My First Official Incubation: Fayoumis crosses and Leghorn crosses

[LilRedRoo]

This is a very neat thread to follow. I'm enjoying the progression shots, and the kids are keeping up with the questions. I hope those leghorn eggs hatch out well. I put down several birds recently, and Foghorn was among them. It'd be nice to know his progeny is running around someone's backyard.

 

[davemonkey]

HAHA!! I saw a post from you last night or perhaps a day or 2 before (hard for me to keep up this week...lots hapening) and I thought, "say...that person's rooster in the avatar looks really familiar!".

So far the leghorn eggs are doing great. I peaked into one yesterday and it's bouncing around quite a bit.

Here's a bit more of an update: I made a divider out of cardstock to place between the different Roos' clutches. I'll post a pic the next time I post pictures (MAYBE tonight...but probably tomorrow...and then again maybe not until Monday, depending on how time works out).

Tonight is Day 18 and we'll candle once more, mark the air spaces a final time, and lock-down. However, I have a sneaking huntch that hatch day will come a day or 2, maybe even 3, late. The reason I say that is because it's a still-air incubator, and the temps have never quite set at 102. It's always been 100-101, with an occassional 99.5 or 101.5. As I candle the eggs, I keep thinking to myself, those chicks look smaller than they "should" be (not that I'd really know how they "should" be).

But, we'll find out for sure when the time comes. When it boils down to it, I'm still just a rookie and am learning as I go. Anyhow, I'll take photos this evening of final candling, the divider, and the paper-towel "mat" that I crafted with my incredible engineering skills (paper towles cut to size and taped together). But it may take soem time to actually upload the photos.

Thanks for following!!!

 

[davemonkey]

We locked down last night. I didn't take any pics of candling because it was too dark in there to see much (even with 1650 lumens pumping through them), except we did see lots of movement. But, I did take SOME photos:

Here is the "mat" and divider I mentioned. The paper towels don't serve any function for the hatch other than to make clean-up easier afterwards. Most of the hatch-mess will be on the paper instead of stuck between the metal grill or in the bottom of the incubator. The divider is cardstock with a bunch of holes punched/cut into it. The divider was supposed to keep the chicks from "Foghorn" separate from those of "Chuck". I ended up deciding against it, as we'll see in a bit.



Here is the candler that I keep talking about when candling. It's a closet light fixture, with an extension cord wired into it, and lots of foil to help direct the light toward the hole in the top of the box. I chose a light bulb that puts out ALOT of light, but really any bulb will do. And if you don't want to make one like this, you can just use a bright flashlight with your hand cupped around it. The tape on top of the box (around the hole) provides some cushion to "push" the egg into if light is coming out around the egg instead of going through it.




Here are a couple "charts" we used during the incubation process. The one on the left was for the days we candled. The circles and squares and dashes helped us keep track of which eggs were excellent to view, which we took photos of, those that died, etc... The chart on the right was how we kept track of turning our eggs and monitored the temperatures. You can see that we started turning 3 times per day, and then 5 times per day. If something seemed important, we wrote on the chart. (The back of the chart has the other days on it up until "lockdown".)

 

[davemonkey]

Now, let's look at how to set an egg for lock down. It's pretty simple: set it and leave it alone.

But HOW do you set it? Does it matter which side is up?

If eggs are set in a carton, the fat portion of the egg needs to be pointed up. But I prefer the way nature does it...flat on its side. That way, the egg will naturally be sitting how it would in a nest. or close to it.

Take a look at this egg and the pencil lines which mark the air cell. Do you see how the air cell dips down lower on one side than the other? Not all or our eggs were this clear, but for the ones that are, we are going to place the eggs so that the lower dip of the air cell is facing us. Reading other people's experience, this is where the chick will "pip" the shell. I placed a tiny "x" where I think this chick will "pip".

 

[davemonkey]

Here are all Foghorn's eggs marked and ready to set. You can see the exactly how the air cells developed, as well as the "numbers" we have been using to keep track of the eggs during this hatch-along. [For the younger ones: can you point out eggs number 4 and 10 that we have been taking pictures of? Bonus question: how many boy chickens do you think we'll get from these eggs? Hint: there's no wrong answer.]




Here are Chuck's eggs marked and ready.



Okay, so THIS is how I had planned on setting the eggs for hatch. The divider separates the eggs from the 2 Roos. The eggs are all touching at least 2 other eggs, which should help the synchronization of the hatch (make them hatch close to the same time). What do you notice about this arrangement? If you were a chick hatching out the eggs on top, would you have plenty room to move around while your brothers/sisters hatch? What about if you were on the bottom set of eggs?



So, the reality is that I don't actually know if the above picture would be too cramped or not for hatchlings. But I'm going to assume it is. Here is how we decided to finally set them up. Since our goal doesn't really require us to keep the chicks separate, we aren't going to. The eggs that really interest me personally (the Bantam Brahma and the full-bred Leghorns) will be distinguishable anyway, so we decided we aren't worried about the chicks getting mixed up. We were able to keep all the eggs touching at least 2 others, while still being able to make use of all the room in the incubator. I call this arrangement "The Smiling One-Eyed Monster".


That's it for now. The next update will be PIP. Feel free to ask any questions or make any comments, give advice, share experience or thoughts, etc...

 

[Veer67]

Wow, only a few more days until the eggs hatch!

 

[davemonkey]

For the young ones (and old ones ) following, here is a WONDERFUL 2-part video I found that will go over the entire process we have been going through. Also linked is a terrific day-by-day view of actual embryo development. Very cool stuff!

 

[davemonkey]

Lots of rockin' going on. #9 is especially active, and 12 and 22 are moving as well.

 

[davemonkey]

PIPs!

Okay, so we had been hearing a faint "chirp" from egg #9 since yesterday. Very early this morning (4am) I woke to it shirping sporatically. It had been over 24hrs since it had internally pipped without and external pip, and I figured it was running out of air. So, I assitsted with external pip. It's doing well now, and I have raised the humidity in the incubator so it stays moist inside it egg (the "pip" I made was rather large compared to a normal one).

But as of 7am this morning, Eggs 11 and 26 also have pipped on their own, and 27 is rocking and rolling (literally). I won't know anything else until late this afternoon because I'm at work today, and the family is on a field trip. Maybe I can sneak out of here early.

 

[davemonkey]

3 more pips (I checked on my luch break). Now comes the hard part...not opening the incubator or worrying about them until they hatch. It can be a couple hours, or a couple days before chicks hatch after pipping. This is the point in time where I look back and think, "it probably would have been best to set this up in a room I rarely go into". This is going to be torture for me.