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

[ozexpat]

Good luck!

I ditched my vent plugs after everyone was recommending getting rid of them.  I thought it would be harder to maintain humidity, but just the opposite actually. (hatching chickens, not ducks)  Of course I have chicks hatching one right after another, so humidity is too high right now.  I keep having to crack the lid to get it back into a safe range.

I have always understood lockdown to mean just that. The humidity is going to go hi as chicks hatch.

I vote you go read a good book. Lil

Stop messing with the Bator

 

[abmaddox1981]

1 English ORP is out! Little Wrong Way is scooting around the bator, waiting for his friends.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: I can help you with that. Let me know if you want some eggs.

I have always understood lockdown to mean just that. The humidity is going to go hi as chicks hatch.

I vote you go read a good book. Lil

Stop messing with the Bator

I have condensation, so it's way too high. I'm just letting out enough to get it back in the 65-70% range. The last chick that hatched was super wet. I've hatched enough to know when it's too high.

 

[Cynthia12]

So this just happened. Laying in bed on my phone with my 20mo old and I'm reading this thread. Suddenly I hear chirping. I nearly plowed the kid outta my bed, rushed over to the incubator sitting on top of my dresser and put my ear to the lid. Hmmm nothing. Then chirping again! UGH it was outside. Lol darn birds.

 

[JennaLynn122]

This is EXACTLY what my bator looks like for this HAL!!!!

I'm hoping to do this next year too. We should have 4 different breeds of our own going in that one possibly some shipped eggs. who knows?

Woke up this morning to a pip! Just one...no one else is makin' any noise, just some rocking. This is going to be my early bird!





Gilly is still alive! She really is sleeping A LOT...I hope that's just normal, and not because it's a sign I'll lose her. She's such a cutie!

The early bird gets the worm, right? Gilly looks good. He/she is lucky you are addicted to chicken pens!

That's a lot of eggs YAY! and very cute chicks!


Very cute! And lucky you with all the girls. Ive been hatching since the NYDH and so far every single hatch I have done is roughly 80% roosters. I currently have 30-35 roosters in my brooders and only 7 known pullets

I also have about 12 im unsure of gender yet but im sure they will be boys too. It seems to be my luck this year.

Thank you! 2 are named now. Cleo (she has really think "eyeliner" that draws back into her ear lobe area) and Beauty/Beautiful (DH actually named that one). She climbs in his hand every time he messes with the brooder.

You were NOT KIDDING were you!! ha ha ha how pretty!!

No, no I wasnt. LOL! I got ALL 60 to fit in there!

No I dont have call ducks

BUT if you WOULD BE FOLLOWING THE DIARY THREAD you would see all the research I am doing with duck incubation right now!
I will HAVE an SILKY DUCK hatching egg article in a month, I am on day 16, and have another batch to add, I am learning TONS and TONS with research online.
So far every egg that wasnt clear is viable, trouble with ducks is the late stage deaths due to weight loss issues. I am researching intently and your welcome to go read some of the articles and abstracts I pulled this week on that thread. good reads, and I know your getting into ducks hard core so you should read all of the info I posted so far! <insert kick in butt here> <oh and a hug and praying you feel better, which it sounds likeyou are>

And is on the call duck article, I think eggs are incubating as we speak!

Can you link me to the Diary Thread?

Yes you are! A++++

Ty!

gotta check the temperature again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again

I do this constantly. But lucky I do cause I had all kinds of temp issues with this one.

I'm staying busy so I don't stalk my eggs




I added extra holes so I can raise the bottle. This will just be my temp brooder. They will move to a giant watermelon box when they're bigger cutting my hole for the cord to my heat plate now... love me some power tools bwahahaha (wonder how my eggs are)

Watermelon box.. ingenious. Where do you get yours? I'd like to do this, Ive been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do when they get too big for this brooder.

A beautiful little blue Olive Egger just hatched. Momma is my Splash OE and Dad is my Barnevelder rooster. I love blue chickens! Hopefully, it's a pullet!

Congrats!

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Well I finally candled mine First time during the hatch before lock down out of 26 only 9 looked good.

 

[ozexpat]

I've never had an issue keeping the plug in just hatching chickens, but my ducks seem to need more air. 

Great anecdotal information but it really veers away from all major practices.

Ron,sally and just about anybody else will be happy to agree with me that ventilation is the most critical factor now.

Even with high humidity of hatching chicks, the hatch will do better with good ventilation.

 

[Cynthia12]

I like shaved heads! Lookin good!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ll-detatched-shipped-eggs/25960#post_13284312

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: Lack of oxygen can harm many of the processes as well as muscle function for the chicks at hatch, it can effect them long term as well, yup, there are tons of studies on the subject for ventilation in the latter stages of incubation for most fowl domestic and otherwise. Oxygen is Critical at the end.


Large scale hatcheries even supliment oxy to the hatchers and have done tons and tons of studies on just that, this is just one

At hatching day, chicks were significantly heavier and had higher blood glucose level in oxygen supplemented group than in control group. The results imply that oxygen supplementation from day 18 to 21 of incubation can be used as an effective mean of improvement of embryonic survival in broiler breeder. http://www.european-poultry-science.com/QUlEPTQyMTY5NTcmTUlEPTE2MTAxNA.html