September Hatch-A-Long

[TeaChick]

I think I am on day 7 but the broody started the hatch bad I stole the eggs from her because she weight less then 3 pounds and was sitting on 18 eggs! And my light isnt bright enough to get a really clear look at the eggs so are the candling pictures don't help as much as they should.

That's hard. I understand there's a float test. An egg with a live chick in it will float a certain way (with a certain amount of the egg above the water) and a dud egg will float with (I think less) of the egg above the water level or sink (I think). You can look that up. There's an article on Assisted Hatching and it either tells you how to interpret the results of your float test or it links to the info.
Meanwhile, getting eggs wet at 1 week of incubation is not a great idea b/c the bloom (film that protects the egg from bacterial infection) is water soluble.......
I would say, find a way to convince yourself that they're alright and hide the chocolate. (well, hiding the chocolate is for me lol)
I don't remember, (I'm sorry) what was the reason you thought they might not be viable now?

Candled half of my quail eggs on day 9 (yesterday), will do the rest tonight because I don't like having the incubator open that long with such small eggs. Pulled a few clears and early quitters, including one that was starting to weep.

I understand. And yes, weepers have got to go.
Hope they all do well!!! =)

How do you tell "quiters? I am never sure about them.

clears I can tell

I'm probably a day late and a dollar short on this, but...
The way I tell is either there's a horrible wide blood ring around the egg (you learn to tell after a few candlings what a blood ring is v/s good strong blood vessels forming), or if one is way behind the rest or there's no change from one candling to the next. This is a good case for taking candling notes (unless you get to know a very few eggs individually when you're hatching; I haven't hatched so many that I could keep track in my mind that this hen's egg from this day was at a particular stage or size compared to the rest and remember until the next week which one I needed to check more carefully; when I'm hatching 20-40 eggs at a time, then I'll need to keep a candling notebook so that I can record what I saw in each egg at each candling.)

Sorry

can I join?

I am going to be setting eggs on Thursday in a homemade incubator. have been testing it for a week and I am able o get it stable with almost no variance. just an experiment hatch with a mix of eggs and breeds

I've been using a homemade incubator this year too (I haven't bought one yet). I have to use a cardboard box to keep the temperature steady; the little cooler-bator I have doesn't do very well.

Ok, How I understand hatching rates:

Homemade incubator .....34
Shipped eggs ..................46
Not home raised eggs......26

Total...............................106%

Your base rate is 106%......

If a chick dies within 2 days it is a freebee.
So 6 eggs hatching will get you around 139% hatch rate!! Not bad for a first try.

It has taken me 2 months to figure this chicken math out.

I think I peed myself a little reading this!!!

 

[TeaChick]

Can I join? I just set 5 eggs yesterday in the incubator, so they are due september 14

they are easter egger/ marans cross.

Pretty eggs, huh? Pics please?

Teachick, I am going to try and built an incubator this winter that will hold a couple hundred eggs. I was thinking mainly of selling any "Blue Slate Turkey" I hatch out from my small flock to help pay for feed and supply costs. I never thought of charging for hatching others eggs. How would you do that? Do you charge for the chicks that hatch or do you charge by the dozen?


If you charge by the dozen, how do you determine what caused the non-hatchers, bad eggs or bad incubator?

I don't do that, that was someone else. I think I would charge a base rate (non-refundable deposit) and garentee (sp) a certain hatch rate or certain number of chicks, depending on the customer's preferences, or something like that. I would make sure that you're dealing with a fellow newb; hatching for pay seems like a good way to get taken for a ride by someone who's more experienced and knows they're getting a deal compared to other hatchers.
If only a couple hatch, then I would say faulty incubation; if half or more hatch, then I would think those individual eggs were bad (also, you'll know how many clears there are by day 7, and the final charge could be based only on the fertilized eggs or eggs that made it to seven days of incubation.
It's a complicated thing and I wouldn't know what I would do until I did it and even then, it would probably depend on who I was hatching for. I don't think I, personally, would hatch for anyone I would charge, just for ppl I would do it for free for. If someone wants day-old chicks of a specific breed or mix, then I would sell them the hatched chicks at market price. KWIM?

Decided I was going to have to move the broody, she kept getting kicked out of her nest today then went to the wrong nest...Fixed her an area in a shed on the other side of the area we have for the chickens...Got her 9 eggs placed , waited for it to get dark and took her out, five min later she jumped the gate and ran back into the coop, fixed the gate... will let her settle back down and for it to get darker then will try again, maybe it wasn't dark enough?? I cant portion her off an area within the coop as we are working on it right now to expand it and move the roost and the nesting boxes...

Yeah, I would wait until it's like 10 or something, then use minimal flashlight or whatever.

 

[21stCenturyMom]

Set our very first batch ever of eggs on Sunday night! We have 8 Black Copper Marans, 4 Easter Eggers, and 12 Ameraucanas. If I am doing my math correctly, I think this means they are due to hatch on September 14th!

Super excited and nervous!!! Have done nothing but look at them thus far

but am anticipating doing the candling on Day 7, if I can control myself that long.

 

[Y N dottes]

i think u did your math correctly.....in a perfect world they would hatch sunday night on the 14th.

I am gonna be setting my first batch in day or two, so im kinda in the same boat as u

 

[cream puff]

I have a lock down question. This Thursday is day 18 and I will do my final candle, should I put the eggs in an egg carton small ends down for hatching? Right now they are just laying on their sides. All in all the temps have been pretty stable, I didn't add humidity at all until day 4. I also have no idea what they will be when they hatch. This is one big experiment.

 

[LBurt6]

SO excited I stumbled on this page. I've got a first time broody mom, a white leg-horn if you can believe it. I put some Cream Legbar hatching eggs under her we got from a neighbor. I only did six eggs as I was sure she'd give up and abandon them. But the eggs are due to hatch on September 4th and shes still going strong. We had one egg that turned out to not be fertilized and other we lost, it had a blood ring, but the other four have shown movement during candling. My biggest problem is where to put broody mom now. I need to move her because our current coop wasn't designed for chicks and the babies will fall off the latter trying to get out every morning. We are building a bigger more chick friendly coop but it won't be done in time. I've looked into the dog crate ideas but it rains to much in Western Washington and mom and chicks would get wet . I've got a plastic dog house that I'm trying to convert but I'd need to add a door on it somehow to keep them safe from predators at night. Anyone else have any good cheap temporary home ideas? Is it better to move them after the chicks hatch or do it before? Also I'd like to keep them with the flock if possible as we will be keeping some or all the chicks depending on how many survive.

 

[Y N dottes]

I have a lock down question. This Thursday is day 18 and I will do my final candle, should I put the eggs in an egg carton small ends down for hatching? Right now they are just laying on their sides. All in all the temps have been pretty stable, I didn't add humidity at all until day 4. I also have no idea what they will be when they hatch. This is one big experiment.

I would let them hatch whatever way they have been the whole time. in your case, lying down. I will be doing a batch where they will be in cartons the whole time, and I will let them hatch in them

 

[duluthralphie]

I like to use old pickup toppers. Just close the end gate to secure them. Open it to let them run free. The only thing you need to watch is the sun over heating it. I have a couple that have screens in the windows. They are easy to put a light in if you need heat.


And the best part is they drive the zoning office here crazy, because their rules do not cover them and they hate them!

 

[Peep_Show]

Cream Puff:

I have my eggs in an auto turner, but at lockdown they get put in paper egg cartons (small end down) in which the bottom has been cut out to allow for more air circulation. If you have wonky air cells, the upright position is best. I like it because I can keep track of who's hatching AND the cleanup is pretty easy. As an added bonus, the chicks don't kick the other eggs around.

Thursday night is my Day 18, too!

 

[earlyredrooster]

I like to use old pickup toppers. Just close the end gate to secure them. Open it to let them run free. The only thing you need to watch is the sun over heating it. I have a couple that have screens in the windows.  They are easy to put a light in if you need heat.


And the best part is they drive the zoning office here crazy, because their rules do not cover them and they hate them!

You can shade them with a cheap tarp and a few old tent stakes to combat the sun cooking the shell. Works great.