November/December "Hatch-a-Long"

[chickydee64]

Haha but they are mixed breeds

Some of my best layers and one broody are mixed breeds.....................

Also, when I sell pullets in the spring......most folks do not care if they are mixed.........
Usually pick out by color........................unless it is Buff Orpingtons........
these are very popular here

 

[chickydee64]

Supposed to be hatch day, but no one is pipping yet. All were looking good on lock down.
My last hatch my chicks all got shrink wrapped in their eggs because humidity was too low. My humidity dropped again, even though I have water in there. I gently tried to open 1 of the 9 up just to make sure they didn't all get stuck again and I'd lose all of them. Unfortunately after I started opening the shell she came out the rest of the way on her own but died about 15 minutes later. So leaving the rest of them and just praying they don't get stuck and suffocate in their shells.
I've never had this problem until recently do you think my incubator could be wearing out???
It's not even a year old, though it'd been running nonstop since April and was the cheapest model...

HI,
Are you adding more water??????????
If there are no pips.......I quickly put an additional wet paper towel or soaked sponge in..........
I am aware of the 'DON'T OPEN THE INCUBATOR RULE" but this has worked for me.


Get that humidity UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.......

Also, I am sure it has been mentioned..........sometimes they hatch up to 25 days.
I had one hatch on day 27 once.......really........Had not emptied the incubator from the hatch..
when I went to clean it I heard a chirp..and a little chick was staring at me through the window.......
Named it 27...........

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: when you opened the baby that died was the yolk absorbed? was there bleeding?
are you using extra hydrometers? at least 1....the incubators that have them in the lids register the temps and humidity in the lid...the temp and humidity near the eggs is quite different....10 degrees in mine...same with humidity...

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: X2 plus we know how they are fed and cared for...mine are strong healthy and loving because I raise them!

 

[familypendragon]

3rd CCL x GLW chick is out. Not sure but this *might* be a boy. There is the faintest lightened spot on the head. Will wait till its more fluffed up to get a good pic.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Thank you all for the advice!
They are mail order eggs so usually they've always hatched around day 20, but I think these need a little longer. This could also be from the temp being cooler.
There was some bleeding (not profusely), but the yolk was not all absorbed.
I think I was so worried about them getting stuck and suffocating I opened her up too early!

I put in a wet paper towel according to my built in hydrometer it's still saying humidity is about 60%.
I will have to get an external one.
We live in NC and it is SO humid here, it's finally cooled off some so that is probably what it is. There were hatches this summer I never even needed to add water my hmidity was so high without it I was afraid they'd drown!

 

[Heidisgran]

Thank you all for the advice!
They are mail order eggs so usually they've always hatched around day 20, but I think these need a little longer. This could also be from the temp being cooler.
There was some bleeding (not profusely), but the yolk was not all absorbed.
I think I was so worried about them getting stuck and suffocating I opened her up too early!

I put in a wet paper towel according to my built in hydrometer it's still saying humidity is about 60%.
I will have to get an external one.
We live in NC and it is SO humid here, it's finally cooled off some so that is probably what it is. There were hatches this summer I never even needed to add water my hmidity was so high without it I was afraid they'd drown!

she definitely wasn't ready if she had blood and yolk...sounds like 1 or 2 days out maybe....it would take a lot more than 60 or 70% humidity to drown them....that is usually a condition that occurs when they incubate for long periods of time at high humidity and the egg doesn't dry enough inside...not just the last 3 days
try not to worry...haha! keep us informed and I'm sure we are all looking forward to some chicklet pictures

 

[dutchbunny83]

Thanks
Over the summer without water my humidity was at 90-95% I was really worried about them drowning.
This past hatch it kept going between 50%-60% and they all shrink wrapped in there and weren't able to move to pip they ended up dying in the shells.
I've got a few rocking around so fingers crossed hatch goes okay.
I've added water it's at about 60% now, was 50% earlier. I'd really like to have it at 70%, but even with water and wet paper towel it's not going up that high.
We will see I have 8 left on lockdown, today is Day 21.
This is the first time I've had mail order eggs make it past Day 20. But in the summer when it's so hot they easily could have started incubating on the 2 day trip through the mail making them start pipping around Day 18-19.

 

[Nikki816]

My second batch is doing crappy day 21 and I had 1 hatch, but it looks like it pulled its umbilical cord and its intestions are sticking out. A second on pipped this morning and unzipped halfway before dying. All the yolk was absorbed on it. There are 12 more in this batch and the last batch is on day 19 today.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Sorry for your losses! Hopefully you have some more hatch!

Don't freak about the intestine looking thing! I had that happen and was convinced the chick was deformed and part of it's stomach came out through the umbilical cord. It was fine, it's just the cord, give it a day or so and it will dry up. Just don't pull on it or anything because it can cause the chick to bleed a lot.