June hatch-a-long!

[HenniesInMyHeart]

<3 HAPPY JUNE HATCH-A-LONG, EVERYHENNIE! <3
Alright, it's time I post in here! June is going to be a very busy chickie month for me...and the beginning of July is gonna be busy, too!
CURRENT HATCHING PLANS:
1. BLACK COCHINS! Set 6.3.18.
2. SILKIES! Batch 1, Set 6.7.18.
3. MORE SILKIES! Fancier varieties on the way!
4. BLUE-LACED RED WYANDOTTES: I just won an auction for 2 dozen of these! They will be here in several days. I've had terrible luck with these so I am hoping and praying things go better this time. New breeder; better stock; more knowledge; hoping for the best! I will update when I set them.

Notes: I have only just learned that altitude can affect hatchability! I had never even thought about it before! I couldn't figure out why I've been losing so many babies at full term and/or during lockdown, and after checking all the other parameters, all I could conclude was that there is an increased risk of chick malpositioning due to the eggs being shipped. It didn't explain the rest of the full-term losses, though. In my research, I discovered that I am not alone, and others in Colorado have had the same problem!
TL;DR: If you buy eggs laid by hens living at sea level and have them sent to high altitude, the egg shells may not be porous enough to allow the embryos to get enough air, and/or if the parents aren't raised at high-altitude, the chicks may have lower RBC counts and can't get enough oxygen at hatch time. I have lost too many babies and I am determined to do better. I've got some of the best equipment on the market, and now I will be adding supplemental oxygen before and throughout lockdown. I hope it will help!

 

[KittyCat13]

<3 HAPPY JUNE HATCH-A-LONG, EVERYHENNIE! <3
Alright, it's time I post in here! June is going to be a very busy chickie month for me...and the beginning of July is gonna be busy, too!
CURRENT HATCHING PLANS:
1. BLACK COCHINS! Set 6.3.18.
2. SILKIES! Batch 1, Set 6.7.18.
3. MORE SILKIES! Fancier varieties on the way!
4. BLUE-LACED RED WYANDOTTES: I just won an auction for 2 dozen of these! They will be here in several days. I've had terrible luck with these so I am hoping and praying things go better this time. New breeder; better stock; more knowledge; hoping for the best! I will update when I set them.

Notes: I have only just learned that altitude can affect hatchability! I had never even thought about it before! I couldn't figure out why I've been losing so many babies at full term and/or during lockdown, and after checking all the other parameters, all I could conclude was that there is an increased risk of chick malpositioning due to the eggs being shipped. It didn't explain the rest of the full-term losses, though. In my research, I discovered that I am not alone, and others in Colorado have had the same problem!
TL;DR: If you buy eggs laid by hens living at sea level and have them sent to high altitude, the egg shells may not be porous enough to allow the embryos to get enough air, and/or if the parents aren't raised at high-altitude, the chicks may have lower RBC counts and can't get enough oxygen at hatch time. I have lost too many babies and I am determined to do better. I've got some of the best equipment on the market, and now I will be adding supplemental oxygen before and throughout lockdown. I hope it will help!

Oh wow, you will be busy! Good luck with these eggs, how will you be adding the oxygen? It sounds really interesting!

I love blue laced wyandottes, they are just so pretty!

Another chick hatched this morning so that's 4 out of the 5 that made in to lock down. It's the start of day 23 now and I can't see much going on in the last egg when I candled it. I'll have a better look later but I'm not very hopeful. Still, 4 out of 6 isn't awful! And Brahmas are such sweet little babies, their little fluffy legs are the cutest!

I'm not 100% sure what to hatch next. I've got some Warren and ayam cemani x Indian game eggs I could try or buy some pure ayam cemani eggs. Or get some more bantams to keep my silkie company, not sure what kind though! Too many options and I'm a useless decision maker!

 

[KittyCat13]

Or try some of my runner ducks eggs!

 

[MadChickenMama]

Well I started my 7 Serama Eggs today and should be getting my 12 Bantam Cochins tomorrow.

Have you done Seramas before? I've got 14 out of 22 still going. Due to hatch on Monday.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Advice needed:

I know broody hens know what theyre doing and all, but I'm worried about the eggs I gave the hen. I have her 3 and have candled them with the others and things have been fine and she's been sitting fine and everything. Still wasn't eating much, but she was eating more than she had been.

Get up this morning and go to turn the light on for her (room she's in has no window) and discover she is off the eggs and she's ravenous.

I decide to check the eggs out because I believed the ones I gave her, two could hatch early. Well when I touched them they were pretty cold.

Normally she's kept them so nice and warm that for a few minutes after she's off them they're still very warm as opposed to the incubator eggs that start cooling down after a minute.

I took all 3 and candled them to check for life. Two I could see well enough into and saw some very small movements but the 3rd one I can barely get any light through more than just the air cell so I couldn't detect anything. I went ahead and put that one back in the incubator.

Well that was all around 6:50am and it is now 8am and she is still eating and has not gotten back on the eggs. It was a bit cooler in her room last night, but still.

Do y'all think she's suddenly not broody anymore? I mean she doesn't even make her warning noises at me anymore and when I put my hand in on the eggs, very deliberately so she could see, she was just like, meh, whatever and kept eating.

 

[ButteCA]

Thanks! I've positioned them all with the air cell up now since I turned off the turner. The eggs are so small that they were constantly ending up with the small end up on the edge of the turner and i was having to open the thing every hour to fix them. So now I do it myself and turn them once every 3 hours (5 time total). I'll be sure to turn them with the lowest part of the cell up on Saturday.

Aside from that I am hoping things go well. I have no for sure idea where the temp has been at. The reader on the incubator says 98.5, the digital one says 100.2 or 100.4, and the regular one I got from tractor supply says 98. Then the 3 that are under the hen feel much warmer and stay warmer longer when I candled them the other day. I tried turning the temp up .5* in the incubator yesterday and the eggs were warmer and stayed warmer for longer, but my digital one was reading 101.2.

I heard 98 or 97 was the lowest temp the eggs could be at and it would cause them to hatch late.

I checked a few today and movement is certain slower, but with hatch day 5 days away I'm not super concerned, but I still worry. Some eggs I could barely make out anything and so don't know.

The temp issue is frustrating.

What kind of incubator do you have? What model is it?

 

[KittyCat13]

Advice needed:

I know broody hens know what theyre doing and all, but I'm worried about the eggs I gave the hen. I have her 3 and have candled them with the others and things have been fine and she's been sitting fine and everything. Still wasn't eating much, but she was eating more than she had been.

Get up this morning and go to turn the light on for her (room she's in has no window) and discover she is off the eggs and she's ravenous.

I decide to check the eggs out because I believed the ones I gave her, two could hatch early. Well when I touched them they were pretty cold.

Normally she's kept them so nice and warm that for a few minutes after she's off them they're still very warm as opposed to the incubator eggs that start cooling down after a minute.

I took all 3 and candled them to check for life. Two I could see well enough into and saw some very small movements but the 3rd one I can barely get any light through more than just the air cell so I couldn't detect anything. I went ahead and put that one back in the incubator.

Well that was all around 6:50am and it is now 8am and she is still eating and has not gotten back on the eggs. It was a bit cooler in her room last night, but still.

Do y'all think she's suddenly not broody anymore? I mean she doesn't even make her warning noises at me anymore and when I put my hand in on the eggs, very deliberately so she could see, she was just like, meh, whatever and kept eating.

That's a long time for her to have been off the eggs for, it does sound like she may have stopped being broody, I've had a few over the years who have seemed like they were doing great at being broody then just given up, some just a couple of days before the eggs were due to hatch!

Can you get the eggs in the incubator?

 

[MadChickenMama]

What kind of incubator do you have? What model is it?

Nurture Right 360.

It's actually been pretty good, but thanks to my wanting to be sure I didn't have moisture build up problems during lockdown I installed the anti moisture pad and because of that I began having temp issues. They MIGHT be fixed, but I can't be too sure. I actually commandeered my sister's regular thermometer and am going to use it today to get another reading.

 

[MadChickenMama]

That's a long time for her to have been off the eggs for, it does sound like she may have stopped being broody, I've had a few over the years who have seemed like they were doing great at being broody then just given up, some just a couple of days before the eggs were due to hatch!

Can you get the eggs in the incubator?

Yeah I can. I'm about to go check on her again. If she's still off them I will take them. It will actually help with the fact I was going to have to find another brooder box if she hatched the chicks in there as my sister decided she didn't feel like setting up something under her coop.

 

[ButteCA]

Total count is 14 eggs hatched! I’m all all hatched out.