MARCH 2021 HATCH-A-LONG 🌷🌸🌼

[LadiesAndJane]

First chick of our first ever hatch. She's exhausted!

Congratulations! Hard work!

 

[LONDON HENS]

Do you have a candling photo?
Do you know what your ambient humidity is?
I have, for example, very high ambient humidity, so I do dry incubation.

I dont have any photos unfortunately. I am on my own and difficult to candle and take a photo.

I have just had another look and some look much better than two days ago, filling the whole egg bar air sack. But 2 eggs seem much further behind other eggs, smaller chick in egg and smaller airsack and much more fluid. I saw movement..
All eggs were set at the same time.
Is this down to them being different eggs from different hens?

 

[jeapa]

I still have just one chick hatched. I have 2 others that have small pipps. So everything I have read says I should just leave that chick in the incubator. It hatched at around 4-4:30pm . Is there any reason I should take it out? It has rolled some of the other eggs around but seems to have settled now as I turned the light off in the kitchen. I don’t think the other eggs are going to do anything soon. Tomorrow around 7 am will be 21 days.

 

[Kholts]

I still have just one chick hatched. I have 2 others that have small pipps. So everything I have read says I should just leave that chick in the incubator. It hatched at around 4-4:30pm . Is there any reason I should take it out? It has rolled some of the other eggs around but seems to have settled now as I turned the light off in the kitchen. I don’t think the other eggs are going to do anything soon. Tomorrow around 7 am will be 21 days.

I’d leave the hatched one in there. It will entice the others to hatch. Hearing the chick & getting hostile around helps.

Also you want the chicks good & fluffed up before you move them into the brooder. A wet chick catches a chill easily.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I dont have any photos unfortunately. I am on my own and difficult to candle and take a photo.

I have just had another look and some look much better than two days ago, filling the whole egg bar air sack. But 2 eggs seem much further behind other eggs, smaller chick in egg and smaller airsack and much more fluid. I saw movement..
All eggs were set at the same time.
Is this down to them being different eggs from different hens?

More likely some differences in temp in the incubator, so called "cold spots". Some people avoid this by moving the eggs around in the incubator a few times a day. The ones that look a little farther behind can still hatch, they just may hatch a bit later. This is why most people hang onto the eggs until day 24 or even 25 in case there are any late developers.

 

[jeapa]

I’d leave the hatched one in there. It will entice the others to hatch. Hearing the chick & getting hostile around helps.

Also you want the chicks good & fluffed up before you move them into the brooder. A wet chick catches a chill easily.

That is what I thought was best. Hopefully by morning I have 3 more chicks!

 

[Cluckatar]

We now have three chicks that have hatched from late afternoon to evening. There are five more eggs and all looked viable at lockdown. Should we leave the chicks in overnight? We're nervous to open the lid too much and mess up the eggs that have pipped. There is one worrisome egg with a pip at the bottom, not all all near the air cell. But the three bouncing around in there have made it so I no longer know which egg it was.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

We now have three chicks that have hatched from late afternoon to evening. There are five more eggs and all looked viable at lockdown. Should we leave the chicks in overnight? We're nervous to open the lid too much and mess up the eggs that have pipped. There is one worrisome egg with a pip at the bottom, not all all near the air cell. But the three bouncing around in there have made it so I no longer know which egg it was.

If the chicks are dry, you can quicky remove them and reposition the eggs that have been knocked around. Have a warm, damp paper towel or similar ready and throw it in the incubator when you remove the chicks, this will drive the humidity back up quickly. Do not let it touch any of the remaining eggs though.

 

[jeapa]

I woke up to 4 chicks in the incubator. I moved the two driest to the brooder very quickly. I have 4 more eggs and 1 just pipped.

I have a Dominique roo so all of my babies will most likely be barred. They are cuties

 

[LONDON HENS]

More likely some differences in temp in the incubator, so called "cold spots". Some people avoid this by moving the eggs around in the incubator a few times a day. The ones that look a little farther behind can still hatch, they just may hatch a bit later. This is why most people hang onto the eggs until day 24 or even 25 in case there are any late developers.

Thanks. Makes sense. Its a small incubator so strange to have cold spots but perfectly possible. It did cross my mind. Would you continue to turn those eggs for few extra days jut to help them along?

Just measured outside humidity and it was around 20... measuring inside the incubator now. Haven't increased humidity yet for lockdown.. day 18/19 now..