Need A Hatch Buddy.. Anyone Setting Today 2/26?

[Chickie Mamma]

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Fire up those bators! Its hatching season

 

[karimw]

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I've got one of those

He spends more time on the nest box than the girls do! I really think he's trying to keep the ggs warm after they are laid! He doesn't like it when I go under him to get them though

 

[karimw]

Update! I candled at 8 days and only removed 3 clears:

12 Lavender Ameraucanas from Crystal Creek - Setting 10 out of the 12. 2 showed no development, but the others look good!
7 Welsummer X EE - Lost one of these to a stupid fumble fingers Cracked beyond repair, I opened it to see the still beating heart
3 Welsummer X White AM
12 EE X EE - Can't really see these very well, but they don't look clear.
12 AM X EE - 1 clear, it had started to grow but stopped.
1 BSL X EE
5 IA Blue pullet eggs - All developing! Hooray!

Setting 54! Hand turning still - still too many for the turner

 

[karimw]

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welcome. where did you put the extra eggs?

Well, I skipped the turner and have been turning by hand. I did see the link from earlier in the thread about the turner made with PVC and egg cartons? that might work for me - less chance of dropping them. I'm kind of afraid to change things mid hatch though. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Coldweatherbirds]

Incubator temp is nice and steady, humidity is steady.... biting my nails as the rain and ice comes down. If we lose electricity I don't know what I'll do. Duct tape the eggs to my chest and get a fever?

Meanwhile there is a criss in the coop... flooding!

My husband and I have both tried chipping tunnels through the snow and ice to get water to run off down the hill and it's partially effective, but the coop is still in water. And the water is still coming. The bedding is literally sopping wet. There is nothing we can do! I'm going to have my husband go out and try to rig up additional temporary roosts. My poor birds look like drowned rats.

Miraculously the snow pack in the yard has gone from 35 inches to about 20 inches in 48 hours.

 

[MustLoveHens]

Well, I candled the 6 Asil/Aseel eggs on day 7 and it's not looking good for the home team! I think I have two possiblely three viable and the rest were no goes. Im really reaching to get two. I think one is really good and two are maybes. So I will candle tomorrow for day 10 and see if I have anything.

 

[paddock36]

I'm debating on taking my eggs out of the incubator with the turner that I borrowed and put them in my homemade incubator because my incubator keeps better humidity. The incubator I borrowed seems to bounce around a lot.

 

[Coldweatherbirds]

Is there anyone else on here who doesn't candle all their eggs? Am I foolish not to? How do you candle 34 eggs without cooling them off? I've candled 2 eggs, both from my leghorn. They both have veins and I have NEVER seen my rooster mount her. She is the bottom of the pecking order here. So if hers are fertile shouldn't the rest should be?

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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But you know my mom tells me stories of my grandfather, who was a huge chicken lover and breeder, had times when a hen would ignore her tiny chicks and he would tie up his shirt and put them in his shirt to keep them warm. Not sure if it would work with eggs, but you never know.

Seriously though, I am praying

your lights don't go out.


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Oh No!!! How horrible.

I hope things get better for you guys soon.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

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My 14 year old son and I had a bet last year to see who would be better at hatching. He had an LG with a turner full to capacity with eggs and did not open his bator once throughout (well only on day 18 to take out turner and add more water) and he had a 100% hatch. I wasn't so lucky. Now his eggs were all from our birds while mine were shipped eggs.

I currently have two bators full. My Eco with Marans and my Genesis with Ameraucanas. I've decided not to candle my Marans. Well not by choice.... I tried to candle them on day 7, but could not see a thing. They are all going into lockdown on Wednesday which will be day 18 for us. We'll see what I get.