June Hatch a Long

[5 Acre Rooster]

Oh just wait - the lack of control in this whole situation will probably take me off the deep end sometime before hatch! No thermometer (let alone the fact last time I had five!) No hygrometer, no manual turners...I swear she doesn't turn them nearly often enough.

Wow I feel I have nerves of steel then. My broody due the 3rd I just checked for a few days make sure no additions except what I added and candled 2 eggs out of 12. Just see if some were developing. Nature will work or it won't I figure. They are my birds eggs so I know they are fertile. I give her a pet each day and talk to her and she content to grow at me and has yet to try pecking me. Last year she tried but only set for 3 days at a time. This year she's devoted and determined. My 1st REAL broody so I am excited enough to leave her to her biz.

My guineas and duck are cooperating so I will ahve another batch or two to set and have those due sometime in June also. After I set those I'll let the birds do a set if they will. So I might have some outside bators going for June hatch too. I am aiting until the w/e to stop collecting and let them decide to lay more and set. WIll have around 2 dz guineas and 7- rouen eggs. Maybe setting Saturday.will have to decide.

Also thinking of trying to cross breed some broody hens, dunno if it will work but have SLC and BO penned together. We'll see.

 

[chickydee64]

You all mind if I jump on the band wagon? I set 29 eggs on May 20th from my backyard flock and a neighbors backyard flock. Hatching for a friend who wants to start a flock of her own. My fingers are crossed for a good hatch.

Does anyone have a special technique they use while incubating? This will be my 2nd dry hatch and using egg cartons in the bator. I had great success with this the last hatch I had. So we will see if the luck continues.

When do you all candle?

First.Welcome..............
I am using dry hatch also and my hatch rates are way up.........I use eggs cartons and fret a lot.

I candle on day 11 and 18.....old eyes . I cannot see anything at 7 days................

Good Luck

 

[Alaskan]

So, for all you "dry hatch" people, do you try to have the humidity, in the first part of incubation, at 40% ?

Or even lower?

 

[chickydee64]

So, for all you "dry hatch" people, do you try to have the humidity, in the first part of incubation, at 40% ?

Or even lower?

about 30-35 for me.................

 

[Wrightsx4]

I only add water of it falls under 25 with my incubator. Last time it held steady at 40 without a drop of water. Then on day 18 brought it up to 65-70. I had it at 65 but everytime an egg opened it would go higher. There's a really good dry incubation article on BYC - I'll find the link.

 

[pdcttc]

Well I couldn't resist. I candled 3 of eggs this morning. I just used the first flashlight I could find, and it was starting to get light outside.
All three eggs seemed to have a dark mass at the upper 2/3 of the egg. I could not see any veins - but I think that is because of the light. I could not see a air space in any of the eggs.
Today is day 5 for the eggs but I set them in the afternoon, so it was realy like day 4 1/2. They did not look like any of the pictures, but again I think that is because of the light.

 

[Wrightsx4]

Heres the link - it has a good guideline for adjusting (and not) temp and humidity. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubation-cheat-sheet

 

[jnjmanning]

Nope, I can't see anything in the photo. And I did open it up to see the picture up close.


I would suggest just waiting to candle again until day 7, when it is easier to see things anyway.



BUT.......I would love any suggestions on the following:

Well, I am setting eggs today, and I am in a panic!

It has been a few years since I have used my incubator. But I remember loosing some chicks to malpositioning.

So...... I decided that this time I would try to hatch them all standing up in egg cartons.

BUT, I just picked them up, and looked them over, and it is NOT completely clear to me (only on a few of the eggs) which end is the small end! Chickens!!!! Sheesh!

So, I am trying to decide if I want to do half and half, or whatever.

Also, I had read somewhere that putting a bunch of clean glass beads (those big fattened round ones) in the bottom of the incubator could help temperatures stay more steady. I think this was another mistake. The incubator was holding a good steady temp, I put in the glass beads, the temp plummeted and hasn't gone back up all the way. Why? Why would it do that? So, as of last night, I kept slightly increasing the temp watching if the temp was correct yet.


(My incubator has a heating element that is a wafer and is adjusted by turning a screw. No cool "two degrees higher please" button).

I am going to wait another hour or two..and if the temp is still way off, I will take out all of the beads, then wait another hour or two, and then HOPEFULLY actually put the eggs INSIDE the incubator! (but guesses as to why the glass beads would have messed everything up would be welcome. I *DO* have children, but they have told me that they didn't touch anything

)

And the reason that I wanted to try the beads is that my house does NOT stay at a steady temp, and I was hoping to keep things in the incubator a bit steadier.

I am putting in....(now I need to go back and count) 19 Black Copper Marans (English), 2 Olive eggers, and one gorgeous blue egg that will produce another olive egger.

Most of the Marans eggs are *SO* dark that I am not so sure I will be able to see anything!

Also, the seller said that she had found, that the darker the egg, the thicker the shell, and the more difficult it is for the chicks to hatch on their own. Anyone else have this?

The temp dropped because it now has the temp of the beads to measure. I would have left it alone for an hour before touching it. I imagine it would have adjusted itself. Kinda like when you put eggs in and the temp drops.

 

[Breella]

I cracked open one of the ones I suspected of not developing and it looked to be a day 1-2 quitter. There was a pin head size mass of cells but the yolk was scrambled. I must have jostled that one too hard while turning.

 

[mrsguardian88]

I cracked open one of the ones I suspected of not developing and it looked to be a day 1-2 quitter. There was a pin head size mass of cells but the yolk was scrambled. I must have jostled that one too hard while turning.

I'm constantly worrying about my buff eggs because they were in a car when I got them (they were packaged pretty well) but then I was traveling for a two days an kept them in my car. I hope I get a few but Im worried about them. I really want a few to hatch! I'm so sorry about yours! I hope you get a good hatch otherwise!!!