Setting Eggs on April 24th!!!! Who wants to hatch along w/me???

[newlyweds]

Day 19 here and I am having a horrible time trying to keep the humidity where it should be, yesterday it was too high reaching the 80's and now it is too low, ugh!! I don't have any pips or anything yet so I hope this isn't hurting my eggs, yikes! When I checked this morning it was 45%.

 

[smchickfarm]

Hey newlyweds, I will keep happy hatching thoughts for you!

THE STRESS OF IT ALL!!!

 

[newlyweds]

Quote:
Thanks I know its so stressful, and I did open the bator to add more water, yikes. I really hope I didn't mess anything up. I feel so bad now for opening it, especially after I re-read the dry incubation method and he strictly says do not open for 5 days!!! But I am on day 19 and no pips or anything so I hope they will be ok.

I will be a crazy for the next few days..... Hatching is stressful.

 

[smchickfarm]

We can be stressed and crazed together

Keep me posted!

 

[haTHOR]

i set at noon on april 22, and added 3 eggs the next day around noon. my first hatch! using a hovabator with egg turner and forced air fan.

i started with 42 eggs, all but 8 of which were from my hens. i was so pleased that only ONE of my eggs didn't develop due to infertility. i had shipped many of my black java eggs to others and had gotten good reports back about shipping, fertility, development and finally hatch rates, so i was excited to see what i could get.

i used a dry incubation method which seems to be best for folks in my general altitude range (i'm in extreme northwest arkansas, near the borders of oklahoma and kansas and missouri). the bator was in a room that abuts a room with an indoor pool, so humidity in the room stayed at around 50%, which seems to be ideal. we stayed around 35% (actually, between 30-40%), and only added water when we got down to 25% and stayed there for several hours. if we got above 40% i turned on the fan in the room and opened another of the vents.

at lockdown, at noon on day 18, i had 15 black javas from three hens, 3 brown leghornXjavas, 2 gold laced wyandotteXjavas, and 4 of my bluest egg laying EEXjavas. then i had the 7 shipped eggs which were AAs/EEs (running in the same pen, so we could get mixes or pure). 31 total. i resolved to not open the top for any reason--letting mother nature take her course, come what may, even if we lose a chick or two--and have kept humidity between 65-75%.

today, day 20, i woke to peeping and pipping. as of now, 9 eggs have pipped. 5 javas to add to my breeding stock, if they are of good quality...2 of my blue eggerXjava (hoping for olive eggers as the java has a very dark egg), and 2 of the shipped AA/EEs (which i thought were damaged due to shipping...the air sacs looked sideways!) i now have very high hopes to get at least 5 or 10 chicks.

pictures soon, i hope!

editing to add...two more pips as of noon...so we are up to 11.

 

[smchickfarm]

Congrats to you haTHOR!!!

and WELCOME!

 

[olliecatch]

Nothing yet

This is day 19, I know its early but I want to see something......

Great going haTHOR...

You guys are so right!!!!! This is stressfull. On our way to the feed store to get some chick starter and whatever else I might find...

 

[smchickfarm]

I am with you olliecatch, I am dying to see little fuzzy butts!

Can't wait to get home and check on the eggs!

 

[Bantamfarmer]

Excited to report we found two chicks under one of our sebrights this afternoon. One is clearly older than the other as one chick is dry, fluffy, and is able to stand and walk, and the other is still wet and wobbly. We had six or seven eggs under this sebright and expected them to start hatching on Friday (May 13 2010), so we're hoping there are more chicks to follow.

 

[mayberrygirl]

We ended up with 3 as one died just after hatch, the last one was very weak and had more blood in the egg then the others so I didn't think it was going to make it. The other 3 are loving their brooder, gosh I still need to get pics of them playing, it is so cute!

Only 4 days till next lock down - 7 days till next hatch!!!!!! My hubby asked why I was putting the first incubator away - he won't admit it, but he thought it was cool too, LOL.