My 2 new Brabanter chicks a day old!!!

[kiaya611]

Well, It has been another night and no other eggs have hatched or any sign of pipping so I decided to take a chance and remove the two live chicks and their egg shells from the hatcher. I took great precautions though. I wrapped a trash bag tightly over the lid and body of the incubator as not to allow any/much of the heat of humidity out and I opend a hole just big enough for my hand/arm to fit in the bag. I was working somewhat by braille, but I knew where the hatched egg parts were and except for the chicks moving around, I knew where they were too.

I was able to get them out and only lost 1% RH (from 66% to65%) and the temp pretty much stayed the same as best as I could tell by my thermometers (3 of them). I might have lost a degree, but nothing to speak of because I just tipped the lid enough to get my arm in.

SOOOOO....here is the 1st pic of the 1st chicks I ever hatched!!!!!!! I'm a Daddy

One hatched night before last and the other yesterday afternoon. They are dry, but still not all fluffy...not wet either.

They are nice and warm in their (home-made) brooder ( I raised 42 chicks in their already, so I know it works well).

They took to eating right away. They didn't like the water though. I will have to try to dip their beaks a couple of more times to make sure they get the idea. Since they are so young, I will probably wait till tonight to try again with the water.

Now about the other eggs...How long can/might it take to figure out if they are going to hatch or if they are just not going to hatch. Is there any tried and true method?

I'd sure like some help here.

Thanks,

 

[kstaven]

If your fingers are sensitive enough to heat you can actually feel the difference in the heat of the shell between eggs about to hatch and those that are dead in shell. The dead ones feel much cooler. Take note of the feel of the egg when you candle eggs at about day 16 next time.

I would give the other eggs another two days and then carefully open them on the large end. Very rare for me to ever find a live chick after day 23 but it has happened.

Beyond that all I can say is that there are likely others here with their tricks of the trade.

BTW The chicks look great.

 

[kiaya611]

Thank you for that info. I have much learning to do when it comes to incubating and hatching eggs. There are so many variables involved...it is a wonder that eggs hatch at all.

I just put 12 turkey and 3 peafowl eggs in a hatcher today. I will get to see how that went. They didn't have the horrible start that these eggs had with a faulty incubator. I have 12 more Brabanter incubating now to cover any loses I had during the problems with this hatch.

Lots of learning to do...especially with different species.

Thanks again,

 

[kiaya611]

Well, I decided to check out the remainder of the Brabanter eggs. They were all dead. They were at various stages of development. I ended up with 2 out of 10. Not a good percentage. 4 of the others were seemingly completely formed, but just dead in the shell. The remaining 4 were various shades of brown liquid. with maybe something that tried to get started, but died very early on.

I hope I get a much better turn out on the 2nd dozen.

The two that did hatch are doing well in their brooder. Tomorrow, they will have 5 Royal Palm poults in the brooder next to theirs to keep them company and if the poults have trouble learning to eat, I will put them together and have the chicks teach the poults how to eat and drink.

I also have 5 Narragansett turkey eggs and 3 peafowl eggs that I put into a hatcher last night. I am going to have a full house if everything goes well.

I will have the remaining 12 Brabanter eggs go into the hatcher in about a wek and then I have 12 guinea eggs that have about 12 days to go before they hatch.

I have to build pens for all of these:| I just finished a pen for 6 PR of Bob White Quail today. Each female is laying and egg a day. I will either have lots of little omelets, or lots of small eggs in my incubators...I haven' decided if I want to start raising them just yet. I got them from a frien who ahd too many mating PR.

With all of this going on, I haven't got my garden finished yet. Time's a wastin'

 

[kstaven]

Even after years of doing this you will find you still get bad hatches from time to time. So many things that can go wrong.

What type of incubator?
Average temperature at egg level?
Humidity level during the first 18 days?
Did they have a normal size air cell in the dead in shell eggs?

How old where the eggs when you put them in the incubator?
I notice you said you had an incubator issue. Eggs go cold by some chance?

Love the brabanters and hope to find some good ones here in Canada one day. Those look almost like gold brabanters? Hard to tell at this stage though.

 

[kiaya611]

Hi kstaven,

It is a Top Hatch Incubator. It had a faulty heat sensor and I had to have the unit replaced AFTER the eggs were already in the incubator

Then I had trouble getting the humidity up high enough come hatch time. After my experience, I have to say, that i am not happy with that incubator. I have 4 other incubators. I have an R-com 10, a Little Giant 10200 w/ turner and fan, a GQF Hova-bator 1583 w/ turner and fan and 2 GQF Hova-bator 1602Ns.

Honestly, to get 2 hatched eggs out of that batch surprised me given all of the problems. The temperature fluctuated from 96°F - 103°F and during the hatch, I had trouble getting the humidity up to 64%RH

To answer you other questions ( as best as I can:

Average Temp at egg level.
I had2 permanent digital therm/hygrometers in the incubator and one dial thermometer that's probe went almost to the top of the egg. The mean temp was 100°F.

Humidity Level during 1st 18 days was pretty constant at 45%RH

The air cell seemed to be enlarging as time progressed (in what seemed to be a normal amount, except in a couple. I know in one in particular about day 14, the air cell was small compared to the others and I pulled the egg and opened it and the egg although fertile, seemed to have died early on.

As far as the eggs age when I put them in the incubator, I know they were 3 ays old. I got them from a VERY reputable person who shipped them to me and after hearing of my incubator fiasco, she even shipped me another dozen free less shipping to cover the first set even she had nothing to do with the problem I had with the first set. I call that the ultimate in customer service.

By the way, you had mentioned that these look like Gold Brabanters. She alls them Cream Brabanters. I have attached a pic so you can see them grown. If you are interested, I can give you her contact her website. She is an NPIP participant. I don't know if she can ship outside of the US...I don't know allot about those things, but I am sure she could tell you. She is very nice and accommodating.

This was my first hatch ever and I have learned some tricks (especially as they pertain to the Top Hatch), but I really can't recommend them.

I will be moving the poults to the brooder today and I will check the last egg.

I noticed this morning that my 1st Narragansett egg is pipping this morning in another incubator (my 1583). That is where I have 3 peafowl eggs and 4 Narragansett.

Lots of learning to do and experience to gain.

Thank you for your insight.

 

[kstaven]

I have a Brower tophatch sitting here on the shelf too. Only way to get the humidity up for the last few days is to put a big sponge in the water tray. At least that is the only thing that ever worked for me. I never did have problems with the temperture on mine after I blocked two of the four upper holes. 101 degrees rock solid all the time.

Overall I would say I liked the hova or little giant for a small incubator better than the brower.

For a big one you can't beat the new Ova easy 380 for performance or price.

From everything I see in what you wrote I would have to conclude that the eggs just chilled for too long during incubation. Looks like you had everything else well in hand.

I have considered importing eggs. But the paperwork is prohibitive and a real pain in the butt for the breeder.

When it comes to learning about what works and what doesn't all I can say is ask lots of people what works for them and then decide what sounds best for you. Opinions and techniques vary drastically. Hatching variations that work well in one region are dismal failures in other regions due to humidity and altitude differences. I found that out the hard way after I moved.

Looking at the older birds I can see they are lighter than the golds would be. Looks like you have some VERY good stock there.