She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[meganhundley]

Here's a question for all of you who have auto turners.  Those work by tilting the egg on a longitudinal axis 45* forward and 45* backward, yes?  Those eggs are only moving in one plane.  Do you take the time to occasionally rotate them 90* on that longitudinal axis so they are now tilting in a different plane?  I know that when I used egg cartons for the hatch, I did rotate the eggs in their cells so they were not always being tilted in the same plane.  I also turned the egg cartons around, and moved them from left to right in the bator, so the eggs weren't in the same place in the bator every day.

You could feed it to that lil snake that hatches under your traumatized broody.

I hear that it's gonna be a candle light vigil.

 

[RubyNala97]

I have 2 thermometer & one digital thermometer/hygrometer. Thermometers were calibrated digital ran on trust since it matched the thermometer temps. Tried hand turning but it was a bit much with that many eggs turning 3x a day. So I have an auto turner. Maybe I should get some eggs from someone who has had successful hatches.

I think that might be a good idea. I don't know why you're having such bad luck. But your fertility seems a little low, right? Just don't give up!! We're all here to support you and get you a great hatch!

To be honest, I'd worry that that much handling would lower your hatch rate.

JMHO

X2. I hate to say it because I seriously love candling but I agree. Megan, in my last hatch, I waited till night time when the house was dark and just shined the flashlight into the eggs while they were in the incubator. I checked for healthy veins every night without ever touching them. Then I checked air cell size and movement on days 7,14,18 to see if I had quitters. But I didn't handle them at all and I was able to see everything I needed to doing it this way while staying hands off. Maybe you could try it and see if it satisfies the urge!

My best hatch was from my pullets that had only been laying 4-6 weeks at the time I collected. 21 went in, one quite by day 5 the rest made it to lockdown and hatched perfectly. If the size of the eggs are decent and the pullets egg making is all kosher, then there shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if shipping with pullets is any worse than shipping with more major eggs though.


For one, exploding eggs though they can happen are not all that common, especially later in the hatch. Chances are (not always, nothing is certain) you will smell a bad egg before it gets to the eggsplosion point.  Everyone knows I love to candle. I candle (a few, not all) every night when incubating to get my fix and spot check. But here's the thing: I don't do shipped eggs, (yet anyway). Even I understand and admit the logic behind less is better for an egg that has been abused through the postal service. In all honesty you think you maybe protecting yourself from a bad egg episode, but you may be weakening an already weak egg. Now you can do what others do and take the theory that you only want the strongest and enable your candling more or you can side on the giving them the opportunity to strengthen by lessoning your intervention thus giving them slightly better chances.  I always say to do what's comfortable for you [the hatcher] if it's working no matter what anyone says, but I also believe that if something isn't working you should probably change your methods-at least for the changing circumstances. 

I don't think they were shipped. But it seems like they've had it rough, just from the seller! If I started having a lot quit, I would try to leave them alone for a few days and see. Her batch seems like shipped, doesn't it!

 

[meganhundley]

My best hatch was from my pullets that had only been laying 4-6 weeks at the time I collected. 21 went in, one quite by day 5 the rest made it to lockdown and hatched perfectly. If the size of the eggs are decent and the pullets egg making is all kosher, then there shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if shipping with pullets is any worse than shipping with more major eggs though.

Still air should be 101-102 taken near the tops of the eggs. Humidity is finding what works for you by monitoring the air cells or weighing the eggs. I am not comfortable incubating at less than 25% or higher than 40% for the majority and only adjusting on either side of those numbers if the air cells signify I need to and then only temporarily.

I want a baby dragon!


For one, exploding eggs though they can happen are not all that common, especially later in the hatch. Chances are (not always, nothing is certain) you will smell a bad egg before it gets to the eggsplosion point.  Everyone knows I love to candle. I candle (a few, not all) every night when incubating to get my fix and spot check. But here's the thing: I don't do shipped eggs, (yet anyway). Even I understand and admit the logic behind less is better for an egg that has been abused through the postal service. In all honesty you think you maybe protecting yourself from a bad egg episode, but you may be weakening an already weak egg. Now you can do what others do and take the theory that you only want the strongest and enable your candling more or you can side on the giving them the opportunity to strengthen by lessoning your intervention thus giving them slightly better chances.  I always say to do what's comfortable for you [the hatcher] if it's working no matter what anyone says, but I also believe that if something isn't working you should probably change your methods-at least for the changing circumstances. 

Yeah, I'm going to try to cut back on the camdling. These weren't shipped, I picked them up about 3 hours from my house so they didn't get any rough handling, thank God. When I do candle I make it real quick, I make sure they're still moving and the veining looks good and then I put them back in. In all 1 egg is only out for maybe 4 or 5 seconds, unless I see something strange then I look a little longer. I'm very gentle when I do candle so they probably don't get moved around too much more than they do in the turner. But I'm not going to candle as much now. It's getting later in the hatch and I want to give them every oppurtunity. I won't candle again til lockdown and then it's hands off :/

 

[meganhundley]

That being said I checked on "Blobby 2" and he quit. I opened it up and there was nothing but a chick in there. I have no idea what the other blob was He was stuck to the shell but other than that he looked normal. I'm thinking what happened was his eye was stuck in 1 spot and his butt was part of the blob we saw stuck in the other spot.
ETA: I can post a pic of him if y'all want to see him.

 

[meganhundley]

I think from now on I'll try what Ruby said and just candle from inside the bator without moving them. I'll try to not candle at all til the days I'm supposed to but if I just can't stop myself I'll try what Ruby said to do.

 

[kwhites634]

Here's a question for all of you who have auto turners. Those work by tilting the egg on a longitudinal axis 45* forward and 45* backward, yes? Those eggs are only moving in one plane. Do you take the time to occasionally rotate them 90* on that longitudinal axis so they are now tilting in a different plane? I know that when I used egg cartons for the hatch, I did rotate the eggs in their cells so they were not always being tilted in the same plane. I also turned the egg cartons around, and moved them from left to right in the bator, so the eggs weren't in the same place in the bator every day.

You could feed it to that lil snake that hatches under your traumatized broody.

I hear that it's gonna be a candle light vigil.

Oh, you're GOOD!

 

[WalnutHill]

That being said I checked on "Blobby 2" and he quit. I opened it up and there was nothing but a chick in there. I have no idea what the other blob was

He was stuck to the shell but other than that he looked normal. I'm thinking what happened was his eye was stuck in 1 spot and his butt was part of the blob we saw stuck in the other spot.
ETA: I can post a pic of him if y'all want to see him.

Awww...so he was just curled around so that you couldn't see the rest of him toward the middle of the egg?

 

[meganhundley]

Awww...so he was just curled around so that you couldn't see the rest of him toward the middle of the egg?

Yea, I'm pretty sure that's what was going on. He looked normal though other than being stuck.

 

[kwhites634]

I need the number and address of that place, lol

At the corner of WALK & DON'T WALK
Phone: BR 549

 

[meganhundley]

At the corner of WALK & DON'T WALK
Phone: BR 549

I'll just look for people hiding in the bushes with eggs and flashlights.