Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[codiallynn422]

UPDATE - One of the eggs quit probably day 18 and one piped internally went onto externally pip only to buckle under the weight of my broody. Not sure if this is a common occurrence using a big broody but I will NOT be putting any smaller eggs under her again. It almost seemed as if it zipped horizontal, it's beak made it though but that was it. Pretty flattened. I have a couple due in a few days, hopefully they hatch fine in the incubator .

 

[formerchickenlass]

UPDATE - One of the eggs quit probably day 18 and one piped internally went onto externally pip only to buckle under the weight of my broody. Not sure if this is a common occurrence using a big broody but I will NOT be putting any smaller eggs under her again. It almost seemed as if it zipped horizontal, it's beak made it though but that was it. Pretty flattened. I have a couple due in a few days, hopefully they hatch fine in the incubator .

Aww, I'm sorry to hear the first two didn't make it.

How are your incubator eggs doing?

My most recent batch has been abysmal. I put 34 eggs in and at day 19 I'm down to 9 (I'm fairly certain at least 4 of those are dead). I'm not sure whether this is all due to not having my turner on for the initial days or whether I botched something else royally. I had placed a lot of paper towels around my eggs this time around because the eggs really don't fit well into the stupid rails brinsea provides. I thought padding them out would help but I'm afraid it probably did something bad, maybe caused them to overheat or suffocate? I have no idea but I definitely won't do it again. Then in the latest mishap my boyfriend, meaning well, placed my incubator back on the turner after I'd taken it off for lockdown. The turner was at an extreme angle and much of the water poured out. We caught that pretty quickly but I guess I didn't realize just how much had poured out because it ran dry last night, was down to 28% when we woke up. Sigh. I will be grateful for any chicks that hatch healthfully from this batch.

My girls have slowed down their egg production as well. And they keep taking turns going broody or semi-broody. I don't know if I'm just not getting the eggs out fast enough or if it's something seasonal or what. It seems like this would just be a rubbish time of year for them to try and raise chicks.

 

[Skink]

I just had a bit of a set it and forgot it hatch! I set 6 eggs from my nicest trio, then got very sick almost the entire incubation period. Imagine my shock when I saw a baby in the 'bator today! I had no idea it was hatch time. All 4 got out fine. I need to get some photos, one baby has this odd silvery down color. Two others are black and the last isn't dry enough to tell yet. I need to be more careful, I've gotten a bit lackadaisical with my hatching.

 

[Skink]

 

[codiallynn422]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear the first two didn't make it.

How are your incubator eggs doing?

My most recent batch has been abysmal. I put 34 eggs in and at day 19 I'm down to 9 (I'm fairly certain at least 4 of those are dead). I'm not sure whether this is all due to not having my turner on for the initial days or whether I botched something else royally. I had placed a lot of paper towels around my eggs this time around because the eggs really don't fit well into the stupid rails brinsea provides. I thought padding them out would help but I'm afraid it probably did something bad, maybe caused them to overheat or suffocate? I have no idea but I definitely won't do it again. Then in the latest mishap my boyfriend, meaning well, placed my incubator back on the turner after I'd taken it off for lockdown. The turner was at an extreme angle and much of the water poured out. We caught that pretty quickly but I guess I didn't realize just how much had poured out because it ran dry last night, was down to 28% when we woke up. Sigh. I will be grateful for any chicks that hatch healthfully from this batch.

My girls have slowed down their egg production as well. And they keep taking turns going broody or semi-broody. I don't know if I'm just not getting the eggs out fast enough or if it's something seasonal or what. It seems like this would just be a rubbish time of year for them to try and raise chicks.

The incubator hatched out one so far, just one left. The other is supposed to hatch tonight or tomorrow. This egg that's due was out in a storm for three days before I found it.
curiosity got the best of me, I tossed it in the incubator. Developing nicely. There was also a black out

. I'm starting to hear a lot of complaints about the rails brinsea has. I'm still learning but I did get my first hatch with the incubator. My temp and humidity did vary a bit 97-100 Fahrenheit and 30- 70% humidity at one point it ran dry for a short while. I see a lot different opinions on when to lock down. I put my little guy in on day 17, they've been coming on day 19 but I hear some take 21. I blame the weather for the lack of eggs. On the bright side my other little hen just laid her first egg! My big hen is too, took her a while to snap out of it. She was so dedicated to hatching those eggs. Here's a couple short clips of the little fuzzball and my broody peep at the end. I'm not positive chicks imprint on humans easily but this little one is like a magnet. Good luck on the hatch, keep us posted!

​

 

[formerchickenlass]

Aww, what cuties from everyone!

Skink, I love your silver baby, and the black ones too, so different from the ones I've hatched.

The incubator hatched out one so far, just one left. The other is supposed to hatch tonight or tomorrow.​

Your baby in the vid is a total sweetie! Did you get a second hatchling?

I hatched two today from the final 9 I had on lockdown. All the rest look dead but I'm giving them until tomorrow to pip just in case. It was a bad hatch but at least I got a pair. I'll clean the incubator out tomorrow and start again.

 

[codiallynn422]

AWWW!!! How adorable!!! No second chick yet I may have guessed wrong, still not sure it was laid three days before without proper storage. I'm thrilled with the little one I did get though, it's the sweetest! My other hen started laying on the 15th, she up to two so far! Nervous about the new eggs being double yolked.

 

[formerchickenlass]

AWWW!!! How adorable!!! No second chick yet I may have guessed wrong, still not sure it was laid three days before without proper storage. I'm thrilled with the little one I did get though, it's the sweetest! My other hen started laying on the 15th, she up to two so far! Nervous about the new eggs being double yolked.

How much time do you spend handling it each day? Just wondering how much time I need to spend to get mine this sweet.

 

[Skink]

That is singleton sweetness. You can't really recreate it intentionally in a chick that doean't initiate it themselves, sadly. Just give your chicks lots of opportunity to see you're not scary and the human lovers make themselves known pretty quick!

 

[formerchickenlass]

That is singleton sweetness. You can't really recreate it intentionally in a chick that doean't initiate it themselves, sadly. Just give your chicks lots of opportunity to see you're not scary and the human lovers make themselves known pretty quick!

Ah, ok.

I thought maybe I just wasn't spending enough time with each chick since there are so many to divide my time among. The ones I spend the most time holding are usually sweetest but it's hard to give that much time to each one.