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

[K Epp]

My 6 are still wiggling around.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks Ron.
I'm going to need all the help I can get! In my incubators I have 8 Serama eggs and 22 call duck eggs. All with ruptured , saddled or detached air cells. There is some very good development going on in at least 7 of the Seramas and at least 14 of the duck eggs.
I think this batch is going to kill me! I have three broodies taking care of some "normal" eggs. So at least I don't have to worry about those. I just get the damaged eggs to work with.

I hadn't used the styrofoam bator in awhile. Last time I did the turner was fine. I have been trying to keep my set egg numbers down to what fits in the Rcom. I generally have it going for parrot eggs. I have been doing a lot of temp taking. Mostly with the Spot check. We did lose electricity once, but I think the eggs survived that okay.
I never use the vent plugs in the styro and I am assuming the Rcom has a good venting system. No way to change it without propping the lid up...

So hard to tell if the air cells are growing at the right rate when they are so scrambled.....
Thanks again.

Since not turning might cause poor embryonic development, try two things that helps increase embryonic development.

1. Cool the eggs from today until day 18. Simply take the top off of the incubator for 1 to two hours each night.
2. mist the eggs with fresh clean water every couple of days from today until day 18. You have to be careful with that one because dirty water can cause bacteria.

3. Lower the temperature to 99 at hatch.
4. shipped eggs need to be set with the big end up in a carton (I checked my notes on incubation and that is what I understand for research) if the air cells are "wonky" or saddle. Keep and eye out for ones that pip in the small end--but if you set the eggs slightly tilted you will see them pip at the bottom usually.

Do not give up! they have not been sentenced to death yet.

 

[SoManyHats]

[ATTACHMENT=585]HatchabilityProblemanalysis.pdf (1,708k. pdf file)[/ATTACHMENT]

match the day with the analysis.

It looks like it could be a lot of things, including humidity too low!

Thanks.

 

[Scrambles55]

Quote: WHEEEEEE!!!! So eggciting!!

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Finally got to do a complete candling for Day 7 tonight! So exciting! I candled all 49 eggs in the turner, picking them up if necessary while my sister took notes on a list of the eggs that I had made. I didn't worry about leaving the top off for the maybe half hour it took because I have had broody hens be off the nest for longer than that with no problem for the eggs. I had MUCH better results than expected! Lots of healthy veins and little embryos swimming around happily!

Pulled 4 definitely clears and left 4 others that were questionable. Here is the breakdown...

Buff Orpingtons - 13 set - 13 ALIVE!

BO Mixes - 12 set - 11 ALIVE! Pulled one clear - opened - broken runny yolk? No embryo.

Blue Barred Rocks - 9 set - 3 ALIVE, 4 - ?, 2 Pulled - clear, infertile.

BBS Copper Marans - 8 set - 6 ALIVE! 1-?, 1 Pulled - clear, infertile.

Olive Eggers - 6 set - 6 ALIVE!

BRxPR - 1 set - 1 ALIVE!

Total Results - 49 set - 40 ALIVE for sure - 5 Questionable - 4 Clear and pulled, infertile.

Thrilled with the BO's, bit disappointed on the BR's, but most of them are young, under 1 yr, and the one older hen is 5 yrs old. Will try again later with them.

Overall VERY happy tonight!

Here's hoping most of these swimming little embryos make it to lockdown!

 

[Cynthia12]

How can I candle all 35 eggs without them cooling off too much?

They will be fine. Just candle away, then put the lid back on, they will think that mama if finally back.

 

[ronott1]

How can I candle all 35 eggs without them cooling off too much?

You can candle in place if they are in a turner. If they are on their side, you can still candle quickly by lifting the egg and putting the candler on the big end. You are looking for veining and air cell size.

They will be fine. Just candle away, then put the lid back on, they will think that mama if finally back.

It is good for them to cool down!

Quote:http://www.brinsea.com/cooling.html Complete research article here:

http://www.epsaegypt.com/pdf/2011_june/15- 1271.pdf

 

[Book]

I have been only hatching eggs for about 17 months so I could be called a newbie.

Because I wanted to get the best hatches possible in the Philippines, I hatches more than 20 shipped egg sets in SoCal and either sold or gave away the chicks (my rental apartment does not permit chickens lol). I followed all the guidelines of the times and found myself with dead in shell chicks. I also spent many a night on Sally's thread working with people to get their stuck chicks out.

All the research I was reading said that turning was critical, yet we were all letting our precious shipped eggs rest for days and up to a week. Something was wrong. I changed my practice and studied the results. After more than two thousand shipped eggs I can say that it is clear how critical it is to get eggs turning within 48 hours. Any longer than that and my dead in shell or need to assist rate climbs.

I turn all eggs at 12 hours. When I am hatching in the usa with a nice controlled dry hatch, those with really bad air cells hatch at the same rate - from zero for rolling cells to about 20% for jiggly cells. My assist rate is zero and my dead in shell id about 5% on shipped eggs. Calculating success in shipped eggs is different than with local eggs. If you are doing everything right on local eggs you should be at 88-95% of eggs you set. While I record my percentages of eggs set versus hatched with shipped eggs to evaluate vendors and shipping methods, what happens to an egg before I set it is out of my control. An egg that is non viable could look perfect but candle clear. Everything from hen nutrition, to age of eggs when shipped to travel vibrations can cause a clear at 7-10 day candling. All my research is based on improving hatch percentages of viable eggs. The most significant improvement came from turning eggs early. Now temperature, humidity and ventilation control are critical and without them, you will fail catastophically but if delayed turning causes a dead in shell improvemnt as signigicant as 10-15% - I will take three more chicks in a clutch of twenty.

Sally has been on board with this thinking through her own research and modified her hatching 101 article probably 6 months ago. The concept is new on BYC. Lots of people giving advice are following the age old procedures and it will take a while for the culture to change. Hatchalongs like this are a great time to get everybody together and discuss new methods, and share our results.

Good luck with your hatch.

Thank you for sharing your research and experience. Our last hatching we had 100% hatch rate and so I swear we normally know what we are doing but I think I got confused with the shipped eggs. This has taught my family a lot and we will do things differently next time!

I think we are now down to 5 possibly viable eggs from the 10 (2 clear, 1 red ring, 2 I think gave up) We will see if the stuck chicks make it to hatch. Not having much hope with this bator! Will be getting the kind we have used in the past next time!

 

[Arielle]

This one Sally...has black skin!

Everything is black. :/

He is lovely!!! In a strange, cool way.

Quote: ROFL

What we subject our children to!! lol

 

[Book]

The sorrow of learning things the hard way