May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[Jehri]

So, finally able to see into my lavender ameraucana eggs, day 9 of incubation. Challenging to say the least. These eggs were shipped, and I think the post office was especially hard on them. I guess "fragile" means use the box for a kick ball! One of the eggs was broken upon delivery, so that should have given me a clue. They were well packed overall. Today was the first day I was able to see anything. One was infertile, so I cracked it open to see if I was right, and I was, thankfully. 5 appear to be "early quitters" I could not see any clear air cells, saw some things floating around and no sign of movement. 7 have veining and movement and also huge saddles. They are all now sitting upright in little cartons and will be babied and hopefully a few will hatch but I am not very hopeful. These eggs sat 24 hours before being set and I did not turn them for another 24 hours after placing them in the incubator. I guess there is only so much you can do.
So, 2 questions: how long should I hang on to the "early quitters" before culling them? I have middle aged eye sight and first time candling these gorgeous blue eggs.
Secondly, I do have another dozen ameraucana eggs coming at the end of the month. Is there anything I should do differently to increase the odds with the next bunch?
I bought them as a "back up" order in anticipation of the problems with shipped eggs.
Thanks for any suggestions! You guys all rock!

I would think 3 days should show significant change if you don’t see it then you’re safe to remove. The only ones I haven’t taken out were my dark eggs.

I used to breed, hatch, and hand raise conures, lovebirds, parrotlets, etc. back when I was a teenager. It was WAY more effort than hatching poultry, lol, so if you have done that then poultry should be a breeze for you!
I've hatched hundreds of poultry chicks now and those that have done hatch-a-longs with me in the past know that I have zero ability to leave any remaining stragglers without at least trying to assist, lol. I'm very hands off in the beginning of a hatch as long as everything is going smoothly but once a hatch winds down and I see something is haywire, I poke around and see if I can help. I've had many successful assists so it's definitely possible! I don't think I've lost any chicks that have managed to pip externally. It's those malpositions where the face is difficult to locate that are the hardest to assist.

I’ve been that way with my Indoor flock with repairing eggs. I’ve gotten pretty skilled with it. So far I’ve only had one that actually ended up being a fertile egg that progressed to about 5 days before hatch before passing. Overall I was pleased as the egg was missing the whole top so for what it was I felt it went well. I think I’ve only assisted Hatchers twice though I’ve read a ton about it so I’m Pretty prepared If it’s necessary. I’m terribly impatient and always have a hard time with when to help.

 

[Jehri]

I didn’t think to weigh my eggs and I have so many with dark shells that I have no idea what is going on inside. How do I handle these at hatch time? I’m obviously hoping they all bust out easily and I don’t have to worry but at what point do I try and look for a chick inside?

 

[FortCluck]

Hoping these little marans hatch. I know two were internally pipped and all the others showed movement. My bantam brahmas were pushing on the air cell so those should be internally pipped soon.

My friends ducks should be hatching next week along with a ton of other eggs. I have such staggered hatches right now.

 

[FortCluck]

I didn’t think to weigh my eggs and I have so many with dark shells that I have no idea what is going on inside. How do I handle these at hatch time? I’m obviously hoping they all bust out easily and I don’t have to worry but at what point do I try and look for a chick inside?

You should be able to at least seem some movement inside the eggs. I’d start looking around day 10 for movement. Around day 15 is when I know if they’re early quitters or not.

 

[Jehri]

I can’t see anything at all through these things they are super super dark I have like dark chocolate shade marans as well as a couple olive ones that look like they were done with house paint I swear no light at all passes through I’ll see if I can get a picture

 

[AUChickenGal]

Woke up this morning, and 5/6 of my Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana eggs have pipped! But...3 of them pipped on the underside/long side of the egg. Good thing I'll be around all day to micromanage - I mean monitor - the hatch. I've never had a chick do that, and now half the hatch does it? Air cells are good, so I'm not sure why or how that happened. It'll be a long day!

 

[FortCluck]

I can’t see anything at all through these things they are super super dark I have like dark chocolate shade marans as well as a couple olive ones that look like they were done with house paint I swear no light at all passes through I’ll see if I can get a picture

You need a better flashlight with more lumens. I’m talking high powered. I bought 2 a few months back, they were worth every dollar we paid.

 

[Mother of Chicks]

Just waiting on my hatch (3 of 4 have internally pipped) and stressing out as usual. I haven't slept a wink. Hopefully they can join my other babies who hatched on Friday soon

 

[Offshoreorca]

Woke up this morning, and 5/6 of my Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana eggs have pipped! But...3 of them pipped on the underside/long side of the egg. Good thing I'll be around all day to micromanage - I mean monitor - the hatch. I've never had a chick do that, and now half the hatch does it? Air cells are good, so I'm not sure why or how that happened. It'll be a long day!

I had one of my Wheatens pip on the underside as well. They aren't as lively and energetic as my Cochins - who I didn't have to help at all. I had to assist a bit (very carefully) as there were some externally pipped for over 24hrs, but I have four out and healthy now. Just waiting on the last one to start zipping.

They seem a little more finicky hatchers to me, but it just could be because they didn't come from my own flock and were at a disadvantage because of storage and travel.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I forgot to share the picture of the first 4 fuzzballs last night. Chick #5 (another blue!), that I had to make the internal pip for, is hatched and drying off! I assisted the malpositioned chick as well but was sad to see it was in fact deformed like the chicks from last month. With another deformed chick and 7 early quitters in this hatch I'm definitely taking a break from hatching eggs from my friend's Marans flock, and it breaks my heart because they're always beautiful and hatch a high percentage of Blue and Splash!