October Hatch-a-long 2022🎃🐣🍁

[Solanacae]

I have chicks due to hatch under my three broody girls on October 5! I got a dozen hatching eggs from a sort of local breeder - 6 Blue Australorp, 6 Blue egg layers (Ameraucana roo x Ameraucana or Cream Legbar hens). 4 got damaged in transit, not sure if it was her husband or mine, but I was disappointed to only have 8 to set underneath my two gals. One is a Sultan cross, and had been broody for weeks and I couldn’t break her. The other is an EE who went broody about 5 days before I got the eggs. 10 days into sitting, my seasoned broody decided to join the club, so I split the eggs between them. Candled that night and had 3 clears and one blood ring, so down to 4 now. Fortunately it’s an equal split between Australorps and Blue layers. I’m so hoping they all hatch!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have chicks due to hatch under my three broody girls on October 5! I got a dozen hatching eggs from a sort of local breeder - 6 Blue Australorp, 6 Blue egg layers (Ameraucana roo x Ameraucana or Cream Legbar hens). 4 got damaged in transit, not sure if it was her husband or mine, but I was disappointed to only have 8 to set underneath my two gals. One is a Sultan cross, and had been broody for weeks and I couldn’t break her. The other is an EE who went broody about 5 days before I got the eggs. 10 days into sitting, my seasoned broody decided to join the club, so I split the eggs between them. Candled that night and had 3 clears and one blood ring, so down to 4 now. Fortunately it’s an equal split between Australorps and Blue layers. I’m so hoping they all hatch!

Oh I'm so sorry...hoping you don't lose anymore!

 

[Solanacae]

Oh I'm so sorry...hoping you don't lose anymore!

Thank you! I’m anxiously awaiting hatch day to see how they do. My last hatch had a lot of problems including an egg that got crushed and made a huge mess over the other eggs, other hens bothering the broody on the nest, a hormonal cockerel chasing her when she got up for breaks and only one egg out of a dozen successfully hatched. I’ve learned from my mistakes - I have the broodies blocked off and don’t have any hormonal cockerels, so I’m really hoping that this one has a higher success rate.

 

[3KillerBs]

We never lost power in Ian except for flickers. Later today I'll calculate what day the incubator *ought* to be on and make sure that the flickers didn't reset it.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

We never lost power in Ian except for flickers. Later today I'll calculate what day the incubator *ought* to be on and make sure that the flickers didn't reset it.

Good news!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I have chicks due to hatch under my three broody girls on October 5! I got a dozen hatching eggs from a sort of local breeder - 6 Blue Australorp, 6 Blue egg layers (Ameraucana roo x Ameraucana or Cream Legbar hens). 4 got damaged in transit, not sure if it was her husband or mine, but I was disappointed to only have 8 to set underneath my two gals. One is a Sultan cross, and had been broody for weeks and I couldn’t break her. The other is an EE who went broody about 5 days before I got the eggs. 10 days into sitting, my seasoned broody decided to join the club, so I split the eggs between them. Candled that night and had 3 clears and one blood ring, so down to 4 now. Fortunately it’s an equal split between Australorps and Blue layers. I’m so hoping they all hatch!

Welcome!
Fingers crossed the rest hatch for you!

 

[3KillerBs]

All well with the incubator. Candling tomorrow.

 

[Marten]

I have my first (external) pips! Two of the smallest Cream Legbar eggs have pipped in the last few hours, as has one of the larger ones.

The photo of all the eggs is from when lockdown started two days ago, not from today. It's two of the little guys on the left that have pipped so far, plus the one in the top 6 o'clock position.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I have my first (external) pips! Two of the smallest Cream Legbar eggs have pipped in the last few hours, as has one of the larger ones.

The photo of all the eggs is from when lockdown started two days ago, not from today. It's two of the little guys on the left that have pipped so far, plus the one in the top 6 o'clock position.

Exciting!

Mine are making progress too, one has externally pipped on the wrong end. Usually means it is malpositioned. May hatch just fine on it’s own, but may need some help.
4 others internally pipped.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

More photo examples of abnormal egg candling. Just candled all the eggs quickly to see how they are progressing.

In addition to the ones doing well as described in the above post, there are these two that I can already see are DIS (dead in shell).
No movement seen. Note the embryo appears to have retracted and has “sunk” towards the bottom of the shell. The fluid above the embryo has a cloudy appearance and some blood can be seen. These two will of course remain in the incubator another day, because even though I know, you never know! Little risk of “exploding” as they were alive yesterday.
If you are new to incubating I would not remove any eggs or even candle eggs during lockdown unless you are very experienced. This is for informational purposes only.