May 2020 Hatch-A-Long

[Vantic]

I seem to just have a continuous hatch going on. LOL! I have 9 eggs in the hatcher now with a hatch date of 4/30.Then I get a little break before I start my May marathon. I have eggs with hatch dates of: Svart Hona 5/12, Gold Appenzeller 5/15, Delaware 5/16, Gold neck d'Uccle 5/19 (Setting tomorrow), and some Olive eggers that will be shipping here soon that I will set after they rest for 24 hours.

Mayathon!

 

[Vantic]

Here is my candle report for day 14. Caught movement in over 75% of the 51 remaining eggs. I've been keeping track of the humidity for the eggs by weight. They should have lost 10.7% weight at this point (middle between 14% and 18% for day 14) and we have lost 10.3% average, so I'm calling that good and making a note to stay at 36% next hatch instead of the 40% humidity that I'm currently holding at. There is one egg though:
Candling from the top, there was no air sack. After my lovely wife took the photo, I looked around and found it on the side. The eggs are in a vertical auto turner but are rotated to a lower (and slightly cooler) shelf for two days where they are on their sides and hand-turned. The egg turner only holds 41. This egg was vertical before the candle and has been "upstairs" for days prior. So detached air sack that got stuck there? Any tips on what to do as I have no experience with side sacks.

Other notes for those sick enough (like me) to look at all the pictures. 16 and 20 are missing on purpose, they were pulled after day 7. The eggs with 42 and greater spent seven days on the cooler shelf before getting rotated to the auto turner, so they are a little behind in development. They are my eggs, Silver Wyandotte over Comet and over Barred Rock. I'm excited to see what the Barred Rock combo looks like.

Here are the rest of the photos' thumbnails, except 53 as we can only attach 50 images:

 

[BertyRoux]

I'm no help with the sideways air cell, but yeee! Those little outlines!

Prepping for lockdown soon, I have one whose air cell is a little cockeyed so I want to make sure I position it properly... I've been reading on hatching in a carton and I'm not sure if it would help or not.

 

[Vantic]

I'm no help with the sideways air cell, but yeee! Those little outlines!

Prepping for lockdown soon, I have one whose air cell is a little cockeyed so I want to make sure I position it properly... I've been reading on hatching in a carton and I'm not sure if it would help or not.

I wonder if the egg carton is correct for this.

I will candle it again tomorrow to see if the air sack moved back to the top or not. I am hoping someone has experience with a side sack, as that egg has been vertical for two days already so I don't know if it is going to travel again or not.

 

[BertyRoux]

I wonder if the egg carton is correct for this.

I will candle it again tomorrow to see if the air sack moved back to the top or not. I am hoping someone has experience with a side sack, as that egg has been vertical for two days already so I don't know if it is going to travel again or not.

I poked around a bit, this thread might offer some guidance for you until someone knowledgeable can reply here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...aged-and-mal-positioned-egg-air-cells.501034/

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I wonder if the egg carton is correct for this.

I will candle it again tomorrow to see if the air sack moved back to the top or not. I am hoping someone has experience with a side sack, as that egg has been vertical for two days already so I don't know if it is going to travel again or not.

I have had saddled air cells, detached air cells, and air cells that were nearly on the side of the egg, sometimes the air cells start to correct themselves as the chicks grow but even if they don't I hatch all of the eggs on their sides. Normally they don't need assistance but I have had one or two that needed a little assist. I don't know that hatching them vertically would have made a difference though.

I'm incubating a peafowl egg right now with a completely free floating air cell. It moves around like a bubble, I've never seen one this loose before. I still plan on hatching on its side though. I think it's a personal preference, I haven't lost a single chick from hatching horizontal. I just always make sure that the air cell side is facing up in the incubator for the chick to get into position for hatch. I'm not sure if that's helpful for your situation, but that's my experience!

 

[gmjarvi]

I candled my hatchery eggs last night and removed two CCL eggs (two blood rings, one was a torpedo egg) and one speckled sussex egg (super wonky, not even sure how to describe it...it's like it didn't form correctly in the oviduct. It didn't even start developing). It's D10 already!

 

[Vantic]

I have had saddled air cells, detached air cells, and air cells that were nearly on the side of the egg, sometimes the air cells start to correct themselves as the chicks grow but even if they don't I hatch all of the eggs on their sides. Normally they don't need assistance but I have had one or two that needed a little assist. I don't know that hatching them vertically would have made a difference though.

I'm incubating a peafowl egg right now with a completely free floating air cell. It moves around like a bubble, I've never seen one this loose before. I still plan on hatching on its side though. I think it's a personal preference, I haven't lost a single chick from hatching horizontal. I just always make sure that the air cell side is facing up in the incubator for the chick to get into position for hatch. I'm not sure if that's helpful for your situation, but that's my experience!

My plan until someone tells me otherwise is to leave it in the vertical turner until lockdown to see if the air cell moves back, as it did start out in the right spot. Then hatch it with the rest, on its side.

Good tip to make sure the air cell is up, I may isolate it as well to make sure the other chicks don't roll it over.

We will call it a learning experience.

 

[Vantic]

I poked around a bit, this thread might offer some guidance for you until someone knowledgeable can reply here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...aged-and-mal-positioned-egg-air-cells.501034/

Thanks, I will give it a read.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

BYC hasn't been giving me notifications! I keep missing pages and pages.

Me too! Trying to catch up now...