March 13th 2016 Hatch-A-long

[Chaneys Ranch]

Lost an egg. I'd been wondering about it for a few days -- the chick never moved, didn't seem to take up as much space as the others, and the veins had started fading. Last night I candled it again and there were no veins but a new large dark spot. I debated leaving it or pulling it for about 10 minutes and finally just decided to risk it. Did an "eggtopsy" to check and there were no veins at all ... the new dark spot was all blood but there were no veins going to little chick or anywhere in the yolk.

The yolk was also crazy watery -- is that a normal part of the incubation or another indication of something being wrong?

Something was wrong with the egg, or embryo MHO. Sometimes we just do not know what causes an egg to quit. Health of the hen and rooster, ages of both and so many other things can contribute.
After hatching so many I still wonder, why? But resign myself to if the chick is meant to thrive it will.

 

[Faraday40]

Incubation is always fun. I still remember my very 1st hatch in 1984. I got back from visiting the Museum of Sci & Industry in Chicago, where I had just spent over an hour watching their giant incubator. I decided to build my own incubator for my science fair project. My father (an electrical engineer) helped me design and build it. The local feed store donated the eggs. My simple still air incubator hatched 17 out of 24 eggs. All chicks lived & were given to a nearby farm. (As a teen I was very disappointed my parents wouldn't let me keep them.) We donated my styrofoam/duct tape incubator to the farm as well.

By the mid 90s I had my own classroom/lab and hatched chicks from time to time. (I discovered many creative ways to use eggs & chicks in my lesson plans. I also found ways to borrow incubators from the Ag Educ dept & get school grants to pay for eggs.) A little over four years ago I discovered backyard suburban hens were possible here. I also discovered that one can buy more than Leghorn eggs. Ever since, I've been spreading my addiction to several other teachers - as well as my own children.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Incubation is always fun. I still remember my very 1st hatch in 1984. I got back from visiting the Museum of Sci & Industry in Chicago, where I had just spent over an hour watching their giant incubator. I decided to build my own incubator for my science fair project. My father (an electrical engineer) helped me design and build it. The local feed store donated the eggs. My simple still air incubator hatched 17 out of 24 eggs. All chicks lived & were given to a nearby farm. (As a teen I was very disappointed my parents wouldn't let me keep them.) We donated my styrofoam/duct tape incubator to the farm as well.

By the mid 90s I had my own classroom/lab and hatched chicks from time to time. (I discovered many creative ways to use eggs & chicks in my lesson plans. I also found ways to borrow incubators from the Ag Educ dept & get school grants to pay for eggs.) A little over four years ago I discovered backyard suburban hens were possible here. I also discovered that one can buy more than Leghorn eggs. Ever since, I've been spreading my addiction to several other teachers - as well as my own children.

I love your posts so much! I am so glad you find the need to continue teaching kids to appreciate what chickens give us.

 

[jnr005]

Incubation is always fun. I still remember my very 1st hatch in 1984. I got back from visiting the Museum of Sci & Industry in Chicago, where I had just spent over an hour watching their giant incubator. I decided to build my own incubator for my science fair project. My father (an electrical engineer) helped me design and build it. The local feed store donated the eggs. My simple still air incubator hatched 17 out of 24 eggs. All chicks lived & were given to a nearby farm. (As a teen I was very disappointed my parents wouldn't let me keep them.) We donated my styrofoam/duct tape incubator to the farm as well.

By the mid 90s I had my own classroom/lab and hatched chicks from time to time. (I discovered many creative ways to use eggs & chicks in my lesson plans. I also found ways to borrow incubators from the Ag Educ dept & get school grants to pay for eggs.) A little over four years ago I discovered backyard suburban hens were possible here. I also discovered that one can buy more than Leghorn eggs. Ever since, I've been spreading my addiction to several other teachers - as well as my own children.

That sounds like an awesome science fair project. Our school won't let the kids work with any live animals for the science fair. My daughters friend tried one year and they said no go. So I would guess hatching would be out.

On a separate note. I have 2 acu-rites in the incubator and a genesis 1588 incubator. Now ignoring the fact that all of these are too high for humidity (trying to get it down today) I have both acu-rites reading 60 ad 64% respectively and the incubator says 54%. Which do I believe? That is a fluctuation of 10% between all of them. I am working on lowering it...but since both acu-rites are reading so much higher, do I need to just remove all the water and let the incubator stay on 35% which puts the acu-rites at 40-44% give or take? (Without water that is what I was getting)

Why can't they all just agree??

 

[Faraday40]

That sounds like an awesome science fair project. Our school won't let the kids work with any live animals for the science fair. My daughters friend tried one year and they said no go. So I would guess hatching would be out.

On a separate note. I have 2 acu-rites in the incubator and a genesis 1588 incubator. Now ignoring the fact that all of these are too high for humidity (trying to get it down today) I have both acu-rites reading 60 ad 64% respectively and the incubator says 54%. Which do I believe? That is a fluctuation of 10% between all of them. I am working on lowering it...but since both acu-rites are reading so much higher, do I need to just remove all the water and let the incubator stay on 35% which puts the acu-rites at 40-44% give or take? (Without water that is what I was getting)

Why can't they all just agree??

I'm like this with my thermometers. I have 3 with 3 diff readings!

 

[KeyFlock]

This is my first run with my genesis 1588, and I don't have any other thermometers/hygrometers in there. I decided to let it run on it's own once, and if it does well, then I'm just gonna trust it! I'm on day 17, and so far, it's been doing fine.

 

[Faraday40]

That sounds like an awesome science fair project. Our school won't let the kids work with any live animals for the science fair. My daughters friend tried one year and they said no go. So I would guess hatching would be out.

Just thinking, does your school allow experiments with invertebrates? (Most organizations avoid life science experiments because some labs could cause discomfort or death to the subjects - like "How temperature affects respiration rate of goldfish?" could put a poor fish in shock if not done correctly.) Sometimes they allow experiments like mealworm habitat preferences, but there are a lot more guidelines and the teacher must be ultimately responsible. I always found it strange how much oversight was required for the humane treatment of worms & insects in a girls's sci fair project, but the next month, I was required to dissect frogs with all my students. Although the dissections are educational, the knowledge of anatomy could be learned via many methods these days. Parents all saw it as some rite of passage that all 7th graders must dissect a frog. Because of this, I had to dissect several specimens. In reality, those considering a medical career need the exposure, but it's not for everyone.

For my daughter to do incubation, she joined 4H where the rules are not as strict. Her project can also be a research report & display rather than an experiment. (Science fairs usually require experiments.) When she does an animal based experiment, I make sure it's ethical. Like last year's broody hen vs. incubator. The goal of both was to hatch chicks and compare the methods. One group was not at a disadvantage. This year for animal science she's working on animal behavior & classical conditioning.

 

[KeyFlock]

Just thinking, does your school allow experiments with invertebrates? (Most organizations avoid life science experiments because some labs could cause discomfort or death to the subjects - like "How temperature affects respiration rate of goldfish?" could put a poor fish in shock if not done correctly.) Sometimes they allow experiments like mealworm habitat preferences, but there are a lot more guidelines and the teacher must be ultimately responsible. I always found it strange how much oversight was required for the humane treatment of worms & insects in a girls's sci fair project, but the next month, I was required to dissect frogs with all my students. Although the dissections are educational, the knowledge of anatomy could be learned via many methods these days. Parents all saw it as some rite of passage that all 7th graders must dissect a frog. Because of this, I had to dissect several specimens. In reality, those considering a medical career need the exposure, but it's not for everyone.

For my daughter to do incubation, she joined 4H where the rules are not as strict. Her project can also be a research report & display rather than an experiment. (Science fairs usually require experiments.) When she does an animal based experiment, I make sure it's ethical. Like last year's broody hen vs. incubator. The goal of both was to hatch chicks and compare the methods. One group was not at a disadvantage. This year for animal science she's working on animal behavior & classical conditioning.

Those sound like some fun projects

 

[4stakes]

When I started this post. I was not sure how it would take off. Thank you for all your posts and inputs for everyone. I candle tomorrow on day 14. I hope this weather stays in the 50-60 range. I know its March.

I will post tomorrow what our eggs look like.

Kevin

 

[KeyFlock]

When I started this post. I was not sure how it would take off. Thank you for all your posts and inputs for everyone. I candle tomorrow on day 14. I hope this weather stays in the 50-60 range. I know its March.

I will post tomorrow what our eggs look like.

Kevin

Can't wait for pictures! I hope the candling goes well