Our Egg Hatching thread! Hatch: Nov. 7th (Hatching Video PG 57)

[MichiganWoods]

Hmm. Ok, well I started off with 24 eggs. Now let me sit back and review what happened to the wanna-be's. 4 ended up being infertile (after cracking and confirming), and one was P.O. scrambled so that left me with 19. 3 had very early bloodrings with just a dot for development, knocking me down to 16. Another 2 had bloodrings, but with probably day 2-3 development, leaving me with 14. And then I had two quitters that developed thick blood rings and stopped moving all together. One was probably at day 5, and the other at day 8.

I am left with a dozen bouncing embryo eggs, 5 RIW and 7 EE. Oh, and for those curious, I did that pendulum test thingie that jossanne posted. If it is correct for my eggs, I will have 4 roos (2 of each kind), and 8 hens (3 RIW and 5 EE).

So now, upon the advice of the pros here, I'm going to sit on my hands and not touch them again until I have to remove the automatic turner and lay them on their sides at day 18.

I will candle quickly at that point, otherwise I will just not be able to stand it!

(Why must I be so curious?!)

 

[klf73]

Ah, I candle every other day, I can't stand not to. It doesn't affect my hatch rate....quitters happen, especially with shipped eggs. Contamination, I have to disagree, if you're hands are clean and you handle gently then I don't have problems. Many broodys poo all over eggs and they still hatch.....

ETA- I increased my rate when I stopped hand turning and put them in the cartons and tilted them

 

[MichiganWoods]

I think the day 8 embryo I could at least tell died not from bacterial contamination, but a deformity of it's head. It was really weird shaped and didn't look normal. Yesterday it was barely moving in its egg. It must have given up sometime during the night. The rest of it looked normal. Saw the little chickie legs and wing stubs.

Are deformities solely due to DNA or can they occur from rough P.O. handling?

 

[klf73]

I think it is a little bit of both. There will be some bad genetics, but majority of the time the rough handling is the culprit. Some will say x-ray, but there are so many arguments that the amout of radiation is negligible. I am just amazed that any hatch after they go through what the PO puts them through.....

 

[MichiganWoods]

Well, I guaranteed myself to have at least 9+ baby chicks come November 12th... I have baby chick fever.

Ordered 9 Ameraucanas from Ideal to go along with the ones that hatch from my eggs. 8 pullets and 1 roo. Plus they will toss in a few "packing peanuts" (roos).

My DH rolled his eyes at me when I told him just a little while ago.

Oh.... And as per my eggs, my whole family is roasting for our chickens (instead of the other way around!). I tried to ensure that it would be all right when I opened the incubator by having the temperature in my house set to 74 degrees, and I have a lamp running in my closet that gives off heat too, thus making the closet even warmer. We're sweating. Have to toss off all my covers at night to get to sleep even! But I am monitoring the thermometers in the incubator to make sure I don't cook them.

 

[RickiHupp]

Hi Michigan!! I have been reading your thread and it seems we have eggs in the bator that are exactly the same age!! After reading your post I decided to candle one of my eggs, low and behold!!!!!!!! there was little veins running everywhere!!!! I am so excited. I have been staying FAR away from the bator because I didnt want to touch them too much except for turning them. Anyway, I just wanted to say if everything goes right (this is my 1st hatch EVER) we should have babies at the same time

 

[MichiganWoods]

Congrats and good luck, RickiHupp!! I'm still in awe at how amazing the whole process is. My 7-year-old asked to see the eggs today so I did a quick candling to show her. She said, and I quote, "That is totally awesome!" I'm in disbelief at just HOW active they are today in their shells. It's like watching a rubber bouncing ball in slow motion, or a yo yo. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth!

 

[MichiganWoods]

Look what my kind and considerate in-laws dropped off tonight.

They got them from their friends who raise chickens... and they were only in the fridge for a few days. They of course intended for us to eat them, but my first thought was, I want to hatch them! Look at that huuuuuuuge egg!! Of course I called their friends up to ask if they have roos, and they said yes, so the eggs could very well be fertile. However, they've never hatched their own chicks as they claim it's too hard.

Er well... good time to test out the fridge-a-bator I should be finishing up tomorrow....

 

[Riocotesei]

Awesome!! Lucky you!
That egg is HUGE! Can you tell if it's a double yolker? O__O

I'm trying really hard to not hatch anymore till my friend comes down at the end of November....it's soo hard!

 

[MichiganWoods]

I candled it but I really couldn't tell. I think once development starts, if it starts at all, I might be able to figure it out. Some of these browns are quite a bit darker than by RIW eggs. They order day old chicks every year and these eggs are apparently from assorted "egg layers". The smaller eggs are some of the first eggs that her young hens have layed. One of those (unless my eyes are deceiving me) looks rather pink. The one behind the blue.

I'm definitely not going to hatch any more now until spring (after this batch!). Lordie.