JUNE - JULY HATCH-ALONG!!!!!!!

[CluckNDoodle]

Yea but aeast u knew the person u got ir eggs of and it was hopefully just a 1 time thing this is the second time I got eggs from this breeder and the same thing happened I dont know of he just dislikes me or something cause hes a very high and respectable man and everyone who breeds for quality says to get ur eggs from him but idk I'm just going to stick to my norm people that I get eggs from

Oooh, I didn't realize this was the second bad batch. That's unfortunate, I'm sorry!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hello, I introduced myself towards the beginning of this hatch along but I’ve mostly been on the June hatch along. Due to hatch in July I have several sets of guinea fowl eggs. I could not get my free-ranging guineas to lay eggs in the coop, so was tearing my hair out trying to find their nests. Then, a bobcat grabbed a duck, later a guinea during the day, so I locked the guineas in the coop/run for 10 days. They finally acquiesced and started a nest in the coop. I’m counting their “start” day as June 9 since that’s the first day two hens nested instead of roosting. That would give a hatch date of June 5-7... But the guineas kept laying more eggs and more hens started nesting. I pretend that I can’t see the nest, but managed this quick pic today. There are well over 100 eggs under four hens! When I rescued the nest from a black rat snake, I grabbed 12 negelected guinea eggs and put in the incubator as my “safety eggs”. I think that four were clear and two are quitters, an impressive 75% rate of fertility for a guinea cock with 8 hens (they usually pair).

100 guinea eggs!!! I can't wait to see this! LOL!

 

[Enigmius]

The duck eggs that were laid between 6/4/19--6/7/19 were all put in the incubator on on 6/7/19. Do they go in the lock-down mode on the 25th day from when they were laid or when they were put into the incubator? The reason I ask is because I didn't harvest them immediately when they were laid. Some eggs sat outside in their nest in our hot summer, before I eventually took them inside and put them in the incubator. Ugh I'm so confused.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

The duck eggs that were laid between 6/4/19--6/7/19 were all put in the incubator on on 6/7/19. Do they go in the lock-down mode on the 25th day from when they were laid or when they were put into the incubator? The reason I ask is because I didn't harvest them immediately when they were laid. Some eggs sat outside in their nest in our hot summer, before I eventually took them inside and put them in the incubator. Ugh I'm so confused.

Did you candle them before you put them in the incubator to see if there was early development from the summer heat? The eggs stay dormant until a hen starts to sit on them or they are put in the incubator. So, in other words, you can collect several days worth of eggs but you don't start counting the days until they are set in the incubator or under a hen.

So you could put your duck eggs on lockdown on 7/2.

I don't know how staggeringly hot it is where you are but here I have had a couple of experiences now where it was hot enough outside to simulate incubation and they started to develop (it was in the mid to high 90s). If that's the case then you may have a slightly staggered hatch but in my opinion, I would still focus on the bulk of the eggs and the day you set them to calculate your lockdown and hatch dates. Good luck on your hatch!

 

[Enigmius]

Did you candle them before you put them in the incubator to see if there was early development from the summer heat? The eggs stay dormant until a hen starts to sit on them or they are put in the incubator. So, in other words, you can collect several days worth of eggs but you don't start counting the days until they are set in the incubator or under a hen.

So you could put your duck eggs on lockdown on 7/2.

I don't know how staggeringly hot it is where you are but here I have had a couple of experiences now where it was hot enough outside to simulate incubation and they started to develop (it was in the mid to high 90s). If that's the case then you may have a slightly staggered hatch but in my opinion, I would still focus on the bulk of the eggs and the day you set them to calculate your lockdown and hatch dates. Good luck on your hatch!

NO, I didn't candle before putting them in the incubation incubator. Our days were in the 90's that week, but dropped back down into the low 80's at night in the first week of June. Of course now we are reaching the ungodly temps of Texas Summer. Ha!

If perhaps, one started to pip on a day before they were scheduled to go into lockdown, can they be saved if quickly put into the lockdown incubator(I'm using two incubators, one for incubation and one for lock-down)or will the lower humidity of the incubator and the late placement into the lockdown incubator make it almost impossible to survive?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

The duck eggs that were laid between 6/4/19--6/7/19 were all put in the incubator on on 6/7/19. Do they go in the lock-down mode on the 25th day from when they were laid or when they were put into the incubator? The reason I ask is because I didn't harvest them immediately when they were laid. Some eggs sat outside in their nest in our hot summer, before I eventually took them inside and put them in the incubator. Ugh I'm so confused.

So you are on Day 19 for these eggs? Are there four eggs set on 6/7 (one per day prior to setting)? I seem to recall that you expect a staggered hatch. Were there more eggs set after 6/7?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

NO, I didn't candle before putting them in the incubation incubator. Our days were in the 90's that week, but dropped back down into the low 80's at night in the first week of June. Of course now we are reaching the ungodly temps of Texas Summer. Ha!

If perhaps, one started to pip on a day before they were scheduled to go into lockdown, can they be saved if quickly put into the lockdown incubator(I'm using two incubators, one for incubation and one for lock-down)or will the lower humidity of the incubator and the late placement into the lockdown incubator make it almost impossible to survive?

Ah yes, Texas, Georgia's fellow summertime hot box. lol!

For perspective, out of 28 eggs that I just candled before setting in my incubators, only 1 was already developing so I don't think it's super likely, just possible.
Ducks are notorious for taking FOREVER to hatch so you should be fine putting them on lockdown on 7/2, but if you candle them on day 24 and they look like they're really far along to you and you're concerned about early pips it won't hurt anything to put them on lockdown a day early.
You start counting 24 hours after setting them in the incubator. So since you set them on 6/7, you would mark 6/8 as Day 1 and 7/5 is Day 28 and should be your hatch date but it's not an exact science and you may see activity a day early or a day late and that's perfectly normal!

 

[Enigmius]

So you are on Day 19 for these eggs? Are there four eggs set on 6/7 (one per day prior to setting)? I seem to recall that you expect a staggered hatch. Were there more eggs set after 6/7?

Yes, so the first week I started collecting was 6/4/19--6/7/19. I unfortunately didn't collect them everyday. I collected them a couple days later so I don't know what day each egg was laid in that particular week. So I labeled with a pencil on each egg the date range of 6/4/19--6/7/19. However the eggs from that first week all went in on the evening of 6/7/19. It was a rushed decision because my only boy was taken by a hawk, and I wasn't sure if I was going to try an incubate or not. I decided that I would, but this all lined-up right before I was going out of town. It wasn't the best timing of course, but that is how life rolls.. Anyhow, whilst I was out of town, my father collected the eggs daily and put them in the incubator. So those are the ones that will really be staggered.

Here is the ranges:

4 eggs are labeled 6/4/19--6/7/19(all put in on 6/7/19)
1 egg placed 6/9/19
1 egg placed 6/10/19
2 egg placed 6/11/19
1 egg placed 6/12/19
1 egg placed 6/13/19
last egg placed 6/17/19

There were more eggs but they ended up being infertile and were removed earlier.

 

[john_wrightson2003]

So, i candled my cclb, and LO eggs last night, and there were 2 that were really soiled, and i couldnt see through, but theyre were 9 others that were clean, and out of those nine, 7 looked AMAZING!!!! 2 i could not really tell what was goin on in them. so of the nine that i candled, there are 7 really great looking ones!!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Yes, so the first week I started collecting was 6/4/19--6/7/19. I unfortunately didn't collect them everyday. I collected them a couple days later so I don't know what day each egg was laid in that week. So I labeled with pencil the date range. However they all went in on the evening of 6/7/19. It was a rushed decision because my only boy was taken by a hawk, and I wasn't sure if I was going to try an incubate or not. I decided that I would, but this all lined-up right before I was going out of town. It wasn't the best timing of course, but that is how life rolls.. Anyhow, whilst I was out of town, my father collected the eggs daily and put them in the incubator. So those are the ones that will really be staggered.

Here is the ranges:

4 eggs are labeled 6/4/19--6/7/19(all put in on 6/7/19)
1 egg placed 6/9/19
1 egg placed 6/10/19
2 egg placed 6/11/19
1 egg placed 6/12/19
1 egg placed 6/13/19
last egg placed 6/13/19

There were more eggs but they ended up being infertile and were removed earlier.

Oh wow! I must have missed the part about the staggard hatch! It's really hard to do that without an extra incubator handy but it can be done.

If you're using an automatic turner then I would take them out of the turner on 7/2 to stop turning your first batch of eggs so that they can start getting into position for hatching but continue opening the incubator to hand turn the other eggs until you see external pips. Stop opening the incubator once you see external pips so that you don't risk shrink wrapping them. That would only leave a couple of extra days without turning for the last couple of eggs which should be just fine.
If you decide not to hand turn the other eggs and just put them all on lockdown together on 7/2 they may still be just fine. I haven't done it myself but I have a friend that has put her chicks on lockdown several days early and they still hatched successfully.

Fingers crossed for a great hatch!