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

[DURR]

My hatching eggs came today! Should I let them sit overnight, fat end down?

Always set fertile eggs fat end up!

 

[BantyChickenLuv]

Always set fertile eggs fat end up!

Oh, okay, that makes more sense... I wondered if I got it mixed up, lol. Thank you!

 

[DURR]

Oh, okay, that makes more sense... I wondered if I got it mixed up, lol. Thank you!

Your welcome dear. also if anyone is interested I have 12+ EE eggs for sale.

 

[bellah1]

I'm on day 6 with shipped duck egg. Only 2 out of the 9 are viable for sure due to horrible handling during shipping, they all had at least partially detached & two completely. So they all have been in a carton fat end up in the bator but somehow during turning because they are so little I guess, 2 of them ended up sideways for almost 24 hours & 1 was the my best with amazing growth & now has a saddle air sac that stays in place. I know you leave detached air cell eggs upright in the carton for hatching but how do you position saddle air cell eggs to hatch?

 

[1HotChickenMama]

Hi all! I just let my Buff Orp hen start to sit today... She's in with 4 others but I'm adding their eggs to her pile for a cpled days. She's a big girl so she can handle quite a few. My question is should I relocate her lower to a secluded spot now... Or wait until the chicks are possibly talking back to her and about to hatch?

 

[Jseaborn]

Just started 24 rir and rir/barred rock cross tonight. This will be my first attempt so everyone keep your fingers crossed

 

[Brookhavens]

Question then. You who have yours due on the 14th. Mine are due on the 14th as well, set on the 21st at 3pm. Doesn't that make them on day 6, not day 7? Day 7 would be tomorrow at 3pm for me. Right? I know it's just a matter of hours but it confuses me. When I first made up my charts, I started on day 1 and that placed today (Wednesday the 27th) as day 7. I reprinted the charts to start on day 0, Thursday the 21st, and made the first 24 hrs day 1, placing day 7 on Thursday the 28th and the hatch day on the 14th... because it seemed to make more sense. But now I'm second guessing. Which is correct?

Whatever day of the week you set your eggs on is the same day you can expect them to start hatching. (Sometimes earlier. Sometimes later.) You set your eggs at 3:00pm on Thursday, February 21th so your hatch day (Day 21) is Thursday, March 14th. Another way to look at it is in hours. Thursday, 2/21 at 3pm is 0 hours. 2/22 at 3am is 12 hours and 3pm on 2/22 is 24 hours. 24 hours = 1 day or Day 1 of incubation. When you read or hear "lock down or stop turning" on Day 18 it means after the full 24 hours of Day 18 has gone by you stop turning. So that would mean that Day 18 ends on Monday afternoon 3/11 @ 2:59pm. Day 19 starts @ 3:00pm Monday and lockdown begins. Day 20 starts @ 3pm on Tuesday and Day 21 starts @ 3pm on Wednesday and ends on Thursday @ 2:59pm. So on Thursday at 2:59pm you have had 21 days (each consisting of 24 hours) of full development.

 

[Brookhavens]

I'm on day 6 with shipped duck egg. Only 2 out of the 9 are viable for sure due to horrible handling during shipping, they all had at least partially detached & two completely. So they all have been in a carton fat end up in the bator but somehow during turning because they are so little I guess, 2 of them ended up sideways for almost 24 hours & 1 was the my best with amazing growth & now has a saddle air sac that stays in place. I know you leave detached air cell eggs upright in the carton for hatching but how do you position saddle air cell eggs to hatch?

I leave mine in the egg cartons to hatch too.

 

[Brookhavens]

I am new to incubating. I will be doing a live chick hatching project with my son's Kindergarten class!!!
He goes to private school, so he only has 5 kids in his class.
I have ordered 7 eggs from My Pet Chicken. I called today and they are being shipped today, with arrival for THIS FRIDAY, March 1st!!!!! OMG!!!!!
I have read and read and read and done a ton of research, but now I'm SO nervous, I feel I haven't read anything at all!!! Aghhhhh.
I have purchased the Brinsea Mini Advance Incubator and the EcoGlow 20 for the brooder. I have a brooder box set up that I made out of a 4'x2'x2' Rubbermaid container.
I need ALLLLLLL the advice anyone wants to give!!! The eggs are due on Friday, from what I've read, I'm going to unwrap them carefully and make sure each one is sitting
with the wide end in the egg container, right? Should I let them sit 24 hours or let sit Saturday and Sunday? I am in sunny Southern CA, so the average temp right now is 70.
If I can just let them be for 2 days, that would be great, as I would be able to set them in the incubator, along with the kids on Monday morning. I assume if i set them on Monday the 4th (day 0), they would hatch on March 25th (day 21), is this correct?
They are 1 Wellsummer, 1 Buff Orpington, 1 Barred Plymouth Rock, 1 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 French Black Copper Maran and 1 Red Star.

Welcome to the group!!! You are correct about the hatching date. Shipping is very hard on eggs and many are lucky when they get 50% to hatch. You may want to find someone local that has hatching eggs for sale (think Craigslist) and buy a few from them also. This is a great article on hatching shipped eggs. Once I started using this method my development rate increased tremendously with shipped eggs. My advice would be to keep the temp at 99.5 throughout the entire hatch and during days 1-18 keep the humidity level in the mid to high 30's and then at lockdown up the humidity to the low 60's.

 

[Brookhavens]

Just started 24 rir and rir/barred rock cross tonight. This will be my first attempt so everyone keep your fingers crossed

Good luck. Lucky you to be able to tell the sex of the chicks when they hatch.