The 4th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long

[acemario]

I have 51 eggs in lockdown. I've been having a hard time with temps regulating. Oh and then I unplugged the egg turner (because i was going to transfer eggs anyway) and found out 6 hrs later I unplugged the incubator instead!There's half my eggs. I have no idea what will hatch with this bunch!!!!!

Haha! I've had a few of these 'oops' moments too. I'll double cross my fingers for you.

My eggs are moving!! It's so cool!! I ended up with 10 out of 12 going into lockdown. One was clear, and the other one quit around 5 days. That's not too. Bad for a first timer. Now to see how many we will have hatch.

NICE! Great odds!

Nada here. No cheeps or pips....you guys are making me jealous.

You're not the only one... I think my temp was a little low... so I'm not expecting anything until late tonight or tomorrow. I set 3/9

Good morning everyone! What fun to wake up and read about everyone's pips and hatches....

I slept horribly last night... Not sure why, except that I kept dreaming about hatching and switching incubators and moving eggs to a hatcher and adding more eggs to the bator and.......

Oh my! I'm glad I'm not the only one! I dreamed the chicks hatch and our lab (which we don't even have) had like, 14 puppies, all at the same time! And to make matters worse, I didn't have a whelping box or brooder ready, so I had puppies and chicks trying to escape left and right. Ugh. Tiring night. And then my cousin took the chicks outside in the incubator without any power... so they all froze to death. When I came inside and started to warm them up with warm water they turned into slimy frogs and began to puff up like they were going to pop... haha. This whole hatching thing has obviously really got me subconsciously worried!

Happy Good Friday! I am so certain I heard my first "chirp" come from the bator last night, although the hubsy thinks I'm insane. (I heard it I know I did) No pips yet that I can see, but Im only starting day 20 here around 9 am or so.

Happy Good Friday!

 

[acemario]

Oh, quick story.

Last year we bought some chicks for the first time. However, our WL turned out to be a roo, and our city doesn't allow us to keep roos, so we adopted him out to a farm in a little town a few miles away. Well, we got about a dozen of his flocks eggs to set in this hatch. 5 of the 11 went into lockdown.

Well, I just got a phone call from the owner out there. Here's how the conversation went:

Him: How are the eggs doin?
Me: Good! Five are in lockdown and we're just waiting for some sign of movement!
Him: Oh, that's great. Hey! Gotta question for ya.
Me: Ya? What's that?
Him: How would you like to hatch some turkeys.....?
Me (in my mind)...: Um... heck yes!!! Woot woot! Turkeys?!? Really?!?
Me out loud: I'd love to! I guess we'll wanna see how these ones turn out though!
Him: Ya, my buddy has a turkey that's made a nest in the horse hay, so he said he'd just give me all the ones that have collected there.
Me: Yeah, that would be sweet. I probably couldn't keep them, but I could incubate them for you!
Him: Right on. I'd raise them up, and you could even keep one. Maybe you could name it Thanksgiving!
Me: Deal!


So.. what does this mean?... If I have a successful hatch, I'll be setting turkeys!!!!

 

[tadpole98]

hopefuly all goes wel!

 

[chicken pickin]

Yay for turkeys acemario!!! Do you know what kind they are? I have 15 Bourbon Red turkey eggs cooking in the bator right now and eggs im saving up for the cinco de mayo turkey hatchathon.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hi Everyone! So happy to see people getting pips and even hatching we have 9 in lockdown (had another couple of quitters that be left in the incubator just in case but didn't move to the hatcher). I had a misunderstanding with a sick horse and a fence yesterday and ended up in a full leg immobilizer and crutches for the unforeseen future so our posts will be slow lol! I am way behind now on the thread but I am really looking forward to the hatch and we will hopefully see some pips of our own very soon!

Oh no! Take care of yourself.

I have 51 eggs in lockdown. I've been having a hard time with temps regulating. Oh and then I unplugged the egg turner (because i was going to transfer eggs anyway) and found out 6 hrs later I unplugged the incubator instead!There's half my eggs. I have no idea what will hatch with this bunch!!!!!

I'm sure you will still get a bunch of chicks.

for you.

One of ours started moving and peeping too . It seemed a little early, but it is so exciting to see them moving around. There is a little crack in the side...but I don't think it is enough to pierce the membrane yet. Hopefully the chick gets out okay. Waiting is so hard! I might not be able to stay up all night to watch, but I sure want to. Go Egg#3!! There appeared to be 8 developing when "lockdown" began and hopefully it will be a good hatch. 1st timer here and boy am I excited!

Sit on your hands! Keep them out of the bator.

I had my first hatch ever on March 7th and had such a difficult time getting humidity above 59% & towards the end of that hatch I had a couple of shrink wrapped chicks I had to assist. Went into lock down tonight and now humidity way too high. How high is too high?

At which point do each of you give up or try to assist?
I have read the hatch assist thread/article, but it is now day 23 (I set them 3/6 8:20pm) and I did get out the eggs and candle, I marked all air cells quickly just for any future assisting. I noticed that almost all of these eggs have larger air cells that are lop sided half way up the egg, to me giving less room for the chick to even move. I looked and listened for any life going on in the egg last night and heard or seen NOTHING There is 6 silkie eggs left in there, and the 7th is hatching this morning(it had a pip for some time) ....But as of last night with the other eggs I seen no movement, no noise and no internal pips - they all do appear to be full of a full term chick from what I could see.

If nothing is happening, no cheeping, no new pips, etc. Then pull the eggs out and candle them - see if they have pipped internally. You can tap on them with your fingernail too and see if you hear any noise before attempting to open the eggs. Go slow and careful.

I have my first pipper, but it is pipping the wrong end. Can it still hatch and do okay? Wow, I was post #7000'

It may need help. Give it at least 12 hours on it's own and see how it does.

ok I have one pip, but my humidity is to low. (50%) How do I raise it with out affecting the piped egg? could I just open it and fill then water troughs or put a sponge in or something?

Bendy straw and medicine syringe. Put the bendy straw down the vent hole and fill a medicine syringe with water and squirt down the straw.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Morning everyone! Congrats to everyone getting activity in their bators!

For those of you asking about humidity - 80% is too high OR any condensation on the window. Make sure you pull any vent plugs to help lower your humidity. I had a bunch hatch at once yesterday and I got condensation on my glass a couple of times. I popped open the bator to let some humidity out, then closed it back up.

As for my hatch, my cracked egg has hatched (a black sex link pullet). So I now have 17 chicks out. 4 eggs left in the bator (though one is marked as a quitter, but left it in to be sure) 2 of those eggs are pipped.

My one chick in the tupperware container escaped in with the other chicks last night, so much for marking it.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Be sure to post when your hatch is done and how many chicks you hatched, so we can get everything recorded for the How Many Will Hatch Contest.

 

[chicken fever]

Two out and more pipped! wahooo!

 

[Razadia]

I have no idea how long my temps were over 100 yesterday, but it fixed my air cell problem and I have a pip! I thought the games would pip first like they always do, but it's a RIR. I'm a little worried about my duck eggs (first time with them and all), but I'm sure everything will be fine.

 

[audrey02026]

Last night I noticed one had piped and I can hear chirping. The other two have nothing so far but hatch day isn't until Sunday so here's to hoping I get more than just one!

They are Anacona Duck eggs.