Setting the week of August 22 (or so... ) Everyone join!! You know you want to!

[sandmbaker]

I got some silkie and some cochins under a broody I put them under her on the 24th. Im letting momma do the work. I had 8 eggs in the incubator and only got one out. mom knows best so wel see what we get.

 

[DustinT]

Not a problem, I kinda stole the idea from all my research on reptile 'bators. Since they are made to hold temp really well they work great as incubators. I prefer a drink fridge or a wine fridge since they have the double pane glass in the front. I don't have to open it to get a good look at whats going on. I seen many people use a full size fridge or freezer. Talk about room for a lot of eggs. Maybe I'll do that someday when I move out of the city. As for now I got a hot water heater thermostat wired up, so now I'm playing with getting the temp just right.

Day 14, 7, and 2

 

[Roxannemc]

Wow everyone ! Welcome newcomer !! Lol. As for the heat spike to 100 degrees thats fine. Anything beyond 103 is bad and causes deformities or kills the embryo. However, since it did spike you should keep an eye out more frequently.
Sadly, I had a heat spike last night, and one of the standard chicks was killed ): So only 1 more standard chickie left ! Today will be day 10.
My eggs from GA have arrived !! Best packing EVER, all the eggs look to be in Great shape except for 1 tiny one, one too porous and a few other shape things. All the duck eggs are fine and have zero cracks or shape issues - thank GOD because there are only 6, and I'll probably only hatch one of the ducks anyway. Everyone else looks like they're doing amazing with shipped eggs. I can only hope I get that lucky !!
Hope everyone's eggs will thrive...
Also, that fridge bator looks awesome !!

I have to add this. A longtime breeder told me he had some expensive eggs go to 103 in shipping and he did get 3 good babies from eggs so yeah it hurts a lot of them but sometimes not all.I would never give up if i had a spike b/c you never know.Frankly i think all the summer shipped eggs probably go that high and more although they havent really started to develop much probably why we all get such low hatch rates usually .Think of a car goes to 120 closed up in the heat .what about a thin aluminum or steel truck wall in the trailer closed up and in the sun NO insulation at all like a car for hours...

 

[Roxannemc]

Sounds like you will have a varied and an interesting hatch.Cant wait to see!
The one you are worried about Keep it in. You see veins and a dark form,..thats good. I wouldnt worry yet about the shape...Best to keep them in if you have any thought they arent clear
Many ppl have opened eggs they thought for sure were not viable and sadly found moving chicks inside Better safe than sorry.
.Let it go until day 18 then candle them all and see how that one looks.

Others.... If its red and not a blood ring then keep it for now Once some hatches back I thought one was for sure a blood ring but left it in and later saw it was a chick forming!Also most die before hatch if they are not meant to survive for various reasons. Dead dying deformed will work itself out in the next week or so

.Shipped eggs. I wish you a good hatch and it can happen.... just know that shipped eggs average hatch is about 50% or sometimes a lot less. . I always have gotten shipped eggs so far my hatch rate total is about 1/4-1/3 . Still some ppl have GOOD hatch rates on them sometimes.
I notice ppl who buy local or their own hens have about 80-85 % hatch rate. So just go in knowing that and you wont be so terribly dissapointed in how many you get. if they all dont hatch.
GOOD LUCK and enjoy hatching.Its exciting and hatching threads are fun too and informative.Great ppl on them.

Gotta say here the Hatch Gods heard me downing shipped eggs and now my hatch this time shipped was day 17...
2 clear,1 unformed 11 totally dark
Out of that 11 dark ... 10 hatched and one smothered I think as it pipped but didnt get thru the membrane and was face down. Eat my words HAHa but next hatch i dont expect this outcome AT ALL. 8 hatches and only this one a total success on shipped.
.

 

[Roxannemc]

Sadly I trusted how they'd pack the eggs, since they actually sell egg shipping supplies too. Maybe they would have survived if they'd used the supplies they sell. They were very nice and did issue a partial refund. Learning experience. At least I get to try out my incubator and hopefully get a couple chicks from the eggs.

Were the eggs just in the box loose or in a carton? If loose and not wrapped wow never heard of that..

 

[Roxannemc]

Try ordering some from Richard Jordan at Jordan Farms. He has beautiful lemon cuckoo orpingtons. I have 4 that I got from him and they are absolutely gorgeous!!! My eggs that are incubating now are from him.....I have 5 cream legbar and 2 isbar.....I only had room for 7....he had sent me 2 extras (2 more isbars) and I gave them to a friend who has a home made incubator...her last hatch was 6 out of 8.

I wil have to keep him in mind if his chickens are that nice. I have been hesitant to order so far worried with some ppl i wont get barred babies out of the eggs as i read depending on the parents some can be barred and some not. Said your Roo needs to be double barred and hen barred for real success to get majority barred.Most the ppl i asked didnt know what the chickns they had had in their genes.

 

[chichichickapea]

His are double barred.....he does not breed his with standard orps as some breeders do.

 

[fiveladybugs]

Sorry, I've been terrible about updating...trying to get kids ready to go back to school & deposit one at college, so it's been busy. I candled all twelve on Thurs & looks like I have eight viable ones. Not gonna pull the others out until this week, just in case I was wrong. I find I'm not as manic about this hatching like last time

 

[Wrightsx4]

 Were the eggs just in the box loose or in a carton? If loose and not wrapped wow never heard of that..

Roxannemc- they were jiggling around inside cardboard carton bottoms (no lid, just bottoms for spacers) without bubblewrap or anything around individual eggs. The carton holes were much too big for the egg size so they moved a lot. Two had moved out of their spaces and were rolling loose against others. There was packaging foam on top and sides against the box but none underneath the carton. None of the bottom layer eggs have developed anything. Too damaged internally I assume. This is wear the dried crushed eggs were too so I had to wash them - which I hated to do. Not a good way to start my first time incubating

 

[Chucklecluck]

Will it looks as if kiss than half of this batch is working out, only have four quail eggs that look viable, three infertile, and three iffies. and one bad dud. My fiend brought me five more chicken eggs, the have hair line fractures but she wants to try anyway so I glued them and put them in the bator this morning we will see what's happens