WOW! I just have to share! I'm newly registered but have been 'lurking' for over a year! I've been reading everything on this incubation/hatch forum for weeks. I guess I was just too shy to post before (so not me IRL). oh and I could never come up with a good screen name.
Right now though, I am just so excited!
Exactly 21 days ago today we put 6 of our EE eggs in a Hovabater1602N. Between Sunday night and Monday afternoon (days 19/20) ALL 6 chicks hatched!!!
We've only had chickens for a year and have never done anything like this (incubating) so I spent many, many hours reading about anything and everything on this exact forum!
I've learned SOOO much! Even though this is my first actual post, I want to thank everyone on this forum for their posts, help, advice and just general friendliness!
Some details on the hatch. We have three EE's laying and a Buckeye Rooster (aptly named Brutus). The 6 eggs were collected over two days and then set in the bator. The incubator itself was a gift from a friend of ours who once hatched bearded dragons in it! He knew we had chickens and thought our kids might like to see some eggs hatch. Our daughter is in kindergarten and they set their eggs on the same day (class science project) so I was hoping at least ONE would hatch for our two younger sons to see. I put a digital thermometer/hydrometer inside to monitor things. I filled the center bottom tray with water, marked each egg with a number (1-6) and X/O for turning. From day 1-18, humidity was 35-40% and temperature was 99.5-101. Eggs were turned by hand 3X's a day. We made several attempts at candling with marginal results. We tried a small LED flashlight but all we could see was the air cell and a dark mass in each egg. We candled on days 10, 14 and 18. We could see veining in three of the eggs but the other three just the cells and darkness.
On day 18 I filled the two other trays with water, popped the red caps and hoped I'd see SOMETHING!!!
We kept the temp around 99.5 and humidity was at 55%. I taped it shut and made myself a tube w/funnel to be able to add water if needed. We added about 1/4 cup on Saturday as humidity dropped to about 52%, brought it back up around 56%. We added a bit more Sunday to keep it at 55%.
On Sunday (Mother's day) we were out most of the day but came home about 5pm to one piped shell!!! YAY! We were SOOO excited! We had some errands to run and came back around 7 some peeping and rocking out of a second egg! Over the course of the evening, three more pipped and one zipped right out!!
I was so, so, SO excited! Wanted to wake the kids just to show them! I had to fly out for work on Monday AM until Tuesday evening so I was really hoping to get to see one either before or after. Lucky for me I got my wish and got to see not only one hatch but woke up to another two in the bater early Monday morning! double YAY! By the time my plane landed on Monday mid-morning our nanny had texted me that another one hatched and two more were piped. So four chicks and last two were piped. Go babies! By 4 pm they all hatched! In the middle of my training session, i got the most wonderful text of our new babies!
You can see the four in the back are the first ones as they are more fluffy, the other two are in the bottom right corner, still a little damp.
So, i have to say I am feeling pretty great right now! And I must admit Brutus is a stud!
I'm home and all my new babies are in there walking around, fluffy and chirping away. Now I just need to finish up their brooder and they will get moved right in. They all just came a little early on me. Our month old pullets are still in the brooder so I need to make a makeshift one for the babies for a few days.
It was an amazing hatch. Not only did we have 100% fertility but 100% hatch. wow.
How did I do that?!
I'll post some more pics as soon as I get a chance, we have a great camera (Nikon D40) so I'm hoping for some fantastic pics. One thing that does puzzle me is I thought the green egg was a dominant trait but none of the babies have green legs? Don't the two go hand in hand (legs/egg color)?
Exactly 21 days ago today we put 6 of our EE eggs in a Hovabater1602N. Between Sunday night and Monday afternoon (days 19/20) ALL 6 chicks hatched!!!
We've only had chickens for a year and have never done anything like this (incubating) so I spent many, many hours reading about anything and everything on this exact forum!
Some details on the hatch. We have three EE's laying and a Buckeye Rooster (aptly named Brutus). The 6 eggs were collected over two days and then set in the bator. The incubator itself was a gift from a friend of ours who once hatched bearded dragons in it! He knew we had chickens and thought our kids might like to see some eggs hatch. Our daughter is in kindergarten and they set their eggs on the same day (class science project) so I was hoping at least ONE would hatch for our two younger sons to see. I put a digital thermometer/hydrometer inside to monitor things. I filled the center bottom tray with water, marked each egg with a number (1-6) and X/O for turning. From day 1-18, humidity was 35-40% and temperature was 99.5-101. Eggs were turned by hand 3X's a day. We made several attempts at candling with marginal results. We tried a small LED flashlight but all we could see was the air cell and a dark mass in each egg. We candled on days 10, 14 and 18. We could see veining in three of the eggs but the other three just the cells and darkness.
On Sunday (Mother's day) we were out most of the day but came home about 5pm to one piped shell!!! YAY! We were SOOO excited! We had some errands to run and came back around 7 some peeping and rocking out of a second egg! Over the course of the evening, three more pipped and one zipped right out!!
So, i have to say I am feeling pretty great right now! And I must admit Brutus is a stud!
It was an amazing hatch. Not only did we have 100% fertility but 100% hatch. wow.
eCongratulations!
