Mixed serama and silkie eggs lock down question

[Crimsonchicken]

So i set 11 serama eggs and 2 silkie eggs at the same time. I have read that seramas hatch a little earlier than other chickens and lockdown should be earlier. So, when should I do lockdown? They are on day 14 right now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

After 18 days of development just like any other egg. Remember that they don’t have a full day of development 2 seconds or 2 hours after you put them in the incubator. It takes them 24 hours to have a full day’s worth of development.

There are a lot of different things that can affect when an egg actually hatches. Heredity, humidity, how and how long the eggs are stored before you start, and just basic differences in the eggs. A big determining factor is your average incubating temperature. If your average incubating temperature is a little warm they can be early. I’ve had regular eggs pipping when I went into lockdown. They were that early. Some people have had them that much late due to some of these factors.

Not all eggs hatch at exactly the same time either. I’ve had an egg hatch a full day before any other eggs pipped and they were all incubated in the same conditions. I’ve had eggs under a broody all hatch a full two days early. Hatch date is not an exact science.

The factor that might make Serama eggs hatch early is that they are really small. If all other things are equal, smaller eggs tend to hatch a little earlier than regular sized or large eggs. They tend to be early but I’ve had small eggs hatch later than most of the regular sized eggs. It really does vary.

If it’s your first time hatching with that incubator I recommend following the normal schedule. Your incubator may hatch early or late as easily as it can be on time. So until you get experience with it just try to do things normal. You can adjust that when you see how it operates.

If you hear chicks peeping in the shell or if you see a pip before the full 18 days are up, go into lockdown immediately. That means you are ahead of the normal schedule.

 

[Crimsonchicken]

Hey! Thanks for the information. I'll just do lockdown on day 18 then unless I see pips. I have another question. The serama eggs were shipped eggs and almost all have funny shaped air cells. The air cells are in the fat end, they are just kinda peanut shaped. Should I hatch these upright, or lay them on their side like other eggs? I have them all air cell up right now.