March hatch along

[carcar80]

2 more weeks until hatch time!! e
I just wish I was doing it myself. I'm missing out on all the fun.

Don't forget the worry, bad dreams, stress, and nagging feelings of inadequacy!!

 

[johnderosa1]

Don't forget the worry, bad dreams, stress, and nagging feelings of inadequacy!!

Exactly....

 

[carcar80]

My "round 1" should be hatching next Fri/Sat. Last night I added "round 2", another dozen eggs..

Please tell me if Round 1's hatch will kill Round 2 which will be at one week incubation at that point.

I asked on my home thread and only got smartask comments about needing to buy more bators. .

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Sad news on my hatch. We had an ice storm come through and when I came home from work yesterday morning I found that we'd lost power overnight.

So for the last thirty hours we have been without power and today would have been day twenty-one. I'm not expecting any of my poor babies to make it. Once power comes back on, I'll leave the bator on for two days just in case but it looks like I'll have to start over.

 

[johnderosa1]

Sad news on my hatch.  We had an ice storm come through and when I came home from work yesterday morning I found that we'd lost power overnight.  So for the last thirty hours we have been without power and today would have been day twenty-one.  I'm not expecting any of my poor babies to make it.  Once power comes back on, I'll leave the bator on for two days just in case but it looks like I'll have to start over.  

Try to keep the incubator cover in blankets or something similar. The chicks will generate their own heat if they are still alive and help keep the temps up if it is insulated well enough. They still could make it with a little luck. Fingers crossed .

 

[JadedPhoenix]

Thanks but by the time I got home from work yesterday morning, the temps had already dropped to below eighty and now they are below seventy since it is forty-five in the house.

 

[subhanalah]

Thanks but by the time I got home from work yesterday morning, the temps had already dropped to below eighty and now they are below seventy since it is forty-five in the house.  

isn't there a certain temperature for a certain length of time that can cause defects? I don't think this applies to yours since they were so close to hatch! Maybe you can employ your whole family to body incubate them? I would at least try...better than losing them all? Are you still without power?

 

[johnderosa1]

Thanks but by the time I got home from work yesterday morning, the temps had already dropped to below eighty and now they are below seventy since it is forty-five in the house.  

I know it sounds bleak but you never know .... Remember the temp you are seeing is the air temp not necessarily the egg temp. I lost power late in a hatch during hurricane sandy and it was about 8 hours before i had my generator up and running. The temps dropped to the 70s on my thermometer but i still had a great hatch. All that said, its not a good scenario and i feel really bad for you.

 

[AandAranch]

My "round 1" should be hatching next Fri/Sat. Last night I added "round 2", another dozen eggs..

Please tell me if Round 1's hatch will kill Round 2 which will be at one week incubation at that point.

I asked on my home thread and only got smartask comments about needing to buy more bators. .

I've read of several people who have good hatch rates on staggered hatches but they were all pretty experienced at incubating. I just tried my first staggered hatch and it went horribly. 2 out of 6. One of the 2 needed assistance and 1 died in shell. The other two I put in later died around the time o put the others in lockdown. That last one was my third hatch ever. My first two were pretty good. My very first hatch had a 100% hatchrate! When you do a staggered hatch you have to compensate for all that humidity the incubator gains when the first set of eggs hatch. If not, the younger eggs may not lose enough of the liquid inside them and you may end up with drowned chicks at hatch time. I'd say keep a close eye on the younger eggs' air cells after the others hatch and adjust the humidity as needed. When you put the first set in lockdown the others need to still be turned and if you turn by hand and have to open the bator you'll let out a lot of precious humidity that the hatching chicks need. Also at only 1 week those little embryos are still pretty delicate and I would be worried about those newly hatched chicks knocking them around too much. I don't mean to worry you but these are just some risks that you may encounter throughout your hatch.

 

[matlock585]

About the only way I know to have successful staggered hatches is to have one incubator with humidity where you want for the first 18 days, and a second incubator set up for lockdown.
I'm getting ready to redo my operation with a circulated air bator for the beginning and middle, and a still air to lockdown and hatch in. I'm also toying with the idea of running both off solar power because this power outage scared the crap out of me.