Setting some eggs 5-13-15. Looking for some folks to hatch a long with me.

[FridayYet]

Nicely said SC.

I'm a touch more confident opening the bator during lockdown since my Brinsea recovers humidity so fast. When I reached in to turn an egg slightly, it was back up to 70% in under a minute.

I see pips in one of my Orloff eggs. So excited!

 

[RubyNala97]

I have one zipping!

Yay!!!!!

 

[scflock]

So here is my question, as this is my first hatch with my DH's FANASTIC mothers day gift of the brinsea octo 20. Do I take out the spacer rails when it's time for lockdown? Also, the one issue i have had is that it's so dry in there. I ended up putting in some thin washcloth sized sponges nice and damp. By the time I filled the reservoirs, in the auto cradle, the water was spilling out when it rocked to the far side. How do I keep the humidity up during lockdown if I cant open the lid? This is the first time incubating with it and I see text book day 15 eggs when candling. So hopefully some showgirls and silkies will hatch!

I have the same incubator with the same problem keeping humidity over 55%. What works for me is a paper towel under the tray, dipped down into both wells to wick water. After the towel is soaked, I top both wells off again and set the tray. No overflowing into the eggs, and I can maintain 65%+ all through lockdown. That also makes cleanup easier, and yes, remove the rails

 

[FridayYet]

I have to say that buying the humidity pump was a great investment for me. Being in a high desert, I don't think I could have kept up without it.

Two chicks are out, had to assist the Ameraucana a little bit to finish the last quarter of the zip. It ended up with a string of stuff attached to the shell, and an hour later I cut it off since it was getting wrapped around her legs. Not one drop of blood thankfully.

I have one more pip so far!

 

[backyardjack]

This hatch has been so much harder that the previous one I did in winter! I have just been having so much trouble with the humidity and couldn't get if high enough for when my first chuck pipped. Well anyway because it wasn't moist enough this chick was just getting wrapped like cling flim by the membrane so extremely slowly I have had to help it hatch over what has been the longest 5 or 6 hours of my life. Now the wet little chick is in there, chirping away YAY!!, I hope he/she is going to make it moist enough for its little buddy to come out! Well wish me luck it looks like I might need it.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Bad news. All the other eggs DIS. Two were upside down and the 3 others were super sticky. I found that there was a second turken and he was upside down but his head was swollen. Like jiggly to the touch swollen. Any ideas???

My second hatch I had gotten barnyard mix eggs from my sister. All my "standard birds" hatched first. My last three hatchers were all nn. One of the 3 needed to be assisted. They all seemed to do good but after 24 hours I noticed he head extreme runny poop and it was causing pasty butt. He seemed to do good the first week and then went down hill and died I believe day 9. Out of the 3 eggs that did not hatch 2 of those were nns. One looked great. Was in postion, not too wet, not too dry, yolk absorbed and just didn't make it. No idea why not. The other nn I believe was a case of the egg (which was quite large) did not loose enough moisture. I think nns are sometimes harder to hatch. Or it could be me. I have eggs in lockdown now and they are covered by two rooss. One of which is my nn...lol

From all I have read (I have only ever had 1 hatch), when a chick has an unabsorbed yolk, you want to keep him in the bator with high humidity, IOWs, do nothing...a drop in humidity (by opening the bator to take a pic) could make that yolk unavailable to him. One reason it might have ruptured is a loss of humidity and the abrasiveness of the wire mesh floor, which coulda happened by taking the cover off. Remember why they call it "lockdown", and why I said earlier they would be fine to day 23-24?

Kzane23, you broke the lockdown rule, a perfectly natural first hatch thing to do, but it affects what happened, and so what you learned. What you forgot, is what a brooding chicken does. She can't do any of the things you could think of, and everything you can think of that she can't do, you should not do. So, you have to toss almost all you learned from this hatch and remember one thing...do nothing till day 23.

Like Sc said, lockdown is not a rule and many of us have varying practices and succeed in our methods. I openly frequently DURING hatch and I have never had a pipper or zipper die in the shell.

As for the unabsorbed yolk, the best thing would have been to put a wet paper towel in the bottom of a coffee mug, take the chick out of the battor and into the mug and either back in the bator or under the brooder light.

This was my unabsorbed yolker last hatch:


He was put in a coffee mug with a wet paper towel in the bottom and put under the brooder light. By nightfall the yolk had absorbed leaving a small ball of membrane in it's wake which eventually dried up and fell off. Once that dried up and fell off you couldn't tell him from the other Spitzes.

The key is to confining the chick in hopes that he will not rupture the yolk sac. Usually when those rupture their chances aren't very good. It's hard, even when they are confined to keep that from happening because they are usually quite active. Confining them doesn't always work, but it betters the chance that the yolk won't get caught up and ruptured.

This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. NTBugTraq, I am exactly like you, set them, lockdown, don't take them out until the hatch is complete. I won't assist a hatch, if they die in the shell it wasn't meant to be, and I totally shut down everything on day 23. I don't want to see what comes out of an egg after that. But...
Lockdown isn't a "rule". Many people are much more hands on, and some do so with great results. @AmyLynn2374 is a perfect example. She is constantly meddling during lockdown, taking chicks out as they hatch, and assisting if she feels it is needed. Her last hatch was 92% in a styrofoam LG, which is pretty darn impressive to me.
I don't recommend that any first time hatcher assist any hatch, and I don't assist at all, but some people are comfortable doing things while others are not. Saying to "toss all that you learned from this first hatch" is a bit much, and saying "remember one thing" is just plain arrogant. I have done many hatches myself, and it sounds like you and I incubate and hatch exactly the same way, but I am not naive enough to think that my way is the only way

Thanks for the constantly meddling remoark....lol

It's not constant, but yes, I am a meddler. I remove my chicks as they hatch, I remove shells and if I feel it's neccessary, I assist. I will even turn over a pip if it gets rolled. That's me. But, I also make sure that my humidity for hatch is in the 75% area. I have water beside the incubator to re wet my sponges when my humidity does dip. I take the necessary precautions and I know my bator.

This hatch has been so much harder that the previous one I did in winter! I have just been having so much trouble with the humidity and couldn't get if high enough for when my first chuck pipped. Well anyway because it wasn't moist enough this chick was just getting wrapped like cling flim by the membrane so extremely slowly I have had to help it hatch over what has been the longest 5 or 6 hours of my life. Now the wet little chick is in there, chirping away YAY!!, I hope he/she is going to make it moist enough for its little buddy to come out! Well wish me luck it looks like I might need it.

Have you tried adding a couple wet sponges to the incubator??


For those of you interested in seeing how different methods are used effectively and are willing to keep an open mind, join us over on the She said/He Said thread. We also have a lot of fun and off topic discussions as well.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

#1 The chick is fine
#2 He was on paper towels that I put in before lock down, not wire mesh
#3 I understand the term "lockdown" just fine. I pulled him out to make sure he wasnt still bleeding AFTER hed fluffed out and i got home from work.
#4 He hatched on day 18, so day 23-24 would have been pushing it pretty hard.

#4- Wouldn't have been pushing it, most likely the little guy would have died. But I don't believe in leaving chicks in the bator 3 days, no matter when they hatched, so

 

[altair]

It's a Barnevelder explosion! Six have hatched today and there are 5 more pipping (including the lone Isbar!). There are 20 eggs in my Octagon 20 (holds 24) and with the chicks and empty shells it's getting quite crowded.

The other part is the chicks knocked over the humidity gauge so I'm in the dark there.

I'd like to pull out the chicks and shells but it's 68 degrees in the house and I don't want to do more harm than good. D:

 

[FridayYet]

That's Great Altair! I've got a much smaller hatch since shipping did some real damage to my bunch.

So far I have 2 Russian Orloff and 1 Wheaten Ameraucana out, one more Ameraucana pipped. Snuck a quick peek and 2 more eggs have movement inside, the other 2 look like they have quit. Cleaned up the shells and spritzed the humidity pad. Nice that it's warm here!

Hope to have more activity in the morning!

Anyone else hatching now?

 

[altair]

We need some of your heat, FridayYet!

I think tomorrow morning we'll make the executive decision to round up the chicks fast-like so the others can have room.