LOCKDOWN IS TODAY!

[wholewheatchicken]

I only had 12. One of them didn't look right at lockdown so I marked it with big question marks so I could tell it apart. Two of them are one day behind. They were my experimental broody hen eggs. I don't believe she turned them and on day five I took them and put them in the incubator. They looked a little stuck to the side and on one of them the air cell is not in the right place. But I put everything in just in case. Today is day 21 and there is no activity going on. I have had the humidity drop in this incubator one time to around 60 and this morning it was at 55 so I don't know if that will mess everything up too. Feeling confused and preparing for the worst

 

[Janie1968]

Don't worry so much about the humidity... I don't think that at lockdown that will cause them to fail. Sending lots of luck to you and your eggs.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

Do you think if the temps dropped some it would kill them or cause them to hatch a little later? They are still doing nothing. I soooo badly want to take them out and candle them, but I do know better and am going to leave the lid on. I know for sure five of them were alive at lockdown because I saw movement, but everything (except the one that didn't look right) had continued to develop until then so I just went on the assumption they were alive too.
I just want one little baby!!!!! Miss Pretty is a big handful and I was so hoping someone would hatch and she could have a playmate. Last night I tucked her into bed, but about 3:00 a.m. she woke up screaming and my son came and got me up so I slept with her tucked up to me all night long. I'm not saying I mind having to do it, but it would be really great if I didn't

Any advice would be great right now.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

I SAW TWO EGGS MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM GOING TO WALK AWAY NOW......Will post more as I can control myself............

 

[Janie1968]

Yay WWC!!!

It's so HARD to follow the advice of "walk AWAY from the incubator".

I had a pip in one of my remaining turkey eggs so last night I started to peel away the shell and the membrane was just pure white. So then starting at the hole I pulled away the membrane and found another membrane around the poult with active blood vessels. So I wet the membrane down with a Q-tip and put her back in the bator. This morning she was still in the shell so I pulled her out and started peeling back the membrane (blood vessels had dried out) and she's looking great and peeping up a storm. I put her back in the bator and when I get back from work I'll transfer her to the brooder. Happy hatching... can't wait to hear your good news.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

No babies made it. I believe the humidity was too low. On eggtopsy they were all shrink wrapped inside their shells. I didn't open the bator until the end so I know this happened during incubation. No sibling for Miss Pretty so today I am off to buy some chicks. I can't find any bantams so she will have to grow up with LF. I am getting Brahmas. My DH said to get six, three light and three buff, and whoever is not nice to Miss Pretty is getting the gas treatment. Them chicks better be on their best behavior. The big ones will be able to go in with our RIRs when they grow up. I think Miss Pretty will be fine with them because I do have silkies that are a little older than her and sometimes I bring them up and see if I can put them together. The problem has been those babies are with their momma and they scream louder than Miss Pretty when I put them in the brooder box. Miss Pretty will run up to them and get all excited that someone has come to play with her, but it just has not worked out. We looked at chicks yesterday and I didn't find anything I wanted and these just came up for sale today. So I would say I'm excited because I like the looks of the Brahmas and from what I read they are supposed to be gentle.
Oh, and since I'm a bad hatcher, I sat eggs under one of my broody silkies today. She has been sitting for a few days so I am going to go ahead and hopefully she stays. It is her first time to be a momma. I have another silkie that went broody over the weekend, but she's not in the best spot. I am going to go out and see if I can make it work where she is and put eggs under her if it does.
My DH says we are going to do a different incubator next time. Says it's too hard to watch me be so dissapointed, even though I told him the incubator was fine, it was me not having the humidity right.
Okay. I'm off to the barn to hopefully sat more eggs.....NEED MORE CHICKS!!!!! Just joking. Am hoping to sell a few for Easter to pay for my new bator.

 

[BoutrosBoutrosGalusGalus]

aww bummer, my quail eggs aren't hatching either. I did start eggtopsing one and I saw movement so I put it back in with a little shell removed but no dice so far. Gonna keep them in till the followup batch start hatching though just to make sure. I think our chicken hatch with the humidity spike and and the babying for the one that didn't make it was too harsh for the quail eggs in there. We invested in a 2nd bator for lockdowns so we don't have such a disruptive effect.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

Ended up getting some Ameracaunas. They are too cute. Found someone with silkie babies that I may go look at too. Miss Pretty isn't being very nice to the new guys. She was pecking them so hard and then they finally turned on her and then ousted her and then she decided to play nicely. But she's still cheeping her head off. I think by tomorrow she will calm down and learn how to be a chicken. The kids were so upset that she was acting like that, but she's never been a "real" chickie before.
BBGG - what is the humidity difference between chickens and quail? That's a hard call when eggtopsying. I don't envy you. I put my dark Earleen in a box tonight and kept her on the shelf she is on so if she is still there tomorrow I am going to put eggs under her. My DH doesn't want me to use the incubator anymore, but I am going to clean it up and put a few eggs in it too and try this again.

 

[BoutrosBoutrosGalusGalus]

oh yeah we had a solo EE for a few days and it took her a day or two to relate to the Buff Orp we got to hang out with her.

still a noisy girl too!

oh from what I read the quail seem to do better at %10 more humidity but we had huge spikes with the hatch and then kept opening the lid to take care of our problem chick.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

When is your next batch due?