Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[WalnutHill]

Yes. I am aware that bantams can not be sexed that way but I was under the impression that all full size birds can be. I'm not sure which breeds can and which ones can't.

Feather sexing is only successful in certain cross breeds selected for the trait, just like color sexing.

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/chick-sexing-techniques/


Vent sexing is the only nearly perfect technique.

 

[SimplyLogan]

I'm not quite finished reading through this yet, however I have a real old LG, not sure what it is. Let me tell you (not that you don't already know) its a bear to deal with. I borrowed it because I needed an extra. It took a week to figure out how to tame it. I did put the milk cap on the top. That is the only sane way to adjust the temperature. after that it was a matter of figuring what I had to do to it if the house temp changed, How the nights getting colder affected it, how the humidity was changed with running a/c or heat, UGH!

So I have several kitchen towels and wash clothes to stuff around it or place on the plastic windows to keep it reasonable. When it was freezing out I had to fold and place a cloth over each window at night (maybe one depending on how cold it got), and it was placed in a box with insulated sided, then stuffed with towels around the sides and it was good

. In the AM I had to get up early enough to uncover the windows or it may get to hot as the temps warmed up. All the sides had to remain stuffed.

Now that the weather is warmer, I fight the humidity. Louisiana is very humid, however A/C dehumidifies the home. If I let the A/C cool the house to a temp I like then the humidity in the bator drops to much. However, if it goes without running for a while then it jumps back to high. So I had to determine the right temp for the house (even if we did not like it) to make the bator happy.

Since it is warmer now only one side (the side where the cord comes out) needs to be stuffed. It is still in the box and maybe only one window gets covered at night depending on how low A/C gets set. But we cant go any lower than 72 deg or I'm asking for it. Yes we like it cold at night. Sooooo until I have finished hatching we may be to warm.

Then any time it is opened I cover it almost completely for an hour to bring it back up to temperature or it will take hours to get there.

So I learned to do a little dance and everyone in the house knows better than to touch it. They all know when they walk by they better look at the temps to make sure things are OK. They are still not to make any changes, but notify me immediately.



I will say after learning the dance and saying (often) words that I shouldn't that thing give me a hatch rate of 96% for my first hatch.

... I was so shocked. I did not place any shipped eggs in there, I was afraid they would never make it.

I'm gonna try my own little experiment. I currently have eggs in there so it has to wait till the next go around. I am going to order some eggs from someone who has been having high hatch rates from their shipped eggs, and place half in each bator (my other is hovabator 1588, never have to mess with that one). I am curious if they will have a similar hatch. I understand the shipped egg risk and the bad events that befall them. The last hatch for the hovabator was 50% but they were all shipped eggs and pretty damaged. So in all fairness, cant really compare the two except for no constant messing with the hovabator after calibrating it. One of the shipping egg breeds I hatched at 77% if you separate the breeds alone. The reason my over all average was so low was that one breed of shipped eggs only 4/11 of my eggs hatched

. I'm just curious to see what happens. I think will order the same breed so there will be less variables between breed types. From what I have read some breeds are harder to hatch

. I know there will still be variables but, just curious what happens when same breed all shipped together and hatched in different bators.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Yes, at day 3 I pulled 15 eggs. They were Silkie eggs, and I have a SUPER bright flashlight. It was easy to see they weren't doing anything and the others were. The RIR eggs were a different story altogether though.

 

[fiset94]

So disappointing... Day 21 came and left on the 17th... No pips in sight so I I candled one of the silkie eggs and saw NO movement... when I took off the top today the chick was So small - yoke still fully there- but in the right position. No internal pip. - I thought that is was dead but when I removed it totally it looked like it took a breath...I'm not sure if it was my eyes or not. I waited again and saw nothing.- I am going to go with it was dead in the shell because I don't want to think that I killed yet another one of my eggs. Sigh.

The 2nd egg I candled looked like the first egg.. I carefully removed some of the top of the shell and peeked inside... I saw the yoke on the left side.. and I believe an eye. It moved a bit and I wet the area that I had removed and placed the top back on the egg. I stuck it back in the bator. - at this point it is day 22. No internal pip was noted and the chick seemed to be moving okay.

My question is... Do they start to absorb the yoke only after they start breathing Air... or will they start doing that prior to piping internally?

I plan on checking the egg infrequently tomorrow... ( don't want the humidity to drop too much while opening the bator) Do you think that my temps are too low.. and that is why I am not getting them to hatch on time?? I have been trying to hold a temp between 101-102 day 1-18... sometimes it may drop to 100 when it is first thing in the morning...

 

[WalnutHill]

It sure sounds like your temps are low. Are you measuring at egg level?

 

[fiset94]

Yep... The probe is at the top of the eggs in the Hovabator- They are in a turner.... then when I Move them to the LG hatcher the probe is attached to a rock so that it is stabilized Egg level on the floor.

Don't know what I am doing wrong... but it is becoming increasingly aggravating.

Michele

 

[fiset94]

Day 23.. I didn't see any movement this morning... so I opened him up a bit more... and to my horror his chest wall was not fully closed and every 15 seconds I could see his little heart *beat*. I was horrified. He was really wet and no internal pip had been made.

It's bad enough when I find them dead in the shell.. then to find this... I believe that the heart should be all encased by day 10-14? So.. something went wrong around this time? Goodbye my last Silkie chick.

I have some that are supposed to go into lockdown today ( Favaucana eggs -4) ... and I am so depressed about it... I just don't know what to do anymore. I have two more shipments that are supposed to arrive next week and the week after...

If I can't get those to hatch... I hate to say it... but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to sell the bators.... and just buy chicks from here on out.... I REALLY wanted this to work.. to have my kids experience watching them hatch.

We have Nigerian Dwarf Goats and they were able to see them give birth.. and it was an amazing experience... I wish they could of seen a little chick hatch from it's egg.

* phew... read the paper wrong lockdown for the Fav's isn't until 4-25*

 

[SimplyLogan]

Yep... The probe is at the top of the eggs in the Hovabator- They are in a turner.... then when I Move them to the LG hatcher the probe is attached to a rock so that it is stabilized Egg level on the floor.

Don't know what I am doing wrong... but it is becoming increasingly aggravating.

Michele

Did you calibrate your thermometer against any thing? If this was asked I'm sorry I have not read the whole thing yet. I found one of mine to read one degree higher than it really was. I took another thermometer I could actually calibrate with ice water then put them together in the bator at the same level to see if they read the same.I also moved them (together) to different places in the bator to see if the differences held. I even place them together in both of my bators to make sure the reading were the same in comparison to the other. I have four and although they do not vary like the hygrometers do, there are some variances. My LG runs at the middle/bottom of the egg about 100.5 that is because mine sit on the egg turner. So if it was at the top of the eggs it would run about 101-102 like needed. With that said, this bator if I incubate and hatch in it all together, they do hatch 1-2 days early sometimes. And at night mine does drop to 99.5 sometimes, but covering the windows or at least one with a folded wash cloth seems to alleviate that problem. I sleep like crap most of the time so I do check throughout the night to make sure it does not get to hot from that. I have mine sitting in a box with hand towels around the sides, it helps keep temp steady also.

However, it sounds like you are just hatching in it. And I agree with the previous post, it sound like they are not far enough along, so temp is to low.

 

[fiset94]

I calbarated the hygrometer... with the salt test and noted that it was off... but never checked the temp on it... I had a separate thermo that was in there and the temp was reading the same on top of the eggs as the probe was... so I would say that it is accurate....

But I know that I've had Dips in temp in the night... down to 99.5 ( it has a memory option on the probe) Do you think that I should Move the Incubators to some place else... is the basement too cool for them? Temp down there is 60-65 degrees

Michele

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So disappointing... Day 21 came and left on the 17th... No pips in sight so I I candled one of the silkie eggs and saw NO movement... when I took off the top today the chick was So small - yoke still fully there- but in the right position. No internal pip. - I thought that is was dead but when I removed it totally it looked like it took a breath...I'm not sure if it was my eyes or not. I waited again and saw nothing.- I am going to go with it was dead in the shell because I don't want to think that I killed yet another one of my eggs. Sigh.

The 2nd egg I candled looked like the first egg.. I carefully removed some of the top of the shell and peeked inside... I saw the yoke on the left side.. and I believe an eye. It moved a bit and I wet the area that I had removed and placed the top back on the egg. I stuck it back in the bator. - at this point it is day 22. No internal pip was noted and the chick seemed to be moving okay.

My question is... Do they start to absorb the yoke only after they start breathing Air... or will they start doing that prior to piping internally?

I plan on checking the egg infrequently tomorrow... ( don't want the humidity to drop too much while opening the bator) Do you think that my temps are too low.. and that is why I am not getting them to hatch on time?? I have been trying to hold a temp between 101-102 day 1-18... sometimes it may drop to 100 when it is first thing in the morning...

First off, I am so sorry that you are having such a rotten time with this!

Chicks generally absorb the yolk day 19/20. Most of the eggtopsies that I have done on my chicks the yolk was absorbed. Only a couple had internally pipped.

I like this chart as it tells what's going on when.


Quote:

I calbarated the hygrometer... with the salt test and noted that it was off... but never checked the temp on it... I had a separate thermo that was in there and the temp was reading the same on top of the eggs as the probe was... so I would say that it is accurate....

But I know that I've had Dips in temp in the night... down to 99.5 ( it has a memory option on the probe) Do you think that I should Move the Incubators to some place else... is the basement too cool for them? Temp down there is 60-65 degrees

Michele

Maybe try wrapping a blanket around it at night and removing it in the morning?

I would definitely say check the thermometers. You're probably right if they both read the same, but I would double check. It does sound as though the temps are running lower causing the problems. Maybe adjust the temp up 1/2 a degree - a degree for the next hatch and see if that solves anything. You are not in a higher elevation are you??