September Hatch-A-Long

[gimmie birdies]

I have tried to hatch them, they do and can hatch, but mine usually only make it to day 10.

 

[Rainier]

I have tried to hatch them, they do and can hatch, but mine usually only make it to day 10.

I think I have two of them. One has veins on both sides but the other one only has it on one side. The 16th is day 10 so I'll check them again then.

 

[gimmie birdies]

veins are good.

 

[Rainier]

Is this a double yolk? If so do you guys keep them or pull them out of the incubator?

today

 

[Yara]

That won't be a problem. The embryo wouldn't be developed enough for it to get stuck in any position. When you candle the eggs in a couple of days you will see that when you rotate the egg, the cluster of blood vessels (where the chick is developing) will move as you rotate the egg.


I have used my homemade incubator many times over the past 14 years and this is the first time I have used an egg turner. In my last few hatches there were several times (at least twice a week) that I wasn't home to turn the eggs for 15 hours straight. I know that isn't ideal but... it was the best I could do. It is such a relief to have an egg turner now, (It arrived the day after I set the eggs, so my eggs did go for 15 hours the first day w/o being turned.) Now I can stop at the store on the way home from work w/o worrying about the eggs needing to be turned.

I set my eggs on Sunday, So we can hatch ours together!

Awesome. I was freaking out! Thank you guys for putting me at ease.

YAY! A hatching buddy!

 

[duluthralphie]

You can hatch a double yolk egg????


REALLY??

 

[Rainier]

You can hatch a double yolk egg????


REALLY??

My understanding is rarely do they progress past day 10 and for those that do getting both chicks to hatch alive is pretty rare. We have never gotten double yolks from our girls before so had no idea that we would have one, let alone two, until I candled them on the third day.

 

[redhen689]

Double yolkers almost never survive. They end up dying towards the end because they are not positioned correctly to pip internally.
There are exceptions. Here is one that was posted to byc in 2008:

 

[Iko127]

Ok, my latest update! Not a great one but it is what it is. I only had 8 live babies and 6 died After my last pip hatched I decided to candle eggs and was going to just give breather hole. Well they were already dead except 2 that I think would have died had I not opened a hole. Not sure I understand why they die at hatch. 1 out of the 6 had been dead probably earlier on but the other 5 where ready to come out, 2 were malpositioned. I'm helping these last 2 since I started, got them really good openings and letting them rest in case they needed more time for yolk and one needed time for some of the veins. So if these last 2 make it I have 4 blues and 4 BLR's. Less than 50%. I think I will be waiting for a while before incubating shipped eggs again. I should have enough for myself to breed my own birds and its to expensive. Someone bought BLR chicks for $3 not that far away, I definatly can't hatch shipped eggs for that and at least they are alive! I do love the 8 I have!! Can't wait to have them fluffy and out of bator!! I will take pics soon, just got to give these last 2 some time. The weird thing with all this is my hatch day is tomorrow...lol None would have made it till then. Maybe my temp is too high and thermometer is off and maybe thats why they are hatching early and some just are dead. O well, Good luck to the rest hatching!!

Also for Yara, don't worry about not turning...not sure if you had shipped eggs but I don't turn for several days when first in the incubator...really should be fine!! Good luck and hope you do good!!

 

[redhen689]

Cool video demonstrating chick development from start to hatch.