March hatch along

[subhanalah]

Johnderosa. I know that feel, bro.
My BBM eggs went into lock down with albumen in he air cell (it didn't heal) so I'm really not sure how it'll go with them. #

 

[carcar80]

Well, out of my twelve original legbars, I had three clears and just set apart three blood rings. didn't have the heart yet to take them out, LOL, but they're out.

So down to six, plus the little OE egg had movement too. Hopefully I won't lose any more!! It's almost like it wouldn't be so bad if I had another bator to run as hatcher.. But having an entire bator tied up for three weeks for seven chicks just kinda stinks! :/

Anyway I'm still excited. Lockdown in T minus six days... !

 

[christine9]

Ok so the more and more I read through hatchlings and see pics, I realize I have a big sign of what I did wrong, but I don't know what it means. My chicks didn't fluff up themselves. They kinda dried all yucky. Does this mean my humidity was off? And which way? Out of 14 eggs, 3 hatched and 4 internally pipped and stopped. I really want to try again but want to get a better grip on what I'm doing.

 

[johnderosa1]

Ok so the more and more I read through hatchlings and see pics, I realize I have a big sign of what I did wrong, but I don't know what it means. My chicks didn't fluff up themselves. They kinda dried all yucky. Does this mean my humidity was off? And which way? Out of 14 eggs, 3 hatched and 4 internally pipped and stopped. I really want to try again but want to get a better grip on what I'm doing.

sounds like your humidity was too low. My guess is that it was too low during both days1-18 and during lockdown. I tried a "dry" hatch earlier this year and my humidity was very low during days 1-18 but just a little low during lockdown. It wound up being a disaster. The few that made it out on their own were very sticky and the rest perished after they got stuck trying to hatch even after increasing the humidity to 70%+. My next hatch went very well with a higher humidity level during days 1-18. It doesnt have to be perfect every day but if you stay close to recommendations you should be fine. Another thing to consider is the fan ... If you are using an incubator with a fan you may want to protect the eggs during the hatch with a wet paper towel or block the air someway.

 

[christine9]

Ok so the more and more I read through hatchlings and see pics, I realize I have a big sign of what I did wrong, but I don't know what it means. My chicks didn't fluff up themselves. They kinda dried all yucky. Does this mean my humidity was off? And which way? Out of 14 eggs, 3 hatched and 4 internally pipped and stopped. I really want to try again but want to get a better grip on what I'm doing.

sounds like your humidity was too low. My guess is that it was too low during both days1-18 and during lockdown. I tried a "dry" hatch earlier this year and my humidity was very low during days 1-18 but just a little low during lockdown. It wound up being a disaster. The few that made it out on their own were very sticky and the rest perished after they got stuck trying to hatch even after increasing the humidity to 70%+. My next hatch went very well with a higher humidity level during days 1-18. It doesnt have to be perfect every day but if you stay close to recommendations you should be fine. Another thing to consider is the fan ... If you are using an incubator with a fan you may want to protect the eggs during the hatch with a wet paper towel or block the air someway.

INTERESTING!! I totally tried the dry hatch and obviously it was too dry. I will try the standard method next time. Thanks.

 

[johnderosa1]

INTERESTING!! I totally tried the dry hatch and obviously it was too dry. I will try the standard method next time. Thanks.

If you have had problems with chicks not able to pip because they are too big at hatch time i would stay on the lower side of normal...

 

[chicken junky]

I have tried alot of different methods and my last two hatches have been awesome so I have a forced air with egg turner I set eggs 12 hours after arrival so air sacs can settle, my humidity is about 30 to 35 for first 18 days. I candle one time at 8 days then just make sure no stinkers throughout by sniffing through the vent (yes I am a vent sniffer) at lockdown I take out any obvious bad ones and get humidity up to 65 and lay on sides with larger air cell side up and don't touch again. If there are any with pips and one in trouble I still don't open until no pips. This is very very hard because we want to help but opening will hurt all the others. Hope this helps I have increased my hatch rate from 25% to about 85% by doing this.

 

[carcar80]

Vent sniffer

 

[christine9]

I have tried alot of different methods and my last two hatches have been awesome so I have a forced air with egg turner I set eggs 12 hours after arrival so air sacs can settle, my humidity is about 30 to 35 for first 18 days. I candle one time at 8 days then just make sure no stinkers throughout by sniffing through the vent (yes I am a vent sniffer) at lockdown I take out any obvious bad ones and get humidity up to 65 and lay on sides with larger air cell side up and don't touch again. If there are any with pips and one in trouble I still don't open until no pips. This is very very hard because we want to help but opening will hurt all the others. Hope this helps I have increased my hatch rate from 25% to about 85% by doing this.

Thanks. I pretty much tried this EXCEPT I could not keep the bator shut once the first three started running around and knocking into everyone else. I guess that was my true mistake.

 

[CashandTracy]

My BCM eggs still haven't arrived... Hung up with the USPS. Very frustrating. I went ahead and set 18 black ameraucana eggs + 7 lavender ameraucana eggs on friday. I will add the BCM eggs when and if they ever get here even though they will have been in transit for at least 7 days if they arrive on Monday. I'm beginning to think I wasn't meant to have decent BCM stock. I've been trying for three years and still dont have any birds that i would breed forward. These eggs are from someone with really nice birds...

I'm so sorry, I hope they finally made it

I'm so sick of the USPS! They're supposed to have better service and tracking, but they don't. On the last package (live chicks) I got the tracking didn't update until after I received the package.