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

[JulesChicks]

Happy Sunday to you all!

@AmyLynn2374 I hope that predator didn't get any more birds and maybe you got it? You could maybe try trapping it as well - I think a good one is the Havahart.

I need some help from you experienced hatchers. I locked down my incubator last night and it was at around 80% humidity with all wells full and a damp sponge. I did leave one red plug out. This morning the humidity is only at 61%. It's a Hovabator 1602. I can rewet the sponge and put in the last plug, but other than that I'm not sure what to do. Obviously, I don't want to have to keep opening it to add water. Also, I have them in a flat carton with aircells up but I'm thinking about how to separate them for identification. Thanks in advance!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Happy Sunday to you all!

@AmyLynn2374 I hope that predator didn't get any more birds and maybe you got it? You could maybe try trapping it as well - I think a good one is the Havahart.

I need some help from you experienced hatchers. I locked down my incubator last night and it was at around 80% humidity with all wells full and a damp sponge. I did leave one red plug out. This morning the humidity is only at 61%. It's a Hovabator 1602. I can rewet the sponge and put in the last plug, but other than that I'm not sure what to do. Obviously, I don't want to have to keep opening it to add water. Also, I have them in a flat carton with aircells up but I'm thinking about how to separate them for identification. Thanks in advance!

Hi Jules!

Not yet. Still not sure what it is. Thinking either fox or a dog. Hoping to stake it out here this evening and see if anything comes back. So far I haven't lost anymore since last night.

I use a couple sponges and I found these sponge clothes at the dollar store that I the last couple hatches I have wet and put them under the screen as well. I know some people have used little trays/baskets in the bators to separate. Others have made sections using plastic canvas.

 

[WalnutHill]

In my coolerbator, which has a LOT of vents, I wet a sponge and place it partly over the vent on the outside of the incubator. Easy to keep damp, easy to fine tune humidity, and still lets air in and out.

 

[Pyxis]

These khaki campbell eggs are up in the air. I didn't tell the lady I bought them from that I was hatching them so they have been cleaned and refrigerated. If I don't get any development I'll ask to buy another dozen from her that haven't been refrigerated. But if they do hatch it will be interesting to see the gender ratio, since with chickens if you refrigerate the eggs apparently the male embryos are more likely to die so while you don't have as good a hatch, you get mostly pullets according to a study that was done.

On the humidity front, my Styrofoam 'bator is horrible about holding it too, so I put mason jars in there with sponges sticking out of them and that keeps the humidity up better than filling the wells does and that way I don't have to keep opening it to add water.

 

[lazy gardener]

From first group of eggs, I got 2 chicks, one of which was an assist. I need to give her a bath tonight to clean all of the shellac off her. Her butt is particularly glued up, so she needs a good cleaning. The next group of 12 (also shipped) are pipping, so far about 75% malpositioned. So, if they make it out of the shell, I expect they will be assists. I just opened up membranes on all of their pips. They were upright in cartons for the hatch. I laid them down with pip up after opening membranes. One has died already. The remainder of the eggs that have not yet externally pipped are tapping or cheeping. So, hoping they fare better than the early pips. Gonna be a long night. My own eggs are also in for a difficult hatch. They were due today. One or more have internally pipped. Having a hard time keeping the humidity up in that bator, so expect a lot of difficulty there as well.

 

[Pipe Dreaming]

I already told my nephew he needs to bring me a gun. Never thought I'd be able to until tonight. Let's just hope if I get a gun in my hands I'm a natural. Never shot anything more than pellet and paint gun. 

I hope you can get it before it takes any more of your birds.. that's awful.
I killed a possum once with an ice scraper... it was IN the chicken coop. You can do it.. just remember you're saving your chickens.
I'm having the worst time with my BCM eggs. I'm getting about 5 to lockdown out of 20...and maybe 2 hatch. I've divided my pen and put my best roo with the 2 BCM hens to boost fertility. Other than that, I have no clue what's going on. The other cross-breeds are hatching fine. Maybe they're inbred... idk what to think. Out of all the BCM eggs I've set, just 1 has hatched on its own, and I've assisted 2 others that pipped at the wrong end.
I'm about to give up on them.

 

[BYC910]

These khaki campbell eggs are up in the air. I didn't tell the lady I bought them from that I was hatching them so they have been cleaned and refrigerated. If I don't get any development I'll ask to buy another dozen from her that haven't been refrigerated. But if they do hatch it will be interesting to see the gender ratio, since with chickens if you refrigerate the eggs apparently the male embryos are more likely to die so while you don't have as good a hatch, you get mostly pullets according to a study that was done.

On the humidity front, my Styrofoam 'bator is horrible about holding it too, so I put mason jars in there with sponges sticking out of them and that keeps the humidity up better than filling the wells does and that way I don't have to keep opening it to add water.

I don't open the lid to add water to the wells . I use a 20 cc syringe and a tube from a spray bottle . or something like that and go through the humidity vent plug holes to add water to the wells . I also rewet the sponges the same way .

 

[BYC910]

Hi Jules!

Not yet. Still not sure what it is. Thinking either fox or a dog. Hoping to stake it out here this evening and see if anything comes back. So far I haven't lost anymore since last night.

I use a couple sponges and I found these sponge clothes at the dollar store that I the last couple hatches I have wet and put them under the screen as well. I know some people have used little trays/baskets in the bators to separate. Others have made sections using plastic canvas.

Hi Amy

sorry your losing chickens . Phil said hamburger and broken glass for a fox never tried that but I bet it would work

 

[WVduckchick]

[COLOR=333333]From first group of eggs, I got 2 chicks, one of which was an assist.  I need to give her a bath tonight to clean all of the shellac off her.  Her butt is particularly glued up, so she needs a good cleaning.  The next group of 12 (also shipped) are pipping, so far about 75% malpositioned.  So, if they make it out of the shell, I expect they will be assists.  I just opened up membranes on all of their pips.  They were upright in cartons for the hatch.  I laid them down with pip up after opening membranes.  One has died already.  The remainder of the eggs that have not yet externally pipped are tapping or cheeping.  So, hoping they fare better than the early pips.  Gonna be a long night.  My own eggs are also in for a difficult hatch.  They were due today.  One or more have internally pipped.  Having a hard time keeping the humidity up in that bator, so expect a lot of difficulty there as well.[/COLOR]

Wow, sounds rough, but I hope it gets better and you get some cuties to hatch

I hope you can get it before it takes any more of your birds.. that's awful.
I killed a possum once with an ice scraper... it was IN the chicken coop. You can do it.. just remember you're saving your chickens.
I'm having the worst time with my BCM eggs. I'm getting about 5 to lockdown out of 20...and maybe 2 hatch. I've divided my pen and put my best roo with the 2 BCM hens to boost fertility. Other than that, I have no clue what's going on. The other cross-breeds are hatching fine. Maybe they're inbred... idk what to think. Out of all the BCM eggs I've set, just 1 has hatched on its own, and I've assisted 2 others that pipped at the wrong end.
I'm about to give up on them.

Turk just hatched some BCMs with absolutely no water, even at lockdown. I'm thinking 8 of 9 hatched? @TurksPoultry am I right? Seems many people find much lower humidity works better on them. Might be worth a try for you too?

 

[BYC910]

I hope you can get it before it takes any more of your birds.. that's awful.
I killed a possum once with an ice scraper... it was IN the chicken coop. You can do it.. just remember you're saving your chickens.
I'm having the worst time with my BCM eggs. I'm getting about 5 to lockdown out of 20...and maybe 2 hatch. I've divided my pen and put my best roo with the 2 BCM hens to boost fertility. Other than that, I have no clue what's going on. The other cross-breeds are hatching fine. Maybe they're inbred... idk what to think. Out of all the BCM eggs I've set, just 1 has hatched on its own, and I've assisted 2 others that pipped at the wrong end.
I'm about to give up on them.

Hi P D

what humidity and temperature are you incubating at ? BCMs do better at 30 to 40 % incubation humidity. temperature I'm thinking would be better at 99 . I'm have awful hatch rates at 100 degrees in my cabinets . trying to let it work around 98 to 100 to see if its any better this hatch

. Last spring when I hatched at 40% In the little Styrofoam incubators at 99.5 degrees they did good and I hatched a bunch . haven't had much luck with them since. last year I fought humidity this year I'm fighting temperature . don't give up figure it out . there is a reason you just have to find it