggs in my other incubator last Sunday, they were bought as eating eggs from a local historical working farm, but as they have hens and cockerels all running together I thought I'd try incubating them! Fertility is looking pretty good so far.

I've got eggs from araucanas, black copper marrans, salmon favarolles and some mixes so will be interesting to see what the chicks are like as the breeds aren't separated.

 

[PortlandHen]

I checked 4 of my 5 shipped silkies. Looking good. Only day 6 for those. I can see movement in there. Creepy alien eggs.

I can’t see anything in my EE eggs because the shells are too dark. I’ll just have to wait for those.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to crack any eggs that don’t make it. I’m too chicken?

 

[PortlandHen]

I checked 4 of my 5 shipped silkies. Looking good. Only day 6 for those. I can see movement in there. Creepy alien eggs.

I can’t see anything in my EE eggs because the shells are too dark. I’ll just have to wait for those.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to crack any eggs that don’t make it. I’m too chicken?

*the black line on the egg is to differentiate between our other eggs. All our current girls lay small light eggs.