Setting eggs on 7/15/2011 anyone want to join me

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Yaaay! Go Christie!

I'll move mine set the 14th(pm)/15th(am) later tonight. I took my hatcher apart and just now getting around to putting it back together (just call me a procrastinator).
Good luck everybody!

Lisa

 

[sgoff]

just took mine out of the turner, candled and weighed. Look nice and full, but nothing moving....UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Put some sponges in and closed it up. Will check the temp and humidity in a couple of hours. ......... This is gonna be a long couple of days (and nights....)!!!!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I hope you just caught them all napping.

Lisa

 

[Lark Rise]

I'm starting to get excited for everybody!!

Hope you all can share some pics.

 

[Farmer_Dan]

I'm moving mine from Dipsy into the hatching tray tonight!

Candled last night & saw lots of movement and nice big air sacs.

 

[CorgiHouse]

I know it's the Nth hour now, but I just discovered this thread and want to join you......although I don't have eggs from Dipsy Doodle!

I set my Silver Penciled Rock shipped eggs (from Wynette) late at night on 7/14, so I'm less than a day ahead of you all. At the same time I set 4 of my own eggs that were laid by my then brand new Lavender Ameraucana hens!! I had just brought them home less than a week before, and they had been with a roo until the night before I go them.....so I figured since the bator was running and it wasn't full, I might as well set whatever I got from those new girls those first few days!! I only got 4 eggs as 2 of the hens had recently been broken from being broody, and so only 1 hen was laying.

Well, then I couldn't help myself when I got another pretty blue egg the next day - one day later wouldn't matter, right? And then another the next day.......and the next!!! Not the best move since I don't have a separate hatcher!! But those beautiful blue eggs just made me do it! LOL

So, since I had the last egg put in there 4 days after the majority were, I decided to wait an extra day for lock-down to 'split the difference'. Then I figured for a few days I could hand turn the last 3 eggs that were set late, and didn't figure the higher humidity would hurt them for those few extra days. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans!!!

Monday night should have been lock-down for me. I planned to do it Tuesday night. That morning I thought about turning off the auto-turner....but didn't. Then about 2 hours after I left for work, my hubby called and said we had a pip in one of the Lavender eggs!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!! It was day 18.5 and I know my temp has been good (Brinsea bator). So I coached him through taking the bator off the turner, and had him quickly open things up and add water. I didn't even ask him to take the divider rails out - figured I would do that later, which I did. So then the little stinker (chick, not hubby) didn't change or do anything except peep once in a while until this afternoon........and now, about 18 hours post-pip, I have a little Lavender Ameraucana chick!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!

Oh, and another one is pipped! Of course, now my plan for hand turning the 3 'extra' eggs is not working so well since I don't want to open the bator too much with a pipped egg.

And I have no idea why these guys are early. The SP Rocks are behaving as they should. Oh, and since I had to do an 'emergency' lock-down, I didn't get to candle all the eggs!!! So now I don't have any idea how many 'good' eggs I have!

Sorry for the long drawn-out story, but I just wanted to share my excitement with others who are expecting any day now too. Happy Hatching everyone!

 

[Farmer_Dan]

ARGGG

I'm at work and now worrying that the poor babies are hatching out and falling out of the turner! I'm probably just playing the nervous dad

but bet your bootie, i'll be rushing home to check on things as soon as they let me out of this sweat shop!

 

[Christie Rhae]

@ CorgiHouse I can't wait until I can set my own eggs in my incubator! It will be so nice to have eggs that have not been through hell to get to me.


Ok so today is day 19 for me and guess what I see when I get home from work??? A pip!!! yay!! I can hear peeping too. So when I first moved the 6 eggs that made the cut over to the hatcher they were all wiggling like crazy. They have not wiggled that much since that first 2 hours that I moved them. Could it be that the chicks were just getting settled after being incubated standing up and then being laid down to hatch? I am such a worrier.. I keep worrying that I have done something wrong at the last minute. I incubate with a hova bator but my hatcher is little giant still air. I have three thermometers in there and keep the temps around 100. Humidity is close to 70. I keep humidity around 30 during incubation. I have just had such dismal hatch rates before that I am desperate to figure out the subtle little thing I might be doing wrong...or maybe it is just my shipped eggs.
But even with shipped eggs my hatch percent is crazy low... 3% with first hatch and 6% with second. Lol I figured out how to do hatch percentages. I actually only hatched one chick each batch but started with more eggs on my first hatch.
If I can get a few BBS ameraucana babies this time it will totally help me keep the faith.

"come on dipsydoodledoo babies!!"

 

[CorgiHouse]

Quote:
I bet!! I had the luxury of setting my own the first few times I hatched. I didn't want to risk 'expensive' shipped eggs if I didn't know what I was doing!! Only after a couple successful home grown hatches did I get shipped eggs. This group is my second shipped bunch.

And BTW - I now have 3 Lav Am chicks hatched!! And 3 of my shipped SP Plymouth Rock eggs pipped! Yippee!

Quote:

I'm no expert, experienced hatcher........but so far I have not seen my eggs do much of any rocking or wiggling until they are ready to actually start hatching. I don't worry about them so much now when they just sit there like dead weights.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Oh but I have had sooo many eggs sit there like dead weights...that were.

I have no roosters and thought I was perfectly happy with 16 fat hens. Now I realize...without roosters, it just stops there, with big fat hens...no babies. So I am really hoping I can get a rooster or two this summer in my hatching adventures.