Setting eggs today 5-3-12...anyone with me?

[mbleily]

So it seems no one except you two have been active on this thread.....my hatch went bad the last time i put them in....remember the two different sets of conditions....I candled them all at day 10 and all had blood rings....I mean alllll.....the fact was that the eggs were a month old so might have been bacteria....but who knows.....neways I have put in a fresh batch now....like a week back ( mind you these were fresh eggs like only a day old). I candled them yest and they look great.....it seems the one with no fan and temp regulated using a thermostat at 100.5sh is doing much better compared to the other one. Also i noticed its best to use a normal thermometer rather than digital....as the digital ones have standard errors.....you could buy a really expensive one to be more accurate but whats the point i say.....next thing is that finalllyyyy one of my hens went broody and i have 6 of her own eggs underneath her.....seems like 3 conditions are met now....fan and dry......still but with water......and broody hen.....so heres to a great hatch.....

I have some coming out this coming week end. I really am hoping for the best this time. My last one wasn't so good either. I had two different hatches a week apart and got two out of 18 eggs and 3 out of 16 eggs but I did have to move the 16 eggs from my home made incubator because of the temp fluctuating. So that and the fact they were shipped and some were scrambled I think I didn't do well at all. These new ones are also shipped but when I looked at the I saw a lot of veining and a few were moving. Never seen that before. So I have just left them alone except for adding water when needed. I hope I can sit on my hands when they are hatching. I have a hard time not taking the chicks out. I hate to see them struggle around the other eggs. sigh.

 

[sawinga]

I have some coming out this coming week end. I really am hoping for the best this time. My last one wasn't so good either. I had two different hatches a week apart and got two out of 18 eggs and 3 out of 16 eggs but I did have to move the 16 eggs from my home made incubator because of the temp fluctuating. So that and the fact they were shipped and some were scrambled I think I didn't do well at all. These new ones are also shipped but when I looked at the I saw a lot of veining and a few were moving. Never seen that before. So I have just left them alone except for adding water when needed. I hope I can sit on my hands when they are hatching. I have a hard time not taking the chicks out. I hate to see them struggle around the other eggs. sigh.

Yea. I had that too...but do you know what I noticed, is that you should never help them before day 21 atleast even if they are early hatches. There are some things which are not under our control, so there is no point in helping the little ones, only till the last point which is day 23. The fact is that, if they are stuck or what ever, is cuz something has gone wrong and there is very little chance for them to make it through anyways. I know you might not agree with me here, but trust me nature works its own ways in terms of survival of the fittest. So point being, just stay calm, do what normally and I mean normally should be done with out any extras. I hope we all have a great hatch and here is to us....cheers

 

[mbleily]

Yea. I had that too...but do you know what I noticed, is that you should never help them before day 21 atleast even if they are early hatches. There are some things which are not under our control, so there is no point in helping the little ones, only till the last point which is day 23. The fact is that, if they are stuck or what ever, is cuz something has gone wrong and there is very little chance for them to make it through anyways. I know you might not agree with me here, but trust me nature works its own ways in terms of survival of the fittest. So point being, just stay calm, do what normally and I mean normally should be done with out any extras. I hope we all have a great hatch and here is to us....cheers

I know you are right. It is much easier when there are a lot of then hatching than when there is only two or three hatching. I have 30 eggs in there this time so it should be easier for me. I hope. ;]

 

[sawinga]

Well? any hatches?...one of mine is due on the 27th. Two on the 30th, four on the 2nd of July and the remaining i have no clue, as i don't remember when did i set them beneath the hen.

So I am not sure how this is going to go....Fingers are crossed but to be honest what ever happens happens. I think I have got myself so work up about it that I am scared what would happen if it did not go through.

So the ques is.....what are your minimum expectations?

 

[mbleily]

Mine started hatching last nite at midnight. I had one out then and two more pipping. I went to bed an woke up to this:

Terrible picture. They wont stop moving around so they are blurry. I have five more pipping. I had to remove a weeper last night. It had a puddle in the egg cup so I put a napkin in it.

I would love to get 15 out of the 30 I had to start with but in lock down I was down to 27 and now 26. If the pips all hatch right now I will have 8 which is getting closer to the half I was expecting to hatch. Today is the day I had for the hatch so I am hoping for a couple more at least to pip sometime today. The hens of these eggs are: Rohode Island reds, Ameraucana, Light and dark Brahma's, Delaware, Anacona, Brown leghorn, Chantecler, Orpingtonk, Astrolorp and a few others (her words). Roos are all Ameraucanas. Should be an intersting lot. I am not into pure right now. Just want colorful eggs. But want good layers too. So I was happy with this mix.
Oh, btw, you would be proud of me I have been good about staying out. They have not had problems with hatching and they migrate right to the other chicks when they hatch because they can see and hear them.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

I am sure you will at least get a 50% hatch, maybe more. I agree, it is hard to sit on our hands and stay out of there. On my last hatch, which was shipped eggs, I had the last two not even pip till nearly 24 hours after the first one hatched. I think some are just slower to grow and develop.

Okay...well I better go check mine now, just to make sure I don't have an early pip!

 

[mbleily]

I does seem mine always start early. The first ones I ever did hatched on day 19. Nothing after that. I left them for three more days. But most of them weren't fertile.
That was in the home made bater. I got another baby out. now there are 4!

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Woot Woot! So excited for you..does the 4th one look like the others?

 

[mbleily]

Woot Woot! So excited for you..does the 4th one look like the others?

They are so hard to tell what color with them all still wet. another hatched just now and has move light colors on it. The others are more dark but some have some light on them too. I will get more pictures when they are a little dryer.

 

[sawinga]

So guys I have been candling my eggs and I must say they look beautiful in terms of how they move and the veining....one problem is that the air sac aint that big.....cuz i saw so many examples of how an airsac should be but i dint see anything yet.....anyways I am not going to intervene but i do hope i get a good hatch as the babys are moving like crazy inside.....I have never seen such good movement. So point being it would be a shame if they dint hatch properly.
I must say buying a thermostat and using it has done wonders....like the temp cuts off at 101'F and starts again arnd 98.5.....this is still air one.
The other one with the fan and all that is not so great.
I hope it all works out....To us