November/December "Hatch-a-Long"

[MrsJenSmith2007]

the ones I sent you are....buff orps, new Hampshire red, rhode island red and black sexlink...the roosters are either a blue and green partridge brahma or a dark brahma!

I don't have any of them segregated right now.....I do have to say that I've hatch from this group several times and they make really good looking birds!

in the spring I'll separate my breeds

I candled my eggs tonight they all look great...except the lavender orps...only 3 out of the 12 are going...I emailed the breeder that she needs to check fertility...the blue orps are all a go AND the 3 candy corn polish are dancing around in there!!!

next Friday Araucanas!!!

Sounds perfect to me! I just like to know what combos there COULD be so I can look and them and try to guess. Part of the fun. lol Sorry about your lavender orps.

I was looking forward to seeing pics of those babies!! YAY for the candy corn polish! Can't wait to see those pics! This Spring I hope to find some Polish eggs to hatch. So beautiful!

 

[lotsochicks]

I have a hen that is setting on 10 eggs. The eggs are 8 days from hatching. I was wondering if I should wait till they hatch to move the hen and chicks to a warmer place? Since it probably will be cold I was just wondering.

Thanks,

Hannah in OK

 

[sjshaw1980]

I'm so excited!!!! Going to meet Tara and take 2 of her black silkie babies off her hands next week!

Question for more experienced hatchers than me tho...Baby Booger (my lavender singleton turkey poult) has been making an odd clicking noise when being picked up or at rest. It almost sounds like he/she has a cold? Behaving normally, growing, and eating well, but he "hisses" a lot if startled and then makes that clicking noise when u pick him up. Any thoughts on what it might be? No drafts, the brooder is plenty warm, and no exposure to other birds. So what could it be?

 

[ggschulz]

Wow, can't wait to see pics!
I just have a really basic incubator-- I think the most basic they sell-- the still air Farm Innovations. Only planned on using it for one hatch, but I was hooked and it's been running pretty much non-stop since I got it in June. I added the egg turner after the first couple hatches.

Your wife would hate it here-- I have the incubator permenantly displayed on my formal dining room table haha! And our downstairs bathroom we never really use the bathtub has become my brooder until the chicks go to the transition coop outside!

Yeah, I would love to at least hatch them inside. It has snapped cold (for us) and getting down to 25ish at night. The brooder house only gets to about 45, but I would have preferred to hatch them at least in the house.

Anyway....question for some of you out there: one of my Brinsea Octagon 20 incubators runs at 99 to 99.5 most of the time, but seems to dip to 97-97.5 overnight, before stabilizing back to 99ish later by noon. What problems could I run into by running in this range? Just a late hatch, or could there be additional complications? I hate to adjust the incubator, because before I added eggs, everytime I tried to increase the temp to keep it above 99, it would spike to 102, even with only a slight adjustment.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tara Black]

I'm so excited!!!! Going to meet Tara and take 2 of her black silkie babies off her hands next week!

Question for more experienced hatchers than me tho...Baby Booger (my lavender singleton turkey poult) has been making an odd clicking noise when being picked up or at rest. It almost sounds like he/she has a cold? Behaving normally, growing, and eating well, but he "hisses" a lot if startled and then makes that clicking noise when u pick him up. Any thoughts on what it might be? No drafts, the brooder is plenty warm, and no exposure to other birds. So what could it be?

I'm so excited for Thursday too! I've been looking at them all day trying to decide which of the 2 non-vaulted to go with, and one is so much smaller then the others so I figure the bigger one is the best bet, and then it took forever to narrow down a vaulted, but this one is just too cute and sweet, so she's going to you! Well hopefully a she lol! Not the best pics ever but these are your babies!

 

[Farmer Viola]

@MrsJenSmith2007 , Does your bulb turn off? (thermostat?) I just read this for homemade incubators, maybe it will help, "try putting bottles in there to act as heat sinks and hold the heat to slow the fluctuations of the on and off of the lights." this guy has other tips over in this thread, https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/841527/diy-incubator-questions

 

[DeannaA]

Yes. BUT I can NOT get my bator to run with normal humidity. It has been running like 16% or lower!! I know it shouldn't go below 25%. I am just testing right now, no eggs in yet. Haven't installed my dimmer switch yet, but think I will have to do that the next day or so. I ran it overnight with a 60 watt and woke up to a bator that was 120 degrees plus!! I used a 60 the entire last hatch with no problem, so I guess it's just due to the dry hatch part. I changed out my bulb to 40 watt again and left it running today while at work. I will check it when I get home and hope that temp is lower and humidity is higher! My room humidity is about 50% and I have 4 vent holes, completely uncovered . I am going to try placing a piece of damp sponge in the bator tonight and see if that helps with humidity. SO...I'm getting there but still haven't gotten the bator running how I want it to be. I have some eggs on the way (YAY!!!) so I really want to have it perfect and tested for a while before setting them. Since they are shipped eggs, I should allow them to rest a day or 2 before setting, right? This is my first attempt at shipped eggs. Thanks for your help!

I wouldn't put in the eggs until you get the humidity figured out, I lost too many eggs that way. But you could put in store eggs to see how that would change the humidity. Let them get to room temp first. Cover all of your holes, wait a few hours, check your humidity. I hang a wash cloth oder the side. More surface area, higher humidity. Once is seems to be stable, uncover a hole on either side of the incubator near the eggs. (Where are your holes?) That way you know you have air flow over the eggs but smaller loss of humidity.

I'm so excited!!!! Going to meet Tara and take 2 of her black silkie babies off her hands next week!

Question for more experienced hatchers than me tho...Baby Booger (my lavender singleton turkey poult) has been making an odd clicking noise when being picked up or at rest. It almost sounds like he/she has a cold? Behaving normally, growing, and eating well, but he "hisses" a lot if startled and then makes that clicking noise when u pick him up. Any thoughts on what it might be? No drafts, the brooder is plenty warm, and no exposure to other birds. So what could it be?

Can you record the noise and post it? I can tell you if Max has made it.

 

[sjshaw1980]

@ Tara I can hardly wait! It's going to make next week fly by!

@ Deanna - I will try to record and post tomorrow. Been having trouble with recording for whatever reason. It sounds like a click at the end of the breath and only happens on exertion or when he's freaked out. Doesn't sound like a verbalization.

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: yes Jen you could check it with store eggs...there won't be humidity....with a dry hatch...until there are eggs in the incubator!! since you've been having problems with your humidity running way too high I'm really not concerned about your humidity unless it goes too low for too long....the first weeks it's less critical with the dry hatch the last week you want to make sure you keep it pretty steady with in the ranges I've suggested....
I've outlined the method I use and even with shipped eggs unless they've been badly mishandled they hatch....we live in different climates BUT what you've tried hasn't worked for you....If I'm wrong and they don't hatch again I'll gladly send you more...we will get it correct

 

[Heidisgran]

I have a hen that is setting on 10 eggs. The eggs are 8 days from hatching. I was wondering if I should wait till they hatch to move the hen and chicks to a warmer place? Since it probably will be cold I was just wondering.

Thanks,

Hannah in OK

I would...can you put her and her nest in a dog crate or something like it?