The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[Daniel1974]

Tomorrow is day 18 which is lock down day, chickens normally take 21days to hatch although can hatch earlier or even a few days later. Remove the turner and bring your humidity up to 55-60% and keep it there the best you can. Some do this by wetting a sponge and placing it in or if you have an incubator with a plastic tray for adding water you can do this. Dont add to much at first, play with how much will keep your humidity at optimal levels for how long without dipping to low or getting to high. That's what I've done and is working ok now.
Also forgot to add, you can either lay the eggs down on their sides on some shelf liner or you can sit them upright with the bottoms cut out for air circulation. I have chosen to lay them on their side.

Good luck

Ty so much I have run test on my Bator and know how much water to add for a 50-60% Humidity gonna do that now And Thanks again

 

[GreenGirlGrammy]

Also in Alabama.... Mine got down to 72F degrees for over 6 hours. Mine are due to hatch Saturday, but from what I saw when I candled, I expect them to start hatching maybe 2 days late.

So yours are due the 30th? I will watch to see how your turns out. I think I am going to check out the "Where are you, Where am I...social part of this site to see if I can find other people in AL that might like to swap eggs. Good luck.

 

[ChooksChick]

Holy cow...I had to work an overnight for a client and so I was off for like 24 WHOLE HOURS!!! Sheesh...here comes a quote-a-thon...

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Julie, Im just down the road in Lawrence if you need any turkey eggs to join us!! All are welcome!

Looking for some guidance here... After candling on day seven, all but 1 of my 25 eggs showed signs of life. Well, I just recandled yesterday at day fourteen, and nine of the 24 remaining eggs seemed to have stopped developing. So, I took out one of the ones that looked dead and cracked it open. The yolk was very runny, and I could see a slight blood ring. The embryo was about the size of a dime, but had clearly stopped developing a while ago. I left the rest of the 9 eggs in there.

The other eggs are developing very nicely with large veins.

What did I do wrong? Why did nine of them stop developing?!?

I have them in a homemade incubator that has been keeping a temperature between 99-100 degrees. I turn the eggs manually three times a day religiously. The temperature only drops momentarily when I am turning (about 3 minutes to get back up to normal temp)...

Any help for this firsty?

I know others addressed this, but I just want to say, as you become more experienced, you'll find that some batches are just not goot, others are great. I feed mine a particular diet and supplements so that the mommas can pass those nutrients along in the egg for better shipping and stronger chicks. It's hard to know what another's eggs are made of, whether they were exposed to temps, etc. You can ask about the diet and care of the eggs, though, and that's a start. Most of the time, we just know it's a toss of the dice as to whether we are blessed with a good potential for sustainable development.

I wish I had turks to hatch!

Quote:
I hope she's broody, but I also want you to know that this is normal for hens who are developing yolk peritonitis, so you can look for signs of it, because often we don't know until it's too late and we've lost a beloved hen to it. I did. Do some looking on here, as there is a lot of discussion regarding it. You can rule it out, if it's not the case.

Well, the whole time my turner (LG old style) motor has been running rather loudly off and on, and I thought it was maybe because I had a full load on it, so I expected it to get better on Saturday when I candled for day 14 and tossed half the eggs! But it didn't! The past few days it has seemed to be louder more often and sound like it is laboring or clicking a lot. I checked it several times and it seemed to still be working ok, so I tried to ignore the noise. Late last night it was so loud and bad sounding that I decided to stop using it, and I pulled the plug on the turner. This morning I took out the turner and moved the remaining 23 eggs into 6 small baskets with shelf liner on the bottom that I had planned on using for lockdown. I marked each egg with X & O and will turn them manually for the remaining two days before Lockdown (they are just starting day 16 this afternoon).

Then, I was just getting around to calculating the weight decrease from when I weighed them on Saturday, and the first egg I calculated was already at 14% decrease! Then I just added all the weights of the remaining eggs and their current weight, and it averaged out to 20% decrease!!!! AHHHHH!!!

I have been doing dry hatch and my humidity has been between 22-28% for most of the hatch. So I quickly added some water to the troughs in the bottom of the LG, but while doing that I quickly candled the one EE egg where I had marked the air cell earlier for reference. The air cell actually looked the right size! Not too big at all! Now I am confused. Should I try to up the humidity now, or wait until lockdown? I know some of you even wait until the first pip to increase humidity. What to do????

I don't weigh. I don't use a hygrometer to measure humidity. I just add water when the first egg pips. You can read more in my signature in the Cheat Sheet, but just know it's okay to be more relaxed about the parameters.

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I have foot-tall seedlings on my dining table...and desk...and shelves...and coffee table...and the window seat...and tons of snow melting in the yard. "Drat!" is a goo down-payment on the statement I'd like to make.

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Not that anyone's counting...

OK couple questions please! Sunday night was Day 14 so we did some candling. I took some pics but they're kind of hard to see. I knew from day 0 and day 7, 1 egg had a detached air cell and on day 7 another egg looked to have a blood ring, but being an inexperienced candler I left them both knowing they may still reattach if it wasn't a blood ring. Day 14 (this past Sunday) the 2 still have air cells moving around in them as I rotate the egg, and a 3rd egg seems awful light through it. The other 5 have beautiful air cells and the remainder of the egg is dark and filling up quickly. Should I go ahead and remove the 3 others? Also, on the one that I thought had a blood ring at first (and still may) that also has a detached air cell, it was kind of oblong and odd shaped. This one was sent as a hopeful extra I'm sure since I got more than I "won". On the sides of it, it is getting this little hard deposits that were not there before. it looks like a tiny bead of something about the size of a pin head and it's kind of brown. These were not there before it was perfectly smooth aside from the odd ridges. It started with just 1 now there's 2-3. What is this?

Quote:
I use zip ties to fasten 2 of these together on one side, and a twist tie to close it once I've put them in to hatch.
Be certain to line the basket with a paper towel or shelf liner, as the slick surface of the tray can cause splay-legged chicks.

I am currently pregnant now 38 weeks and everything looks great...

You could pop any minute!! What if you miss the hatch because you're hatching?!?!?!

edited because I'm OCD on no sleep and couldn't handle the lack of readability...

 

[Shellz]

Gotta love surprises like those hidden broodies!
Eggs in pockets getting smashed. Oh yeah, been there! I had my teen son help collect eggs one day (just this once) & wouldn't you know it? It broke in the pocket that also held his cell phone! Totally ruined the phone. Ugh!
Loved the angora goat babies!
And the emu farm, wow! Big egg! Great pics!
I've been so busy with the maple sap running these last few days & my 9 week old chicks. I did my candling today & had to toss another quitter. That leaves me with 12 out of 20 for lockdown tomorrow. 5 Cuckoo Marans, 5 CM X SG Dorkings & 2 CM X Red Sex Links. I can hardly wait!!!

 

[darbygill]

So, lockdown is tomorrow at noon. I will be at work until 5 pm. Would I be better off locking down tonight, about 12 hours early, or tomorrow at 5, about 5 hours late?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Your temperatures may have run high.

Get them out of the turner and either lay them on their sides or put them air sac up in egg cartons. Increase your humidity to 55-65% and wait.

Losing a chick tonight. It can't stand up.. It spent almost 24 hrs in the egg after pipping. Something seems to be wrong with its leg on one side, because it keeps falling over and lying on the same side. I'm sad.

Still no pip with the Silkie or Araucana (sp?). One of the Wyandotte pipped, and I'm pretty sure the other has internally pipped. Today is day 24.... How long is too long to wait to help those that haven't internally pipped? I can't find a beak on either of them, so I'm not even sure where to start if I did help... I can see the beak (I think) on the other....

Try giving it some vitamins. Also, inspect the leg. It could need a hobble or it could be wry neck too. (if it is wry neck, the vitamins will help)

hey guys checking in....wow ya'll can talk about a storm

....... i decided to 'kill' a rooster today (okay so i just sold him

) he went in to attack my broody hen and crushed an egg

, with a live chick in it.

the poor thing died before i could figure out what to do

so 13 eggs left under my broody. i also had a little banty cochin, that i thought was killed by a hawk weeks ago, reappear today......... she had been hiding in the straw shed, and emerged with 4 little cochin mutts in tow

i'm so glad she is back and brought me surprise

Sorry about the rooster and the chick, but what fantastic news on the hen!

Quote: That would be hilarious. Another Easter Miracle.

 

[CayuseRanch]

Here's the video I promised. I know it's not chicken related, but it's still pretty funny.

everyone has a sad story to share but his just makes me go awwewwwe

 

[Smithyard Farm]

I set early on teh 9th... (8:30am) shoudl I do lock down tonight before bed? or tomorrow when I get home from work? (5:30ish)

 

[Happy Chooks]

I set early on teh 9th... (8:30am) shoudl I do lock down tonight before bed? or tomorrow when I get home from work? (5:30ish)

Won't hurt to lock down tonight. Either would be fine, but I'd do it tonight.

 

[RedIII]

I think so too!!

How nice of the black hen to leave you fertile eggs, though. Sure wish I had that luck! I'd loooove some OEGB's. Don't care what color. Too bad I already have 14 chickens

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE !!! I need alot of coffee today:/ I had to dig a 90 ft trench and put new water line from my well to my house. For some reason it was clogged or collapsed in between my well and house. So I opted to put new line, which is bigger, a better sediment filter,and better valve.

I did this after working all day. Got done about 10:40 last nite. We have water pressure!!! Yesterday morning it only trickled. I hope you guys have a great Tuesday!!! Lock down tomorrow

Yeow! Good on ya! That is a hardcore workout, friend.

sorry if it's already been posted:

I knew it!