Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm going to jump into this conversation, if I may. From my lurking around, what I'm reading, is that Silkies are notorious for hatching and overall health problems. Bantams tend to hatch before LF, and smaller eggs tend to hatch before larger eggs. Did the last 2 Silkies not even pip? One could argue that if they pipped early, before lock down, it might have been too dry for them, (causing the shrink wrapping) but that does not appear to be the case. And we know that Amy keeps her humidity high at lock down, so I'm led to believe that these particular chicks are prone to hatching problems.

The hatch before this one I got eggs from my sister and ealier in the fall. There were two silkies and two polish/silkie mixes and they hatched no problem. When I did the eggtopsies on these two one had internally pipped the other had not. Literally 3/4 of the egg was air cell once the cell drew down. I candled them before lockdown and nothing looked amiss.

And that is probably the case. I have never incubated silkie eggs, no need to, but the hens hatch healthy chicks. I was in no way saying that Amy did anything wrong. I'm curious about incubating small and large eggs together, because it is looking like I will be getting a larger incubator soon, and will have d'uccle to throw into the mix. I have hatched them with Polish, and the hatch times are about the same, but the cuckoo marans eggs are much larger, darker, and usually hatch a day later. I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to run the marans and d'uccle together

Hatch before this one I had an overly large egg, I probably shouldn't have even had it in the bator that was one of the three (three must be a thing for me) in that hatch that didn't hatch and when I eggtopsied it was apparent why. The egg was big, but the chick was not and teh egg did not loose enough moisture, (I am guessing due to size) because there was a lot of moisture in that egg. Last time it was two turkens and a standard. I came to the conclusion they don't like to hatch for me either.

Great.. I had high hope that if I got these Air Cells straightened out that my first chicks to EVER hatch would be these silkie eggs.

Well... if I can get these little fuzzy butts to hatch... then anyone can!

These are the first silkies I had a problem with. Also the first time I bought from this seller.

 

[fordguy32]

Should I pay more attention to the digital thermometer on my still air incubator or the glass one I bought for it?

 

[lazy gardener]

Sssssshhhhhh....
That's how I'm trying to convince my wife that I need another incubator

She doesn't read these threads, does she? I don't think you need to worry, unless you want to give me her number. Of course, the logic goes, that you need an other incubator anyways so you can use one just to hatch. That way, you can hatch a full bator full of eggs EVERY OTHER week. Want me to call her and explain the benefit of that to her????

It's not still air....did you miss the drama of one of my chicks getting scalped on the fan....lol I felt so bad. No my sister had added the fan kit before I "borrowed" the bator...lol My temps on the outside were 1-2 degrees higher than the middle and both thermometers were off set between the perimenter and middle so where they were held a good 99 range, but what I didn't know until halfway through was the eggs to the outside were incubating a good degree higher. A good share of them were pushed to the outside because I wanted to see them and well, you can't see the middle of the lg incubators, so .... that's when I started rotating the eggs.

The silkies....the only logical conclusion I could come to was egg/layer quality. When I had arranged to buy the eggs, I wanted a dozen spitzhaubens and 2 dozen mixed. (She has over 140 chickens in different pens.) But I wanted as many of the mixed to be from the silkie pen as possible because they have a showgirl roo in there, and that's ultimately what I want. Apparently silkies in this part of the world do not like to lay when it's cold. The girl I was originally supposed to get eggs from (with multiple show girls) had to cancel because hers were not laying either. Well, it turns out in the week she was collecting she only managed to get 3 from the silkies. So I was thinking maybe the cold weather and poor laying had something to do with it?

My two Japanese bantams (and they are small) hatched fine. The silkie eggs weren't small at all.

Oh and now I have to find that other thread....lol

What other thread?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/967807/fully-formed-baby-chickens-didnt-hatch#post_15079392
Lazy Gardner started it...

I guess I have to look at that thread to see what troublesome thing I might have said. (I didn't start the thread, BTW)

Should I pay more attention to the digital thermometer on my still air incubator or the glass one I bought for it?

You should pay more attention to the thermometer which is accurate. I don't mean to come across as being "flip", but, until you know you have an accurate thermometer, you're shooting in the dark.

 

[scflock]

I guess I have to look at that thread to see what troublesome thing I might have said. (I didn't start the thread, BTW)

That was the first name that popped into my mind to throw under the bus.
If you read the thread, it's obvious who started it

 

[fordguy32]

She doesn't read these threads, does she?  I don't think you need to worry, unless you want to give me her number.  Of course, the logic goes, that you need an other incubator anyways so you can use one just to hatch.  That way, you can hatch a full bator full of eggs EVERY OTHER week.  Want me to call her and explain the benefit of that to her????

She doesn't read these threads, does she?  I don't think you need to worry, unless you want to give me her number.  Of course, the logic goes, that you need an other incubator anyways so you can use one just to hatch.  That way, you can hatch a full bator full of eggs EVERY OTHER week.  Want me to call her and explain the benefit of that to her????

What other thread?

I guess I have to look at that thread to see what troublesome thing I might have said.  (I didn't start the thread, BTW)

You should pay more attention to the thermometer which is accurate.  I don't mean to come across as being "flip", but, until you know you have an accurate thermometer, you're shooting in the dark.

What other thread?

I guess I have to look at that thread to see what troublesome thing I might have said.  (I didn't start the thread, BTW)

You should pay more attention to the thermometer which is accurate.  I don't mean to come across as being "flip", but, until you know you have an accurate thermometer, you're shooting in the dark.

How can you tell

 

[lazy gardener]

I buy a digital fever thermometer. They're supposed to be accurate to .2*. You can then calibrate your bulb or probe thermometer along with that one in a cup of water that is approximately 100*. It's a little trickier to use one of those to calibrate a thermometer that's designed only to read "air" temp, but it can be done. Actually, my gold standard is a mercury bulb medical thermometer that's about 35 years old. I did a google search, and found that they can still be bought.

 

[WVduckchick]

You can also put crushed ice in a bowl, add just enough water to make it slushy, and put your thermometer in it. Try to keep the ice from directly touching the thermometer (I know, its hard to do), but it should read right close to 32 degrees. Once you find an accurate one, if you have one you can't put in water, put one that you know is accurate (or you know how "off" it is) and put them in the refrigerator together, and check for equality.

 

[mswendeu]

I am wondering something. Should I see them moving or hear something in there?

 

[rossfam06]

I think that I see my eggs wiggling around in the turner. Tomorrow they go on lockdown. I am so anxious!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I think all in all I ended up with about 70 chicks. The guy I'm splitting the hatch with is coming to get his chicks tomorrow, so I'll count them up as I'm going about that