November Hatch-A-Longs 2017

[Crooked Chicken]

Last night was day 21. I had one hatch last night and 2 more tonight. 5 others have pipped so now I'll be awake and peeking in often. Last nights chick is super active. Hard to get a good pic through the incubator top, but have one black and 2 gold/red so far.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Update - I have 9 chicks from the 12 eggs set. 2 non-fertile eggs removed last week and 1 non-fertile egg was left in because I couldn't see through it. 7 are RIR x RIR and/or RIR x BO and 2 are black sex links (RIR x BPR) - 1 male and 1 female.

One of my red chicks is a little puny, but hoping it will be getting about better tomorrow. I'm really happy with my 75% hatch this time.

 

[lawson1986]

Y'all, I candled again last night...I couldn't help it. I have a staggered egg situation in the bator...so the first eggs in are at 11 days, pretty sure one is a dud, but all the others look to be developing nicely. The other eggs are just on day 4, and I could already see blood vessels in all but two... So ... I'm really looking forward to some more babies!!!

 

[Crooked Chicken]

All 9 babies are doing great. The puny one was having a little balance issue. She was the last to hatch and I helped her out after waiting a long time. I think she was cramped in there. She kept holding one wing out and one leg up and would fall over easily. I tucked her into a little basket with a washcloth to prop her up for a few hours and she's getting along great now.

Photo of the chicks, with one month old Eve from my first incubation and my dog Ruby.

 

[chonsey]

My thanksgiving chicks! Two Giant Brahma chicks! They are tall!

 

[Harmony Fowl]

After three days at a friend’s house following the power outage, the incubator finally made its way back home. Our new coop is 50+% done and will probably be inhabitable this weekend.

Which is just in time because tonight is the end of day 18. I candled one last time and came away with 17 I think are really solid and three maybes. Two bantams remain, the rest are standard sized chickens.

Given the circumstances, the season, my limited experience, my fickle incubator and the power outage and move, I suppose I’m happy with 20 out of 36. 9/12 shipped eggs made it to lockdown, too. I suppose that after their shipping blunder and delayed delivery, MPC can be forgiven.

Interestingly, I decided to try something new at the last minute. Reading a recent topic on hand turning where someone opined that eggs should only be turned through the middle of incubation and consulting the source upon which their thinking was based, I stopped turning after day 14. Maybe it won’t make any difference; every time I do this, I feel like I learn the whole process all over again in the way of tidbits I never heard of before.

No peeping during candling this time, so hopefully these babies will wait until the weekend when their older siblings can go outside and free up brooders in the house.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

After three days at a friend’s house following the power outage, the incubator finally made its way back home. Our new coop is 50+% done and will probably be inhabitable this weekend.

Which is just in time because tonight is the end of day 18. I candled one last time and came away with 17 I think are really solid and three maybes. Two bantams remain, the rest are standard sized chickens.

Given the circumstances, the season, my limited experience, my fickle incubator and the power outage and move, I suppose I’m happy with 20 out of 36. 9/12 shipped eggs made it to lockdown, too. I suppose that after their shipping blunder and delayed delivery, MPC can be forgiven.

Interestingly, I decided to try something new at the last minute. Reading a recent topic on hand turning where someone opined that eggs should only be turned through the middle of incubation and consulting the source upon which their thinking was based, I stopped turning after day 14. Maybe it won’t make any difference; every time I do this, I feel like I learn the whole process all over again in the way of tidbits I never heard of before.

No peeping during candling this time, so hopefully these babies will wait until the weekend when their older siblings can go outside and free up brooders in the house.

Good luck with your incubation. I don't know about the whole turning thing, but in the nest I'm sure those eggs get turned, poked at and rattled around quite a bit ever single day.

Are you planning on putting the chicks out in a brooder in the coop right away? Be careful if you use a heat lamp -- they are notorious for starting fires. I ordered 2 smaller Sweeter Heaters and am now using one in each brooder -- I love them. I didn't care for the s-hooks the come with though as the easily fall off the chain if you lift the end to clean. I bought longer chains and attached the chain to the heater with zip ties. They stay super toasty under the heater and there's no bright light on them all of the time.

My incubator is the styrofoam Little Giant Still Air Incubator, and it's pretty unreliable as far as temperature goes and you can completely forget using the built-in thermostat/hygrometer. Instead of fidgeting with the thermostat settings this time, I just propped the lid open a pinch with squashed toilet paper tubes during the times the temps spiked. And I used 1 or 2 "new" sponges soaked and leaned against the sides. I laid the eggs down this time in 3 little baskets. I turned the eggs 3x daily and rotated the baskets at least once a day. I only weighed and candled on days 7, 10 & 14. The result was 9 hatchlings out of 12 eggs. 3 eggs were infertile.

My first incubation attempt last month I had put the eggs upright in egg carton sections and then laid them down on day 18. I "turned" the eggs 3 or 4 times a day by propping the incubator on one end. I was constantly adjusting the thermostat up and down trying to keep steady temperature. It was a hassle and didn't work. I handled the eggs a lot more too. The result was only 1 chick out of 8.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I am not planning on brooding these chicks outside right away. I have another set of a dozen 3-4-week-olds who I will move into the coop right away with six laying pullets. They will have a panic room with a heating plate until I determine they don't need the plate and/or the room anymore. Then these chicks get to go outside with the plate, since I have only one. Until then it's heat lamps indoors where I can control them better and keep birds from coming into contact with them. I used them for two hatches last spring. They are not my favorite and I don't like the poor safety factor, but they will have to suffice for now. I would love a sweeter heater (or 12!) Someday, when money isn't so tight.

The person who was talking about not turning the last week said it resulted in better hatches for her. It may help, it may hurt, I'm just experimenting with it to hopefully reduce malpositioned chicks of which I've had a few.

I have a forced air incubator, but I've still been disappointed with the inconsistency in temperature. It does have an autoturner, which I used only for a few days while on vacation this hatch, I much prefer hand turning, and the hole for the cord of the autoturner, whether it's in the incubator or not, is a huge source of heat loss. Keeping it plugged was essential. Since I don't like the autoturner anymore anyway (though it can be handy, for trips and like for a power outage where I had to move the incubator and keep the eggs from rolling around), next time I'll just have a still air bator. Humidity has not been a problem with it, fortunately. I use an ice cube tray for water before lockdown, then use sponges during lockdown so I don't have chicks stumbling into the filled ice cube tray and drowning. I only just read for the first time recently also an explanation I could understand about weighing eggs. This actually intrigues me and I'm eager to try it next time!

This is only my fourth hatch, but I learn so much more with each one. How did any of those original chicks ever survive?! I did everything wrong!

 

[Crooked Chicken]

I am not planning on brooding these chicks outside right away. I have another set of a dozen 3-4-week-olds who I will move into the coop right away with six laying pullets. They will have a panic room with a heating plate until I determine they don't need the plate and/or the room anymore. Then these chicks get to go outside with the plate, since I have only one. Until then it's heat lamps indoors where I can control them better and keep birds from coming into contact with them. I used them for two hatches last spring. They are not my favorite and I don't like the poor safety factor, but they will have to suffice for now. I would love a sweeter heater (or 12!) Someday, when money isn't so tight.

The person who was talking about not turning the last week said it resulted in better hatches for her. It may help, it may hurt, I'm just experimenting with it to hopefully reduce malpositioned chicks of which I've had a few.

I have a forced air incubator, but I've still been disappointed with the inconsistency in temperature. It does have an autoturner, which I used only for a few days while on vacation this hatch, I much prefer hand turning, and the hole for the cord of the autoturner, whether it's in the incubator or not, is a huge source of heat loss. Keeping it plugged was essential. Since I don't like the autoturner anymore anyway (though it can be handy, for trips and like for a power outage where I had to move the incubator and keep the eggs from rolling around), next time I'll just have a still air bator. Humidity has not been a problem with it, fortunately. I use an ice cube tray for water before lockdown, then use sponges during lockdown so I don't have chicks stumbling into the filled ice cube tray and drowning. I only just read for the first time recently also an explanation I could understand about weighing eggs. This actually intrigues me and I'm eager to try it next time!

This is only my fourth hatch, but I learn so much more with each one. How did any of those original chicks ever survive?! I did everything wrong!

Oh, I know what you mean. I think back in the day it was survival of the fittest and they relied on the broody hens. That's interesting using the ice cube tray. I wonder if that would work if it was in the bottom of the incubator with the plastic grate on top of it.

I did notice that as the chicks hatched, one a whole day earlier than the rest, they were hopping onto the plastic film that has the thermometer probe.

I thought I might have kept the humidity too low last time, so increased it this time around. I got a bit worried when I weighed and candled this time as they didn't lose but a tiny bit of weight. I was comforted by the fact the air cell seemed the appropriate size though.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

That's interesting using the ice cube tray. I wonder if that would work if it was in the bottom of the incubator with the plastic grate on top of it.

I’m sure it would maintain the humidity just fine, but one of the things I like about it is that it’s easy to refill it and empty as necessary. That wouldn’t be the case positioned under the grate. I like how it occupies the cool spot in my incubator where I wouldn’t want to put any eggs anyway. My mother just found me a smaller tray, too, so I won’t even have to use as much space next hatch.

My candling skills are lacking. Good or bad at day 10 and again at day 18. It has to be really obvious either way for me to tell. I really want to weigh to help keep track of my candling impressions. Am I getting it right or am I misjudging a lot of them?