Silkie Hatch-A-Long

[KV Silkies]

A broody silkie hen. She had two clutches because another hen abandoned her eggs on day 11



I guess I will wait until tomorrow night and see what happens. Fingers crossed for chickies when I get home

 

[Debs55]

Just checked again and still no chickies from those eggs. I think I will candle tonight…might make me feel a little better

 

[silkiez4life]

I take my turner out tomorrow I'm so excited for my eggs to hatch!!

 

[subhanalah]

I stopped turning my eggs on day 16. I didn't have any malpositionung problems. (I also used an autoturner)

Next time, I'll be adding water IMMEDIATELY after I witness the big dip in the air cell in a 24. Hour period. I waited 8-11 hours, and it left three of my babies (the ones who were developmentally further along) shrink wrapped before the due date even arrived!

I can either just do as I said, or try to turn the thermostat down a bit to slow their development so that I can try to time the dip with later in the 18th day.
What do you guys think?
I took lots of pictures!
8 out of 14.

Two blood rings and one egg that got cracked by the aquarium thermometer that fell on it. Three that made it to lock down, but we're unable to hatch.

I did notice that one egg that seemed to get a late start and developed so much slower than the others, was the only egg that was considered "on time".

I think the other eggs were much older, so they were "done" earlier than expected.
So what do I do? Change my temperature settings or just move up my "lock down" date?

 

[ellake]

yay!!!!!

ahh cute, my first hatch should be tomorrow cannot wait. We have 5 eggs under my broody just hoping they hatch tomorrow!!

 

[Debs55]

ok remember my late eggs? well one chick just hatched! 3 days late but it hatched!

 

[subhanalah]

ok remember my late eggs? well one chick just hatched! 3 days late but it hatched!

that's fantastic!

 

[KV Silkies]

ok remember my late eggs? well one chick just hatched! 3 days late but it hatched!

woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Debs55]

Yeah!! Gonna check tonight and see how many so far

 

[KV Silkies]

I stopped turning my eggs on day 16. I didn't have any malpositionung problems. (I also used an autoturner)

Next time, I'll be adding water IMMEDIATELY after I witness the big dip in the air cell in a 24. Hour period. I waited 8-11 hours, and it left three of my babies (the ones who were developmentally further along) shrink wrapped before the due date even arrived!

I can either just do as I said, or try to turn the thermostat down a bit to slow their development so that I can try to time the dip with later in the 18th day.
What do you guys think?
I took lots of pictures!
8 out of 14.

Two blood rings and one egg that got cracked by the aquarium thermometer that fell on it. Three that made it to lock down, but we're unable to hatch.

I did notice that one egg that seemed to get a late start and developed so much slower than the others, was the only egg that was considered "on time".

I think the other eggs were much older, so they were "done" earlier than expected.
So what do I do? Change my temperature settings or just move up my "lock down" date?

I pretty much do the by the book hatching from the hatching 101 article on here somewhere, keeping temp around 99.5 all the way through (incubator w/ fan) keep humidity at mid 40's through out until day 18 (lockdown for me) I turn my eggs 5 x a day. on day 18 I bump humidity up to mid 60's and try not to open my incubator until chicks are hatched. if I have to add more water to bump my humidity up I do it pretty quickly. have had pretty good results so far. I also candle and weigh on days 7/10/14/18 and range my humidity by my weights. making sure i'm losing around 13%.

this is just what works for me. oh yeah and I stop turning on day 18.