MAY HATCH-A-LONG come join in

[mrbstephens]

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Any more hatch? I'm dreading the loss of my chicks after reading about yours. Well, at least you have the 13! Congrats!!!!!!!!

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Well I am very depressed. So far I only have about a 32% hatch rate from what went into lockdown. Well maybe I should not count the 10 I was pretty sure were not fertile. That would give me about a 43% hatch from lockdown. I know I am only on day 21 and I should give it 3 days of hatching, but I find it weird that everyone was popping out one after another yesterday. Today I only had the one that was already halfway zipped from yesterday finish hatching. The other one that was halfway out never finished zipping. I really think they are done.

Well so far I have hatched 13 live chicks:

Out of 17 Blue/Black Ameraucaunas (which were all viable and moving at lockdown), I have 5 Black Ameraucaunas and 2 Blue Ameraucaunas
Out of 10 Easter Eggers, I have 5 Easter Eggers
Out of 9 BCM (of which I think 5 were clear, but put them in anyways just in case) I only got 1 BCM - who might be dieing as I think he can not walk.

I wanted a BCM soooo bad.

So here is a pic. The nosy one is one of the EE, then in the back you will see a Blue and a Black Ameraucauna:

Sorry, I'm taking these pics with my new phone and although there is a way to get better pics, I don't know how. I'll try to take more pics later with my daughter's camera.

 

[MissPrissy]

Fertility rate and hatch rate are not the same thing and you do not calculate nonfertile eggs in your hatch rate %.

36 eggs 10 remained clear. Your fertility rate is 72%.

36 eggs 10 remained clear and 13 hatched. Your hatch rate is 50%.


Did all of the eggs come from the same place? Where they shipped or from your flock?

If they are shipped eggs that is actually not a bad hatch rate. We take a risk and sometimes the gamble does pay off.

What incubator are using? Are they hand turned or mechanically turned? Does it have a fan or not?

What was your average temp and humidity?

With a chick with development issues as you say the one BCM has my instincts tell me to look at the incubator and the incubation first. Temps and humidity are a major cause of leg issues in chicks.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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Thanks, this was my first hatch so I wasn't sure how to count the percentage. Besides that I suck at math. LOL I had 38 eggs though, not 36.

The Ameraucaunas and the BCM were shipped, the EE were from my flock.

I was using a Genesis 1588 with an egg turner and it does have a fan.

My average temps were 99.5 F from day one and it spiked up to 102 F on day 15. It stayed that way all day, then went down to 100 F that night.

I kept my humidity between 25% and 30%. On day 15 it did go up to 81% I believe because of all the rain the day before. It was very humid and hot here and I don't have a A/C.

 

[MissPrissy]

Out of 17 Blue/Black Ameraucaunas
Out of 10 Easter Eggers
Out of 9 BCM

What other eggs did you have?

The fertility rate on 38 is still 72%.

Hatch rate is 46%

The temp spike could be the culprit in your hatch rate. In a fan circulated 'bator a full day at 102 could have been just enough over the top the stop the development of the eggs depending on their position in the 'bator.

If you try again sanitize the 'bator with bleach and sunshine. When you start it up put it in a place with no drafts and very little traffic. Perhaps you have an interior closet in the middle of your home that allows for less flunctuation? Ideally a room where the temperatures won't change more than 10 degrees as the day progresses. I suggest the first 18 days try the humidity at 45%. The eggs need the moist air in order for the inside liquids to begin to evaporate through the shell in gas exchange as the chicks grow and fill up the space.

Don't give up. We all have to learn these things and figure out what is working for us in our own home environments.

Better luck next time!​

 

[mrbstephens]

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What other eggs did you have?

The fertility rate on 38 is still 72%.

Hatch rate is 46%

The temp spike could be the culprit in your hatch rate. In a fan circulated 'bator a full day at 102 could have been just enough over the top the stop the development of the eggs depending on their position in the 'bator.

If you try again sanitize the 'bator with bleach and sunshine. When you start it up put it in a place with no drafts and very little traffic. Perhaps you have an interior closet in the middle of your home that allows for less flunctuation? Ideally a room where the temperatures won't change more than 10 degrees as the day progresses. I suggest the first 18 days try the humidity at 45%. The eggs need the moist air in order for the inside liquids to begin to evaporate through the shell in gas exchange as the chicks grow and fill up the space.

Don't give up. We all have to learn these things and figure out what is working for us in our own home environments.

Better luck next time!

UGH! I had a temp spike just like this one for about 12 hours. My humidity is between 40 and 45%. I'm on day 16.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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What other eggs did you have?

Don't give up. We all have to learn these things and figure out what is working for us in our own home environments.

Better luck next time!

I'm so silly! I actually got up to recount them.

I have 3 egg cartons (3X12=36) and couldn't figure out why I had 38 written down. Then I see two eggs in the bottom in a corner.

Thanks a lot! I don't plan on giving up. I'm learning from my mistakes. I plan on purchasing a window a/c for my bedroom which I will make sure leaves the room at an average temp. If we can't get that done by this weekend, I will have my husband make me a small table for my downstairs closet. I'm actually online now searching for more BCMs eggs. I actually started out with 13. 2 were cracked upon arrival and 1 started oozing after about day 10 of incubation. I am real upset about these eggs. They were my favorits. I really want to add some BCMs to my flock. I also have 6 silkies and 6 Russian Orloffs coming next week. I have 6 turkey eggs in my brinsea due to go into lockdown on Monday and I have 5 more of my EEs in with them to teach them how to be a bird upon hatching. And because I am such a nut, I also have 6 more turkey eggs coming along with 6 geese eggs for my son.

We have a Brinsea, Genesis, and LG. One lesson I learned is not to have so many eggs in at a time, so this time I will spread them out.

 

[MissPrissy]

I hope you don't plan to incubate the goose eggs with the other eggs. Goose eggs need very high humidity, sprinkling and a cooling down period daily which is counter productive to hatching the other fowl.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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Hmmmmm....I was planning to incubate with turkey eggs.

 

[mrbstephens]

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Opinions here???