First of all excellent job packing. Bubble wrap on each egg, sheets of bubble wrap above and below the nest of eggs, wadded paper to keep everything in place. All eggs arrived intact, in excellent condition.
I had 26 eggs to start with. I let them settle 48 hours before setting the eggs in the 'bator. I candled on day ten, had 3 clears and 1 blood ring. Next candle, day 18, all looked good except 2 I wasn't sure about, so 20 for sure well developed, 2 more, iffy. Took out the turner, put them in carton bottoms, with air vents cut in the cups. After looking that over, I decided to remove the cartons, and lay the eggs down on their sides, because with the wet sponges, thermometer, and hygrometer, there was no room for the chicks to go when they hatched. They'd have to climb around on top of the cartons, too close to the fan and the heating element. This may have been a mistake.
Once eggs started to hatch, temperature and humidity were hard to keep where they belonged. Temp went way up once, 103F, then there was a period of the temp dropping to around 95F. I couldn't get humidity up over about 55%, eve after hatching started I had trouble getting it to 60%.
I ended up with 7 very active chicks, and I have one more straggler, that I thought was stuck, and "helped out", only to find the yolk not yet absorbed. The chick seems ok for now, but not yet up and running around like the others.
I'm waiting to see how he/she does, and will be doing a little physical therapy with the chick. Just providing a small amount of resistance to leg movements, to help build strength, like fighting the shell would do, if I hadn't been an idiot about this.
I'm not sure what I did or the 'bator did that killed off most of my eggs. They were fine at day 18, so I know the problem was not the eggs themselves. And the ones that did hatch, are some of the healthiest, most vigorous chicks I've seen. I'll post some pics, tomorrow.
If I need more Delaware eggs at some time in the future, I'll ask to order from Seriousbill again. The problems were all from my end, the eggs were excellent.
I had 26 eggs to start with. I let them settle 48 hours before setting the eggs in the 'bator. I candled on day ten, had 3 clears and 1 blood ring. Next candle, day 18, all looked good except 2 I wasn't sure about, so 20 for sure well developed, 2 more, iffy. Took out the turner, put them in carton bottoms, with air vents cut in the cups. After looking that over, I decided to remove the cartons, and lay the eggs down on their sides, because with the wet sponges, thermometer, and hygrometer, there was no room for the chicks to go when they hatched. They'd have to climb around on top of the cartons, too close to the fan and the heating element. This may have been a mistake.
Once eggs started to hatch, temperature and humidity were hard to keep where they belonged. Temp went way up once, 103F, then there was a period of the temp dropping to around 95F. I couldn't get humidity up over about 55%, eve after hatching started I had trouble getting it to 60%.
I ended up with 7 very active chicks, and I have one more straggler, that I thought was stuck, and "helped out", only to find the yolk not yet absorbed. The chick seems ok for now, but not yet up and running around like the others.
I'm waiting to see how he/she does, and will be doing a little physical therapy with the chick. Just providing a small amount of resistance to leg movements, to help build strength, like fighting the shell would do, if I hadn't been an idiot about this.
I'm not sure what I did or the 'bator did that killed off most of my eggs. They were fine at day 18, so I know the problem was not the eggs themselves. And the ones that did hatch, are some of the healthiest, most vigorous chicks I've seen. I'll post some pics, tomorrow.
If I need more Delaware eggs at some time in the future, I'll ask to order from Seriousbill again. The problems were all from my end, the eggs were excellent.
