MARCH 2021 HATCH-A-LONG 🌷🌸🌼

[The Cave]

Egggggciting news! I have one silkie hatched- 3 more pipped!

My shipped eggs out of 24 I see 17 developing (hedemora and 55 flowery!) A couple of blood rings and 1 or 2 infertile as far as I can tell but only on day 5 so fingers are freaking crossed so tight! They all had moving air cells so I haven't been turning or anything. Just waiting to see if we get development then by day 12 if its all good I think I will start doing the 45 degree turns in carton. What do you fellow shipped egger people do ?

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

Today is day 17 for my Farmers’ Market eggs and 5 of the remaining 7 are quitters. The last two look good though so they hatch out. I do have a chick order from Meyers for next week so if I end up with a singleton it won’t be for very long.

 

[JoJoM]

I can’t wait until I can figure out what I may have here. The farm they came from has Australorp, Cochin and Orpington. There are a few other mixes running around. I set some duck eggs in the incubator today, my husband said no more chickens. He should have been way more clear.
I love everyones pictures!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Egggggciting news! I have one silkie hatched- 3 more pipped!

My shipped eggs out of 24 I see 17 developing (hedemora and 55 flowery!) A couple of blood rings and 1 or 2 infertile as far as I can tell but only on day 5 so fingers are freaking crossed so tight! They all had moving air cells so I haven't been turning or anything. Just waiting to see if we get development then by day 12 if its all good I think I will start doing the 45 degree turns in carton. What do you fellow shipped egger people do ?

Congratulations on your silkie baby!

I have tried many different methods with shipped eggs. I have come to the conclusion after some further research and reading that turning the eggs is important. I start turning them after 24 hours now. Not sure if it is making any difference. Have not had the best hatch rates this time around. I have also tried not turning for the first 7 days, and this resulted in a 0% hatch rate, so really I do not know what to recommend. Most people do not turn for 2-3 days. There is some research that shows it is important to turn the eggs early on, so I would not wait more than 3 days at most. Some people just throw their shipped eggs right in the incubator after settling 24 hours and get great hatch rates. Hard to say what it is that gives better hatch rates. Probably multifactorial.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

3rd call duckling has escaped its shell! This one is very near to my heart. It is from my drake who recently passed. It’s getting fluffy then will go in with its two siblings. One more from this batch left then comes my Broody’s hatch, then another batch in 20 some days.

 

[Derangedplanet]

I candled my own girls eggs tonight and they're developing real well! She's a brand new layer so that's relieving. I can't wait for my poofy headed babies. I only candle a few eggs at a time. But everyone seems to be developing real well

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So going into day 20, no internal pips yet, but went ahead and upped the humidity to 70%. The saddles also make it difficult to predict where they will pip and also difficult to see draw down. I do not really think any of these eggs will be hatching tomorrow. Maybe on day 22 or 23 with this bunch. Did a quick candle and all 5 are still viable. The one that looked a few days behind has filled out the egg a bit more.

 

[Melontine]

Day 3 on my batch.
I'm really wanting to start candling but I told myself I have to wait until tomorrow at least. I'm planning to candle just a few at a time over the course of three-four days, then wait until the next milestone (around day 10) and repeat. That way the incubator isn't opened more than a few minutes at a time and I can satisfy my own curiosity without bothering each egg more than twice.
No clue how the eggs are doing currently. I'm a bit worried about the shipped eggs as while they looked great on arrival, I can't be sure they weren't damaged internally somehow during their journey. I see a bit of crystal(?) on a couple of the eggs and I'm not sure what that means or how it'll affect the eggs.

I got my first Silkie egg yesterday, too bad my incubator is already in use and it's still too cold to collect for a broody. Hoping that after this batch all the silkie hens will be laying and I can hatch some in April. Haven't check if it's fertile yet, but with the off split of seven hens and four roos, it'd be stranger I think if none of the roos were doing their part.

 

[Melontine]

I did some reading and found the eggs with crystals are due to bacterial infection and are prone to explode after a while.
I removed 5 eggs. Really sad as this is 3/5 of the lavender Orpington eggs and 2/6 speckled Sussex eggs we were shipped.

 

[Derangedplanet]

View attachment 2564151

I did some reading and found the eggs with crystals are due to bacterial infection and are prone to explode after a while.
I removed 5 eggs. Really sad as this is 3/5 of the lavender Orpington eggs and 2/6 speckled Sussex eggs we were shipped.

In my experience with quail eggs usually they got that on them from another egg. Most mine that were neighboring my exploded egg still hatched