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

[Sally Sunshine]

What is the most important thing about the eggs you choose for the incubator?

they are real and not ceramic duds

yes I have done it!

 

[mixedUPturk]

How about i contribute an egg update? Tommorow is day 14 for me! I will do weights and math either tumro night or Sat AM... I still feel like i need to see the math working! This way i will have an exact # that says, too high, way too low, alright or Perfect. Last time, with these eggs, from set date until week one, the measured weight loss was averaged at 3.46% and thats close enough for the gold!

I candled at day ten and finally removed the 6 clears. Also, yesterday, i removed an early quitter. It was obvious it quit, because ive watched the clutch so closly. All the veins went away Egg-topsied just to see where it quit at exactly, comparing to other pics, to me it looks like around day 7. With only that one quittin early tho, its not a bator problem at least! Its the eggs prob right? With yalls guidence i will contribute every death so far to the care of the parent stock, which we know is poor.

 

[RubyNala97]

She gave him more of a chance than I would. I've tossed cheeping eggs out...
if I feel there is a good chance they will die or have issues anyway, its easier to let them die in the shell than to have to cull them a few days later

Ruby, if the chick can't hatch, it is emotionally less draining to let it die in the shell.  Hugs, WV     I can cull them but I do not like to.  I am becoming more hands off with every hatch.

I know, I know. It's just so hard!!

Awesome! what colors do you know?

Paints! I've been dying for this color!!

they are real and not ceramic duds



yes I have done it! 

 

[scflock]

they are real and not ceramic duds



yes I have done it! 

Sally, dont take offense to this. Its a requirement in this thread, and I have been waiting for an opportunity to do it. The first one hurts the most...
You incubated ceramic eggs?

 

[scflock]

I know, I know. It's just so hard!!

Not as hard as picking up a fluffy chick and doing the death march to the culling station...

One of my customers picked up some cuckoo silkie chicks in Charlotte. I've never heard of those. Can't wait to see them grow out

 

[WVduckchick]

I have good news!! There is this small farm in NJ, that I found on brinsea's website (believe it or not) long before I ever hatched. Beautiful silkies and only 3 hours away. I wanted my very first eggs from there. When I contacted the woman she said she incubates what her girls lay but I could stay in touch. So every other month I shoot her an email (she's really nice). But she never has any extra eggs. Last night she messaged me that her incubator is full and her girls laid 11 eggs yesterday. She said if I wanted them, she'd collect whatever was laid this morning and send them out by lunch time today!!! So I have eggs coming!!

So happy for you! Why don't you go get them? I drove almost 3 hours each way.
You are going to get some good silkies eventually!

Yay!!!!! How big are silkies supposed to get....I guess that was more of a question for sc. Lol!! $
Well hopefully by the time you get home it will be out. I am going to be starting up again in November. So I can have some pullets for spring time and hopefully I will have some chicks ready too!!! I need to find someone close who has EE or Ameraucana eggs for hatching. And I am not sure what else I want....I need another couple of polish hens for Zax...so I can hatch and sell babies.

I'll be making it with chicken eggs instead...not as good a noodle quality, but good enough.

All my infertile incubated eggs go to a lady who does pysanky art...she blows them out and hand paints them with amazing geometric patterns.

I have not thrown away my clears yet. I think I'll try to blow some out. Thanks for mentioning that!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

With such tiny air cells, I'd not trust your hygrometer's 30% reading unless you calibrated it.

Your current temp is too low and humidity too high for proper development. The air cells should be much bigger than a dime by 10 days in. I've gotten to where I now add just a splash of water if I feel air cells are getting too large, until lockdown when I go for 75% or more.

agree with WalnutHill, @kwhites634

Calibration is key, high humidity and low temps = bad hatch.

I run all my bators at 100.5 to 101 until lockdown, I have cleaner hatches and you can look in the shell for proof of great incubation, you will not have any goop in the shells and the veining/membrane is clear light pink in the shell after hatch, chicks will not have any umbilical goop remaining, just the tiny string at hatch!! I decrease to 99.5 and first pip I lower to 98-99. Never look at humidity as a number, its all about weight loss in the eggs, be weighing or watching air cells, it will vary from home to home, your current climate, bator to bator, type fowl, etc. No one can tell you what humidity you need, only you know what you started with as far as weight loss, and what you have at 7 10 14 weeks!

 

[BYC910]

They were destined for egg noodles, but having all these Brinseas sitting around changed my mind. They'd have been better used as pasta...but the two babies are beautiful.

look at this way they are pre conditioned to the cold Mich. winters. we'll call it the Walnuthill fram head start program for poultry .

 

[mixedUPturk]

Voting goes from now until 12:00PM
Simple yes or no, people

I vote yes!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

How about i contribute an egg update? Tommorow is day 14 for me! I will do weights and math either tumro night or Sat AM... I still feel like i need to see the math working! This way i will have an exact # that says, too high, way too low, alright or Perfect. Last time, with these eggs, from set date until week one, the measured weight loss was averaged at 3.46% and thats close enough for the gold!

I candled at day ten and finally removed the 6 clears. Also, yesterday, i removed an early quitter. It was obvious it quit, because ive watched the clutch so closly. All the veins went away

Egg-topsied just to see where it quit at exactly, comparing to other pics, to me it looks like around day 7. With only that one quittin early tho, its not a bator problem at least! Its the eggs prob right? With yalls guidence i will contribute every death so far to the care of the parent stock, which we know is poor.

Sally, dont take offense to this. Its a requirement in this thread, and I have been waiting for an opportunity to do it. The first one hurts the most...
You incubated ceramic eggs?

trust me I am used to getting bopped here! I enjoy it too much I guess!

Hilarious time was when MOM brought me two eggs back and she said they are really really bad eggs because she cant crack them, she was worried the hens had issues!