Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[darkbluespace]

Thank you, have my fingers crossed. Seller got back to me, just a labeling error. As I prepped my own silkie eggs the shipped eggs are smaller - not by a lot, but smaller, except the one larger pointy one. We shall see what happens! I really wouldn't mind a silkied serama they are beautiful. I will be content if any of the shipped eggs hatch, knowing shipping can be hard on eggs (they had to go through Atlanta-ugh). Got a chuckle out of my post lady worried about putting the eggs in her little truck for our rural route, she called and thought I might want to pick them up. I told her if they survived Atlanta they would survive her jeep.

Glad they made it safely! Did you candle them to see how the air cells look? I would incubate them upright in a carton unless the air cells are really intact.

I have a couple hens that are 2 to 2 1/2 yrs old and they lay quite large eggs, as big as a silkie egg. My pullets lay tiny eggs and I find them much harder to hatch, unless you are a hen, of course!

 

[RockyRose]

Haven't candled yet, resting them probably until tomorrow morning since bator isn't quite to stable temp yet anyway. Plus I'm exhausted from a day of dealing with rearranging outside coops and getting my nine 7 week old "layers-to-be" out of the brooder (hoping for very few roos there). I shouldn't complain - my son did the building of a coop within a coop for the young ones to be safe from the adults. He did the really hard work, yet I have the backache and headache!
I'm just getting old lol.
Will candle them before setting. Last hatch I did (my first one) I did use egg cartons for ease of turning, and that worked out really well. That way they are always pretty much at a 45 degree angle so the air cell should be stable. I had read in some forum that serama eggs do better incubated on their side but I don't think I want to take that chance on shipped and shaken eggs!
Someday I hope to have my own Serama hens. My silkie moms are so good at hatching and I have 2 little frizzles out with their silkie mom now. Born on the coldest night we had in N GA in January (about 6F) and doing great. Ha! That reminds me I am going to have to figure out housing if/when my seramas hatch! One worry at a time

 

[darkbluespace]

I hatched a few chicks over the weekend They are pretty cute, a yellow/gray one, yellow chipmunk and golden one. I put them in the brooder today and one won't stop cheeping madly. I think it's a roo. It is definitely warm enough, he likes it when I am showing him food so I guess he just wants a mama hen!

In my other brooder, little Twinkle is sleeping under Sparky... they are a funny pair! It looks like Twinkle is going to be frizzled. My next 11 eggs in the bator and 7 under my broody are on day 14 today and tomorrow so I hope to have a lot more! I have to sell a bunch of them, but I will keep a few, I really want to see how the babies grow up.

I also sold my first ever hatching eggs on ebay and mailed them out this morning. I hope they do alright.

 

[RockyRose]

Just a short update - I did candle the shipped Serama eggs and all air cells appear intact and in the right spot. Eggs were set Sunday AM (Feb 1).
My eyesight isn't great so I will probably wait to candle again at day 7.
@darkbluespace congrats on all of the babies and your first egg shipment!

 

[heyheypaula]

Help! I am on day 19 today and this morning my humidity was a bit low so I cracked open the incubator and sprayed (maybe a bit too much) water inside which shot the humidity up to 90%. I opened the vent a bit more and the temp lowered to 90. I turned up the incubator a bit and when I left it was reading 99 and 63%. My boyfriend just called me and the temp was 88! Why is this happening now? Is my hatch going to be affected? I always try so hard not to touch anything during lockdown but always manage to mess it up. I had my boyfriend turn up the temp again a little and its at 93 and hopefully rising? I think it's probably a little bit better to have the temp lower rather than get too hot. I have a Brinsea incubator and have never had these issues before. I'm sure it's due to the low outside temp but still! Are my chicks going to be okay?

 

[darkbluespace]

Help! I am on day 19 today and this morning my humidity was a bit low so I cracked open the incubator and sprayed (maybe a bit too much) water inside which shot the humidity up to 90%. I opened the vent a bit more and the temp lowered to 90. I turned up the incubator a bit and when I left it was reading 99 and 63%. My boyfriend just called me and the temp was 88! Why is this happening now? Is my hatch going to be affected? I always try so hard not to touch anything during lockdown but always manage to mess it up. I had my boyfriend turn up the temp again a little and its at 93 and hopefully rising? I think it's probably a little bit better to have the temp lower rather than get too hot. I have a Brinsea incubator and have never had these issues before. I'm sure it's due to the low outside temp but still! Are my chicks going to be okay?

They should be fine! The thing about raising the humidity is that it will affect temperature and it usually does require some tweeking to get the balance just right. Low is definitely better than too high. I would just slowly get the temp back up, and give it time rather than turning the temp up too much, because as the humidity comes down, the temp could go up too high. If you can put in a wet sponge or paper towel instead of spraying then you may be able to avoid such extremes.

Good luck with your hatch, I am excited to see you chicks!!

 

[darkbluespace]

your chicks!!

 

[RockyRose]

@heyheypaula I agree with darkbluespace, they should be fine. I know my broodies were on and off the nest all the way to the end and chicks still hatched. During December!

 

[heyheypaula]

Thank you!! That is very comforting to read, from both of you. I read in another thread a member had a power outage on day 20 and she got down to the 70's for about 4 hours and she still had a great hatch. My boyfriend left the house and it was 93 degrees and when he came back two hours later it was 79 degrees! This has been a weird problem all day. Fingers crossed that everything will still be okay and everyone will hatch! I will definitely keep you all posted.

 

[heyheypaula]

Well, I am officially the token member in the thread with awful luck. There is something wrong with my trusty Brinsea incubator. The fan is working but the light that blinks/remains constant when the heat is running is blinking erratically or not on at all. I think it means the heater in my incubator isn't working, which explains all of my heat troubles today. Right now it is ranging from 97-102 (for the past few hours) with a space heater on and running basically up against it. Today however it was as low as 79 for a short period. I'm on day 19, going on day 20 tomorrow morning and am obviously really upset. I have 23 assorted silkie and serama eggs. I would feel a lot better if I could hear a little peep or see a little pip! It's so hard to know whether or not my eggs will be okay and hatch still. If anyone has any advice or experience with bad hatches please let me know what I can expect!!