June Hatch-A-Long

[hysop]

So one of my hens went broody last week and I got excited. Then a second in another coop went broody, decided to leave her alone.

Now out of my 14 hens no one is laying (well minus one or two eggs per day)

So I did the meanie thing and took all the eggs. If they wanna be broody they need to lay more eggs.

I have them in the incubator for now. One was cracked but showed signs of life so I used crayon 🖍 wax to seal it. Hope it makes it.

 

[Oldhallchicks]

Day 18 today. Just candled to try and decide if I go ahead and boost humidity or let it run dry until tomorrow morning.

these are the air cell sizes...they don’t look terribly small but they are pretty uniform all the way around. Not lower on one side like pictures I’ve seen. Thoughts @CluckNDoodle ?

also...this egg looks a bit weird compared to the others, but doesn’t smell or anything....looks a bit like it might have died . should I toss it, or just wait and see and take it out if it smells?

 

[Oldhallchicks]

Also...this is my staggered hatch setup! I’ll tilt the ones that are tilted a few times today and tomorrow or until I hear any chirping or see any pips. Then I’ll not open the incubator unless I need to get a chick out, at which point I can quickly til

I can’t see a dang thing in the grocery store blue/Maran eggs, so I just left them in. I pulled one blue egg that was clearly infertile, but the others I really can’t tell.

there is only 1/6BO clearly developing. One was infertile with a completely rolling air cell. The others I can’t see any development.

I figure I’ll just wait til the end of the first hatch to pull anymore, because there should be clear development by then.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@CluckNDoodle , @jolenesdad , and everyone please...
How bad do they look? 1 & 2 are the worst air cells. 2 goes halfway down one side and 1 not as bad. As far as jiggling there is some, but not terribly bad. Mostly on one side or maybe just 1/3 of an edge.

11 is just a hot mess. Decent air cell but cracks and all kinds of questionable spots, ignore it.

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They do look rough but the postal service just isn't kind to eggs. As others mentioned they often start to right themselves during incubation other than the very worst air cells.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Day 18 today. Just candled to try and decide if I go ahead and boost humidity or let it run dry until tomorrow morning.

these are the air cell sizes...they don’t look terribly small but they are pretty uniform all the way around. Not lower on one side like pictures I’ve seen. Thoughts @CluckNDoodle ?
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View attachment 2208058also...this egg looks a bit weird compared to the others, but doesn’t smell or anything....looks a bit like it might have died . should I toss it, or just wait and see and take it out if it smells?
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They do look like possible quitters but if they don't stink I usually leave them in there until hatch day when they're that close because it's harder to tell when there is a nearly fully developed chick in there. I've had a couple surprise me.

Air cell looks good on the second one and maybe a little small on the first, assuming it's not the same egg that you rotated because then it's definitely perfect and you can lay the eggs down with the side that is lower facing up and you'll be more likely to be able to see all of the pips on top.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

This may be helpful to both @SnapdragonQ and @Oldhallchicks.
This is the hatch I currently have on lockdown and you can see that the air cells varied a good bit when I marked them on day 17. I wasn't worried about the few that are smaller because they usually catch up by hatch day like the image underneath on day 20. As far as saddled air cells you can see I had several on day 1 (one that was so detached I didn't even try to mark it and it still made it to lockdown!) and in this batch they all corrected themselves by day 17. That's not always the case, so don't panic if you still see a saddle at lockdown, they can still hatch just fine.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

2 more appear to have quit. One of them is a marans egg, so I’m not 100% sure it’s gone yet, so I left it in just in case. That leaves me with 15 in the incubator, and one week until hatch.

You can see better in a marans egg if you shine a light into both ends (may require a second set of hands, like a reluctant 12 year old who also has better eye sight...). I was able to see into my lone BCM egg and confirm movement. I used a candler on one end and my iphone flashlight on the other end. Used the same method to confirm my last ameraucana was a quitter.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

@CluckNDoodle @jolenesdad @Hucklekree @jmns @CindyinSD @kelseyk
Thank you everyone! For your reason, calm, examples, and excellent hand holding.

I took a deep breath and set the eggs this morning (taking all donations of wine, chocolate, and any extra spa/massage coupons laying around. You know...for when life is more normal...)

The #2 egg seemed to be a good candidate to be upright initially so I made a little cradle on the turner that won't interfere with turning for the rest of the eggs that are on their sides. I also set one of my own flock's eggs as a test egg opposite the #2 egg in the same set up for turner balance.
Guess I'll see how 2 does as to laying it down. The plan is to gently twist them both 5 times daily for a few days and go from there.

 

[FortCluck]

My quail eggs are arriving late. I think Ohio POs are the worst next to Texas. My box better come in undamaged

 

[Willow2253]

You can see better in a marans egg if you shine a light into both ends (may require a second set of hands, like a reluctant 12 year old who also has better eye sight...). I was able to see into my lone BCM egg and confirm movement. I used a candler on one end and my iphone flashlight on the other end. Used the same method to confirm my last ameraucana was a quitter.

That’s a good idea. I’m not candling again until Friday, when I get everything set for lockdown, so I should be able to tell by then.