Little Giant Hatch Along

[OHhappychicks]

OH to have broodies!!

I think I may have one but she can't make up her mind! Found her out at the barn the other eve. sitting on 14 eggs!! But we didn't know she was sitting, picked her up and she wouldn't go back on the eggs.

Have had chickens almost 3 yrs now, and haven't had a broody!!

Sounds like you are going to have a house full!

Have fun and happy hatching! I also have a question for anyone. Do I put the plugs in now? I don't have any in. My fan is under one of the bigger ones. My temp right now is at 100*. I just set my eggs this morn. It has been fluctuating between 98-102. I think right now I may have it right.

 

[bunnibird55]

My eggs went into lock-down tonight and I am having trouble getting the temp to regulate.....it spiked up to 102 almost within minutes after I closed it up. I got it down real quick and have the humidity up now and the temp is down to 100.9. I have to get it a bit lower though since I have a forced air LG. I have 30 eggs in lock-down but I think one of them will not be any good because I dropped it and put quite a crack in it :-((((
I have 10 shipped Buckeye eggs and 20 of my own NH eggs in there. When I candeled I got rid of 8 clear eggs and one with a blood ring. The remaining 30 eggs, with the exception of the cracked egg look real promising!
Here's keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[QuailQT]

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for you and everyone else with their noses pressed up against the window (just like me)

HAVE 3 pipped now. They sure are taking their good old time by MY clock.

They know that I have to work tomorrow morning and are all conspiring to hatch during my shift so that I miss all the excitement!

Hatch babies, HATCH!

 

[kaitlyn_rae2003]

So now that I have my beloved first chick hatched, I have a whole new slew of questions. LOL first, how long until it should dry off, and fluff up? when should she stand up and walk around? At what point do you diagnose curled toes? she still looks pretty fragile, she hatched at 830 but has a small little connection still to the shell, from her abdominal area, yolk looks all absorbed, I am in a whole new unfamiliar world now! Thanks everyone!

 

[youngbiddy]

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Don't worry about the feet, they've been curled up inside the egg all this time so it takes them a day or so to start acting right. They look like they're at death's door for the first few hours, then they start flopping all over the place. It takes them about two days to really get the hang of things; they bump into each other and fall over all the time. Don't worry, just enjoy.
I was watching mine a few minutes ago, and an Ameraucana stopped behind Lavender Orpington, leaned forward staring intently at the Orp's tushie...and pecked. The Orp jumped 2 inches into the air with a startled and indignant "Eep!!" Best laugh I've had in a while.

 

[Turkeyrangler]

OK I guess its time for me to throw in. I'm been lurking in this thread for at least a week. I set 7 EE/BR mutts and lord knows what else is in the mix eggs on April 2, 2011 as more of a test than anything else to see how things go this year. My hens started to lay really slow this year due to the long winter. I gathered up some of the first 7 and put them in the bator to see what kind of fertility I was getting. At day 14 I have 7 fertile eggs. I have 6 green/gray eggs and one brownish/pink maybeish egg in there. I'm leaving on Sunday morning to go turkey hunting and I will not be back until day 21. I'm leaving them in the care of my DW so they are in very capable hands. Here is my LG set up. One LG with turner and DIY computer fan to incubate and a still air to hatch in. The incubator runs like a clock now that it has a fan staying at 99.5 + - .5 degrees. With the center reservoir filled on the incubator I maintain about 37-42% humidity although it drops down to 25% if it drys out at all. I've only had the still air for a couple days but it seems stable, kinda. We are so dry here right now that I needed to add wet towels at both ends of the hatcher LG to get it up to just over 60% humidity. BTW-the reservoirs are full full and I still need to add damp towels to bring it up to 60% humidity. I'm trying sponges and towels, but the towels seem to be doing the best. We can add water by using a syringe in the vent holes on each end of the hatcher LG. Same thing I had to do last year when I hatched my first turkey eggs. Temp in the hatcher is at 98.5 + - .5 degrees and steady with a cheap petco hygrometer that is surprisingly right on the money. This is a test run on the hatcher LG but it seems to be going okay. Here are a few pics. I have the incubators set up next to my computer. Makes it easy to monitor when I'm home.

Oh BTW I added some round cardboard disks that I found to the temp adjustments that makes changing the temps so much easier.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Does anyone have an answer to this?! I'm getting really nervous! I don't think it's turning, what should I do?

 

[BunsNChicks]

I am new to hatching, planning on putting eggs in on Monday. I am wondering if hand turning is detrimental to the hatch since the 'bator is constantly being opened and the temp/humidity will always be fluctuating...

 

[QuailQT]

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My first babies to hatch in 2011! I'm hoping that the one that's black is from my "Buttercup", but not sure. The other might be a BO cross.

Have a bunch more pipped and another ready to split the egg the rest of the way open.

Must go get ready for work-just hate to miss out on the action!

 

[kycklingmamma]

oohh, so much excitement going on..hope all y'all have happy hatches..

We are still waiting on one egg to pip, zip and hatch..today is day #25..but it is STILL only rockin' and rollin"..so there is still hope..my five in the brooder is doing great though..