Need some hatching buddies - Hatching May 24-28

[JustMandy]

I'm here! I have 13 BLRW due the 28th. I candled tonight and saw lots of little babies bopping around. And I dropped one

It landed right on the air pocket and crushed it. I just had dh throw it away instead of trying to see if I could save it. Thankfully I hadn't candled it so I don't *know* that it had anything in there. I'm just calling it a dud.

I feel awful. Be sure to hold those eggies tight! (But not too tight

)

 

[Stevenson]

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They'll stay in the incubator, but I'll take out the auto turners. I did it that way last time and it worked out great.

 

[fifelakelooper]

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Too bad about the dropped one but how exciting that you saw movement in the others!! Do you use a flashlight or do you have a real candler?? My last hatch I didn't see any veins or movement although 6 out of 8 hatched. So I am waiting til day 9 or 10 and my hatch out is due on April 28 th also!!

 

[Cynthia12]

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Too bad about the dropped one but how exciting that you saw movement in the others!! Do you use a flashlight or do you have a real candler?? My last hatch I didn't see any veins or movement although 6 out of 8 hatched. So I am waiting til day 9 or 10 and my hatch out is due on April 28 th also!!

Hi fife, April 28th, one of my many son's, birthday.

I will have some Ameraucanas due to hatch the 28th also, will probably be the 27th/28.

 

[Cynthia12]

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JustMandy, that is a BLRW at the left over there. She was the prettiest girl. Went broody, I didn't have a roo...so, I bought some eggs, and an incubator for back up like suggested in posts...and guess where that put me today? Yep, loving the hatching out eggs. Close to two years now.


So sorry for your dropped egg.

 

[dretd]

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They'll stay in the incubator, but I'll take out the auto turners. I did it that way last time and it worked out great.

So does that mean that you will lay them on their sides to hatch or take out the mechanism that turns and hatch in the trays. I am waffling myself if I should lay flat or hatch in the cartons I have heard its easier to clean up the mess if they are in cartons. Since I had a failed hatch last time I am thinking, 'I would love to have a mess to clean up'.....

 

[dretd]

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I would love to hear how everyone candles, or if they candle. My friend's sis that sent half of my eggs admonished me not to candle because she thinks it decreases hatch rate. My last hatch was a failure and I think there were multiple problems culminating in total failure so now I am paranoid about any factor that could stress the developing chicks.

I read one thread where the gal shines a flashlight down on the egg as it sits in the turner. That way there's no risk in jostling or dropping the egg. Has anyone tried that before?

Its so hard not to peek inside! I was thinking at the very least I should candle before lock down to take out the clears and early quitters any way.

 

[Stevenson]

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They'll stay in the incubator, but I'll take out the auto turners. I did it that way last time and it worked out great.

So does that mean that you will lay them on their sides to hatch or take out the mechanism that turns and hatch in the trays. I am waffling myself if I should lay flat or hatch in the cartons I have heard its easier to clean up the mess if they are in cartons. Since I had a failed hatch last time I am thinking, 'I would love to have a mess to clean up'.....

I used something similar to cartons to hatch mine in my last hatch. I had heard that if you lay them on their sides, chicks that had already hatched could roll them over on their pips which could cause problems. From what I read, it may be a little more difficult for the chicks to get out of the egg, but there are less problems with the hatch under the carton method. I had a very successful hatch with the carton method (15/16) so I will be doing it again. I think you are supposed to cut the bottom out of the carton if you use this method.

 

[dretd]

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So what is the something similar to cartons that you used? Since you had a successful hatch then I am all ears

!
I guess cutting the bottoms out of the cartons would negate the making it easier to clean up the hatcher idea, darn!

 

[Stevenson]

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I would love to hear how everyone candles, or if they candle. My friend's sis that sent half of my eggs admonished me not to candle because she thinks it decreases hatch rate. My last hatch was a failure and I think there were multiple problems culminating in total failure so now I am paranoid about any factor that could stress the developing chicks.

I read one thread where the gal shines a flashlight down on the egg as it sits in the turner. That way there's no risk in jostling or dropping the egg. Has anyone tried that before?

Its so hard not to peek inside! I was thinking at the very least I should candle before lock down to take out the clears and early quitters any way.

Again, I am going on what I have read and my limited experience...so please don't consider me an expert! I bought a flashlight at walmart - coleman brand with about 125 lumens. I hold the flashlight in my right hand with my hand surrounding the end of the light so that when i put the egg against with my left hand there will be no light escape between my hand and the egg. I am careful to make sure that the big end stay up, and I spin the egg to get a view from all sides (can an egg have sides?

)

My personal opinion (again, based on very limited knowledge) is that it won't hurt to candle. Mama hen will roll the eggs around and get up to eat and go to the bathroom on occassion, so it shouldn't hurt to move it around and be out of the incubator. I would just recommend that you try to limit the length of time that the eggs are out of the incubator (and the time that the incubator is open). I think that the overwhelming majority say that you should candle so that you can remove potential problems. I was told to smell the egg as well as candle it. Apparently if a bad egg isn't removed, they can explode and ruin your entire hatch.

There are a lot of candling threads here. I did a search for candling in the Incubating & Hatching Eggs section under topics and found quite a few.