May Hatch-a-Long!

[Kelsykin]

Monday May 5th I go into lockdown. I told DH I will get up and the eggs will be removed from the turner. hen all I will have to do is spritz the duck eggs an the and wet the sponges. I am hoping to have ducks and turkeys coming out my ears next weekend.

 

[Deb B]

It's been two weeks since I set the eggs in the incubator. I've candled them a couple of times and also tracked their weight loss to make sure they are being kept not too humid or not too dry. Of the 11 Whitmore Farms Welsummer eggs I set, 10 started developing and 1 seems to have been infertile. Today's candling reveals 7 that are at about the same stage of development and 3 that are a little behind.....maybe early quitters? I left them in the incubator and will check them again on Monday

. Of the 5 Welsummer/Ameraucana crosses I set from my own birds, all five seem to be developing well. So that's great news. The bad news is that NONE of my pure Ameraucana eggs developed AT ALL. Today I broke them open and it appears that only two were fertile and neither of these developed for some reason. Sooooo, back to the drawing board for those. (It seems that rooster isn't doing his duty. He needs to get busy or find himself reinvented as Coq-au-Vin! He's a different Am then the one in with my Welsummer.) It also appears that the humidity in the incubator has been a bit too high as the eggs haven't lost as much weight as they should have by now. I've been keeping it between 45 and 50%. That's an easy fix. Lockdown on Tuesday!

 

[Mahen100]

It's been two weeks since I set the eggs in the incubator. I've candled them a couple of times and also tracked their weight loss to make sure they are being kept not too humid or not too dry.

Deb, we seem to be on the same schedule, mine are due to hatch May 8-9. I too weighed eggs, had a few duds (more in some shipped eggs, and one "special" English Orphington never developed, though it was sourced locally.) The other B/Bl English Orphington egg seems ok, and the really fresh locally sourced Golden Buff egg looks great. I'll post my weight loss chart here if you won't laugh at how ugly it is! lol (ok, I laugh at that myself, so its ok to laugh). I've removed one egg, and am pretty sure two more of the seven I set are not viable, so I really only have three-to four viable eggs to weigh at day 18.

 

[Farmer Viola]

omg I am loving these graphs!

I need someone to take my egg weights and make it into a graph at the end haha

 

[Deb B]

Deb, we seem to be on the same schedule, mine are due to hatch May 8-9. I too weighed eggs, had a few duds (more in some shipped eggs, and one "special" English Orphington never developed, though it was sourced locally.) The other B/Bl English Orphington egg seems ok, and the really fresh locally sourced Golden Buff egg looks great. I'll post my weight loss chart here if you won't laugh at how ugly it is! lol (ok, I laugh at that myself, so its ok to laugh). I've removed one egg, and am pretty sure two more of the seven I set are not viable, so I really only have three-to four viable eggs to weigh at day 18.

It's beautiful data Mahen!

 

[sweetappleacres]

My second silkie broody has hatched 5 chicks! Their about 1-2 days old and eating and drinking well. They are most likely mixed with a frizzle and are super cute! Here's a pic. Any suggests on what colors they may be?

 

[Farmer Viola]

My second silkie broody has hatched 5 chicks! Their about 1-2 days old and eating and drinking well. They are most likely mixed with a frizzle and are super cute! Here's a pic. Any suggests on what colors they may be?

oh my gosh they are so precious

looks like black, blue, and not sure about the stripey one? splash maybe?

 

[Mahen100]

omg I am loving these graphs!

I need someone to take my egg weights and make it into a graph at the end haha

I used the calculator on my computer. Didn't have to figure the percentage...just hit the "percent key."

I added up the "before setting" weights of each egg in grams, got a total, and divided that number by the number of eggs. (59.5 is my average egg weight in grams)

Then I put that average weight into the calculator window, hit the times key,entered 13 and hit the % key, the result equals the number of grams I needed the eggs to loose before hatch. (59.5 grams TIMES 13 percent is 7.735 grams or 7.7 grams.)

I had to then put the original average weight back in the calaulator and subtracted the "number of grams they needed to loose. (59.5 grams -7.7 grams = 51.8 grams). Now I got the weight my eggs should be to do the best on hatch day, for these eggs, 51.8 or about 52 grams....
Time to make the graph

Mark a point that correctly represents the ideal average weight on the chart for day one. (for me, 59.5)Next move to day 21 and mark a point that represents the ideal average weight on that day... counting down graph lines to mark the point correctly. (for me 51.8) Draw a line to connect those two dots. You've made a proportionally correct "ideal weight loss line."


That made a graph with the ideal weight loss line beginning at the "before setting weight" point on the chart day one, drawn to the "21 day" point.That bottom point is figured as original weight minus thirteen PERCENT of original weight in grams. Now you just compare your obtained weight-loss to the ideal weight loss line you made marking points on the graph for your actual loss. If you are loosing too many grams on average when you check...you may add more water, If you are not loosing enough, compared to the the ideal for that day, you may adjust by lowering the humidity available.

It would be much easier if all eggs were the same weight, but they are not. The best estimate is an average of all the eggs (in grams) , minus the about thirteen precent of their "average setting weight" in grams. We lock down at day 18-19, but I am uncertain that ALL the 21 days' weight loss needs to occur by day 18. It is just we won't know after lockdown. (that is too late to effectively alter humidity to effect much change anyway.) If you draw your ideal line correctly, on day 18 the chart will give the ideal weight for that day, even though you draw a chart to day 21.

There are charts for free in the learning center, and some plain ones online.
When I first started trying to understand the graph, I had to be careful not to confuse "grams" with "percentages." Apples and Oranges. That is why I kept saying "average weight in grams."
Anyone wanting to correct any glaring errors here, I'd apprecite that.

 

[jlynnp]

My quail eggs go on lock down Monday, if all goes well I will have babies next week!

 

[foxygoober]

Shopping did not go well! TSC only had part of whatI needed. 2 other places were a waste of time. Oh well, can improvise.