Setting eggs July 6th. Need some hatching buddies. Lets have some fun!

[Chicks on DL]

Were the 2 ducks in the same egg???

Can you cover them with a wet paper towel and put them in the dark in the bator? How are they doing poor things?

 

[DraigAthar]

Do you all think the low hatching percent is due to the hot weather?

It's hard to say. I mean, my hatch was in the incubator, which I kept in the basement because that's where the temp is steady this time of year. It's right around 70 degrees down there all the time in the summer. So my incubation temperature didn't fluctuate a whole lot. But it was VERY hot the week I was collecting eggs from the hens, before I set them. Still, you would think that'd affect me early in incubation rather than late. That is to say, if the heat affected the embryos, they would have not developed at all, or died early on. I culled out all the infertile eggs an early quitters at day 10. So I'm not sure how the hot weather would have impacted the eggs that made it to lockdown. But then, so many things can go wrong with incubation that it's hard to know! But I am still blaming myself for trying the dry incubation. I used water in the incubator reservoirs for every hatch back in early spring, and I did fine. The ambient humidity in the basement was close to 70% the entire time, but apparently that is not enough. I still had shrink-wrapped chicks, and that makes me sad. So I will do it the tried and true method next time, no more experimenting for me.

 

[pfmoore17]

Wow, I started 6 White Marans on July 6 and put them into lockdown on day 18, Monday, July 23.
I couldn't tell if they were developing as they are super dark eggs.
Well, day 21 comes and goes and NOTHING! No pips, no movement, NOTHING!

And Day 22 comes and goes and NOTHING!

But I sat on my hands and resisted the temptation to open the bator and on day 23, finally some action, one pip and then two.
12 hours later I had two chicks.

I am actually surprised to get this far. When I recieved these eggs, 7 out of 12 were destroyed in shipping and the box was a mangled mess. I thought the remaining eggs were scrambled. So it just goes to show you, you never can tell. And NEVER open the bator until day 23!

 

[paridisefarm2009]

Can you cover them with a wet paper towel and put them in the dark in the bator? How are they doing poor things?

Oh No they are gone at this point I am not sure if when I opened them if they were allready dead or if Me opening them , caused them to die , there was no movement at all after I opened them all the yoke had not been obsorbed yet I croped that out of the picture too sad to post all that.either way i have not heard from the seller yet I did email her Just to let her know of the mix up .

 

[chicks4fun]

. . . So it just goes to show you, you never can tell. And NEVER open the bator until day 23!

I was wondering about the reason for this? Is it because of the drop in humidity or temp that late in development causes something bad to happen? I listened to this advice and didn't open my bator but I wondered what happens if you do.

I just did my first incubator hatch with this group. Right now I have two chicks and one pip. I am down to three eggs, sort of. I took the two most ify eggs and put them under my broody. She has always done a good job so I edged my bet a little. Right now she isn't moving off the nest so I assume she is on lock-down

.

 

[mabhera]

I suppose in my case the bad hatch was for at least 2 reasons: scrambled eggs in the shipment and the hot weather. I didnt knew that I should put them in the bator right away. So I left them 24 hour in the counter. If they started developing in the mail (took 4 day to get to me)...then I left them rest 24 hours....well...that can explain. My good hatches were in december (worst time to get shipped eggs) and february.

 

[DraigAthar]

I was wondering about the reason for this? Is it because of the drop in humidity or temp that late in development causes something bad to happen? I listened to this advice and didn't open my bator but I wondered what happens if you do.

I just did my first incubator hatch with this group. Right now I have two chicks and one pip. I am down to three eggs, sort of. I took the two most ify eggs and put them under my broody. She has always done a good job so I edged my bet a little. Right now she isn't moving off the nest so I assume she is on lock-down

.

The reason is mainly humidity. Most home incubators are quite small, and when you open it the humidity drops drastically and then can take several hours to climb back up. The chicks have to do a lot of wiggling about in order to hatch, and when they unzip they need to be able to rotate inside the shell to keep unzipping. If the whole egg loses too much moisture in the final days, the inner membrane sticks to the chick like they've been shrink wrapped. It dries to a tough leathery membrane that traps the chick in the shell and they won't make it out without assistance. By keeping the incubator closed the last few days, all all through the hatch, you prevent any chick from drying out so much they can't hatch. Back in my spring hatches, I had to open the incubator each day during lockdown to add more water because it was SO dry in the house the reservoirs were empty in 24 hours. So I violated the lockdown rule, but I went as fast as I could and opened it only when absolutely necessary. It worked fine, I had great hatches. So the lockdown rule CAN be broken, but you'd better have a darn good reason, haha.

 

[denmage]

Thanks for the advice, Draig. I have left a message for someone local, in Coventry, RI, who sells day old chicks for $5. The posted on Craigslist. The ad also says that if you get a rooster they will take it back and replace it with another chick. Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

[DraigAthar]

Thanks for the advice, Draig. I have left a message for someone local, in Coventry, RI, who sells day old chicks for $5. The posted on Craigslist. The ad also says that if you get a rooster they will take it back and replace it with another chick. Sounds like a win-win to me.

That's great! What breeds will you be getting? Have fun!!!

 

[Danielle2017]

I have a pip on one of my three duck eggs. But it's on the wrong end of the egg.
I guess we will see what happens....