Setting Eggs Sept. 24th-Oct. 4th-Last Hatch of the Year. Anyone care to join me?

[Brookhavens]

This is not a good evening for me at all. The first time I saw a Silkie was shortly before I joined this board...and I knew I had to have one. They are the entire reason I wanted chickens in the first place. I just wanted one female..one Silkie. As I went along I discovered more breeds of chickens that I wanted, so our "maximum" has increased to 6. It became very clear this evening that I have zero Silkies hatching eggs that are viable. All 6 of them are either dead or were infertile to begin with, but I keep leaving them in the incubator anyway, because I'm just stupid like that. I'm just busted up over this and I don't even want to try any more silkie eggs. I have a bunch of "project frizzle" eggs in the bator and they are doing right as rain (which is good because I very much like frizzle-feathered chickens) but I'm just so very sad that my first hatch will have no silkies for me. I might see what I can find in regard to a day-old Silkie pullet on CL or something...but I don't think I want to try hatching Silkies again. The eggs were extremely tiny, too...so small. I may have handled them too roughly or wasn't delicate enough when turning them or...didn't place them in the incubator softly enough - I'll never know but I'm just SAD and I wanted one.

Has anyone here had *good* experiences in hatching Silkies? Are they usually hardy when it comes to being viable and forming well? I just have no idea what happened. I mean ... ALL OF THEM?? And the others are just fine (one of the frizzle project embryos just bounced around the inside of the egg a short while ago)....makes no sense. Sad day in this silkie lover's house.

I just hatched out some Silkies. They are difficult to incubate. I purchased 12 eggs locally from a lady who has very nice bearded silkies hoping to get maybe 6. I ended up with 4. They are very tiny eggs compared to what I am used to. On day 7 and 14 when I candled, 11/12 of the eggs had veining and movement. When I went into lockdown 1 of the eggs had quit (the tiniest one) so I was down to 10/12. I thought for sure I was going to get a bunch of silkies. 4 hatched, a fifth one had pipped and zipped half way out and then died. When I did the eggtopsies yesterday 1 of the chicks had internally pipped and died. The other 4 were fully formed and had absorbed the yolk. I have no clue why they did not hatch. I know they didn't drown because I did a dry hatch and only raised the humidity to 56-58% during lockdown.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Well...maybe mine didn't advance because of shipment as well...but the air sacs/cells were still attached...and the other breeds are doing well. Sigh.

 

[vwgurl2]

Oops I forgot to mention that we are from Pennsylvania.

I saw something about lock down on here that I had a question about. We were told that at time of lock down to take the eggs out of the turner and lay them on their sides. Our first hatch had 10 eggs that made it to lock down. Out of that 4 were almost fully formed but had not pipped, 4 were earlier deaths and 2 were somewhere in the middle. Should we leave them in the turner to hatch since they are shipped eggs? And if so why? We are still trying to figure this out and trying to grow our flock since we are now addicted to having chickens.

 

[Brookhavens]

Oops I forgot to mention that we are from Pennsylvania.

I saw something about lock down on here that I had a question about. We were told that at time of lock down to take the eggs out of the turner and lay them on their sides. Our first hatch had 10 eggs that made it to lock down. Out of that 4 were almost fully formed but had not pipped, 4 were earlier deaths and 2 were somewhere in the middle. Should we leave them in the turner to hatch since they are shipped eggs? And if so why? We are still trying to figure this out and trying to grow our flock since we are now addicted to having chickens.

After I read this article I changed my way of thinking when incubating shipped eggs
I leave my eggs in the upright position the whole time. Shipping takes it toll on the eggs and you want that air cell to be at the top of the egg so the chick pips on the right end and has a chance to hatch.

 

[Brookhavens]

Well...maybe mine didn't advance because of shipment as well...but the air sacs/cells were still attached...and the other breeds are doing well. Sigh.

How long did you let your eggs settle before you placed them in the incubator? Started turning them?

 

[CluckyCharms]

How long did you let your eggs settle before you placed them in the incubator? Started turning them?

They arrived in the mail at 2pm on Wednesday the 24th and I put them in the bator at around 11am Thursday morning (may have been 10am)? Crud...now that I think about it...they may have arrived on Thursday and batored on Friday? I need to check the tracking info. (they definitely arrived at 2pm and I definitely put them in at around 10-11am the next morning..just might have my days mixed up). I started turning them gently, about 4-5x a day on Thursday (same day I put them in there, because I hadn't read otherwise on the board anywhere, until recently). =/

I candled when they arrived and obviously I didn't see anything because they were still freshly collected and hadn't incubated..but the air cells were perfectly intact in all of them (even all the ones that have since perished). It was itty-bitty but it was obviously there, and stationary.

All 6 silkies eggs are inactives (4 inactives and 2 were infertile to begin with I think). I just don't have the heart to remove them yet, still hoping for some sort of miracle I guess.

That left 14 frizzle project eggs. Thus far...3 were found to be stinky-poo rotten (those 3 were thrown away)...leaving 11 frizzle project eggs.

Candled today:
Of the 11 that were 'doing something' a couple of days ago, these were the results tonight:

4 little chickies are bouncing slowly around inside the eggs
3 little chickies are sort of zooming in and out of sight (they remind me of Tetras in an aquarium, quick little things)
4 didn't move at all except when I moved the egg slowly to peer into it, they moved when I moved the egg (not the same at all)

So I don't know what to think...I'll just keep praying. This is very nerve-wracking and not quite the experience I thought it would be (didn't expect myself to get this crazily attached to a bunch of eggs)

 

[LakeBird]

LOL - sorrrrreeeee!!! The hatching drama commences

. I would put a book under one side of the bator (with the eggs remaining in the broken turner), change the book (or couple of books for height) from one side to the other every couple hours. Then I'd go and buy a new turner as soon as possible

Leave them in the turning racks and use something under one side of the bator to elevate it. On my one bator without the turner I use a large Flat rate Priority box (3" high) and switch sides a few times a day. A thick phone book works well too. I find this way much easier than having to open the bator and individually turn each egg.

The turning trays were almost at a 90 degree angle. I ended up taking them out and laying them in the incubator. Putting something under the incubator is a good idea; however I wasn't sure hwo that would work since i put my incubator on 2, 2x4s so that the air would flow through the air holes at the bottom...thought I read that in one of the links someone posted on this thread. Anyhow, got a new turner tonight and will see how it all turns out.

 

[WaterFowl209]

Hi everyone, I had set eggs on the 28 of sept.

12 showgirls
6 Seramas

I'm somewhat disappointed after candling I now have
7 showgirls and 2 possibly 1 serama

But it could be worse I suppose, these were bought on eBay so they are shipped eggs

I'm using a hova bator with turbo fan

I'm keeping humid at 50% and temp 99.5F

 

[Texasmja]

I set 12 SLW on the 27th at 8:40 AM and 6 look clear

and 6 have development

. I am keeping them all in until day 10 but I don't think they are fertile. These are shipped eggs.

My two control eggs are developing!

 

[Leavingegypt]

Well so far Wilma my broody BO has stayed on the eggs. She went out for a few minutes to refresh and potty, but that was it. Since I am doing a broody hatch, I'm not sure if I should be candeling or not. We are on day 9. Wilma is so grouchy that I hate to distrub her. should I just not worry about it or try and wait until another break happens?