June 2023 Hatch-a-long

[Canadian Wind]

Hope it’s OK to join the June Hatch-A-Long? I am not new to chickens but first time incubating. I bought an inexpensive incubator called Smart Bright which has a temperature monitor but nothing for humidity! Retrospect I wish I would have invested more $. I got 12 barnyard mix eggs from a neighbor who has roosters. I set them the eve if 6/6. After the eggs sat for 1 week I got a Govee hygrometer. It has been a nightmare trying to keep humidity what is recommended. When I add water it spikes and stays at 70%! I have no idea what the humidity was the week before the hygrometer was in there . My husband ended up drilling 2 holes in the lid for ventilation as the only vent is a tiny hole at the bottom. Anyway, I did candle day 8 and saw 10 little moving embryos and 2 clear so I guess the high humidity didn’t kill them. I am way more nervous about this than having broodies! so if my math is right probable hatch date is 6/27. Wish me luck, I feel 100% responsible for these little lives already

You may join up tp June 30th at 11:59, lol! Doesn't give the babies much time to hatch though.

I'll just warn you, hatching is *very* addictive!

I actually don't add water anymore during the actual incubation, only at the end. It's humid enough here that it keeps it at the right level without any extra. A lot of people do 'dry hatches', too.

Can't wait to see the peeps!

 

[Honora]

Well my 18 Swedish Flower eggs are in lockdown now, expecting chicks on Sunday! Better get that brooder box ready…,

 

[Shoebox]

Overdue photos of the first group of Golden Cascade ducklings! They all appear to be healthy and are very active. It was difficult to find a pic that wasn't all blurs. I thought I had an understanding of duck color genetics, but I was not expecting this variety at all lol




And one of the shipped eggs has hatched! Still watching and waiting for the rest. The one I posted previously is still alive and peeping but may need more assistance soon if there's still no progress. Unfortunately I did lose one egg/duckling that I later discovered was malpositioned in the egg with feet over its head, possibly stuck because the egg was unusually small and rounded to begin with and not enough room to turn. Poor baby was so close but I didn't know.

So thankful to everyone here for the advice and pep talk!

 

[tranquiliti]

Wasn’t expecting anything to hatch until the 14th (which I’d thought was day 26=“early hatch” for guineas), but two keets were out of shell a day prior; neither survived.

After adjusting security in the coop, I found two more eggs today that had begun pipping: now to see if foster broody Melba can hatch them out & take care of them.
If not, I’ll lean more strongly toward the incubator-brooder approach for next round of keets.

No more keet-rearing for my 2021 hens! All they can do is destroy hatchlings!
I heard vibrant chirps at 5 this morning, but all I did was refresh feed & water at the nest.

By 7:30, the two new keets had already been pecked to near death in the nest, and despite a move to the brooder at 100°F with Nutri-Drench they didn’t last.

 

[Canadian Wind]

No more keet-rearing for my 2021 hens! All they can do is destroy hatchlings!
I heard vibrant chirps at 5 this morning, but all I did was refresh feed & water at the nest.

By 7:30, the two new keets had already been pecked to near death in the nest, and despite a move to the brooder at 100°F with Nutri-Drench they didn’t last.
View attachment 3544929

Awww, I'm sorry to hear this!

 

[Nomadicus]

Last night we had a violent thunderstorm. When I went out to check on my broody hen she was gone and so were her eggs. No clue. There is no way to identify her in a sea of red hens in the layer house. She had a protected space down in one corner of the house where she had some privacy. A few hens laid on the ground near her but not in her nest area. She should have been hatching this week. Next time I'm moving a broody into a safe coop with its own run. I'll risk the move rather than risk losing after days of setting on eggs.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Put the incubator into lockdown. These are the last. Probably get more ducklings from the broodies but I have no certain dates because I didn't mark them down!

 

[Climax]

Another mandarins eggs hatched!
She hatched out 6, I checked the other 2 and one was bad and the other was still developing, so I put it in my incubator.

 

[Shoebox]

The duckling that couldn't pip and needed some help is out now!

Took about 60 hours overall from making the safety hole on the shell bruise, and I started the zip for it after 48 hours, to the duckling being able to finish zipping on its own. Not only was it in the wrong end of the egg, but also had its left wing over its head.

Massive thanks to @New duck mommy 2021 for detailed advice, and to @junior67 and @Canadian Wind for telling me who to ask!

 

[tranquiliti]

Baby started to pip two nights ago!!
Discovered the cold egg kicked outside the broody nest (before I dismantled it) and moved egg to the brooder in the coop.
Last night I relocated it to my top-secret incubator and heard the pipping behavior steadily increase, until getting home from work today when I finally encountered a viable hatchling!