setting eggs tonight!! anyone else?

[CALI CHICK]

pick some feather legged chicks up (the uglest ones at that as i am doing a little test heard they are almost always pullets and i will also do anouther test in which i lay the chick on its back in my hand and tilt it so that its head is lower than its body to see what it does with its feet)

Those "tests" don't work on determining gender -at all! They are wives tales IMHO! Here is a picture of my son "testing" one of our silkies before we knew their gender. Supposedly the roosters would try to get free and the pullets would just hang there. Two of our silkies would just hang down like that and the other 2 would fight and try to get free.
However, they were ALL roosters and had to be re-homed! This is one named Opal...or should I say Opie!

 

[hdowden]

yea its the air "pockets" that are big and only happen with the shipped eggs. there is nothing in those clear spots but i see vains all around expcet in those areas which means if they hatch they will be smaller than normal and hopfully they live after they hatch. looks like i might have lost 3 and just found my temp down to 93-94 and the kids have messed with it so it might have compramised my hatch all together.

i will be hatching more out for the easter hatch and for that im trying to get duck and chicken eggs maybe

 

[hdowden]

lol i have my doubts about those test but hey its worth a shot though

 

[LaynaDon95]

Those "tests" don't work on determining gender -at all! They are wives tales IMHO! Here is a picture of my son "testing" one of our silkies before we knew their gender. Supposedly the roosters would try to get free and the pullets would just hang there. Two of our silkies would just hang down like that and the other 2 would fight and try to get free.
However, they were ALL roosters and had to be re-homed! This is one named Opal...or should I say Opie!

"Mom, this is ridiculous. "

 

[LaynaDon95]

yea its the air "pockets" that are big and only happen with the shipped eggs. there is nothing in those clear spots but i see vains all around expcet in those areas which means if they hatch they will be smaller than normal and hopfully they live after they hatch. looks like i might have lost 3 and just found my temp down to 93-94 and the kids have messed with it so it might have compramised my hatch all together.

i will be hatching more out for the easter hatch and for that im trying to get duck and chicken eggs maybe

Hopefully it's not as bad as it seems to you at the moment. The temp drop shouldn't do anything but maybe delay the hatch a little. (Ask me how I know) All of mine are still moving around after my incubator mishap.

 

[CALI CHICK]

My dad is home. They got in at about 2:30 last night. He has a kidney stone. There isn't much we can do but wait it out.

Last day of turning! I'm getting antsy. I have got to set up the brooder.

I'm glad your Dad is home.

And sorry he has to be in so much pain. I remember my dad went through that and was told that the pain was comparable to giving birth...Ouch!

LaynaDon & Corg & hdowden...I'm so excited and anxious for you guys to go into lockdown. I'm sure you'll all have great hatches as you've taken such good care of the eggs so far! From now on, there isn't much you need to do (JUST WAIT)! If some don't hatch, it won't be because of human error. I'll have my fingers crossed for you.

hdowden-what do your aircells look like? I have a chart that shows how big they should be growing on Days 7/14/21. Today when we were candling my questionable eggs, there is one egg that looks like membrane stuck to the shell. Maybe I'll put it in the higher humidity incubator a day earlier than the others.

Update on my eggs - I have 11 developing chicks! We removed 4 eggs because we determined they were clear. I hesitantly opened them up and was relieved to see just yoke, no embryos. So, I'm just hoping nothing goes wrong between now and next Friday the 17th (Hatch Day).

 

[hdowden]

the air space is an odd shape in almost all of them and from last candle i couldnt really tell if they were moving and still growing or not so it just makes me so nervious if they dont hatch this will be the worst hatch i have had but im hoping they will hatch and be just fine

 

[1keegan]

LaynaDon, hdowden and Corg,

Will share the excitement with you, as we go into lockdown tomorrow also!
From our 23 eggs we are down to 6. Two are questionable, as they too, have large air sacks and I haven't seen any movement in them since Day 10

but we'll see what happens. i'm sure praying for at least 3 or 4 healthy chicks.

Meanwhile, the 4 little pullet babies we got on Saturday are keeping us entertained with their antics.

Quote:

 

[LaynaDon95]

My dad is doing a lot better. He's definitely improving. Thank you for your prayers.


How exciting! I can't wait til they start hatching and we can all start comparing pics.

How are you all going to increase your humidity? I have two other pans in the bottom of my incubator but I don't think they will cut it. I'm going to add a few sponges and maybe a baby food jar with a cut sponge in it. I just don't know how much is too much seeing as I don't have a hygrometer. Which is more dangerous, too high or too low humidity?

 

[CALI CHICK]

How are you all going to increase your humidity? I have two other pans in the bottom of my incubator but I don't think they will cut it. I'm going to add a few sponges and maybe a baby food jar with a cut sponge in it. I just don't know how much is too much seeing as I don't have a hygrometer. Which is more dangerous, too high or too low humidity?

IMHO and from what I've read too high humidity will cause the chick to drown (because the egg actually needs to evaporate some of it's weight as it grows). Also, a mother hen doesn't put extra water underneath her nor did people in the ol' days know to increase humidity. The best indicator of humidity (without a hygrometer) should be the size of the aircell. On the 21st day, my diagram shows an aircell that takes up almost 1/3 of the egg. I've been looking up a bunch of threads on "weird or strange looking aircells" for hdowden and me-LOL. I'm very encouraged that others with this issue still seem to hatch their chicks just fine. (I'm working on a little egg cradle to sort of prop up my eggs that have air cells down a side.
There are so many helpful threads from people "like us

duh!" with answers to our questions. I'd suggest searching "humidity without a hygrometer" or something like that and see if anything comes up. But, you're a smart girl, I'm sure you already have!