May 2021 Hatch - A - Long

[Geckolady]

I have 6 eggs due to hatch on Friday. Three of the cuckoo Leghorn eggs look full when candled, and one of the silver grey Dorking eggs looks 3/4 full. The other two eggs are partially dark with blood rings. Fingers crossed for 3-4 chicks.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

I think I'm on day 20... or 18... honestly the hatchabatch tracker throws me off and the counter on incubator. But, regardless, ducklings are almost done

 

[thechickonthehill]

Pretty happy with my hatch. 7 of the 10 eggs that went into lockdown hatched. The remaining 3 had evidently quit a while ago and I wasn't sure enough when candling to pull them out. All 7 are healthy and active. It will be interesting to see how this cross turns out. (Salmon Faverolles x Silver Gray Dorking). Several appear to have beards/muffs and are already showing leg feathering. All have the Dorking "chipmunk" markings but 2 are much lighter in color and appear more like the fluffy "tennis balls" that Faverolles chicks resemble. The Kebonnixs incubator performed very well holding a stable temp and humidity level throughout. I plan to set a few more eggs in a couple of weeks. Happy hatching everyone!

 

[wolfwalker]

3 more pips this morning. This is an interesting hatch as it involves eggs that were under a broody that were in various stages of development when she took her two chicks off the nest, so while 1 of the eggs should still be turned, I am relying on chick pool to do the job for me, so we will see if that works. The egg in question is about a week behind everything else I think from what it looked like when candling

 

[ElimAcres]

I had two external pips last night before I went to bed and woke up to find this little cutie.

 

[gimmie birdies]

On to my next hatching eggs, I have 2 eggs in incubator due Wed? I have Friz/NN due on the 16th, and one duck egg and 2 chicken eggs due the 20th.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

While I'm waiting my 8 or 6 days for hatch, I thought I'd share my notes on this trial incubation. I've always, ALWAYS had 100% fertility with my ducks, but have lost 50% of them at various stages of incubating. I've always followed the rule of have 50% humidity for the main part of incubation and bump it up to as high as it'll go for lockdown, plus misting everyday from day 10. So this time I have mix eggs that I really just stuck in for no reason other than too many to eat. I thought I'd mimick a mother duck and see how it goes. So, I put no water in the incubator (I live in a climate where there is zero humidity) instead I mist the eggs once lightly everyday. From observing my muscovies they would only have a quick wash once aday. At day 7 I had 4 blood rings and 8 growing. The 4 blood rings were first laid eggs from 8 to 10 days old, all bar one egg out of dizen had been in fridge. At day 18 the 8 growing eggs are still growing. I don't take the eggs out of turner to candle I just do a quick flash of the light through air bubble. Today on day 21 I have put alittle water in channel to mimick mother duck bathing twice a day in lead up to hatch. On day 23 I will fill one channel completely, remove eggs from turner and leave them be. This will mimick mother duck bathing 3 times aday, and allow for any early hatchers, which seem to happen to me when I don't take turner out early

 

[wolfwalker]

3 out and 1 zipping. I have had to help 1 that the air cell was saddled, and I expect the second saddled egg which is zipping now more than likely will have to be helped.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I staggered eggs with my last batch, after the foxfire eggs, I put in an egg from my hen, and one from a girl friend's hen. They were due 5 days after the foxfire, here they are...
The white is from a blue andelusian/white maran, and the tan is from a LO?/EE?

 

[Honora]

A few pics of my chicks. These are Swedish flowers, hatched on May 1 and 2.