May 2022 hatch along

[Honora]

Well I’m feeling sad and a bit worried. I just candled the eggs that haven’t pipped yet to see if they needed a safety hole and two of them are DIS :-( Now I’m worried about all the others making it passed the external pip. I love that so many pipped all at once but I am worried about the ones that haven’t pipped and we’re not moving much upon candling. Fingers crossed there will be babies in the AM.

This part is always the most stressful. Hope you wake up to some babies.

Well I had another hen go broody! At least she is not sitting in the same nest box as the other 4. She is sitting in a bag of hay I gave her 8 eggs, should have a hatch date of May 25 if all goes well.

My other hatch is on Day 16, so far so good. I just need to get the shed cleaned out in case I need to separate the 4 broodies.

Enjoying everyone’s chick pics

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Last nights (Day 6) candling showed growth in 3,4,5, and 8. 1&2 are to dark to be able to see anything. 1 is so dark I can’t even find an air cell. 7 might be a clear it’s too soon to tell and 6 was stolen by a rat

 

[kurby22]

Well I have babies! But not as many as I’d hoped :-( All 12 went into lockdown and only 5 have hatched and one is still slowly working on hatching with some assistance. I had only 2 hatch on their own. One made an attempt to zip and died, and the other 5 were DIS :-( I’m sad because I’m pretty sure it’s my fault—I read after the fact that Olandsks are very sensitive to higher humidity and anything above 60% results in low hatch rates. I did the usual 65-70% :-( UGH. Anyway, the ones that hatched are very cute

 

[Dinoroar]

The ones that made it are adorable but that is rough. What about the breed makes them sensitive to high humidity I wonder. It’s not your fault though. Maybe lower humidity would have helped but you don’t know for sure. I often read breed specific incubation and hatching advice but I’m usually to chicken () to deviate much from the standard recommendation.

The person I got my buckeye eggs from said to raise the temp at lockdown to 101.8 because buckeyes like the heat. It made me super curious… but I didn’t try it.

 

[kurby22]

The ones that made it are adorable but that is rough. What about the breed makes them sensitive to high humidity I wonder. It’s not your fault though. Maybe lower humidity would have helped but you don’t know for sure. I often read breed specific incubation and hatching advice but I’m usually to chicken () to deviate much from the standard recommendation.

The person I got my buckeye eggs from said to raise the temp at lockdown to 101.8 because buckeyes like the heat. It made me super curious… but I didn’t try it.

They are pretty cute! I am excited to see them all fluffed out and dry.

I just hate it when they get all the way to hatch day and then die. It's so much easier to handle when they quit before they look like a full blown baby chick. Oh well, ODs are rare for a reason! I am going to be able to sell them for $20/chick so at least they will make up a little bit for the loss. I usually don't get more than $10/chick for my usual chickens! My next batch will be at a lower lockdown humidity, and hopefully more make it to hatch day!

 

[Iluveggers]

Seeing all these babies is making me anxious for hatch day! Next Tuesday!

 

[gimmie birdies]

for the foam still air, it needs to be higher temp than 99.5. It should be 102.

 

[gimmie birdies]

The eggs I got yesterday, I have hatched them before, but I do know she washes her eggs. I set 8 and am still watching 6, there are 2 that are developing.

 

[DavidReaves]

I wish I had taken a picture after I took the egg turner out... I evenly spaced all the eggs throughout the incubator, with space between eggs. Now there are several eggs that are touching and the spacing is uneven. I'm going to take that as positive, that chicks are moving in the eggs to get ready to hatch!

 

[Iluveggers]

I wish I had taken a picture after I took the egg turner out... I evenly spaced all the eggs throughout the incubator, with space between eggs. Now there are several eggs that are touching and the spacing is uneven. I'm going to take that as positive, that chicks are moving in the eggs to get ready to hatch!

Good luck @DavidReaves I am watching to see!