June Hatch-A-Long

[LadiesAndJane]

In the US you have to be NPIP certified or you cannot ship eggs.

I stand corrected, yes you do need an NPIP to send hatching eggs in the mail, I meant that Hawaii is also a state that requires a separate permit that the sender has to get from the Hawaii state department of agriculture that verifies they have the NPIP among other things. Not enough to have a copy of the NPIP in the package. May be true of other states as well.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

The breeder who had the eggs returned, had the NPIP in the box, but had not applied for the permit.

 

[Willawong Hill]

Sadly only 2 of 12 Pekins hatched from shipped eggs. 2 DIS and the other couple that looked good never progressed beyond where they were candled day 9. Came from eggs marked blue and splash but wondering if i have two splash as both quite light. Smaller one has darker legs higher up though.
Also, one wyandotte out of 9 eggs also hatched, mostly likely silver laced though there was one gold hen in the pen. Glad I have three little babies though, fingers crossed they all stay healthy and aren't all roosters!

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry @Willawong Hill.

This hatch was the most disappointing we've ever had that I recall. Out of 20 eggs that were bouncy and moving at last candling around Day 16, only 8 chicks hatched. I have to blame equipment failure, not the incubator, per se, but the hygrometers, including the preset on the Genesis. I loathe digital hygrometers and could not find my little analog one, unfortunately. The discrepancy between the preset one on the incubator and the one I placed inside, the one that had been calibrated, became more and more wide as time went on so , in the end, I was not sure which was correct, though I tried to keep the actual RH between the two.
All chicks hatched cleanly, though, no excess fluid or open navels, which is doubly puzzling. Usually, open navels indicate humidity that is too high through a portion of the incubation, but that didn't happen. The last two chicks to hatch were, for lack of a better word, gooey, the fluid very viscous and making a coating that dried crusty. I gave the next to the last a little bath, the one you see in the middle of the picture. The last one to hatch is the one by the waterer on the right. That will be fine, of course, but they don't fluff out as quickly.
So, terrible hatch rate, but these seem strong so far. I hate not to have chicks for all three people who wanted them. I've never had it happen like this, less than 50% hatch. I can get hatching eggs and I am thinking of disinfecting and just doing this again immediately, find an analog hygro to use inside, or just go by the incubator instructions they give, water in one channel first 18 days, add water to the second channel the last 3, anyone ever actually do that? That was what my original HovaBator said to do, but I always used hygrometers.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Just candled my eggs as I took them off the turner (beginning of Day 18 here and almost time for lockdown). As I had observed, there was one infertile and one that stopped developing around Day 5 pretty early on - I cracked both of those open to check. The early quitter was starting to turn bad and was a bit off coloured and whitish (the first time I have observed this). Thankfully it didn't smell, but was getting there. The air cells seem a little small on two of the remaining five eggs, but it is still early so they have likely not started dipping down yet. Hopefully these are not late quitters.

The eggs are from six hours away (driven, not shipped), were about a week old, and the seller was honest with me that he had been having a bit of a struggle hatching this year. He thought it might have been due to his incubator, but I'm not so sure. He also had fertility issues earlier in the year, which thankfully wasn't so much of an issue for the batch I had. I took the risk anyways as his hens produce some very beautiful dark-coloured eggs. Hopefully I'll at least get a couple out of this batch, though I'm not expecting a great hatch like I get from my own flock.

 

[Melontine]

 

[jolenesdad]

Sorry @Willawong Hill.

This hatch was the most disappointing we've ever had that I recall. Out of 20 eggs that were bouncy and moving at last candling around Day 16, only 8 chicks hatched. I have to blame equipment failure, not the incubator, per se, but the hygrometers, including the preset on the Genesis. I loathe digital hygrometers and could not find my little analog one, unfortunately. The discrepancy between the preset one on the incubator and the one I placed inside, the one that had been calibrated, became more and more wide as time went on so , in the end, I was not sure which was correct, though I tried to keep the actual RH between the two.
All chicks hatched cleanly, though, no excess fluid or open navels, which is doubly puzzling. Usually, open navels indicate humidity that is too high through a portion of the incubation, but that didn't happen. The last two chicks to hatch were, for lack of a better word, gooey, the fluid very viscous and making a coating that dried crusty. I gave the next to the last a little bath, the one you see in the middle of the picture. The last one to hatch is the one by the waterer on the right. That will be fine, of course, but they don't fluff out as quickly.
So, terrible hatch rate, but these seem strong so far. I hate not to have chicks for all three people who wanted them. I've never had it happen like this, less than 50% hatch. I can get hatching eggs and I am thinking of disinfecting and just doing this again immediately, find an analog hygro to use inside, or just go by the incubator instructions they give, water in one channel first 18 days, add water to the second channel the last 3, anyone ever actually do that? That was what my original HovaBator said to do, but I always used hygrometers. View attachment 2181297

i sort of do, and I even bought one of those super fancy brinseas with an auto humidity feature. I don’t even use it anymore. I weighed a couple of times to get my eyes used to air cell growth but now all I do is watch air cells.

in summer I dry hatch until lockdown where I fill both of my channels. In winter I use one channel for hatch and two for lockdown.

so sorry that you had a bad hatch. :-( where did the eggs come from?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Just candled my eggs as I took them off the turner (beginning of Day 18 here and almost time for lockdown). As I had observed, there was one infertile and one that stopped developing around Day 5 pretty early on - I cracked both of those open to check. The early quitter was starting to turn bad and was a bit off coloured and whitish (the first time I have observed this). Thankfully it didn't smell, but was getting there. The air cells seem a little small on two of the remaining five eggs, but it is still early so they have likely not started dipping down yet. Hopefully these are not late quitters.

The eggs are from six hours away (driven, not shipped), were about a week old, and the seller was honest with me that he had been having a bit of a struggle hatching this year. He thought it might have been due to his incubator, but I'm not so sure. He also had fertility issues earlier in the year, which thankfully wasn't so much of an issue for the batch I had. I took the risk anyways as his hens produce some very beautiful dark-coloured eggs. Hopefully I'll at least get a couple out of this batch, though I'm not expecting a great hatch like I get from my own flock.

View attachment 2181324

Wow! Amazing eggs!!! I’d take that risk too!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Sorry @Willawong Hill.

This hatch was the most disappointing we've ever had that I recall. Out of 20 eggs that were bouncy and moving at last candling around Day 16, only 8 chicks hatched. I have to blame equipment failure, not the incubator, per se, but the hygrometers, including the preset on the Genesis. I loathe digital hygrometers and could not find my little analog one, unfortunately. The discrepancy between the preset one on the incubator and the one I placed inside, the one that had been calibrated, became more and more wide as time went on so , in the end, I was not sure which was correct, though I tried to keep the actual RH between the two.
All chicks hatched cleanly, though, no excess fluid or open navels, which is doubly puzzling. Usually, open navels indicate humidity that is too high through a portion of the incubation, but that didn't happen. The last two chicks to hatch were, for lack of a better word, gooey, the fluid very viscous and making a coating that dried crusty. I gave the next to the last a little bath, the one you see in the middle of the picture. The last one to hatch is the one by the waterer on the right. That will be fine, of course, but they don't fluff out as quickly.
So, terrible hatch rate, but these seem strong so far. I hate not to have chicks for all three people who wanted them. I've never had it happen like this, less than 50% hatch. I can get hatching eggs and I am thinking of disinfecting and just doing this again immediately, find an analog hygro to use inside, or just go by the incubator instructions they give, water in one channel first 18 days, add water to the second channel the last 3, anyone ever actually do that? That was what my original HovaBator said to do, but I always used hygrometers. View attachment 2181297

With the gooey chicks, I’m wondering if your humidity was too high? What RH were you Simon for? What humidity would you have if you incubated dry?
Edit: meant to add Congratulations on your adorable new chicks!

 

[Vantic]

I stand corrected, yes you do need an NPIP to send hatching eggs in the mail, I meant that Hawaii is also a state that requires a separate permit that the sender has to get from the Hawaii state department of agriculture that verifies they have the NPIP among other things. Not enough to have a copy of the NPIP in the package. May be true of other states as well.

I looked it up. They have more rules. All states require NPIP to cross the state lines, some require AI cert as well. If you look at eBay and buy from a non-NPIP seller you and they are breaking a law... Anyway here are the rules for Hawaii:

Poultry
For the purposes of entry, “Poultry” means ducks, geese, pigeons, and birds of the order Galliformes such as chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls, peafowl, pheasants, grouse, partridges, and quail, including their eggs for hatching.

In summary, poultry except chicken hatching eggs and day-old birds, and chickens, pheasants, quail, chuckers, and rock doves (domestic pigeons) that are older than four weeks, require a pre-arrival seven-day (168 hours) isolation from mosquitoes under the supervision of an accredited veterinarian and must enter the State within 36 hours of completing isolation.

In addition, poultry must originate from a flock having a Pullorum-Typhoid clean rating in a state or national plan, or have been tested for Pullorum-Typhoid disease with negative results within 30 days of entry. The poultry cannot be vaccinated for any disease with a vaccine containing a live agent within 60 days of shipment.

An individual identification device (leg or wing band) must be on each bird and numbers listed on the Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI); however, individual identification does not apply to day-old birds. The CVI must also contain a Statement that the poultry are “Free of external parasites.” All poultry entering the State must be kept in isolation from other resident birds for a period of 7 days at the importer’s premises.

Non-commercial chickens are required to be test-negative for Newcastle’s disease virus by the hemagglutination inhibition assay within 14 days of entry.