Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[kathyinmo]

Did someone ask what can cause exploders? Seems like it.

Sign: Exploders. Causes:

1. Dirty eggs from nest. Dirty nests.
2. Floor eggs.
3. Eggs improperly washed; eggs wiped or cleaned with contaminated cloth or buffer.
4. Dust from breeder house, cooler, transport, etc.
5. Water condensation on eggs (sweating).
6. Water sprayed, fogged, or splashed on eggs; eggs dipped in contaminated solutions.
7. Contamination from earlier exploders, leakers, or broken eggs.
8. Contamination from handling eggs with dirty hands or equipment.
9. Contaminated setter flats, air filters, water (humidity) system.

 

[twentynine]

Day 20 for me.

Because of work schedule I started my eggs at 1700, 3/16.

As of 0330 this morning no pips.

Maybe I'll see something when I get off of work this afternoon.

 

[ambrosia]

Regarding naughty three year old....

My niece came to visit last summer, and she attempted to drown a kitten in the dog waterer (five gallon bucket)...! I caught her and she ran away from me, knowing it was a bad thing she was doing. Her mother wasn't watching her, and didn't see the implications in what her daughter was doing! I put her in time out and for the rest of her visit she was not allowed to hold the poor kitten that I did manage to resuscitate. The mother was angry at me for the rest of the visit, saying that her daughter was just being normal...?!?!

Children showing a lack of empathy and care for small animals should be cause for concern... just saying...

 

[AK Michelle]

Quote: 98% ???? YIKES! Personally, I try to never go above 65%. I prefer 60%

Read this

Thanks Kathy. I'll read through it to see how I pertain to dry hatch.

 

[AK Michelle]

I think I'll nickname my iPad "Double-Poster" or maybe "Sir PostsAlot"

 

[hennypenny99]

HennyPenny, I wonder if part of it is the fact they were shipped?

I'd be so upset about the careless nephew. I do think 3 is way too young to be around animals unattended, no matter how gentle a child is. It sounds like he is NOT a gentle child though. Hopefully he will outgrow all that and not be a mass murderer, but in the meantime, he wouldn't be allowed near any of my animals.

KVMommy, how are your eggs looking?

I think the ballerina chicken looks more like a gymnast on the beam...

I can't believe how early some of these chicks are! My chicks are NEVER early, and never that early. I have gotten a pip very late in day 20, but that's about as early as I go. Considering these are supposed to hatch at the preschool on Tuesday, I don't want them to be at all early. In fact, I get heart palpitations at the idea of them pipping early- I have to transport them back to the school early in the day on day 20 and I'm kind of freaking out about that- will the drive mess up their lockdown positions? Temp? Humidity? Do I put them in an egg carton so they don't roll around at all? Do I leave them in the Brinsea?

I don't know if this is because they are shipped eggs or not? This is my first hatch since last summer and I am still kindof new at this. I do know that my local eggs hatch much better than the shipped ones but then I see people on here that have 100% hatches on shipped eggs.

Has anyone made an incubator out of a styrofoam cooler? I tried to make one last night because I thought it might be nice for hatching only when I have staggered hatches. I have a couple of eggs that are a few days behind the others. What I did was cut the top off and install a 5x7 picture frame glass for a viewing window then I cut a hole for an extention cord to go inside and plugged into the extension cord is a light bulb adapter and I put a 25 watt bulb in there. I cut holes in the sides for air and I am running about 105 on temperature. So I cut a few more air holes and it didnt cool down. I probably need a smaller bulb but they don't sell any lower wattage bulbs than 25 that will fit in a standard light socket. I thought about getting a night light but it says no larger than 4 watts....

Any suggestions?

Oh and I am so excited to be seeing hatching chick pictures. This is my favorite part!!!

 

[Noncentzter]

All this early hatching happened last year too and just like last year I'm sitting here with nothing...but I also know that I set my eggs later than most and I am also going out of town this weekend so won't be checking the hatcher and looking at all the pips and waiting for the chicks to hatch. Hopefully it'll all be over by the time I get back!

 

[kvmommy]

Mahonri, remember when you freaked out because your temp was at 101. Well last night I had issues with my hovabator with temps dropping after lockdown. I found the wafer in the thermostat was loose. For about 2 hours the temp was around 91. Then I fixed it and the temps started climbing. Around 330 DS woke up with a fit again. And I asked DH who was up to keep an eye on the bator and turn it down if it gets too high. IT was at 98. It took til almost 5 am to get DS back to sleep and I was exhausted. I was tempted to go check the temps but thought, well DH said he had it covered. I woke up late today for obvious reasons and the temp was at 107.

I called DH and he said. I checked twice and when it was at 100 I knew it was good. I should never trust a non hatcher. My eggs have survived some serious heat spikes but I doubt that these will survive. Its too hot this late in the game for that long. I'm devastated. BUT I still have eggs in my LG.

BTW, I got a call at 7 am yesterday. DH was coming in. It was a magical reunion. My friends watched my kids so we surprised DD at her house. I told her a surprise was coming and then he knocked on the door and she answered it. She ran into his arms and started crying. She said..."Daddy, I missed-ed you soooo much. ARe you leaving me again? Please don't go!" Then DS was just showing off like crazy and kissing his daddy over and over. I literally barely got to spend time with him. He was sooo tired but enjoyed the kids crawling all over him and bothering him. Neither would go to sleep unless daddy would sleep with them. So they got my whole bed. LOL as mad as I am at DH for ruining this lockdown...I'm beyond thrilled to have him home. I'm so happy.

Well because blood is thicker then water right or wrong around here, and I'm not up to taking on the whole family so they can prove to each other who can take up for the other the most. My husband has begged me not to make enemies out of them because they would drop him like a bad habit if he went against them to take up for me and he doesn't want there to be bad blood. Its just easier for him to be the peace maker. When my cousin and I were little we found 100's of catepillars and filled up a 5 gallon bucket almost with them. It was time to go home and we decided we would just put them in the water trough. Oh boy I will never forget the consequences for that. We both got busted, we both got grounded, we had to pick every last one of them out of the water and then we had to apologize to our great grandpa for killing his catepillars. Honestly, we weren't catching them with intentions to be mean... it was just something that crossed our minds as we were leaving. We were punished just the same and I never tried anything like that again.

It is 100% his parent/grandmother's fault. His mom didn't even show up to court to fight for him so she could continue to party, she threw a bigger fit over making sure she got her Cane Corso then her son. His dad and grandma treat him like a king I guess because they want him to like them more? I don't think they have anything to worry about because his mom rarely even sees him on her weekends and he hates going with her. They are more scared of her loaded family taking him, I would die to live in their horse barns much less their houses. His cruelty to animals is the tip of the iceberg, you would die if you heard how he talked to his dad and grandma. So they will spoil him rotten and when he is old enough he will still most likely spend the majority of his time with his loaded grand parents who throw $100 bills around like they are $5 bills, and will buy him anything he asks for.

When my husband saw that he was peeing on my truck he said "Really? Hey (My son) next time you have to pee do it on his truck." We are extremely sarcastic around here and my son got the hint. My brother in law said "Its different if a 7 year old does it then when a 3 year old does it, besides your dog does enough." my husband said "I don't see how it is different at all, but I do see a difference in a dog peeing on tires and a kid peing on your door."

Ok I guess I'm going to bed, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and won't be all wound up about it lol. Doubt it, but heres for wishful thinking.

I can imagine how frustrating that is and good for you to be so generous. I don't know if I would have that patience. But when I was a kid there was this huge butterfly migration through Cali. My friend and I would catch them and tear the wings off and feed them to the ants. I got a huge spanking and was grounded. My mom said, its one thing to kill something because you are eating it or its dangerous, but it is never ok to be cruel. And she is right. Sometimes kids need to be taught things like this or they grow up to be sociopaths. I can't believe your BIL made those comments about its ok for a 3 year old and not a 7 year old. At 3 they know better. Just as a 7 year old does. I like your husbands responses!

SCG and Mary I am with both of you. I don't think I will have any early hatchers. When I candled last night before lockdown, not a single internal pip. I am not worried though since hatch day isn't for two more days. Good news is that my waxed fluffy AM is still trucking along. I was a little bummed last night that I did have to pull one of the other fluffy AM eggs because it was a quitter. Oh well. Other good news is that I finally 'fessed up to DH (he comes home on Friday, I had to tell him before that) about the second bator. It started with me telling him that the eggs are in lockdown. And he says, well how many are in lockdown. I know you had to pull some out. He knows that I can stack a few extra in the Brinsea but 42 just isn't gonna fit in there. So I tell him a bunch. He said, well how many. Soooooooooooooooooo I said, well see there's something I have failed to mention to you. He knows me so well, he immediately says you have another incubator.

I said well, maybe. He just starts laughing and says, how many are in lockdown? I told him ONLY 42. He says thats a lot. I told him it was less than the 66 I originally set. He laughed again. He thinks we will have 42 chicks, I am thinking the number will be much lower. I haven't been impressed with the styrobator but we will see how it goes. It has been pretty stable on temps and I didn't put any water in there until last night so

for a few out of that bator. The shipped eggs didn't fair too well but with them arriving only hours before setting maybe they didn't have enough rest time? IDK the air cells on them looked good so I set them. Oh well, if everything (or at least most) in the Brinsea hatches, I should have one of each breed that Renee sent. That would be cool!

I didn't tell DH. But when he came home yesterday he checked the bator in my room. Walked into the living room, saw my HM bator and asked why I had two running, and then looked over and saw the new one. He just sighed and shook his head. LOL

 

[featherz]

I think I'll nickname my iPad "Double-Poster" or maybe "Sir PostsAlot"

My ipad always double posts also. I try to post only from my PC if I can help it.

 

[Arielle]

Ok, I did it but it was all YOUR FAULTS. Got caught with my ear pressed against the top of the incubator - chirping

No chirps in return by the way

I chirp too! WHen I get a response I know one has internally pipped or externally pipped. THen search ,a search, scanning over every detail of each egg until I find the pip! I check on the pips regularly, chirping, asking for an answer! No wonder the chickens follow me around!

Good thing I am not at home. I could sit there and watch the bator all day.


LOL

I am sitting there and watching the bator all day!! Can't help myself! Or I'm here, feeling everyone else's angst and concern and anxiety!! My heart rate increases and I get hart palpitations reading updates!

Keep the updates coming!1 Keeps me distracted and away from my bator!!

...I want pips!!! I am so excited for everyone, but no matter how often I walk over to the incubator nothing changes...

The next 48 hours are going to crawl by...

At moments I want the chicks out NOW, and at others, its "hold on, I have more prepping to do! I"m so distracted today. Much to do . . but I'm at the bator or catching up on the Easter Hatcha thon.

I'm definitely NOT panicking but I am curios...

I'm following Chookschick's dry hatch instructions, which is completely new to me. My dry period was 27-30% humidity. Now I set up the paper towels as she described and filled the reservoirs, there are NO PLUGS and my humidity is reading 98%.

I don't think I can drown them as I don't think there is enough fluid left in the eggs for that. But I did want to check with you experienced Dry Hatchers and see if I need to make any adjustments.

WOw, Michelle, that's pretty high. I get 80-90% when hatching turkey eggs per POrter's instructions. Otherwise, lower is better. Perhaps remove some of the set ups until RH is wjhere you want it. I go in and out of my bator and don't have problems with hatching as I can get the RH up very quickly with a hot wet sponge.

My point is, you have time to adjust the RH before the chicks externally pip.




Quote: Children this young need to be supervised 100% of the time around animals. THey do not function as we adults do yet, and what we see as hurting an animal is more like experimenting and expressing curiosity. I know of several people that participated in mishaps as young children and grew up to be rather thoughtful and caring people. CHildren must be supervised at ALL times around animals. Repeat: children must be supervised at all times around animals. ANd parents are responsible for their children. Be there to supervise.

Off the soap box.