The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[foxvalleyfarm]

Fox how is hubby?  did he need much surgery or patching

No surgery thank God. But several stitches. Not sure how many yet. I gotta go get lots of bandaging stuff tho along with meds and duck food.

 

[EnnisLakeFarm]

I live at 5505ft altitude. I set 28 eggs from somewhere in Texas (I forget where) my humidity has been around 45 and I didn't use the plug at all. I candled a few eggs and saw life, but didn't do all of them yet. Now after all this talk about altitude I'm nervous.

 

[chicken pickin]

Random Posting #1 was 4/4 at 4:59AM (Pacific time)

The closest poster to that time was LBKS! Congratulations! You have won a 6 month GFM membership!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...byc-easter-hatch-a-long/7650_50#post_13179121​

CONGRATS LBKS!!!

I posted right after you, so close lol.

 

[ronott1]

I live at 5505ft altitude. I set 28 eggs from somewhere in Texas (I forget where) my humidity has been around 45 and I didn't use the plug at all. I candled a few eggs and saw life, but didn't do all of them yet. Now after all this talk about altitude I'm nervous.

Make sure there is good ventilation where the incubator is. No drafts, you do not want temperature fluctuation but make sure the air is fresh.

Good job on the humidity but watch the air cells for size. You may need to increase humidity if the get too big too fast.

 

[Hayduke27]

Yes, you need to not use a plug and if very high would need to add oxygen. More humidity would be needed for some eggs--weighing was recommended. 7000 ft. is a limit for a lot of life. The Tree line is 1600 ft. in Scotland but 4500 ft. in Washington. Trees have a hard time up that high and "specialist" trees are the only ones there.

It is something to climb Mt. Lassen and see that looking our over the Cascade Mt.s

I live at 7,700 feet, this is my first hatch. I had the plugs in because I read the post about the higher CO2 levels making more robust chicks. I just pulled the plugs though, as I hadn't considered the fact the air had less oxygen already. I hope my little eggs are doing okay! I candled I couple about 2 days ago, saw nothing. I think I will check a bunch of them tonight.

P.S.- My eggs are from my own hens

 

[Happy Chooks]

The winner of the Wet Poultry Contest is...................

austinbndr28

Congratulations!​

 

[ozexpat]

SO.....

How do you hatch 27 groups of eggs with 21 breeds in two hatchers?

In baskets silly



CODE BREED EGGS BASKET
M Black Copper Marans 1 1
BCM Black Copper Marans 27 1
SA1 Salmon Faverolles 1 2
SA2 Salmon Faverolles 21 2
BO2 Buff Orpington 22 3
OX New England Whites/mixes 8 A
BBC Banty Barred Cochin 2 A
BLRW Blue Laced red wyandotte 2 A
CL crème legbars 5 B
BF Breda Fowl 12 C
PH Mottled Houdan 1 D
C BBS Cochin 3 D
MH Mottled Houdan 4 D
RR2 Rhode Island Reds 2 E
BP black penedesenca 2 E
WE white empordanesa 2 E
CP crele penedesenca 3 E
SF1 Swedish Flower Hens 8 F
SF2 Swedish Flower Hens 5 F
NH New Hampshire 3 G
BB1 Black Bresse 7 G
BB2 Black Bresse 10 G
WFS White Faced Spanish 6 H
B Blue Partridge Brahma 1 H
BBR Banty Barred Rocks 17 J
PR1 Silver Pencilled Rocks 14 K
PR2 Silver Pencilled Rocks 13 K


Now where can I find 21 different colored zip ties

The big boy megabator - we had to double stack on that hatch












The display case bator - now converted into the best hatcher!







The dual purpose mini cabinet - it holds three styro turners for incubating or three trays for hatching







Of course, the styros are there for back up - they will hatch quail and chukar this week



and at the end of the day, its time to sit back and enjoy CocoBeach - and here is a photo flood from my diary thread seeing I have been so quiet up until now

 

[chickenlisa]

Make sure there is good ventilation where the incubator is. No drafts, you do not want temperature fluctuation but make sure the air is fresh.

Good job on the humidity but watch the air cells for size. You may need to increase humidity if the get too big too fast.

I use the plug up until lockdown, unless I add too much water nad the humidity goes up over 50 %. If I don't add water (at this time of year) and if I leave the red plug out, my humidity goes down to 14%...our old farm house is Sooooo DRYYYY from our steam radiators (I guess that's why?) so I open it often enough to candle some eggs so O2 is added then...and I take hte plug out so increase O2 during lockdown and hatching...so far I have pretty good results doing that.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Gorgeous pictures oz!

 

[ronott1]

I live at 7,700 feet, this is my first hatch. I had the plugs in because I read the post about the higher CO2 levels making more robust chicks. I just pulled the plugs though, as I hadn't considered the fact the air had less oxygen already. I hope my little eggs are doing okay! I candled I couple about 2 days ago, saw nothing. I think I will check a bunch of them tonight.

P.S.- My eggs are from my own hens

I am so glad we were on this topic now! It was timely given when we set chicken eggs.

Yours should do fine since they are from the same elevation.