Set eggs 3/5. Looking for others to hatch with!

[wholewheatchicken]

Just an update on my 5 EE's in lockdown. They are on Day 19.

The wait is so looooooong and nervewracking!

I'm using a cut-down egg carton, with airholes in the bottom and sides for air circulation. (I'll try to take a picture) I don't know if I like them yet or not? (If they all hatch....of course, I'll love them!) I've been reaching in quickly to sort of rotate the eggs, but I won't do this closer to Friday, in case they pip. It's probably good that the eggs are at a more consistant level (thus temperature) than they would be if I had laid they down. All the chicks looked active and veins were visible when I candled on Day 17. I didn't bother to candle again before moving them into the hatching incubator.

The hatching incubator is a still air which makes finding the average temperature a little more challenging. I have a probe at egg-top level which goes up and down to the tenth degree. It is averaging about 101.9. The 2 tilted floor thermometers (one digital, one old school) are registering about 97. The average of those temperatures is about 99 degrees.

Perhaps I should bump up the temperature, but I'm hoping a little cooler is better than TOO hot? So many variables.

Humidity is showing 70% on the digital (which was calibrated with the salt method a month ago) and showing about 60% on the old school coil one. I'm not seeing any condensation on the windows like I did for the last hatch when I had it up to 75%. I'll add more water if it goes down and maybe try to get it higher on Friday? But I'm not sure if I need to. Maybe it's OK where it's at?

I'm so excited for these babies. I might need to set up another brooder. The plan was to move the silkie chicks outside to their coop with a heatlamp. But, it's kind of cool and it's been raining all week so the silkies are still taking up the container space. The silkies are 4 weeks old and 5 weeks old and 'no' they don't have all their real feathering yet. Do ya'll think they'd be OK outside with a heat light? Below is a picture of the doghouse that I converted. First it was for the rabbit, but I decided to use it for a silkie coop instead. I have thick plastic over the screens to keep it warmer. When they are older, I'll cut a "door" in the other side with a ramp and also want to add ventilation holes near the roof. Then I plan to build an enclosed and covered pen just for the silkies.

I think they will do okay. Just watch them and make sure they are active and not huddled together. Hope you like the egg crates. It's going to come in handy very soon.
I have a beak out on a RIR in the hatcher. I am still waiting on these four to zip and then I will be finished. Saw my barn baby today and it is adorable. The two mommas are sharing it. It took my breath away to be able to observe them. Sophie's baby is born and can hear it, but didn't see it pop out. Yetta, light Earleen had internal pippers this morning and dark Earleen has an external pip. Hoping the girls' chicks all come out okay.

 

[CALI CHICK]

Wow, you are getting alot of babies.

So proud of you as you "observe" them this time-LOL!
I have the urge to candle my 5 Easter Eggers after it gets dark tonight. Just want to see if they are still kicking in there. I'm also really curious if the aircell has continued to enlarge with the higher humidity and that's the only way to find out. Maybe I'll see an internal pip.

If it isn't raining, maybe I will put them in the little coop tomorrow or Friday morning.

Silkies just seem so fragile and special compared to "normal" chickens.......Maybe that's one reason I like them so much. When I bought feed store chicks, I just put the brooder out in the coop and lowered a heatlamp above their container. I'll probably do that with the Easter Eggers too after about a week.
Then, I might need to find a bigger brooder (or box) if 13 more silkies hatch!

Oh my!

I think they will do okay. Just watch them and make sure they are active and not huddled together. Hope you like the egg crates. It's going to come in handy very soon.
I have a beak out on a RIR in the hatcher. I am still waiting on these four to zip and then I will be finished. Saw my barn baby today and it is adorable. The two mommas are sharing it. It took my breath away to be able to observe them. Sophie's baby is born and can hear it, but didn't see it pop out. Yetta, light Earleen had internal pippers this morning and dark Earleen has an external pip. Hoping the girls' chicks all come out okay.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

My cousins and I just looked in the eggs. 21/24 were fully formed, none were deformed. All 8 of the duck eggs, and 12/25 of the chicken eggs. I could have gotten at least 50% hatch rate.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

My cousins and I just looked in the eggs. 21/24 were fully formed, none were deformed. All 8 of the duck eggs, and 12/25 of the chicken eggs. I could have gotten at least 50% hatch rate.

I'm so sorry. The next hatch is going to go a lot better.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

Wow, you are getting alot of babies.

So proud of you as you "observe" them this time-LOL!
I have the urge to candle my 5 Easter Eggers after it gets dark tonight. Just want to see if they are still kicking in there. I'm also really curious if the aircell has continued to enlarge with the higher humidity and that's the only way to find out. Maybe I'll see an internal pip.

If it isn't raining, maybe I will put them in the little coop tomorrow or Friday morning.

Silkies just seem so fragile and special compared to "normal" chickens.......Maybe that's one reason I like them so much. When I bought feed store chicks, I just put the brooder out in the coop and lowered a heatlamp above their container. I'll probably do that with the Easter Eggers too after about a week.
Then, I might need to find a bigger brooder (or box) if 13 more silkies hatch!

Oh my!

It sounds like you are going to need to be away from the house when they are due to hatch

Silkies are hardy. As a matter of fact, mine handled the winter much better than the large fowl and loved to play outside no matter what the weather was: snow, ice, rain, freezing. I just kept a brooder light going for them to warm up under, but they rarely used it.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

It's been a busy chick day here on the old homestead.
I saw two

barn babies. One was out earlier and just walking around and eating and drinking. I was watching it from a distance and it was fascinating. The when I went out tonight to get everybody locked down for bed, I saw the second one. It was a fairly newborn, but it had its head out. I can't figure out how the one hen seems to have the babies, but I think from what I saw earlier the hens are together and the first baby was going back and forth between them. It looked very happy so I'm not complaining.
Now to the bator babies. I had five left to go as of this morning. Everything had a pip except for one silkie and I was okay thinking it had died. I figured up my hatch rate and it would be 94%. Not too bad for someone with my track record. So I left tonight to run errands and one chick had popped out right before I got home. I look in again and the egg I thought had died had a huge pip on the top of it. Kind of like it's just going to bust on out of there. Then another just hatched as I came downstairs. So now I'm left with the two last silkies and one more Red. The Red is zipping. So now I'm hopeful I'm going to have a 100% hatch rate. I think that is just crazy. I am really shocked that I finally got it.
My DH is going to have to decide by morning if he's keeping or selling his Red chicks. Anyone who is staying is being divided up among the broodies and I am going to give all away to them to raise who wants them. I know Sophie takes foster children so I can at least give the silkies to her. Oh, the girls.....they've been wanting babies so badly and now here they come. I hope they rested up these past weeks.......I guess I should give toolbox Earleen the most since she's been sitting for about six weeks. She should get a bigger reward for finally figuring out you have to sit on eggs to get babies. She's vicious right now. I can barely feed her without having my hand taken off. The other girls sitting together are sweet and let me do whatever needs to be done to keep everything clean for them.
Now I just need to replicate it for the shipped eggs in the bator. Got three dozen more today and am expecting another dozen tomorrow!

 

[dixie&trixie]

I still have nothing guys.....how much longer should I let her sit on the eggs?

 

[CALI CHICK]

It sounds like you are going to need to be away from the house when they are due to hatch

Silkies are hardy. As a matter of fact, mine handled the winter much better than the large fowl and loved to play outside no matter what the weather was: snow, ice, rain, freezing. I just kept a brooder light going for them to warm up under, but they rarely used it.

Actually we DO have something going on Friday. My son and I are going to the play Young Tom Edison in downtown Sacramento with our homeschool group. If I have pips in the morning, I will be SO distracted! It's going to be a great day though! Can you believe there are several people that want me to call them when the eggs start hatching? We thought about having a "hatching party" Friday night-LOL! The only problem is ya never know when they will actually hatch even if they have pips!

 

[wholewheatchicken]

I still have nothing guys.....how much longer should I let her sit on the eggs?

It depends. Do you know when she first started sitting full time without getting up? It's roughly 21 days altogether 'til hatch time.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

Actually we DO have something going on Friday. My son and I are going to the play Young Tom Edison in downtown Sacramento with our homeschool group. If I have pips in the morning, I will be SO distracted! It's going to be a great day though! Can you believe there are several people that want me to call them when the eggs start hatching? We thought about having a "hatching party" Friday night-LOL! The only problem is ya never know when they will actually hatch even if they have pips!

Wow! A live hatching party....that would be so much fun.....pizza, popcorn.
Where is the live cam you were going to set up for the rest of us, LOL!