My first egg hatching experience

[ducaria]

Hello byc, I just wanted to share my first time hatching eggs.

So on March 1 I set 5 eggs in my homemade incubator(still air, water heater thermo) temp between 97 and 103(not ideal but just to excited to start). I set them on their side and turned them 2-3 times a day. Humidity was at around 30% and I was excited for the up coming hatch. I candled pretty much everyday due to to much excitement and watching the little babies grow. At about 9 days I determend that one egg wasn't fertile and needed to be discarded. Sure enough no spider viens. But I was sure I had 4 fertile eggs.

On day 15 after candling all the eggs I noticed that one egg looked different then all the rest. The viens had disappeared and I didn't see any movement. I then took the egg out put it in a ziplock bag(fear of explosion) and started to crack the egg open. Yup embryo had died. Bummers.

I had 3 good eggs going into lock down. I put a wet sponge in and closed the lid. Humidity was now at 70%. This was when things got bad. On day 22 March 22 930am I had one pip. But the weird thing was that it was more toward the middle. I listened and did hear peeping so he was getting oxygen. So I left him alone. Got home from work I was hoping I'd have all 3 eggs piped but no difference. Hmmmm
Then this morning at 930 being 24 hours in the shell I was getting worried. A possible malposotion? I decided to assist. after successfully getting him/her out I wanted to check on the other eggs being overdue. I candled and tapped and saw no movement. Then did a float test. Found out that one egg had no movement and one rocked all over.

I opened up the dead egg and what looked like another malposotion chick. There was also a lot of fluid some green and yellow but it didn't smell fowl. Stumped... I tossed the egg.

So where I stand now I have one chick drying and resting and one moving egg thats not piped. I'm gonna wait till tomorrow and candle to see if there's any change.

Kinna stressful hatching chicks and very disappointed in my efforts. Don't know if I'll do it again.

Should I keep waiting for the last egg or start a pip for it?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hello byc, I just wanted to share my first time hatching eggs.

So on March 1 I set 5 eggs in my homemade incubator(still air, water heater thermo) temp between 97 and 103(not ideal but just to excited to start). I set them on their side and turned them 2-3 times a day. Humidity was at around 30% and I was excited for the up coming hatch. I candled pretty much everyday due to to much excitement and watching the little babies grow. At about 9 days I determend that one egg wasn't fertile and needed to be discarded. Sure enough no spider viens. But I was sure I had 4 fertile eggs.

On day 15 after candling all the eggs I noticed that one egg looked different then all the rest. The viens had disappeared and I didn't see any movement. I then took the egg out put it in a ziplock bag(fear of explosion) and started to crack the egg open. Yup embryo had died. Bummers.

I had 3 good eggs going into lock down. I put a wet sponge in and closed the lid. Humidity was now at 70%. This was when things got bad. On day 22 March 22 930am I had one pip. But the weird thing was that it was more toward the middle. I listened and did hear peeping so he was getting oxygen. So I left him alone. Got home from work I was hoping I'd have all 3 eggs piped but no difference. Hmmmm
Then this morning at 930 being 24 hours in the shell I was getting worried. A possible malposotion? I decided to assist. after successfully getting him/her out I wanted to check on the other eggs being overdue. I candled and tapped and saw no movement. Then did a float test. Found out that one egg had no movement and one rocked all over.

I opened up the dead egg and what looked like another malposotion chick. There was also a lot of fluid some green and yellow but it didn't smell fowl. Stumped... I tossed the egg.

So where I stand now I have one chick drying and resting and one moving egg thats not piped. I'm gonna wait till tomorrow and candle to see if there's any change.

Kinna stressful hatching chicks and very disappointed in my efforts. Don't know if I'll do it again.

Should I keep waiting for the last egg or start a pip for it?

Wait. I'm a firm believer in helping if I feel it's absolutely neccessary, but I am also a firm believer that the chick should start the process, especially if you don't even know if it has pipped internally. Plus you don't know how the chick is positioned and if you are finding that there are multiple malepositioned chicks there's a chance the last one is to and breaking into the shell isn't going to help.
I was going to give up after my first hatch was an almost complete failure (ended up with one surviving hatcher at day 24) but I am glad I learned from that hatch and gave it a second shot. Second time was successful and so rewarding.

 

[ducaria]

What did you do different second time around?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

What did you do different second time around?

I found a better spot in my house for the bator (more consistant temp wise) and I bought three thermometers and checked them against each other...lol My first hatch bombed because I had bought a brandnew thermometer and did not check it. I was relying on one unchecked thermometer. At lockdown I thought the chicks looked a little behind but since they were moving so well and lively I was hoping it was just my inexperienced eye. It wasn't. After the hatch I did check that new thermometer and it was 6 degrees off. When I thought it was holding 99 it was actually only 93. I also switched to the dry incubation method, which was sooooo much better.

 

[ducaria]

I found a better spot in my house for the bator (more consistant temp wise) and I bought three thermometers and checked them against each other...lol  My first hatch bombed because I had bought a brandnew thermometer and did not check it. I was relying on one unchecked thermometer. At lockdown I thought the chicks looked a little behind but since they were moving so well and lively I was hoping it was just my inexperienced eye. It wasn't. After the hatch I did check that new thermometer and it was 6 degrees off. When I thought it was holding 99 it was actually only 93.  I also switched to the dry incubation method, which was sooooo much better.

Do you turn by hand? 180?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Do you turn by hand? 180?

Up until the hatch that I am on now, I have used a turner. This hatch (I'm on day 11) I have been hand turning. I had 42 eggs going in and that filled my turner making it neccessasry to have eggs beside the turner motor. They give off a lot of heat and I was concerned so I pulled the turner and started hand turning. For the most part, yes I aim for 180 degrees. I am considering next hatch I do continuing hand turning but doing 90 degrees 5 times a day. I'm thinking that would be more gentle on the eggs. As this is my first experience with the hand turning I have really gotten a good look at the effects of having the eggs on their side when I candle and turn and how the yolk/insides settle against the side and how it pulls away. I'm wondering if 90 degree turns would be less stressful on the developing embryo.

 

[ducaria]

Up until the hatch that I am on now, I have used a turner. This hatch (I'm on day 11) I have been hand turning. I had 42 eggs going in and that filled my turner making it neccessasry to have eggs beside the turner motor. They give off a lot of heat and I was concerned so I pulled the turner and started hand turning. For the most part, yes I aim for 180 degrees. I am considering next hatch I do continuing hand turning but doing 90 degrees 5 times a day. I'm thinking that would be more gentle on the eggs. As this is my first experience with the hand turning I have really gotten a good look at the effects of having the eggs on their side when I candle and turn and how the yolk/insides settle against the side and how it pulls away. I'm wondering if 90 degree turns would be less stressful on the developing embryo.

I'm wondering if that's why I had a lot of malposotion due to not enough turning.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm wondering if that's why I had a lot of malposotion due to not enough turning.

3 times a day is the least recommended with more being better, always an odd number of times.
According to :http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vm095

Common reasons for increased incidences of malpositions are:

• Eggs are set with small end up. As part of a monitoring program, check eggs in the egg room or in the setters to ensure that eggs have been set correctly.
• Advancing breeder hen age and shell quality problems.
• Egg turning frequency and angle are not adequate. Proper frequency of turning through a 45 degree angle assists the embryo to position for hatch. The standard turning rate in the setter is 1 per hour.
• Inadequate percent humidity loss of eggs in the setter. Acceptable weight loss of eggs from setting to transfer is 11-14%.
• Inadequate air cell development, improper temperature and humidity regulation, and insufficient ventilation in the incubator or hatcher.
• Imbalanced feeds, elevated levels of mycotoxins, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
• Exposure to lower than recommended temperatures in the last stage of incubation.

 

[StephBout]

This is my first time hatching. I had 24 eggs. 16 have hatched...2 didn't make it so I have 14 live chicks but the remainder haven't hatched. Heard 1 chirping in its shell this morning but nothing showing yet...the first one hatched on Tuesday evening and the remainder hatched by supper time yesterday. How long should I wait to see if any more will hatch? I read that we should open dead chicks to see if we can find out how the died but how long do I leave them in there before opening them? I don't want to open a live chick but don't want a mess leaving the dead ones in there...

 

[ducaria]

This is my first time hatching. I had 24 eggs. 16 have hatched...2 didn't make it so I have 14 live chicks but the remainder haven't hatched. Heard 1 chirping in its shell this morning but nothing showing yet...the first one hatched on Tuesday evening and the remainder hatched by supper time yesterday. How long should I wait to see if any more will hatch? I read that we should open dead chicks to see if we can find out how the died but how long do I leave them in there before opening them? I don't want to open a live chick but don't want a mess leaving the dead ones in there...

I would do water test to find the ones that are still alive. Then candle to look for internal pipping.