Good morning Hatchers!!
wishing the sun would shine soon!

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I candled last night (a day early). I have life in the bator!!!!!
The Cochins are obviously growing. Sally, I think the Brahma shells are thicker, but I can vaguely make out faint red in most of them. I think by tomorrow night I'll be able to see more clearly!! So, YAY!!!
Chickies are growing.....Chickies are growing....![]()
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Hola, everyone!!
I have a numb butt from sitting on a cold cement floor in our basement long enough to candle a zillion eggs. 293 are left, with 11 more pipped (manually).
Remember that 112* overnight sadness I had back the day before the Easter Hatch? Well, I lost all of the Easter Hatch except 3, which the broody promptly killed (sooooo sad!!). I had ser about 250 (iirc) a few days before that spike and waited to candle, finally confirming losses in all but about 3 dozen. From those are the 11 that are pipped today. They are all bound to struggle after having gone through all of that, and I pipped all of the 36 to see where we stood. Most were gone, but 8 of the 11 were internally pipped, though in improper position to pip externally. I opened the very top of the egg to view each. Three were improperly positioned and of those, one was drawing back it's blood supply, so I went ahead and found its beak and cleared it of the membrane. It looks good, but hasn't begun to absorb the yolk yet, so we'll see. It would have been a goner, for certain if I hadn't helped, and in this case I've made an exception. If the incubation had gone normally, I wouldn't have helped, but this is not the usual scenario.
Now they're in there soaking up their yolks and the other 2 non-pipped have bright red, healthy veining, so I'll let them go a while. I hate this, but I'd hate to have a complete loss, as well. It looks like 2 Mauve Ameraucanas, 2 Lemon Cuckoo Orps, an Isabel Orp, a Chocolate Marans and a few others...so we'll see.
In the CdM set, I pulled a couple dozen turkeys (infertile early eggs from first year girls) and somehow still have 3 dozen. What am I going to do with that many turkeys?? I have a few dozen FBCM, Choco Ameraucanas, South Americans, a handful of Chanteclers, a dozen Konzas, and a bunch of Chocolate Orps...oh, and some banty Cochins.
I'll be setting up a roadside stand to get rid of all of these!!! Sheesh.
Hola, everyone!!
I have a numb butt from sitting on a cold cement floor in our basement long enough to candle a zillion eggs. 293 are left, with 11 more pipped (manually).
Remember that 112* overnight sadness I had back the day before the Easter Hatch? Well, I lost all of the Easter Hatch except 3, which the broody promptly killed (sooooo sad!!). I had ser about 250 (iirc) a few days before that spike and waited to candle, finally confirming losses in all but about 3 dozen. From those are the 11 that are pipped today. They are all bound to struggle after having gone through all of that, and I pipped all of the 36 to see where we stood. Most were gone, but 8 of the 11 were internally pipped, though in improper position to pip externally. I opened the very top of the egg to view each. Three were improperly positioned and of those, one was drawing back it's blood supply, so I went ahead and found its beak and cleared it of the membrane. It looks good, but hasn't begun to absorb the yolk yet, so we'll see. It would have been a goner, for certain if I hadn't helped, and in this case I've made an exception. If the incubation had gone normally, I wouldn't have helped, but this is not the usual scenario.
Now they're in there soaking up their yolks and the other 2 non-pipped have bright red, healthy veining, so I'll let them go a while. I hate this, but I'd hate to have a complete loss, as well. It looks like 2 Mauve Ameraucanas, 2 Lemon Cuckoo Orps, an Isabel Orp, a Chocolate Marans and a few others...so we'll see.
In the CdM set, I pulled a couple dozen turkeys (infertile early eggs from first year girls) and somehow still have 3 dozen. What am I going to do with that many turkeys?? I have a few dozen FBCM, Choco Ameraucanas, South Americans, a handful of Chanteclers, a dozen Konzas, and a bunch of Chocolate Orps...oh, and some banty Cochins.
I'll be setting up a roadside stand to get rid of all of these!!! Sheesh.
Fan forced incubators should be set at 99.5. Still air is different, so do not follow the Still Air guides for fan forced incubators. The internal temp for the eggs should be 99.5 to 99.9. 102.2 is 1.7 above the safe incubation zone and will either kill the eggs or make them hatch too soon.This is my first ever hatch and I have a question on temperature in a circulating air incubator (Hovabator with fan).
I set up my incubator several days ahead of time and was getting 99-101.5ish temperatures. The day before I set my eggs it went to 100-102.2 so I dialed it down ever so slightly. It is now reading 99.9 minimum to 102.0 maximum. Is this safe or will the higher temperature increase mortality/decrease my hatch %? Can I dial it down slowly over a couple of days or should I leave it as is?
I am allowing about 12 hours between touching the temperature dial on the bator.
Ugh. I'm over flowing with eggs, don't have enough incubator space or enough broodys!! What am I to do?!?!