March Hatch-Along Thread- Come Hatch With Us!!!!!

[Brookhavens]

Hi all! I currently have NINE broody hens...holy cow...but I only have four of them with clutches at the moment. Trying to break the others. It's contagious! My girls have been going broody constantly since November. Being winter in Indiana that is just bizarre. We hatched Silkies, Showgirls and one Porcelain D'Uccle at the end of November and into the first part of December. We are currently finishing our second hatch of Silkies, Showgirls and a few bantam Cochins (I have two hatching as I type -yay!) and I just set eggs in my new Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance EX on 3/1 and will be staggering my hatch by adding in some shipped eggs that arrived this morning and are currently resting before joining the others(will be setting them tomorrow 3/6) and I will be moving the eggs into an LG still air incubator for lockdown and hatching. I haven't used shipped eggs before so I am nervous but optimistic too. They arrived well packaged and none broken so time will tell. I have my Brinsea set at 99.6 and 45% humidity per the booklets instructions. The humidity pump has been running quite a bit to maintain that level. I have moved eggs from my broodys into my still air for hatching (so my kiddos could watch the process) with great success but have never set and hatched start to finish in an incubator before so I am thankful for advice and pointers. Good luck on all your hatches!

Depending on the humidity on your house I would bring the humidity down to the mid 30's for days 1-18.

 

[jhfamily5]

Depending on the humidity on your house I would bring the humidity down to the mid 30's for days 1-18.

I have a two story house with a basement too. We have a very open floor plan and I have the incubator on the first floor in the dining room (open to almost the whole first floor). It is very cold here...currently in a small snow storm...and my heat is gas and runs a lot. I keep it 69-70 in the house and don't run any humidifiers. It feels pretty dry. Does that make a difference as far as inside the incubator is concerned? My humidity pump has been running a lot to keep that level. When I opened it to add eggs the second day the level immediately dropped to mid 30's and that is with water in one reservoir and the humidity pump too. I was going by the book but that sounded kinda high to me too. Thanks

 

[ceocka]

Grape- congrats!

I am on lock down too. No pips for me. Was hoping to come home to chicks but didnt. Nothing. Was st dr all day with 8 yr old son. He is sick and we think he had seizure at drs office when we were about to leave so they wheeled him back in room and started an iv

 

[ceocka]

Oops. I didn't finish story.

So he is ok now blood work was elevated in some areas so have to do more blood work on him tomorrow at his dr apt. Hopefully then we will come home to some new babies! I am praying we do. And I am praying we find out what is wrong with my son.

Congrats to everyone's new pips and babies!

Nite yall

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

Grape- congrats!

I am on lock down too. No pips for me. Was hoping to come home to chicks but didnt. Nothing. Was st dr all day with 8 yr old son. He is sick and we think he had seizure at drs office when we were about to leave so they wheeled him back in room and started an iv

OH NO!! That's not good! Hope he gets better soon! We have a nine yr old son and that would b tough! Keep us posted plz

 

[Brookhavens]

I have a two story house with a basement too. We have a very open floor plan and I have the incubator on the first floor in the dining room (open to almost the whole first floor). It is very cold here...currently in a small snow storm...and my heat is gas and runs a lot. I keep it 69-70 in the house and don't run any humidifiers. It feels pretty dry. Does that make a difference as far as inside the incubator is concerned? My humidity pump has been running a lot to keep that level. When I opened it to add eggs the second day the level immediately dropped to mid 30's and that is with water in one reservoir and the humidity pump too. I was going by the book but that sounded kinda high to me too. Thanks

You may also want to put the bator in a closed off room. It may help keep the temp and humidity more stable.

 

[Brookhavens]

Oops. I didn't finish story.

So he is ok now blood work was elevated in some areas so have to do more blood work on him tomorrow at his dr apt. Hopefully then we will come home to some new babies! I am praying we do. And I am praying we find out what is wrong with my son.

Congrats to everyone's new pips and babies!

Nite yall

Poor kiddo. Hope they find out whats wrong with him and he gets better soon.

 

[BantyChickenLuv]

Tonight I was adding water to the 'bator, and couldn't resist grabbing a random egg to candle. That "random egg" turned out to be 3 random eggs. Well, all 3 were developing! One had a real wonky air cell though. So far 4/4 eggs I've candled are developing. I think that's good for shipped eggs. Now for Thursday on the other 13.... Crossing my fingers.

 

[hokankai]

That is amazing self-control...I totally would have candled all of them, hahaha.

 

[threadgeek]

I GOT MY FIRST PIP!!!! Only day 19!!!! My Bobbi Porto white Roo over white hen (silkie) omg!!!!!!!

Woo hoo! I'm only on day 4 and the time is going by soooo sllloooooowwwlllllyyyyyyy! I can't wait till they start hatching! Good luck!!!

Quote:

Holy crap!!!! FOUR pips....but one looks like it's been there a while.....not gonna panic yet, but OMG!!!!!

Pug!!!! Bring me some a dos bugs!!!!!

I set 25 on 2/28, hatch day 3/20 or thereabouts. 8 cream Legbars and 17 SLW. My first time hatching shipped eggs. I'm holding out a few more days before candling. My incubator has been holding temp between 99.3 and 100.2 and I log the temp and humidity every 12 hours. I didn't weigh them.

Ooooooh CLs! They are on my MUST HAVE list!

Oops. I didn't finish story.

So he is ok now blood work was elevated in some areas so have to do more blood work on him tomorrow at his dr apt. Hopefully then we will come home to some new babies! I am praying we do. And I am praying we find out what is wrong with my son.

Congrats to everyone's new pips and babies!

Nite yall

I'm sending healing thoughts your way! And good luck on the chickies!

Tonight I was adding water to the 'bator, and couldn't resist grabbing a random egg to candle. That "random egg" turned out to be 3 random eggs. Well, all 3 were developing! One had a real wonky air cell though. So far 4/4 eggs I've candled are developing. I think that's good for shipped eggs. Now for Thursday on the other 13.... Crossing my fingers.

Nice!