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

[lazy gardener]

I'm glad to see you are experimenting. I was so nervous about hatching the shipped Spitzhauben eggs that I worried myself half to distraction, and decided to put the medium eggs in a cut down large foam carton. But I had 13 eggs, and only 12 cups in the carton. The laying down one hatched first. I'm sure it was coincidental, as they all hatched like popcorn and were hopping around the hatcher like nobody's business.

My other small hatches have gone great, too.

It seems that when I have my hatcher 2/3 full or more, the hatch gets drawn out and more chicks have issues. I think the next time I have a large batch to hatch, I'll divide them up among the hatchers and see what happens.

I have about 10 EEs out so far.

Your results with laying down egg have matched the quoted study. I've found that my hatch rate is down when the bator is super full. I'm guessing it was related to air cell size being too small.

OOH I like that!

Next hatch, the first dozen eggs that pip externally will be moved to air cell up. The remainder will be left horizontal. If the overall hatch duration is compressed, that would be great!

I would hesitate to move them after lock down date. From the reading I've done, they move into hatching position at day 14. So, in theory, one should put them in hatch position, be it horizontal or vertical by day 14. (My best ever hatch was horizontal, hand turned till day 14, then put in cartons, air cell up from day 14 to hatch. They were tilted until day 18.)

 

[AmyLynn2374]

OOH I like that!

Next hatch, the first dozen eggs that pip externally will be moved to air cell up. The remainder will be left horizontal. If the overall hatch duration is compressed, that would be great!

Theoretically it sounds sound....lol

Your results with laying down egg have matched the quoted study. I've found that my hatch rate is down when the bator is super full. I'm guessing it was related to air cell size being too small.

I would hesitate to move them after lock down date. From the reading I've done, they move into hatching position at day 14. So, in theory, one should put them in hatch position, be it horizontal or vertical by day 14. (My best ever hatch was horizontal, hand turned till day 14, then put in cartons, air cell up from day 14 to hatch. They were tilted until day 18.)

What she's saying is the study showed that the time between internal to external pip in upright eggs took longer than their horizontal counterparts, so in theory if she sets the first ones after the internal pip the actual hatch should coincide more with the later to internal pip.

 

[WalnutHill]

Your results with laying down egg have matched the quoted study. I've found that my hatch rate is down when the bator is super full. I'm guessing it was related to air cell size being too small.

I would hesitate to move them after lock down date. From the reading I've done, they move into hatching position at day 14. So, in theory, one should put them in hatch position, be it horizontal or vertical by day 14. (My best ever hatch was horizontal, hand turned till day 14, then put in cartons, air cell up from day 14 to hatch. They were tilted until day 18.)

I don't hatch in the incubator, so however many eggs are in there doesn't affect the last 3-4 days.

Moving into hatching position is head under wing, feet tucked up to face, beak near the lowest dip in the air cell. No matter how the egg is oriented they seem to do that just fine. I think they may key off the air cell dip itself for that starting point, which is why we can make a mark and they hit it so accurately. I have no hesitation with moving an egg around after putting it in the hatcher though I do try to keep the dip up if laying them horizontal. Granted I've only hatched a few hundred eggs this year, but the more I hatch the less worried I get.

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't hatch in the incubator, so however many eggs are in there doesn't affect the last 3-4 days.

Moving into hatching position is head under wing, feet tucked up to face, beak near the lowest dip in the air cell. No matter how the egg is oriented they seem to do that just fine. I think they may key off the air cell dip itself for that starting point, which is why we can make a mark and they hit it so accurately. I have no hesitation with moving an egg around after putting it in the hatcher though I do try to keep the dip up if laying them horizontal. Granted I've only hatched a few hundred eggs this year, but the more I hatch the less worried I get.

Got it. You're way ahead of me... both in experience, and knowing what you're doing!!! So, if you were me, how would you set the shipped eggs that have decent air cells for hatch? Vertical, or horizontal? I'm second guessing myself. Was not able to make a satisfactory "nest" for the ones with bad air cells, so they'll go into carton, and tip to the side with the dip.

 

[WalnutHill]

Got it. You're way ahead of me... both in experience, and knowing what you're doing!!! So, if you were me, how would you set the shipped eggs that have decent air cells for hatch? Vertical, or horizontal? I'm second guessing myself. Was not able to make a satisfactory "nest" for the ones with bad air cells, so they'll go into carton, and tip to the side with the dip.

The Spitzes had saddled but solid air cells, I hatched most of them vertical and those chicks were very vigorous after hatch since they didn't get out of the egg until they were strong enough. I really liked that result. But the horizontal one was up on its feet pretty quick too. I didn't lose any of the 13 at hatch.

The eggs from Ravyn and Farmboy were really beat up. Saddled eggs were good ones. There were several full rollers even when they went to lockdown.

All of Farmboy's were hatched horizontal. Of 28 that went into lockdown, 21 hatched, and of the 7 that did not, none were lost due to aspiration or obstructed pip/zip.

53 of Ravyn's went into lockdown. I had 22 Sulmtalers, Crested Legbar, and BCM and Orpington x in a tray and 20 hatched. I had 11 Easter Eggers horizontal in the same hatcher and 10 hatched. I had 20 Ameraucanas and Araucanas in the Eco 20 and 16 hatched. They started upright but didn't stay that way. So really the results were close. But the air cells were nice and big, no moisture issues until the very last ones in the hatcher stretched it past 20 hours after first pip.

 

[chicapee]

Good morning everyone!!!!! Tomorrow is day 14 on my SLP and SS eggs. So I will be candling and marking as per norm. I'm excited because I didn't realize I would already be locking down in 5 days!!!! :yiipchick. Then I got Ruby's eggs I ordered last Thursday. So I let them rest for 12 hours then I stuck them angled in a carton to keep aircells up. Not my typical way but trying something different. TEmPS Are Holding Steady At 100 To 101 And HUMIDITY I Will NOT Let DROP Below 40%. (Sorry about the all caps and random caps my phone is tweeking out ). I just candled last night to check fertility and well....all 15 are growing. One looks questionable like maybe an early quitter or about to quit but that's 100% on shipped eggs!!! :yiipchick

Marvelous

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks for that info.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

The Spitzes had saddled but solid air cells, I hatched most of them vertical and those chicks were very vigorous after hatch since they didn't get out of the egg until they were strong enough. I really liked that result. But the horizontal one was up on its feet pretty quick too. I didn't lose any of the 13 at hatch.

The eggs from Ravyn and Farmboy were really beat up. Saddled eggs were good ones. There were several full rollers even when they went to lockdown.

All of Farmboy's were hatched horizontal. Of 28 that went into lockdown, 21 hatched, and of the 7 that did not, none were lost due to aspiration or obstructed pip/zip.

53 of Ravyn's went into lockdown. I had 22 Sulmtalers, Crested Legbar, and BCM and Orpington x in a tray and 20 hatched. I had 11 Easter Eggers horizontal in the same hatcher and 10 hatched. I had 20 Ameraucanas and Araucanas in the Eco 20 and 16 hatched. They started upright but didn't stay that way. So really the results were close. But the air cells were nice and big, no moisture issues until the very last ones in the hatcher stretched it past 20 hours after first pip.

That's pretty good results with that much air cell damage.

 

[Ruthannnall]

e Congrats!

so far we have an anacona duck, a turkey and a mallard duck. Two other turkey eggs are pipped and 4 other duck eggs. So we're well on our way

 

[RubyNala97]

Nah I'm over the bridge in Pinellas

Still beautiful! Sarasota is expensive! Towards the end I moved up to Bradenton.

After going to Incubating eggs 101, and pondering, I've decided that the first 4 eggs, which are small will be hatched in a "make shift nest" that will keep them as upright as possible, with largest portion of air cell facing up.  I don't want to put them in cartons because with them being small, I don't want to risk pip occurring in position that will be occluded by the wall of the carton cell.  The next group may very well stay in their carton, since my best hatch last year occurred upright.  My gender hatch may be divided into an upright and a laying down group.

This may be a silly question but here goes. When hatching upright in cartons what happens at zip time? Do they fall out of the cartons?

This is something that I read quite a while ago I found intriguing about egg position at hatch and time intervals : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21934018

Oooh, something new to read!

so far we have an anacona duck, a turkey and a mallard duck. Two other turkey eggs are pipped and 4 other duck eggs. So we're well on our way