November Hatch-A-Long (2014)

[ochochicas]

I have some challenges with hatching. We do not have AC or central heat, we heat by wood burning stove. I'm using a LG 9200 still air, I turn by hand and if all of that wasn't enough these are pullets eggs. They are from my own flock of barnyard mix. Dad is BR and moms are RIR, BR hen, Australorp and three mutts that look like the Australorp but are a mix of ? Not sure who lays what other than the RIR's.

For Christmas I am getting a better bator but I also wouldn't trade doing these hatches because I've learned so much about hatching eggs and chick development.

We heat with a wood stove, too, simply because using our furnace is not affordable. The incubator is in the corner of the dinning room, which is about 35 feet from the wood stove (and 3 rooms away). The temp there stays pretty much around 62 degrees. I have not had any trouble keeping my cheap Hovabator at a constant temp (after the first day which took some initial adjusting just because I'm a newbie). My eggs seem to be doing really well, but I haven't hatched any yet so I could be doing it all wrong!

I have 3 thermometers in my incubator. The temp is right around 100 and the humidity is 40%. I am going to weigh the eggs tonight to make sure they are losing the correct amount of weight.

 

[Dcat]

Here's a question. I started with 20 eggs(10 chicken, 10 quail), I had to toss the quail and 5 of the chicken as they were all clears/infertile. So if all 5 of the eggs I have left hatch, would that mean I have a 100% hatch rate or is it based off of something else? I was lucky to get 10% hatch rate with my first incubator/inexperience/impatience.

I will admit I am a candleholic. I try to keep my addiction down to once a day. I just love seeing how much they grow day to day, it's a visible growth and love to see them move around. With that being said I was tickled pink to have white eggs this time and could see when the veins started growing, heartbeats and how one day I saw heartbeats and next day they were gone but you could see the start of their eyes. It just amazes me to no end.

 

[Pyxis]

Eggs have been set! 8 NN Bantam eggs set 10/25/14 with a hatch date of 11/15/14. Unfortunately a lot of them have weird, detached air cells and one is cracked so I'm not expecting a stellar hatch.

 

[ochochicas]

Fertile eggs:
8 Easter Eggers
5 Rhodebar -3 = 2 that look like quitters
6 Amberlink -2 = 4

Questionable eggs:
8 CCL -2 = 6
4 Black Copper Marans
4 Australorp

 

[darkbluespace]

I am exhausted! Our power was just out for about 5 hours!

I tried to keep my eggs warm by putting bags of hot water in the incubator and keeping a down comforter over it. The digital thermometer didn't go below 93 but it must have gotten much cooler in there. Hopefully they will be fine, I'm not too worried. I was mostly worried the power would be off all night like last time and I have 4 one day old chicks to keep warm! Two were still in the incubator, thankfully they were about ready to come out. If this had happened yesterday I am sure I would have lost them. I made a fire in the wood stove and put the chicks in a little basket in front of it with a thermometer so I could keep an eye on the temp. Everyone seems to be doing well considering the drama!

 

[michael1003]

Just scored me a nova-bator forced air with auto turner for 10 bucks was a horid mess and was missing a window but an hour of work and its all cleaned up made a new window from a left over pice of plexy glas and bam good to go. Setin 14 leghorn bred with a buff orphibgton rooser next fri. Any tips for a first timer? So excited

 

[Junibutt]

Here's a question. I started with 20 eggs(10 chicken, 10 quail), I had to toss the quail and 5 of the chicken as they were all clears/infertile. So if all 5 of the eggs I have left hatch, would that mean I have a 100% hatch rate or is it based off of something else? I was lucky to get 10% hatch rate with my first incubator/inexperience/impatience.

I will admit I am a candleholic. I try to keep my addiction down to once a day. I just love seeing how much they grow day to day, it's a visible growth and love to see them move around. With that being said I was tickled pink to have white eggs this time and could see when the veins started growing, heartbeats and how one day I saw heartbeats and next day they were gone but you could see the start of their eyes. It just amazes me to no end.

Since you did not do a fertility test on the eggs before testing? I would say that any eggs that were clear should not be counted in the hatch rate. If some developed but quit (blood ring), that should be counted. So if we count based off fertile eggs, and all 5 of yours hatch, you will have a 100% hatch rate but if you base it on total set, you will have a 50% hatch rate on chicken eggs.

 

[Junibutt]

I am exhausted! Our power was just out for about 5 hours!

I tried to keep my eggs warm by putting bags of hot water in the incubator and keeping a down comforter over it. The digital thermometer didn't go below 93 but it must have gotten much cooler in there. Hopefully they will be fine, I'm not too worried. I was mostly worried the power would be off all night like last time and I have 4 one day old chicks to keep warm! Two were still in the incubator, thankfully they were about ready to come out. If this had happened yesterday I am sure I would have lost them. I made a fire in the wood stove and put the chicks in a little basket in front of it with a thermometer so I could keep an eye on the temp. Everyone seems to be doing well considering the drama!

Glad to hear they survived. Enjoy your chicks!

 

[Junibutt]

Was day 13 for me today so candled the remaining 6 eggs.
The CL egg is doing great.
2 X CL X RIR cross doing great.
2 x CL X Red Star cross doing great. 1 seems behind. So might have quit around day 10. Will give it a chance till Day 18 before discarding.

 

[darkbluespace]

Just scored me a nova-bator forced air with auto turner for 10 bucks was a horid mess and was missing a window but an hour of work and its all cleaned up made a new window from a left over pice of plexy glas and bam good to go. Setin 14 leghorn bred with a buff orphibgton rooser next fri. Any tips for a first timer? So excited

Awesome, I love fixer uppers! Are these eggs from your flock?