The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[ronott1]

Should I just tilt them side to side while upright in their carton?

Yes, tilt gently. They will have been stressed from shipping so gentle, gentle, gentle.....for the first week.

 

[bantambury]

My head feels a bit better today. Thanks for all your suggestions!

I set ALL MY EGGS! Now i have to vow to no more...LOL its so hard!

Ill move the ones on the side 2 times a day till the 19th....would that be ok? Or do they need more? They are the eggs with the detached cells...theyre still kinda bubbily after 48+ hours of sitting with small rotations here and there. Ill try my best with them...

35 EGGS!! this is my biggest hatch yet!

 

[SimplyLogan]

Yes, tilt gently. They will have been stressed from shipping so gentle, gentle, gentle.....for the first week.

I could have blow it, I waited 48 hours and started turning.. Ugh

 

[coop410silkies]

When it gets to 20% add some water.

At 20% you run the risk of having hatch problems--curled toes, slipped hocks, spradle leg and etc. The chicks may also get stuck to the shell.back

Ron, how long can the incubation run at 20% before problems start occurring? Reason I ask is that I've had bent toes, slipped hocks, AND shrink wrapping in my hatches. The humidity might have dropped down that low on occasion, but on the whole, it probably averaged between 35% and 45%. My last hatch produced ANOTHER slipped hock tendon; this last incubation was not so "dry" and the air cells were smallish at lockdown. The perosis comes from an SS heritage pen, which included a hen with bent toes. (The egg was not hers, but possibly from a sister) Is my perosis coming from a humidity problem, or do you think it might be genetic? I am changing incubators in the future and will have MUCH better control over humidity issues. For obvious reasons I'd like to rule out the humidity problem, so that I can concentrate on the genetics of my SS pen. Can you recommend a humidity I should start with with these? FWIW, NONE of the Silkies incubated with the perotic SS had the slightest problem with sticking to its shell. Thanks for any help, no rush.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

My head feels a bit better today. Thanks for all your suggestions!

I set ALL MY EGGS! Now i have to vow to no more...LOL its so hard!

Ill move the ones on the side 2 times a day till the 19th....would that be ok? Or do they need more? They are the eggs with the detached cells...theyre still kinda bubbily after 48+ hours of sitting with small rotations here and there. Ill try my best with them...

35 EGGS!! this is my biggest hatch yet!

I myself would try to do three times a day, gently. Love the egg variety, where did you get thdm from?

 

[MisfitMarie]

Stressed about my eggs....

Last night was stormy and windy. The power went out around 11 PM and didn't kick back on until 4:00 AM. I have two full incubators right now.

I immediately covered the incubators in blankets and placed glasses of near-boiling water inside each one.

It was an icy cold night, and the baby chicks that I am holding for a relative started peeping up a storm around 2 AM. I actually took them all out and wrapped them up in my robe while I tried to study for my final exam this morning by candle light... It was hard to focus. They quieted down immediately, though...and went to sleep. I figure they were cold. The house seemed to cool down quite quickly.

I had two final projects due by midnight (I am a full-time student and a couple of my classes are online), but I wasn't able to submit them because the power went out. Luckily, my instructor was kind enough to let me turn them in this morning.

Sorry... just had to rant a bit. Finals week has me sleep deprived and feeling stressed and cranky. The power gong out has me worried about my eggs.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

I

I can't see the air cells in my (shipped) turkey eggs when candling, so I don't know if they are detached. I got them on Saturday and put them in the incubator last night (Sunday). How long should I wait to turn them?

I would go ahead and start turning!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Stressed about my eggs.... 

Last night was stormy and windy. The power went out around 11 PM and didn't kick back on until 4:00 AM. I have two full incubators right now. 

I immediately covered the incubators in blankets and placed glasses of near-boiling water inside each one. 

It was an icy cold night, and the baby chicks that I am holding for a relative started peeping up a storm around 2 AM. I actually took them all out and wrapped them up in my robe while I tried to study for my final exam this morning by candle light... It was hard to focus. They quieted down immediately, though...and went to sleep. I figure they were cold. The house seemed to cool down quite quickly.

I had to final projects due by midnight (I am a full-time student and a couple of my classes are online), but I wasn't able to submit them because the power went out. Luckily, my instructor was kind enough to let me turn them in this morning. 


Sorry... just had to rant a bit. Finals week has me sleep deprived and feeling stressed and cranky. The power gong out has me worried about my eggs. 

We have all been there! Full incubator, and suddenly the power is out. The electric company says one hour, then two, then three... And so on... You have everything you can find piled on the incubator to keep it warm...

...and oh, finals.... I don't miss them. At all. Nope. Not one bit.

I'm sorry you had to deal with the power outage and finals at once. Each in itself is stressful!
Here's wishing you bit a successful hatch and great finals!

 

[jbkirk]

My head feels a bit better today. Thanks for all your suggestions!

I set ALL MY EGGS! Now i have to vow to no more...LOL its so hard!


Ill move the ones on the side 2 times a day till the 19th....would that be ok? Or do they need more? They are the eggs with the detached cells...theyre still kinda bubbily after 48+ hours of sitting with small rotations here and there. Ill try my best with them...

35 EGGS!!

this is my biggest hatch yet!

Always turn the eggs a ODD number of times so that they are resting on the opposite side each night.

 

[ronott1]

Ron, how long can the incubation run at 20% before problems start occurring? Reason I ask is that I've had bent toes, slipped hocks, AND shrink wrapping in my hatches. The humidity might have dropped down that low on occasion, but on the whole, it probably averaged between 35% and 45%. My last hatch produced ANOTHER slipped hock tendon; this last incubation was not so "dry" and the air cells were smallish at lockdown. The perosis comes from an SS heritage pen, which included a hen with bent toes. (The egg was not hers, but possibly from a sister) Is my perosis coming from a humidity problem, or do you think it might be genetic? I am changing incubators in the future and will have MUCH better control over humidity issues. For obvious reasons I'd like to rule out the humidity problem, so that I can concentrate on the genetics of my SS pen. Can you recommend a humidity I should start with with these? FWIW, NONE of the Silkies incubated with the perotic SS had the slightest problem with sticking to its shell. Thanks for any help, no rush.

The number one cause of problems like that is temperatures too low or too high. The second is inadequate nutrition and the third is smooth bottom hatching trays.

Humidity too low is not a huge problem but the poultry industry would never incubate at 20%. They usually incubate at 55 to 60%. There are problems associated with too high of humidity though.

From what I researched on curled toes, toes curling out is not genetic. Toes curling in towards the foot can be genetic.

What I do for humidity is fill a tank or use a small food storage container to get humidity to 35 to 40% and then wait until humidity goes down to 25% and add more water. The surface area needed for the correct humidity changes by season though.

The thing to do is to get a Brinsea spot check and keep your temperature as close as possible to 99.5 or slightly higher. I like to set my temperature closer to 100.