Just finishing my first hatch since I was a little kid. Homemade styrofoam incubator.
Started with 14 eggs from a local breeder. 10 he had collected in the prior few days to starting the process, and we picked up 4 fresh eggs that afternoon out of the yard. Mix of black australorps and buff orpingtons, with one white silkie for the kids.
by day 7, only 7 appeared to have definete development. By day 10, candeling confirmed the same and I pulled the non developers. Cracked them open, all appeared to be scrambled inside with no development. All were eggs previously collected by the breeder, with the 4 we collected at the end all developing nicely in the bator. I called the breeder and he remembered leaving them for a day in his outside storage shed (97 deg temps that week in south MS). Oh well, still had 7 going.
by day 14, candeling confirmed 2 had arrested development. I pitched them, both had what appeared to be 5-7d old embryos.
the five remaining eggs were again candeled on day 18 prior to lockdown, all 5 looked great with active chicks within.
got the first pip on day 20, 8h later had 2 more pips, 24h later had 2 chicks, but the original pip still hadn't hatched. I pulled the egg and zipped the shell about 1/2" and put him back in. 12h later, he still hadn't hatched, so I zipped the shell another 1/2"... seemed like that was what he needed, as he hatched out shortly thereafter. The silkie hatched in the interim in 1h from pip to zip to hatch.
Now it's day #22, and the last egg still hasn't pipped. I'll give it another day, but I'm not too hopeful. But at least I've got 4 out of 5 that made it to lockdown as healthy active chicks in the brooder (2 black australorps, 1 buff orpington, 1 white silke).
Oh, btw, my 5 yr old and 8 yr old did most of the work. They hand turned the eggs 3x/day by themselves. What a blast to watch thier faces when the little ones hatched!
Started with 14 eggs from a local breeder. 10 he had collected in the prior few days to starting the process, and we picked up 4 fresh eggs that afternoon out of the yard. Mix of black australorps and buff orpingtons, with one white silkie for the kids.
by day 7, only 7 appeared to have definete development. By day 10, candeling confirmed the same and I pulled the non developers. Cracked them open, all appeared to be scrambled inside with no development. All were eggs previously collected by the breeder, with the 4 we collected at the end all developing nicely in the bator. I called the breeder and he remembered leaving them for a day in his outside storage shed (97 deg temps that week in south MS). Oh well, still had 7 going.
by day 14, candeling confirmed 2 had arrested development. I pitched them, both had what appeared to be 5-7d old embryos.
the five remaining eggs were again candeled on day 18 prior to lockdown, all 5 looked great with active chicks within.
got the first pip on day 20, 8h later had 2 more pips, 24h later had 2 chicks, but the original pip still hadn't hatched. I pulled the egg and zipped the shell about 1/2" and put him back in. 12h later, he still hadn't hatched, so I zipped the shell another 1/2"... seemed like that was what he needed, as he hatched out shortly thereafter. The silkie hatched in the interim in 1h from pip to zip to hatch.
Now it's day #22, and the last egg still hasn't pipped. I'll give it another day, but I'm not too hopeful. But at least I've got 4 out of 5 that made it to lockdown as healthy active chicks in the brooder (2 black australorps, 1 buff orpington, 1 white silke).
Oh, btw, my 5 yr old and 8 yr old did most of the work. They hand turned the eggs 3x/day by themselves. What a blast to watch thier faces when the little ones hatched!
