July Hatch-a-long

[BY Chicken Lady]

11 are out 12 to go!, pictures later my day 21 for the last bunch is friday, they almost always hatch 2 days early, so im looking at the rest to pip in 2 days...

WooHoo!

 

[Gen9]

Aww

The hubby said he will replace the wafer thermostat with a digital one after this hatch...if I dont cook my chicks before they hatch.

that's sweet of the hubby. Good luck!!

 

[Sclark73]

I figured out the strange hatch, some of them got out just before I started pulling eggs and my free ranger roos must of snuck them! Still excited, thankfully it wasn't my BLRW hen who got out!

 

[Gen9]

Yea, that is a great idea. As a test of my cockerels fertility I put one of my hens eggs in the incubator to see if anything came of it. I did this on day 5 of my other eggs. I candled it on day 4 and see veins and an air pocket! But now what shall I do with it when my other six eggs go into lockdown??

Aww I wonder too

 

[Sclark73]

11 are out 12 to go!, pictures later my day 21 for the last bunch is friday, they almost always hatch 2 days early, so im looking at the rest to pip in 2 days...

Congrats on the hatch can't wait for pics.

 

[Gen9]

11 are out 12 to go!, pictures later my day 21 for the last bunch is friday, they almost always hatch 2 days early, so im looking at the rest to pip in 2 days...

Can't wait to see pics

 

[Gen9]

Omg

Marlena has hatched 3 of her 5 eggs, and one in the incubator (of 6) is rocking a little (day 20). I locked the incubator down this morning -- it is a day later than Marlena's eggs.

such a cute pic! I love it

 

[Crissie]

Well my first hatch was a blazing failure, with the exception of two adorable Lavender Ameraucana chicks. Out of 50+ eggs and $150+ in the cost of eggs for that first batch, I'm a little disappointed. I consoled myself with a pair of Cuckoo Orps that I'd been wanting.

Rounds 2 and 3 are in the bators now, and if these are as much of a failure, I'm going to pack the darn incubators up and send them to someone else.

This time I'm going to try to keep a far more even temperature - I'm using Oregon Scientific digital units that provide temperature and humidity levels and I've checked those to be fairly accurate with some of those aquarium thermometers and a reptile thingy-bobber. I wonder if on the last hatch, I just tinkered with it too darn much.

Question for you all - what are you running humidity at during your incubation (prior to lockdown)? I didn't adjust it at all on my first hatch - I really just tried to watch the air cells and didn't even add any humidity until lockdown. I'm wondering if I should try to maybe keep the humidity up a little bit more this time?

The strange part is that when my husband looked inside my flunker eggs, they seemed to fail at different stages... I had some early failures in some Marans (couldn't see inside those so didn't pull them) and some later failures in a couple of gorgeous Silkies. Hearing about those broke my heart.

PS - HUGE hugs to chickydee64. You are a treasure. Thank you for your kindness. xoxo

 

[Sclark73]

Well my first hatch was a blazing failure, with the exception of two adorable Lavender Ameraucana chicks.  Out of 50+ eggs and $150+ in the cost of eggs for that first batch, I'm a little disappointed.  I consoled myself with a pair of Cuckoo Orps that I'd been wanting.

Rounds 2 and 3 are in the bators now, and if these are as much of a failure, I'm going to pack the darn incubators up and send them to someone else.

This time I'm going to try to keep a far more even temperature - I'm using Oregon Scientific digital units that provide temperature and humidity levels and I've checked those to be fairly accurate with some of those aquarium thermometers and a reptile thingy-bobber.  I wonder if on the last hatch, I just tinkered with it too darn much.

Question for you all - what are you running humidity at during your incubation (prior to lockdown)?  I didn't adjust it at all on my first hatch - I really just tried to watch the air cells and didn't even add any humidity until lockdown.  I'm wondering if I should try to maybe keep the humidity up a little bit more this time?

The strange part is that when my husband looked inside my flunker eggs, they seemed to fail at different stages...  I had some early failures in some Marans (couldn't see inside those so didn't pull them) and some later failures in a couple of gorgeous Silkies.  Hearing about those broke my heart.  

PS - HUGE hugs to chickydee64.  You are a treasure.  Thank you for your kindness.  xoxo

I try to stay under 50% which is very hard to do these past few weeks on how hot and humid its been. Im in North Central Wisconsin I couldn't imagine how the southern states are. During lockdown I've been running 44-76% the lower is due to opening so much. My thermometer keeps a low and high for temp and humidity which is nice. Im sorry you had such a bad hatch. I've only added water twice to my incubator over the 18 days they were in it.

 

[Sclark73]

Here a wet baby #1 and now 7 pips, wish they'd hurry to keep this little one company.