June Hatch-A-Long

[mollybuck]

we went into lockdown sat. Got up this morning and i can hear chirping. I saw 2 pips and one was rocking! Heres hoping to have babies when I get home!

 

[Serenity Lane]

we went into lockdown sat. Got up this morning and i can hear chirping. I saw 2 pips and one was rocking!  Heres hoping to have babies when I get home!

Woohoo!!

 

[Meca]

I have a total of 10 babies. I still have 4 eggs in the incubator. They aren't wiggling or pipping at all. Should I candle them to see if they are living? I'm not sure what to do with them. Any suggestions would be great! They were supposed to hatch yesterday and I realize that could be late bloomers.

 

[chickengirl1193]

Today is my actual hatch day, ive had 4 chicks hatch, one stopped developing before lock down, one pipped in the wrong end and I think died, and I have 2 left that haven't yet pipped. I candled them and I don't see anything but idk if there was something to look for. Im leaving them and ill see what happens... im discouraged tho because this is my first time hatching from my own flock so if my hatch rate is poor it could potentially mean bad breeder nutrition so I want to figure out the problem..

 

[Meca]

Today is my actual hatch day, ive had 4 chicks hatch, one stopped developing before lock down, one pipped in the wrong end and I think died, and I have 2 left that haven't yet pipped. I candled them and I don't see anything but idk if there was something to look for. Im leaving them and ill see what happens... im discouraged tho because this is my first time hatching from my own flock so if my hatch rate is poor it could potentially mean bad breeder nutrition so I want to figure out the problem..

I started with 35 eggs and ended up with 14 in lock down. So far 10 have hatched, this is my first hatch also.

What are you feeding them?

 

[mamaj323]

I have a total of 10 babies.  I still have 4 eggs in the incubator. They aren't wiggling or pipping at all. Should I candle them to see if they are living?  I'm not sure what to do with them.  Any suggestions would be great! They were supposed to hatch yesterday and I realize that could be late bloomers.

I have three left in there from yesterday's hatch also. I candles them and saw no movement but put them back in for a few days anyways. Lots of people let them go to day 25 just to be sure. There is the float test that people use for late hatchers. From what I understand you get a container of water that's the same temp as your incubator and put the egg in. If it floats it's dead. If it sinks and is still it's a maybe. If it sinks and rocks it's still alive and just late. Just do it quickly. There's lots of threads on it here.
Congrats on your new babies!

 

[baylybreeze]

Hi, I've been reading many posts (found the forums about a week ago), and not sure what to do...I put 41 eggs in my LG incubator and turner on May 11th, I filled up the water reserves (with sponges) and kept the thermometer at 99.5 until the 29th. (I candled some eggs and there was large dark spots in the eggs. Did not candle all the eggs and really didn't know what I was looking for... Figured the fact that it looked like there was stuff in there I was good to go. I added water about every 4-5 days to the reserve.

On the 29th, I took the eggs out of the turner, added more water, put some eggs (my friends eggs) into another LG incubator and left most of them in the original incubator. I put cheese cloth down on top of the wire screen to aid in clean up. Now I figured the eggs should be making noise or hatching by now... HELP. This is basically my first attempt at hatching as the last time the thermometer I bought never got above 80 degrees so in attempting to get it to 99.5 I cooked the eggs. I am using the thermometer that came with the LG and bought another LG thermometer online - they read the same.

(I have a broody hen that started her nest about the same time already has 5 chicks hatched!) Anything I can do with the incubator eggs? How long should I leave them on lock down - should I add more water/ Sponges? Candle again?

Advice needed!

 

[missnu01]

I think I would maybe just wait...but what you are looking for in early candling is veins. There will always be a shadow of the yolk...so it's possible there was never anything in these eggs to hatch...but I can't be sure as I wasn't there. You could give them a candle and look for something dark to move. Maybe. I don't see the harm if you have no pips.
And I'm not 100% on the diet thing. That or my chickens are great at feeding themselves. I go days without feeding mine and I have 100% fertility and so far my worst hatch one was turned wrong and couldn't pip... and that was the worst so far with my own eggs. On the 19th I started 18 and now have 17 moving right along. One was an early quitter around day 10. We do free range all the birds, but people are like omg you don't feed them everyday? No... I will put a little bit of food in the coop and that lasts them about 3 days. The other 4 they are on their own. Haven't seen a chicken with an empty crop yet.

 

[ChickyChickens]

I have an EE hen that went broody today on a nest of 18 eggs!! Her name is HennyPenny!
Its her first time and I can't wait for them to hatch!
She is in the chicken coop and I tried to bring her to a warmer better place but she didn't want to and always went back!
The eggs are due to hatch on the 23rd of June!

 

[missnu01]

If I couldn't free range I wouldn't keep poultry. It would be too expensive and time consuming. As is I do very little. I gather eggs, and lay down hay..make sure they have food and water until they are feathered. Then they get the same level of "neglect" as my other birds. But so far ducks, turkeys and chickens have done great with my method of lazy.