May Hatch-a-Long!

[ShadyHillFarm]

Today is day 21 and I went out to find one egg pipped and I can hear some chirping!!

Between the incubator fluctuations, lack of expertise in candling and just winging the humidity, I really thought I'd probably killed them all. Fingers-crossed for a few healthy chicks!

 

[COsteveo]

Candled about half of the quail eggs last night, mostly as a learning experience for me. Most of the air cells look good and sturdy at this point, but that's really all I could see. It kind of reminded me of the air cell in a hard boiled egg, which may be an omen of things to come. I hope not.

I think my digital thermometer is faulty. It was reading 93 when I checked this morning but nothing has changed in the incubator. I have a calibrated meat thermometer that I will use to check the water temp tonight before lockdown.

 

[Kelsykin]

Today is day 21 and I went out to find one egg pipped and I can hear some chirping!!

Between the incubator fluctuations, lack of expertise in candling and just winging the humidity, I really thought I'd probably killed them all. Fingers-crossed for a few healthy chicks!

The funniest part is most of mine that have hatched, pipped or zipped were the ones I thought would not hatch. I have two of the ones I was sure were good pip and start to zip so far.

 

[Cynthia12]

I have a lovely flashlight.

The dog woke me about 4 am to go outside. I had to pee so the dog and I took care of buisness and I checked to find turkey number 2 is out.

Wow, congrats..catching up here..maybe more have hatched..see in a min.!

 

[love2grinchicke]

I have a hen due to hatch tomorrow or Saturday. She's polish, and I've read that they don't go broody very much, and if they do, they usually kill the chicks. I predict a long two days for me.

 

[Kelsykin]

Quote: We are up to 6 turkeys hatched. 1 turkey zipping. 4 ducks pipped. I did tell my husband we need to get me a clear top hatcher. Or build me a clear top hatcher so I can see all the eggs without contorting myself as I have to see eggs that rooled under the center part. LMBFFBBO

 

[Cynthia12]

I had posted of my on going adventure in hatching some chicken eggs. I had decided what breed of chicken (Serama) and won my bid on Ebay and was waiting for my eggs to arrive via postal mail.

I was excited to see as my mailman approached the house with a box in his hands. I met him at the door and gently took the box from him. I recalled how hard a trip eggs can have during shipping and hoped my little clutch of eggs made it with as little trauma as possible.

I opened the box and was pleased to see that the eggs were well packed. Each egg was individually wrapped, large side up with adequate packing all around. As I unwraped each egg I carefully set them in an empty egg carton. One was a little damp and I found a crack in the side. I had read that putting nail polish over the crack will seal it back up so that is what I did and hoped no bacteria had entered the egg. I carefully put it with the others.

I had received 12 silky Serama eggs and 2 Cochin eggs. I did not order Cochin eggs but it’s common for a seller to add extra eggs and I guess the seller didn’t have any extra Serama eggs.

I let the eggs sit in their egg carton for 10 hours to let them settle and come to room temperature. Just before I put them in the incubator I put an “X” on one side in pencil so when turning I’d know how much to turn.

I had recently read that if you get shipped eggs with damaged air cells to keep them wide side up for 3 days and don’t turn them as this helps the air cells to heal. I decided to do this and put the egg carton with the eggs inside the incubator. Since the carton only held 12 I put the Cochin eggs on their side next to the carton.

I didn’t candle them as I’ve read Serama eggs tend to be delicate due to the small size. I am not sure this is true but I decided to wait to candle them to give them the best chance.

I checked the incubator and it was functioning as it should at 99-100 degrees and 50% humidity.

The watch continues!

Tammie

Ok, nosey old bitty here..can I suggest something first on the humidity for these little guys? Nice looking eggs by the way! You may want to keep the humidity around the mid 30 % range. Are you going by what your incubator suggested? That's pretty much old school now, and we are finding that it is a bit high, so, when it's lock down, actually, mid 50's and to 62% is perfect for lock down. Especially, for these small eggs.
On the keeping them upside for 3 days once in the bator, ha..had Sally Sunshine and someone else debating on this one. They both do their studying everything up pretty good..soooo..that's something you can try and see if you like it. I tried doing it for two days, just to see if those air cells looked any different. Not three, so can't really say I gave them the three day chance, but, I didn't see anything happening. Sally Sunshine has an article on why they should be turned right away. I always like to think of mama hen..even if they were shipped eggs. I see some folks hatching them in the carton, round side up .. those eggs aren't like that out there with the mama. hmmm....I wonder where these thoughts and ideas come from. Anyway, there's a couple of ~ not so know it all thoughts.

I just kick in every now and again with what I've read on here...here and there.

The humidity part though, seriously, I wouldn't go that high to incubate! I've hatched them before, and am hatching silkie eggs now, just had a couple of great hatches, and now have two little ones in lock down. Mid 30% range during incubation, and then up it slowly for lock down.

 

[Farmer Viola]

x2 on 30% humidity until lockdown/day 19. Hi Cynthia glad to see you in this hatch a long too!

 

[Cynthia12]

We are up to 6 turkeys hatched. 1 turkey zipping. 4 ducks pipped. I did tell my husband we need to get me a clear top hatcher. Or build me a clear top hatcher so I can see all the eggs without contorting myself as I have to see eggs that rooled under the center part. LMBFFBBO

Oh my goodness yes..you need windows! Tell your DH he doesn't want to have to pay for a spine injury! Ha..serious though, I have to be able to watch my eggs. I love watching for the pips when it's time. I have my two little silkie eggs and one larger egg in lock down right now..will be watching for pips by the end of the day. I tend to have early pips, and then early chicks on day 20, into day 21 with the smaller eggs. I really hope these hatch, they are from my winning eggs, and that poor gal, first time shipping, they came a mess. Not her fault at all like I said, box in a box..best way to receive eggs! Bubble wrapped..here is a photo of them. I am lucky to have gotten three cleaned off and to get this far!

I was in shock, needless to say.

Congrats on your new babies..more to come from the sound of it.

 

[Cynthia12]

x2 on 30% humidity until lockdown/day 19. Hi Cynthia glad to see you in this hatch a long too!

Hey Farmer, were you in that fun Easter Hatch A Long? What are you hatching?