March hatch along

[johnderosa1]

Oh, and my duck eggs look like they are doing pretty good

Carcar, good thing you finally found out what was going on with your hatches!

That's quite a mix!!! I candled my eggs on Monday... 12 out of 18 shipped black ameraucana eggs are definitely developing. 2 more look good but not sure. I had 2 clears and two blood rings as well. I am very happy with the results so far with these eggs. One of the definites is an unbelievably deep blue green color... Most saturated am egg I've ever seen so i am very excited about that. 6 out of 7 of my lavender ams are developing well... one clear. Finally, i candled the Bcm eggs that took 7 days to arrive... 1 was broken on arrival so I had 13 to set. Of those it looked like something was going on in at least 9 of them but couldnt tell for sure. It was a little early but since my am eggs were at day 10 and the seller of the black am eggs was anxious to see how they were doing i couldnt wait any longer so i figured i might as well look at the BCM eggs as well. I will take a look at the again at day 10-11. The one thing that has me worried with these eggs is that i couldnt see any air cells... The eggs are dark but I usually dont have a problem seeing air cells . Hopefully they will be well developed the next time I look.

 

[johnderosa1]

Well i candled again now that its time to lock down the ameraucana eggs.... 11 definitely developing well 3 others appear to have stopped, including the really dark blue green egg. i am still considering all of them as maybes so i left them in there.... All 6 lav ameraucana eggs are looking good as well. I also candled the BCM eggs and it looks like at least 8 are developing but I left 10 in there just in case..., i am going to have to do a staggered hatch so not sure how the BCM eggs will fare with 2-3 extra days in lockdown conditions.... I guess time will tell .

 

[CashandTracy]

Set 44 eggs this morning, 34 are from my flock BCM SLW cross, the hens are young but a few have been laying for well over a month so I'm hopeful

and super excited. The last 10 are from my friend, some silkie and silkie cochin cross. Hopefully I'll have a good hatch, these chicks are already sold.

 

[christine9]

Well i candled again now that its time to lock down the ameraucana eggs.... 11 definitely developing well 3 others appear to have stopped, including the really dark blue green egg. i am still considering all of them as maybes so i left them in there.... All 6 lav ameraucana eggs are looking good as well. I also candled the BCM eggs and it looks like at least 8 are developing but I left 10 in there just in case..., i am going to have to do a staggered hatch so not sure how the BCM eggs will fare with 2-3 extra days in lockdown conditions.... I guess time will tell .

I think they'll be fine as long as you keep the bator closed. Good luck!!

 

[carcar80]

Just put new eggs in yesterday evening.. Woke up at midnight and temp was 102; woke up at 6:30 and it was 104. Hopefully not long enough to totally screw things up. :/

 

[johnderosa1]

Just put new eggs in yesterday evening.. Woke up at midnight and temp was 102; woke up at 6:30 and it was 104. Hopefully not long enough to totally screw things up. :/

I lost 2 successive hatches using an inexpensive styrofoam incubator several years ago due to temp spikes. I replaced that incubator with one I built that relies on a digital thermostat + bimetal backup set at 101.5 to prevent spikes. I havent looked back since. You seem to have had alot of problems maintaining your temps. I would seriously considering upgrading your equipment if you plan on future hatches. The time & money spent, not to mention the heartache is not worth it without some success from time to time. I truly hope that the temp spike didnt ruin your hatch. Good luck!!!!!

 

[carcar80]

I totally agree!! Hubby is seeing this as well. Thanks!

 

[johnderosa1]

I totally agree!! Hubby is seeing this as well. Thanks!

I dont know if $$ is an issue but i built a really nice incubator for less than $150 not including the auto turners... It holds 84 eggs and could have been built to hold 126 without spending any more money ....

 

[carcar80]

Sweet! Feel free to link or PM details if you'd like. Ya we're mostly really cheap, lol. I know of I'd just spend the $ I'd be glad I did..

I will say, the fact I got my own Brahmas has taken a LOT of the pressure off this hatch. I got them after I ordered the eggs so I didn't want to cancel the order. But I DO super hope they'll still hatch though! They're pretty scrambled from the air travel I'm afraid.

 

[johnderosa1]

Sweet! Feel free to link or PM details if you'd like. Ya we're mostly really cheap, lol. I know of I'd just spend the $ I'd be glad I did..

I will say, the fact I got my own Brahmas has taken a LOT of the pressure off this hatch. I got them after I ordered the eggs so I didn't want to cancel the order. But I DO super hope they'll still hatch though! They're pretty scrambled from the air travel I'm afraid.

I will write up the plans for you in the next week or so and send them to you when they are done. It really works well. The temp cycles in a range of about 1 degree... 98.9-100. And my thermometer reads a constant 99.5. The thermostat is preset at. 99.5 but can be adjusted up or down 1 tenth of a degree at a time at the touch of a button. It even has a digital thermometer built in.