Setting and hatching in December? Come join us! - Holiday Season hatch-along

[KPenley]

Question for everyone = my first inbubator hatch (hatch of any kind LOL). I have six eggs that need to be put on lockdown Saturday and that leaves 18 in the 1588 bator staggered over three additional days.

Do I take the turner out on the 18th day (for the first 6) and hand turn the rest of the eggs - not touching the first six?

Looking forward to Christmas Day and the next 3 days after, thanks for your replies in advance,

hmmm...are you raising humidity? If so you risk drowning the 18 not yet ready to hatch. Do you have or know anyone with an extra incubator? Ideally you'd have one with a higher humidity for hatching, and one with lower humidity and turner for incubating.
If you're going to do them all together I would take the turner out. Instead of hand turning I would tilt the whole incubator just a bit (maybe slide a book under a side). Then tilt it the other way a little bit later, etc throughout the day. If it looks like the eggs will roll, you could put them in egg cartons small side down. That way you don't lose precious humidity during lockdown. best wishes!

 

[mommaclucker]

i,m on day 21 today, no pips no nothing.These eggs are cream crested legbar, when they arrived as i,d bought them of ebay, it looked like the posties had been playing football with them.

The corner of the poly box was damaged and they had put them in a plastic bag along with a letter of apology.I really don,t think they are going to do anything.,wether it,s a gut feeling or not I,ve had trouble candling them with them being blue eggs and my torch not being fantastic,

i,ve havn,t seen any devolpment of any desciption.So here,s to praying for a miracle

if I have some that im not sure about or cant tell much when I candle them I will float test them before lockdown I get a plastic cup of warm water and see if I get any movement from them after they settle in the water just dont leave them in long hope some of them hatch for you

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

i,m on day 21 today, no pips no nothing.These eggs are cream crested legbar, when they arrived as i,d bought them of ebay, it looked like the posties had been playing football with them.

The corner of the poly box was damaged and they had put them in a plastic bag along with a letter of apology.I really don,t think they are going to do anything.,wether it,s a gut feeling or not I,ve had trouble candling them with them being blue eggs and my torch not being fantastic,

i,ve havn,t seen any devolpment of any desciption.So here,s to praying for a miracle

clearly its not just the us postal service that sucks at handling eggs...

 

[bantam brood]

How long do wait until you know there is no thing happening, I mean what day shall I give them till until give up on them.This is my last hatch with shipped eggs, I,m getting ex-battery hens in jan and I,m not allowed to have cockerels so no more chicks for me for a long time and when i do I will collect the eggs/chicks from supplier myself

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

How many eggs are under your hen?

7 now. they are due sunday i think. So we'll see if anything hatches. If not it's okay. Right now im waiting for a call or e-mail from someone that is selling me some young ducks muscovys. can't wait to go get them. I love having ducks.

 

[chicken pickin]

Today is day 19. And I have one egg that is wobbling YAY! Im so excited to see movement!

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

today is day 20 i hear no chirping so nothing hatched yet LOL. i would try to listen for noise in the eggs but Yummy (my hen) is so noisy. She's more aggressive/loud then she use to be. I open the garage door and she starts warning me. She's in a dog crate in the garage near my freezers for heat and to keep wind from getting her (that would hit her outside).
Anyone know if this is a good sign? her being more aggressive. Does that mean they will hatch? I hope so cause otherwise she'll have been broody forever for nothing.

 

[MissKat]

Hi everyone. Tonight is day 18 for my first 6. My husband says that when he raised chicks for 4h way long long ago he would take the eggs out of the incubator and put them in the brooder for the last three days letting the heat light do the job. That would leave 18 more eggs in the bator that are staggered over 3 days in the turner.

The other alternative is to take all eggs off the turner, put the eggs in coffee filters (to catch the mess and to keep the eggs somewhat in position, and leave all eggs (12/3,12/4.12/5, 12/6) in the incubator on the wire.

My understanding from this thread is that the eggs that are hatching first increase the humidity in the bator?

I thought somewhere I read that you have to use a syringe to add water once you put them in lockdown.

Thanks for your time, and Merry Christmas!

 

[chicken pickin]

Hi everyone. Tonight is day 18 for my first 6. My husband says that when he raised chicks for 4h way long long ago he would take the eggs out of the incubator and put them in the brooder for the last three days letting the heat light do the job. That would leave 18 more eggs in the bator that are staggered over 3 days in the turner.

The other alternative is to take all eggs off the turner, put the eggs in coffee filters (to catch the mess and to keep the eggs somewhat in position, and leave all eggs (12/3,12/4.12/5, 12/6) in the incubator on the wire.

My understanding from this thread is that the eggs that are hatching first increase the humidity in the bator?

I thought somewhere I read that you have to use a syringe to add water once you put them in lockdown.

Thanks for your time, and Merry Christmas!

This is only my first hatch so I dont know for sure. But I definetely wouldnt take the eggs out and put them in the brooder I would leave them in the incubator . I also wouldnt have attempted a staggered hatch unless I had two incubators, one to use for incubation and the other to use as the hatcher during lockdown. So I am not helpful I suppose. Im not sure what you should do but I would guess leave them all in the incubator, take them out of turner, raise humidity some, and try not to open the incubator too much. I hope someone experienced will respond for you.

 

[Coop de Grille]

These are my Doomsday babies, Earthquake and Tsunami. I set 12 eggs but three didn't develop and had to be chucked. The remaining 7 are still in the incubator but I don't think they are going to hatch. The shells are too dark for me to candle, so I don't know if they even developed or not.