Silkie saga

[2ndTink]

Yep, me too. Last year I saw a snake swallowing a mouse whole, good grief, I felt sorry for the poor mouse, but I guess this is nature. I certainly can't partake, I'd starve to death if I had to kill everything to eat.

What kind of dog do you have?

A pound special, not real sure what she is, but she's 21 pounds of concentrated rodent hunter. She has more hunting patience than a cat, she takes her job very seriously. She'll run over to say hi when we get home, then runs right back to the coops to hunt. She'll get something every few weeks.

 

[2ndTink]

No I think this is normal loss of moisture, but keep looking at the attachment on this page for a guide, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silkie-saga.1576460/post-27004574 if you get nervous in the next day or so you can add humidity. Normal levels of humidity during incubation are around 45%.

Great, I'll keep comparing the air cell development to this. How often should I check? I've read somethings were you're basically not supposed to ever open the incubator, but then a hen can get off the nest for awhile and things are still ok. I don't want to over handle them, but I also want to be able to course correct if something isn't going right.

 

[TwoCrows]

Great, I'll keep comparing the air cell development to this. How often should I check? I've read somethings were you're basically not supposed to ever open the incubator, but then a hen can get off the nest for awhile and things are still ok. I don't want to over handle them, but I also want to be able to course correct if something isn't going right.

I usually check every other day. I don't like to handle eggs too much, and some people never do. This said, it's ok to open the incubator any time during the incubation period before lock down. Eggs have a lot of mass and don't chill all that fast, and humidity is not yet critical. However after lockdown it's important not to lose humidity, ESPECIALLY after they start pipping. You will want to get the humidity up around 65%, this will keep the egg shell and inner membranes soft so they can bust out. It also prevents them from sticking to the inside of the shell and dying. So when you reach lockdown, make sure to get everything done before so you don't need to open the lid. Turn off egg turners. If your incubator has a slick floor, lay down some if that rubber shelf liner to prevent splay legs in the chicks. Get your humidity raised, I usually end up putting a piece of a clean kitchen sponge in a small cup of water to keep humidity up. And make SURE to open your vents wide open! Chicks need a ton of oxygen at this point. And of course, no opening the lid!

 

[2ndTink]

We just got back home and I wanted to check the incubator temp and humidity before going to bed. I put the Accurite in and it stayed at 93, I put a towel around the outside of the incubator and bumped the setting to 100 degF. The Accurite just got to 99 after about 5 min. It's been steady all day when I check it at 99 and the temperature in the room hasn't changed much. Argh, I hope the eggs are ok.

 

[TwoCrows]

We just got back home and I wanted to check the incubator temp and humidity before going to bed. I put the Accurite in and it stayed at 93, I put a towel around the outside of the incubator and bumped the setting to 100 degF. The Accurite just got to 99 after about 5 min. It's been steady all day when I check it at 99 and the temperature in the room hasn't changed much. Argh, I hope the eggs are ok.

Quick temp changes don't effect the eggs much, but try to get it as stable as possible. How are the air cells looking today? If they are shrinking too fast, you may need to start adding humidity.

 

[2ndTink]

Quick temp changes don't effect the eggs much, but try to get it as stable as possible. How are the air cells looking today? If they are shrinking too fast, you may need to start adding humidity.

I left the Accurite in overnight, it was still at 99 this morning and I started double checking it with a people's glass oral thermometer, it has said 99.8-9 when I put it in for a few minutes last night and this morning.

I need to pick a couple eggs and trace the air cells, I looked at two this morning and they didn't seem too much bigger than yesterday. The humidity was 25% this morning but the last two days once the sun comes up it stays closer to 30% for the day. I don't want to handle them too much so I was thinking if I track weights on one set, I can track air cells on another set so they are each handled minimally.

I'm now understanding why brooding hens are so upset about being disturbed and seem stressed out, this is a lot to keep track of.

 

[TwoCrows]

I left the Accurite in overnight, it was still at 99 this morning and I started double checking it with a people's glass oral thermometer, it has said 99.8-9 when I put it in for a few minutes last night and this morning.

I need to pick a couple eggs and trace the air cells, I looked at two this morning and they didn't seem too much bigger than yesterday. The humidity was 25% this morning but the last two days once the sun comes up it stays closer to 30% for the day. I don't want to handle them too much so I was thinking if I track weights on one set, I can track air cells on another set so they are each handled minimally.

I'm now understanding why brooding hens are so upset about being disturbed and seem stressed out, this is a lot to keep track of.

Sounds like things are on track! Keep doing what you are doing and fingers crossed! Many times your first hatch is experimental, you learn what to do and what not to do. Hatches get better with each batch.

It's funny, in nature hens get scared off nests, humidity can be off the charts or drier than the Sahara, and chicks still hatch. We set up incubators with perfect conditions and chicks struggle. We just can't duplicate or compete with nature!

 

[2ndTink]

Sounds like things are on track! Keep doing what you are doing and fingers crossed! Many times your first hatch is experimental, you learn what to do and what not to do. Hatches get better with each batch.

It's funny, in nature hens get scared off nests, humidity can be off the charts or drier than the Sahara, and chicks still hatch. We set up incubators with perfect conditions and chicks struggle. We just can't duplicate or compete with nature!

That's what has me baffled! We have this fancy piece of equipment that should maintain optimal conditions (how old are these recommendations and have they been verified with new tech?) yet a chicken does as a chicken does and still hatches chicks. Or, through having near perfect hatching conditions are we weakening the overall genetic pool by hatching sub-par chicks?

I was wondering if anyone has created a fake egg with temperature, humidity, and position sensors and placed it under a broody to really see what an egg experiences and then compare that to an incubator. What if temperature fluctuations actually help a chick develop? I was skim reading last night and it sounded like some cells grow better warmer and others cooler, so maybe the hen actually grows an embryo better than a steady state "perfect conditions" incubator?

If my friend doesn't need her incubators back until the spring, I have a few months to experiment to be sure I have everything well practiced for my "real" hatches next year I'd definitely have to start processing some chickens if I did that though. I could have EE's and silkied EE's. I need a big heavy rooster, I have 2 absolutely massive BA's, one is pretty and one is hideous, but they dwarf all my other chickens and have a decent amount of meat. I could hatch out their eggs and probably have some decent dual purpose chicks.

 

[TwoCrows]

That's what has me baffled! We have this fancy piece of equipment that should maintain optimal conditions (how old are these recommendations and have they been verified with new tech?) yet a chicken does as a chicken does and still hatches chicks. Or, through having near perfect hatching conditions are we weakening the overall genetic pool by hatching sub-par chicks?

I was wondering if anyone has created a fake egg with temperature, humidity, and position sensors and placed it under a broody to really see what an egg experiences and then compare that to an incubator. What if temperature fluctuations actually help a chick develop? I was skim reading last night and it sounded like some cells grow better warmer and others cooler, so maybe the hen actually grows an embryo better than a steady state "perfect conditions" incubator?

If my friend doesn't need her incubators back until the spring, I have a few months to experiment to be sure I have everything well practiced for my "real" hatches next year I'd definitely have to start processing some chickens if I did that though. I could have EE's and silkied EE's. I need a big heavy rooster, I have 2 absolutely massive BA's, one is pretty and one is hideous, but they dwarf all my other chickens and have a decent amount of meat. I could hatch out their eggs and probably have some decent dual purpose chicks.

I have never been able to figure out how nature does it, I guess we humans aren't supposed to be messing with mother nature.

Ultimately, if you have a broody that can hatch your eggs, chicks will grow up healthier and its way easier on you as well. If you are using a pre owned incubator, keep in mind that over time they come out of calibration. So always use secondary temp/humidity guages inside the machine as you are doing now. And ALWAYS fumigate the machine between hatches so you aren't growing bacteria from the last hatch. All the residue gunk from hatching becomes pathogenic.

 

[2ndTink]

I have never been able to figure out how nature does it, I guess we humans aren't supposed to be messing with mother nature.

Ultimately, if you have a broody that can hatch your eggs, chicks will grow up healthier and its way easier on you as well. If you are using a pre owned incubator, keep in mind that over time they come out of calibration. So always use secondary temp/humidity guages inside the machine as you are doing now. And ALWAYS fumigate the machine between hatches so you aren't growing bacteria from the last hatch. All the residue gunk from hatching becomes pathogenic.

The incubators have both been used only once 2 years ago and were cleaned before I set the eggs, so hopefully no patient 0's hatching!

Juravenator is still broody, I keep pondering setting the big dog kennel in the coop and seeing if I can move her without breaking her. Then I could put an egg or two from the incubator under her. I can't leave her were she is, she's in a roll away nesting box in a flock of egg eaters if she took one or two eggs I'd have a nice spot for the Accurite to ride around full time in the incubator.