MARCH 2021 HATCH-A-LONG 🌷🌸🌼

[Chickeria]

So my little lavender chick passed today. She was a weakling from the start. Her feet corrected nicely with the shoes on for only 24 hours. She just never was able to eat or drink on her own. We tried everything, and considered even tube feeding, but she passed before this was even attempted.
My hatches this month were not good.
1 out 10 earlier this month.
1 out of 25 this past week-end, then that it the one that passed after 2 days.
The first set were not packed very well, I have one lovely blue silkie out of these.
The second set could not have been packed better, packed in egg foam and double boxed, zero chicks from these.
I have excellent incubators, I have some experience doing this, so of course it is frustrating to get these kind of results.
Goes to show how many factors are involved when incubating and hatching shipped eggs. I went "by the book" with both of these sets of eggs. Though, in reality there is no book and there are so many theories and ideas about how to go about it. I have some more eggs on the way from the same breeder (lavender and paint) and will be in time (though a bit delayed) to join the Easter hatch a-long. After reading a lot in the past several weeks, my plan is to let these eggs settle for 12 hours, place in the incubator without turning for 24 hours at most and then incubate them ON THEIR SIDES and let them turn normally in the turner. I will also NOT candle prior to setting and candle first after 7 days. I will really have to sit on my hands!
It will be interesting to see what kind of results I get. Can't be worse anyway.

I'm so very sorry you lost your sweet little Sumire. I loved her from the start
Sadly even the best care can't safe a little one when something is wrong internally or life is just too hard for such a sweet weak fragile little soul
I'm sorry your two last hatches were not good. Fingers crossed for your next one!
The eggs I'm incubating will be (hopefully) my first hatch, so I don't have any experiences. I followed the informations of the breeder I ordered my shipped eggs from (and the instructions from the incubator my friend lend me) - when the eggs arrived I let them rest till the next day, then I set them in the incubator, on their sides (no other possibility in that incubator when automatic turner is used). Breeder says she then starts the automatic turner right away, instruction of incubator says no problem to start directly. I waited till day 1 because the eggs were shipped and I thought perhaps it is better if they can rest a bit longer. Then I started automatic turner. Breeder recommends first candeling on day 7. So I kind of sit on my hands right now^^ I will report if I see anything on day 7.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

@LadiesAndJane
How many of your shipped eggs made it to full development previously? Did they attempt to hatch or no?
I started with 24 and I am down to 10 Hedemora and 6 of the 55 flowery...which is really stinking good for shipped eggs based on my findings. Now they are only on day 11 today but all showing good development.
Here is what I did:
24 hours resting outside of incubator (unless the Hatchery had a date on them and it was older than 7 days then I put them right in after 12 hours (but NOT in turner!)

After my 24 hour rest...air cells still weren't that great (they originally were only a bit detached..if thats even possible) no saddles from shipping or air cells floating to side of egg just kinda on the one edge they would go to it if turned the right way.

I put them in the incubator in egg carton and didn't turn for 5 days, I heard 2-3 is suggested but I am taking a risk here. I did little twists the first 5 days when checking in on air cells but didn't plug turner in. After putting the turner on (upright) day 5, I got 2 more blood rings. I am not 100% sure, but I am pretty sure it is related to turner because prior they were developing. And here we are now on day 11 and everyone is still developing well...air cells look scary but Im just holding my breath on that.

I did watch a video of a lady that left them in carton for entire incubation process only turning slightly by hand 3-6x a day (unrealistic for me as I go to work!) and she even hatched them in lid of carton laying upright on sides with success.

For hatch I think I am also going to leave them upright due to the air cells being so wonky....and see how that goes

Thank you!
I have done hatches the way you describe. I even waited up to 7 days to turn in some shipped eggs last year. None of those hatched.
In this most current batch of 25, only 5 even showed development at all. The rest got tossed at day 7. They had very poor air cells from the get go. All were either completely detached or loose. Of the 5 that developed, all 5 went to lock down, only 2 internally pipped. All 5 had very large saddles. One hatched with some help, the second one looked like it drowned after it internally pipped. They were all incubated upright and hand turned throughout incubation. Humidity was kept low (30-40%), as my ambient humidity is high. These were VERY expensive eggs. I decided that this next go round I will be very hands off. I have read so many threads (literally hours of reading) and though the consensus seems to be best to incubate upright, there are also arguments to leave them on their sides. Also newer research demonstrates that eggs should be turned early on as well. We will see what happens!
I am looking forward to incubating my own eggs again. So easy compared to these shipped eggs. My silkies girls just got over being broody (after 6 weeks) and hopefully will start laying again soon.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I'm so very sorry you lost your sweet little Sumire. I loved her from the start
Sadly even the best care can't safe a little one when something is wrong internally or life is just too hard for such a sweet weak fragile little soul
I'm sorry your two last hatches were not good. Fingers crossed for your next one!
The eggs I'm incubating will be (hopefully) my first hatch, so I don't have any experiences. I followed the informations of the breeder I ordered my shipped eggs from (and the instructions from the incubator my friend lend me) - when the eggs arrived I let them rest till the next day, then I set them in the incubator, on their sides (no other possibility in that incubator when automatic turner is used). Breeder says she then starts the automatic turner right away, instruction of incubator says no problem to start directly. I waited till day 1 because the eggs were shipped and I thought perhaps it is better if they can rest a bit longer. Then I started automatic turner. Breeder recommends first candeling on day 7. So I kind of sit on my hands right now^^ I will report if I see anything on day 7.

Thanks!
I suspect little Sumire had some internal issues as well.
The breeder is sending more eggs. She told me she set eggs from the same breeder pen the day after she sent my last batch and they all hatched without issue. I suspect the post office really scrambled the ones I got, regardless of how many fragile labels were placed on the box.
I am taking my chances trying again. The breeder does not ship silkie chicks (she does ship other breeds she has) due to their fragility at hatch, otherwise I would go that route.
Thanks for your well wishes, I do appreciate it.
Crossing my fingers and hoping the best for your hatch. I will be doing my next batch very similarly to the way you are doing it. Keep us updated on their progress!

 

[Trisseh]

@LadiesAndJane sorry you had such bad hatching luck and lost the little one.
Shipped eggs are SO hit and miss... my philosophy from now on, after almost everything I set last year was shipped, is that the most important thing is the turning early in the incubation and setting them when they’re as fresh as possible. I never left them to rest for too long, usually 5-6 hours unless they were really shaken up, and then only those eggs with detached or really bad air cells got set on end. Everyone else went in on their sides and the air cells did settle themselves down after a few days. I’ve never had a fully detached air cell reattach enough for the egg to be viable. That’s just my experience but by the end of the season last year, for eggs that were packaged and handled well, I was getting around 50-60% hatch rates which is pretty awesome for shipped eggs. I’ve had batches where the only development I got was a couple of blood rings out of a couple dozen eggs. Sometimes you just get a round of bad luck or bad handling along the way before they get to you and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s possible even that the package was accidentally exposed to x-ray, shaken badly, etc etc.
I don’t know that handling them often would cause any issues with them developing or quitting, unless they’re handled roughly or too big a fluctuation in temp while doing so. Considering how broodies handle their eggs... haha. I routinely candle almost daily and haven’t seen any difference in hatch rates when compared to only a couple of times throughout incubation. (the first batch of my own eggs I set and got a 100% hatch rate on, I candled every day throughout and twice a day during the time leading up to hatching - I watched for internal pips and only left them alone after they had one.)

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thank you @Trisseh!
I asked the breeder to send as fresh as eggs as possible this go round, they were only 2 days on the way with express shipping.
I spent some time thinking back on the hatches I have had with shipped eggs. My best hatch rate was a set of silkie eggs that I did not check aircells on (I did not know to at the time). They were incubated on their sides and turned from the get go, after settling for about 12 hours. Granted, there is no way of knowing if they had good air cells or not. Another set of Marans eggs were also set on their sides from the get go and had a great hatch rate. Was uable to even see the air cells in these dark eggs. All the hatches that I have tried sitting upright have had horrible hatch rates. I LOVE to candle the eggs. My own eggs are not so fragile, and they get candled daily without detriment .

 

[The Cave]

@LadiesAndJane sorry you had such bad hatching luck and lost the little one.
Shipped eggs are SO hit and miss... my philosophy from now on, after almost everything I set last year was shipped, is that the most important thing is the turning early in the incubation and setting them when they’re as fresh as possible. I never left them to rest for too long, usually 5-6 hours unless they were really shaken up, and then only those eggs with detached or really bad air cells got set on end. Everyone else went in on their sides and the air cells did settle themselves down after a few days. I’ve never had a fully detached air cell reattach enough for the egg to be viable. That’s just my experience but by the end of the season last year, for eggs that were packaged and handled well, I was getting around 50-60% hatch rates which is pretty awesome for shipped eggs. I’ve had batches where the only development I got was a couple of blood rings out of a couple dozen eggs. Sometimes you just get a round of bad luck or bad handling along the way before they get to you and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s possible even that the package was accidentally exposed to x-ray, shaken badly, etc etc.
I don’t know that handling them often would cause any issues with them developing or quitting, unless they’re handled roughly or too big a fluctuation in temp while doing so. Considering how broodies handle their eggs... haha. I routinely candle almost daily and haven’t seen any difference in hatch rates when compared to only a couple of times throughout incubation. (the first batch of my own eggs I set and got a 100% hatch rate on, I candled every day throughout and twice a day during the time leading up to hatching - I watched for internal pips and only left them alone after they had one.)

Do you hatch your shipped eggs upright (in turner or carton)? Im so scared for lockdown, some people says stop turning 6 days out! This is only my second time so I am no professional! But based on my first time to this time I am already doing way better so want to try to get these babies to hatch.

 

[WallyG74]

So yesterday was day 14 for me. I tried to candle and of course saw very little. The BO eggs that I bought locally, I could see a dark mass. No veins. My EE eggs were behind the iron curtain. I saw nothing. I obviously need a better light. From my experience with what lights I have and eggtopsies from power failure I should be good. I only tried about 4. My wife insists that I should leave them alone. Doesn’t this feel weird? It’s supposed to be the other way around, right???

 

[Skyle]

Hi!
So, I set 14 Brahma chickie eggs on 10th, so they should hatch on 31th (if everything goes well), does it still count, right?
This is my third hatch this year (first were Marans for my bf, the second were few Brahma eggs) and I can't wait to candle them

I candled right now and all 14 are fertile
Two have a bit mishapen air cell though

 

[LONDON HENS]

Late to the game.. Day 14 for me. I set them on the 1st March.

I have 3 Coronation Sussex, 3 Cuckoo Marans, 2 Wellsummers and 4 mixes from my garden (Swedish Flower hen boy)

 

[The Cave]

I did my best to try and get group photos, what colours do you think they will be ! They are almost one week old silkies! Candling the shipped eggs tomorrow for day 12 update.