November/December "Hatch-a-Long"

[chickydee64]

Spent the past hour on my knees waiting for precious to show her little self.
Oh hatching friends.I need help. Cannot stop watching these two, house is a mess, dishes not done...........
I am hypnotized I think. You would think it is my first time....
It never gets boring.every hatch is the best one until I have a new hatch..............

 

[Farmer Viola]

65%. On the ONE hatch I've done, so take that into consideration! Did well though...

hopefully in the 60's

Thanks ladies! I just read 1 post that said never to ever go above 55% or the chicks will drown (dry hatch), and I have never heard that before so I wanted to ask.

This hatch is going to be dry, hopefully hovering in the 40%? range once eggs are added, and aprox 65% during lockdown (4 sponge pieces). Just thinking through my plan before I set.

Deanna.. I love the Max pics!! He is so cute I never get tired of him... standing so big and tall on his now tiny blankie hehehe <3 adorable

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: the danger of drowning happens when they have been incubated a too high a humidity for the whole hatch and they didn't evaporate enough

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Thanks ladies! I just read 1 post that said never to ever go above 55% or the chicks will drown (dry hatch), and I have never heard that before so I wanted to ask.

This hatch is going to be dry, hopefully hovering in the 40%? range once eggs are added, and aprox 65% during lockdown (4 sponge pieces). Just thinking through my plan before I set.

Deanna.. I love the Max pics!! He is so cute I never get tired of him... standing so big and tall on his now tiny blankie hehehe <3 adorable

My dry hatch was 24% for the first week so I raised it to 38% until lockdown. I did let it completely run dry twice during the 38% time as recommended in the dry hatch directions.

 

[malndobe]

the danger of drowning happens when they have been incubated a too high a humidity for the whole hatch and they didn't evaporate enough

I had 2 chicks in my hatched that didn't do an internal pip but pipped externally. The first one drowned, I saw it's beak poking out but didn't realize what had happened, I assume it pulled back into the egg and breathed in fluids. It's beak was poking out when I realized it was dead but ...? This was early in the hatch and I also wasn't going to open the bator up just to candle since I didn't realize anything was wrong. The second one was better about keeping it's beak out and when I realized what was going on (pulled it out and candled it) I made the pip hole bigger then left it alone. It hatched this morning after a couple of days of being pipped. I did have to help it zip, it was just trying to come out through the pip hole, had made it big enough to get half it's head out (beak and an eye)

So is this a humidity issue, or just 2 chicks that pipped in the wrong spot because that's what they did? I have to double check this mornings chick but I think it also pipped closer to the small end of the egg than the bigger end, so maybe it was turned around?

 

[MrsJenSmith2007]

Sorry if I'm being a pain, but I have another pre-lockdown question. I have seen where most of you trace the air cell before lock down and find the lowest spot since this is where the chick will most likely pip. When you trace the air cell, should the egg be vertical or horizontal? This may be a silly question, but I just want to make sure I do it correctly. I'm thinking probably with the egg vertical with big end up...is this right??

 

[chickydee64]

Sorry if I'm being a pain, but I have another pre-lockdown question. I have seen where most of you trace the air cell before lock down and find the lowest spot since this is where the chick will most likely pip. When you trace the air cell, should the egg be vertical or horizontal? This may be a silly question, but I just want to make sure I do it correctly. I'm thinking probably with the egg vertical with big end up...is this right??

You do not ask to many questions...............I think it is great that you care enough to want to do things right.................

Are you joining the NYD hatch?

 

[MrsJenSmith2007]

You do not ask to many questions...............I think it is great that you care enough to want to do things right.................

Are you joining the NYD hatch?

Working on it!! My sweet smooth cochin (covered by by sweet FRIZZLE cochin....) just started laying some adorable little eggs for me! She was laying before I got her, then took a break. I'm hoping to get enough, if not I may just purchase some from the local breeder I got this group from and have a mixture with my little frizzle eggs! SO excited! But first things first, SUPER excited to meet these babies in a couple days!!!! AHHH!!!

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: if there was fluid in the shell at it's hatch time then yes it was too humid....if it never pipped and it was pretty wet inside then that could just indicate that it died sometime in the last few days. If the eggs were shipped then it is common to have malpositions

when I set my eggs...which are often shipped...I leave them just sitting for a day or two...then I mark the date and breed on the large end of the egg then put them in the bator in an egg turner...I don't add water unless the the humidity goes below 25% if it does early in the incubation it won't be harmful to a chicken egg but pump it back up to at least 25% if the incubator is full of eggs the humidity will run a little higher maybe up to the low 40's....the last week make sure the humidity doesn't drop below 25 it will cause harm...at that point the membrane will dry too much then when you get the humidity up again it will turn the dry membrane to a gooey glue...that last week raise the humidity a little more then lock down try to keep it at 65ish...little fluctuations are not going to create a big problem but don't not let the humidity drop below 25%!! as long as the egg has evaporated and has a nice air cell your not going to drown the chick so higher is okay too.

it's very important to use more than 1 hydrometer preferable near the eggs.

All that being said...you don't know exactly why the little chicks didn't hatch!!!! I can tell you that especially with shipped eggs they can get all the way to hatch day and just not make it!! I hate it but I'm use to it! but my 60+ chickens out it the coops pretty much all came from shipped eggs! the tighter the eggs are it the box the less they move the better the hatch rate!

and I'm still incubating like some crazy chicken lady lol

 

[MrsJenSmith2007]

Just finished my Pre-lockdown candle. At least 5 of my eggs are showing great movement. Some, I see no movement but great veins and it honestly looks like the eggs are just entirely FULL. If the chicks are big enough to fill the egg, they probably can't do a lot of moving. The 2 leghorn/leghorn crosses are both doing great. Of course they are easy to see, because they're white. I still have one mystery egg that is just a light tan color but is SO hard to see thru. I can't see ANYTHING thru that egg. It's worse than my dark browns or my green/blues!! Interested to see what/if anything hatches from that egg. Also, got super lucky this evening. After candle I turned my light back on (homemade light bulb incubator) and my bulb blew! Had that happened overnight, very well could have lost the hatch this close to the end!

That would have been B-A-D!!!!! Luckily it happened when I was there to fix the problem and I always keep extra bulbs of the right wattage on hand! Whew! So first thing in the morning, into lockdown they go!