September 2016 Hatch-A-Long

[SunHwaKwon]

To be honest I am not sure- the incubater has said the humidity was between 34-45% the whole time and a cheapo hygrometer I got and calibrated said that during the last week it has been close to 50%. I'm in maryland and the humidity has been crazy high this whole time. I put some water in the channels to raise the humidity... Hopefully all is not lost. I just want to slow the weight loss for the next four days before lockdown as much as possible.

What part of Maryland are you in? I'm on the eastern shore.

Just know, it's easier to help a slightly dry chick that a wet one!

 

[TurkenMomma]

So I find myself in a pickle. I have an egg that up until this point, I thought was developing. I open my incubator today to candle, and I noticed there was a smell in it. It's seem to be coming from the questionable egg. When I candle it I can't see movement but I do see a dark mass. And it isn't like it stinks, but there's a faint off smell to it but my other eggs don't have.

What say you HAL folks? Toss it or chance it?

 

[Elemes]

This is the middle second from bottom: and this is bottom right (I think the egg position and light didn't show the pencil marks) My incubator seems to go from 20% (no water) to 50% with just the small tray having water. I have let the tray go dry overnight and put a small container of water in. Ill try to get the humidity around 30-35% until day 18 if I can. It's my first time incubating so still need to work out what works best with it. Thanks for your thoughts

Yep I think they're find and that's a fine plan. The sacs look good!

 

[Elemes]

So I find myself in a pickle. I have an egg that up until this point, I thought was developing. I open my incubator today to candle, and I noticed there was a smell in it. It's seem to be coming from the questionable egg. When I candle it I can't see movement but I do see a dark mass. And it isn't like it stinks, but there's a faint off smell to it but my other eggs don't have.

What say you HAL folks? Toss it or chance it?

If you're incubating other eggs, this one is a loss in my opinion. Just had this happen on my last hatch. Day 11 or 12 is when I found it. It's gone when it's smelly.

 

[Fluffyserama]

Candled today and found two more cracked bresse eggs, I didn't have much time to candle thoroughly the day the toddler happened. The Chicks are still alive and moving. I sealed these with nail polish. We'll see if there is a difference between that and the wax. I'm pretty sure the cracked serama egg is dead but I'm leaving it in for now

 

[Joplus]

Candled today and found two more cracked bresse eggs, I didn't have much time to candle thoroughly the day the toddler happened. The Chicks are still alive and moving. I sealed these with nail polish. We'll see if there is a difference between that and the wax. I'm pretty sure the cracked serama egg is dead but I'm leaving it in for now

sorry for your loss. I have a two year old too and my incubator is on my bathroom counter so it's my biggest fear, I constantly freak out!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

Welcome! What are you hatching? What are you hatching in? When is your hatch day?

I only raise Black Penedesencas. My big homemade cabinet is out of commission till I put some new parts in it. I'm using my embryo executioner, AKA a Little Giant.
I have 2 settings due this month. One is due on the 7th, the other is due on the 16th. I'm setting again on the 12th.
I'm setting by the sign of the moon.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...atch-a-long-waxing-moon-in-fruitful-signs-hal

I'm trying dry incubation this time too. I did a lot of reading on it and it has a much better hatch rate. Hope your hatch goes great!

I don't even use a hygrometer. I may someday but for now my tool is a gram scale.

I usually go for 2-3 more days... Just in case! Darker shells I'll leave in the whole time since they're so difficult to candle.

I only remove leakers and stinkers.

If it hasn't progressed much I'd step in especially since its been so long. It's probably stuck to the shell. Some people say not to help, but I'm not in that camp. It easier to assist when they are as far along as you describe.

Get tweezers, some q-tips, corn starch, slightly warm water and or olive oil. Moisten the areas you can get to through the existing zip ( avoid the nostrils) carefully extend the zip. Avoid the membrane unless you are certain the blood vessels in that area have receded. I find I can see the vessels better when I use olive oil. If you see blood dab corn starch on the area bleeding and put the egg back in the incubator for an hour or two. Then start again.

Once you have completed the zip, moisten the exposed areas very well and put back in the incubator for another 2 hrs. If the chick has not made progress on its own after this point. you can chip away more of the shell. At this point I chip towards the air cell until that end is open, then moisten well again and put back in the incubator for another two hours.
If the chick is well and truly cemented in, but still seems strong, you may have to wet the egg even more before it can make it out.

It's easy for the chick to get chilled while you are working so only use warm water. Keep the time it's out of the incubator to 5-10 minutes max. Then put it back to warm up for an hour or so before starting another assist session. If it's bleeding leave it in for about 2 hrs. To let bleeding stop and the blood vessels recede

That is good advice and an elaborate explanation.
I, on the other hand, rarely assist unless I think it was my fault they couldn't do it on their own. They haven't needed our help for millions of years. Survival of the fittest. If they aren't vigorous enough to hatch on their own, I don't want them here.

well, today was day 7 so we checked the weights again and candled the eggs we could (not the dark shelled BCM).

so far the weight loss is spot on, i've calculated that i'll be needing approx. .3g per day on average against the total average weight. so far so good on that side.

...

Chicken egg weight loss should be 0.65% per day. It should be a total of 11-12% between the time the egg is laid and transfer to the hatcher at day 18.
Typically there is about 0.5% weight lost per week of pre-incubation storage.

Day 14 candled and all 12 are still looking good

Even managed to get a brief video of one of them moving a fair bit

This is the air sacs marked day 7 and 14. How are they looking? I was wondering if they are a bit small or if they look OK.



Thanks

Nice video. Thanks for posting.

Does anyone know the Humidity level that would almost halt weight loss in eggs? I've been dry incubating and thought the ambient humidity was high enough but apparently not as my eggs are losing too much weight. I'm on day 14 and many of my eggs are almost at the weight they should be at 18 days (lockdown). So I'm looking to drastically slow evaporation for the next four days.

Thank you in advance!

If you want to shut down weight loss, I'd take it up to lockdown humidity of about 65%+. That's better than needing to lose more weight and having it too dry for hatching.

To be honest I am not sure- the incubater has said the humidity was between 34-45% the whole time and a cheapo hygrometer I got and calibrated said that during the last week it has been close to 50%. I'm in maryland and the humidity has been crazy high this whole time. I put some water in the channels to raise the humidity... Hopefully all is not lost. I just want to slow the weight loss for the next four days before lockdown as much as possible.

I don't trust any hygrometers, especially cheap ones.
I had 2 I calibrated and a day later they were way off. I threw them in the trash and bought a scale.

So I find myself in a pickle. I have an egg that up until this point, I thought was developing. I open my incubator today to candle, and I noticed there was a smell in it. It's seem to be coming from the questionable egg. When I candle it I can't see movement but I do see a dark mass. And it isn't like it stinks, but there's a faint off smell to it but my other eggs don't have.

What say you HAL folks? Toss it or chance it?

Stinkers need to be tossed, CAREFULLY before they explode. Put it in a baggie when you remove it.

Candled today and found two more cracked bresse eggs, I didn't have much time to candle thoroughly the day the toddler happened. The Chicks are still alive and moving. I sealed these with nail polish. We'll see if there is a difference between that and the wax. I'm pretty sure the cracked serama egg is dead but I'm leaving it in for now

Some have success with nail polish. I've used that and beeswax but never had one hatch. 2 settings ago I dropped 2 eggs. It put a divot in one and the other had cracks on over 50% of it. I had a jar of liquid skin bandage close by. I covered all cracks with it. Both eggs hatched and chicks are fine.

 

[Maeschak]

What part of Maryland are you in? I'm on the eastern shore.

Just know, it's easier to help a slightly dry chick that a wet one!

Im not to far from Baltimore, DC, and Frederick. I grew up going to Chincoteague every single summer - you anywhere near there? I candled last night and the air cells dont look bad (they almost seem on the small side but Im not expert) ... which is odd considering how much weight the eggs have lost so who knows. I threw some water in the incubator yesterday and pumped up the humidity. Ill just keep my fingers crossed I guess.

 

[TurkenMomma]

If you're incubating other eggs, this one is a loss in my opinion. Just had this happen on my last hatch. Day 11 or 12 is when I found it. It's gone when it's smelly.

 

[harmesonfarm]

I like how it's broken down here: https://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/weight-loss-method-forl-incubation/

Hope this helps for now!

Here is a great link that TurkenMomma suggested to me, and I am using to help keep track using weight loss / gain.

He has an explanaition of how to use the humidity to effect your weight loss / gain.

Does anyone know the Humidity level that would almost halt weight loss in eggs? I've been dry incubating and thought the ambient humidity was high enough but apparently not as my eggs are losing too much weight. I'm on day 14 and many of my eggs are almost at the weight they should be at 18 days (lockdown). So I'm looking to drastically slow evaporation for the next four days.

Thank you in advance!