March 2017! Hatch with us!

[Jessimom]

Here's my second hatching attempt. 25 Crested cream Legbar eggs from my own birds. Set on Feb 27 so due around Mar 19. I'm going to try and candle them tonight.

Go chickies go!!! Seeing your 'bator makes me sad....My incuview failed, mid lockdown. Just stopped producing heat. Still read as being 98.7 degrees, but the chicks, and eggs said they were 73 degrees. Fortunately, I had another 'bator running. Got them moved over and 14 more hatched. Mine is still sitting here dirty....I don't have the heart to clean it and see what went wrong....

 

[MontainBourbons]

I have a quick question. The best hatch rate I've had this year is 9/21. Most of them don't pip internally. They hatch on the perfect date. Humidity is around 35%. And the temperature is at 99.5. I live at an elevation of 5,000 feet, could that be something to do with it. I am halfway through a hatch right now and it doesn't look great either, I'll keep this post updated yet. Any suggestions to do better???

 

[HenLeia]

Go chickies go!!!   Seeing your 'bator makes me sad....My incuview failed, mid lockdown.  Just stopped producing heat.  Still read as being 98.7 degrees, but the chicks, and eggs said they were 73 degrees.  Fortunately, I had another 'bator running.  Got them moved over and 14 more hatched.  Mine is still sitting here dirty....I don't have the heart to clean it and see what went wrong....

I would call the Incubator Warehouse, I think they can help you. How old is the unit?

 

[HenLeia]

One other thing I noticed with the last hatch is that the temp started to drop when the chicks started to hatch. Turns out the fan got clogged with chick fuzz. Turn the lid upside down and look at the fan screen.

 

[Mylied]

I have a quick question. The best hatch rate I've had this year is 9/21. Most of them don't pip internally. They hatch on the perfect date. Humidity is around 35%. And the temperature is at 99.5. I live at an elevation of 5,000 feet, could that be something to do with it. I am halfway through a hatch right now and it doesn't look great either, I'll keep this post updated yet. Any suggestions to do better???

Raise the humidity to 65% during lockdown.

 

[Jessimom]

I would call the Incubator Warehouse, I think they can help you. How old is the unit?

I bought it from Incubator Warehouse less than 2 years, but more than 1 year. I'll give them a call to see what their policies are.

One other thing I noticed with the last hatch is that the temp started to drop when the chicks started to hatch. Turns out the fan got clogged with chick fuzz. Turn the lid upside down and look at the fan screen.

I try to vacuum out the fan area in between each hatch but I can't remember if I did on this hatch. I have cats and dogs and the chick fuzz, so all that clogs EVERYTHING in my house. So, I'll check that. Great suggestions.

 

[yeye5]

Question 1:
There have been "tests" done with sharpies and dry erase markers - they colored the ENTIRE egg. They had 100% hatch. So, I use Sharpies on mine. My hatches haven't gotten any worse or better than when I only used pencil.

Question 2:
When I see a moving air cell, to me that says it's detached. I have had very little luck hatching detached air cells, but I think there is advice out there on how to help if it is detached.

Good luck!!

Thanks. I'll make it easier on myself and consider using sharpie in the future.
What Is a detached air cell? I didn't know they were supposed to be Attached...

 

[Jessimom]

Thanks. I'll make it easier on myself and consider using sharpie in the future.
What Is a detached air cell? I didn't know they were supposed to be Attached...

A healthy air cell is a small oval shape at the round end of the shell. It doesn't move. Shipped eggs especially have air cells that can be saddled, or ruptured or detached.

A detached air cell just sort of floats along the edge of the shell, but it's not ruptured. Sort of like a bubble. I don't know what a ruptured air cell looks like. A saddled air cell is when instead of being a small oval, it becomes longer and saddles both side of the top of the egg.

Can anyone else explain it better?

This is what the Hatching 101 thread says:

1. AIR CELL INFO for Incubation http://www.squidoo.com/mailed-shipped-fertilised-chickens-eggs-fertilized-hatching-chicken-egg A normal air cell in a freshly laid egg are dime sized up to quarter sized in a week-old or older egg, and fixed at the fat end and just looks like a line when candled.
From rough shipping it is possible to see detached, loose or rolling air sacs as seen in the picture. For those eggs, you need to change your hatch plan. They have to sit 24 hours always pointy end down, to see if the aircells will reattach, about half of them will in my experience. Either way, leave them in the egg carton for all 21 days of the hatch. Stop turning early at Day 16 not 18. It is possible to hatch chicks from eggs with detached air sacs when the cells never stabilized even after 24 hours, but were left upright for hatch. Make sure any turning is gentle, and no flatter than 45 degrees, more vertical is better! Disrupted, shattered or ruptured air sacs are seen when instead of one bubble on the side of the egg, there are more than one. Handling must be very rough in these situations and I believe can be enough to kill the embryo in the first place. These should have the same treatment as the detached air sac eggs, but don't re-candle after 24 hours, these won't reattach. Just having the air bubbles rising to the top of the eggs at the fat end while hatching the eggs vertically in trays gives any chicks that do grow chance to pip into the air cell. Likelihood of a chick hatching is lower than intact displaced air cell eggs, but worth a try if the eggs show no sign of spoilage or leaking.

 

[yeye5]

I'm learning so much from these threads and all of you! Thank you.
Once I got beyond the "can't look" and made it to the "have to find out", I'm also opening the eggs to try to learn what happened. Mima is at it again, selecting down the crazy-hatch clutch she's still on.
There was hardly room to select out an egg but she pushed it far enough away and against the water dish. It got very cold. Openning it I found what looked to be a quitter at about 1/2 gestation--a very vague guess on its timing and development. So it seems that I've learned even more and am putting puzzle pieces together about the mystery "extra" eggs. The 3rd little peep that hatched 2 days ago is dark grey...so not only Peaches is a pullet but the other suspect for being a pullet who happens to be dark grey had been adding as well. Overall that's really sweet news...another pullet is laying!

 

[orrpeople]

I have a quick question. The best hatch rate I've had this year is 9/21. Most of them don't pip internally. They hatch on the perfect date. Humidity is around 35%. And the temperature is at 99.5. I live at an elevation of 5,000 feet, could that be something to do with it. I am halfway through a hatch right now and it doesn't look great either, I'll keep this post updated yet. Any suggestions to do better???

I've done a little reading on this subject and the speculation is that eggs originating in lower elevation may not have porous enough shells to allow a developing chick the oxygen it needs for the final days of incubation.