The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Happy Chooks]

8 button quail so far today
Total would be 24 chicken, 7 duck, 4 jumbo quail and 8 button quail. = 43 for the Easter Hatch. if i get any more button quail eggs today can I add them in?

You betcha. Just let us know the final count.

Quote: If a lot of them hatch at once, your humidity can get too high. I've never had temperature change at the end, unless your weather changed. I do notice that on a cold to warm weather change or a warm to suddenly cold change will need some adjusting on the bator.

When your humidity gets so high that you see the window fogging up, it's too high and you risk drowning the chicks. You need to make sure you have both plugs pulled and watch closely for the humidity to come back down and I usually put 1 plug back in when it's at a normal level. (around 65%) This helps keep the humidity from dropping too low, which is when I've noticed sticky chicks happening. Not shrink wrapped but enough to cause them to be sticky. Putting 1 plug back in seems to keep it from being an issue.

Overall, you have to watch your hatch for the peaks in hatching and the slow times in hatching and adjust accordingly. Most of it is just learning as you go.

 

[wolftracks]

LOL

What you said (ages ago) about your husband and the clouds brought a tear to my eye. Maybe, if I one day become an auntie (definitely not a mother), I hope my nephews and nieces will look up to me like your grandchildren look up to you. The only thing I can offer is information about chickens. Maybe I should start reading up about clouds, that sounds fascinating. Could I pop over and you give me one of your talks? I can bring some eggs

x2 just mark the air cells and make sure they are on your "watch list" as they may be able to internally pip and not externally pip.......

this is a paste from https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101 it explains what MAY happen

SHIPPED EGGS & Malpositions!
BELOW ARE "SADDLE" SHAPED AIR CELLS

SADDLE SHAPED AIR CELLS are very COMMON with shipped eggs!​

Saddle shaped is when one or both sides have a large "dip" in the air cell. A lot of times with saddle shaped cells the chick doesn’t position correct for hatching and their feet can easily get stuck behind their head and “smoosh” the chick so they can’t move, it can also force the yolk sack and everything more north in the shell.... Keep a close eye on these eggs and its VERY important to pencil mark Air cells! Refer to Saddle Shaped Air Cell chick assiting in this article https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching​

oh and this is that same egg, check out position

I have an incubator tip for those of you new to incubating. If you are incubating in Brinsea, you can ignore this information. This is especially useful to those of you incubating in a styrofoam bator.

A week into incubation, you will want to keep close tabs on your temperature. You may need to adjust it down some. As the embryos develop, they start generating heat and thus your temperature may run a bit hotter.

This is the first time I've seen pics of these. I've gotten them and so many times you don't know they're gone till it's too late. I'll have to ry and remember to read your page when I get back.




OK, i'm caught up but I'm almost ready to pass out just wondering what I'm going to miss. I doubt I'll even try and catch up. My oldest son and I have tried to meet up 3 times in the past month. I haven't seen him in 7 years and I'm a nervous wreck! We did use Skype ?? to talk a couple of weeks ago and oh joy, he mentioned I looked like my mom. Haven't aged well the past 3 years. I'll be asking for donatons when I get back for the plastic surgery, tummy tuck and lipo. Stay tuned! Last time we were together I was his workout fit mom. Oops. Now HE'S a person trainer. Not gonna be pretty! LOL Anyway, he's back for me to enjoy and I'm going to LA for the second time in my life and first time where I wasn't stuck at a wrestling convention and sand bags covering the streets. Ya, I took bad weather with me for that one. All of my kids have been to at least Disneyland except him . I never have, so once my grand daughter's cheer comps are finished, my daughter (her mom) my son and his girlfriend and I are going. Sure wish I was in the shape I used to be for this. But excited to see my baby boy, even though he isn't THE baby boy. OK, someone take notes and let me know all the important stuff on here while I'm gone. I might get a minute to check in before I leave tonight, but if not, don't have fun without me till monday!!

 

[Shellz]

Cover up those windows with sheets or blankets just for the incubation period and take the plugs out at hatch time and you should be able to control things that way. Keep your eyes out for struggling chicks and give a hand if you think that it's needed. But slowly and gently so as not to have the chick hatch out before it's ready. There are the ones that are shrink wrapped (dry) and those that are wrapped and soggy wet.

If the humidity is sky high, I do open the incubator and let some out..you really do have to work at it! Good luck to all who are hatching, can't wait to see the little ones

Silly me! Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks for the tips!

 

[tadpole98]

I went to chick days today.
The lady asked me how many I wanted, I said 4 of each (polish and bantam asst.).

she went to write it down and said, 'wait, how many of each?' 6 of each!
she wrote that down for polish. Then she said, how many for the bantams? 8! I only meant to get 8 in all, but i walked out with 14.

everytime she asked.. i raised my answer. HAHA!!
at the end it was like, you know what? Let me just take them all home

 

[Shellz]

Good stuff! Enjoy the new chickies!

 

[noahsmom]

Yay!!! Our coop is in progress too .... !!! If it turns out shareable when we get done I will post picks cause I really enjoyed looking at all the coops on the home page here at BYC!!!

Don't worry about what your coop looks like! Aslong as its safe and enough room for your chickens no one will care or at least I know I won't. I love sharing pics and viewing all the coop pics also! I have learned so much just by looking at them! Excited for a poop board..how pathetic right?! Lol
Look at the inside of my coop/barn below lol nothing pretty but it will certainly be usable and look some nicer once plywood floors and walls are installed.

Some progress!

 

[wildriverswolf90]

Yay!!! Our coop is in progress too .... !!! If it turns out shareable when we get done I will post picks cause I really enjoyed looking at all the coops on the home page here at BYC!!!

Don't worry about the looks, mine is an old coop built in 1923, the wood is old, and the roof is rusted, and because I'm poor(and have no power tools) I had to slide some old sheet metal over the top and nail it down and put cinder blocks over it to hold it, to stop leaks. The inside is old and shabby looking as well. But you know what, It huge and more importantly my birds love it!! They don't care what it looks like. But I did end up adding some nice, natural log roosts and some icicle lights to give it a cozy old timey feel.

 

[CasieD]

Hi to all the hatchers!!

I haven't had a lot of time to read the thread, but wanted to post how many eggs I set.

Is there a link to post them or do we just post our numbers here?

What about the total number set, do we put our guess here too??

thanks!

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

You betcha.  Just let us know the final count.
If a lot of them hatch at once, your humidity can get too high.  I've never had temperature change at the end, unless your weather changed.  I do notice that on a cold to warm weather change or a warm to suddenly cold change will need some adjusting on the bator.

When your humidity gets so high that you see the window fogging up, it's too high and you risk drowning the chicks.  You need to make sure you have both plugs pulled and watch closely for the humidity to come back down and I usually put 1 plug back in when it's at a normal level. (around 65%)  This helps keep the humidity from dropping too low, which is when I've noticed sticky chicks happening.  Not shrink wrapped but enough to cause them to be sticky.  Putting 1 plug back in seems to keep it from being an issue.

Overall, you have to watch your hatch for the peaks in hatching and the slow times in hatching and adjust accordingly.  Most of it is just learning as you go.

This is great information .... Ya see i ran the bator days 1-18 with no water and both plugs out.... humidity stayed at 35-40% (it is humid here in arkansas almost yr round) and in the end i left both plugs out still but filled the channels with water it raised the humitity to between 65-70 but once they started hatching the humidity raised to 80+ and I knew that the humidity was too high but was afraid to open it to let it come down fearing shrink wrapping the ones that were pipped .... So do you think if the humidity gets too high it would be ok to crack the bator till it comes down with no harm to the pipped ones?

Also I noticed as time went by the chicks kept getting worse and worse as far as getting out and/or being wet because the first chicks seemed great!

THANKS SO MUCH shellz and happy chooks for all the advice I hope to be able to get eggs this wknd and start another hatch and maybe this will make all the difference !!!!

 

[TheH Klan of 10]

Cover up those windows with sheets or blankets just for the incubation period and take the plugs out at hatch time and you should be able to control things that way. Keep your eyes out for struggling chicks and give a hand if you think that it's needed. But slowly and gently so as not to have the chick hatch out before it's ready. There are the ones that are shrink wrapped (dry) and those that are wrapped and soggy wet.

If the humidity is sky high, I do open the incubator and let some out..you really do have to work at it! Good luck to all who are hatching, can't wait to see the little ones

THANK YOU TOO toast and jelly!!!!
This advice is invaluable!!!!!!