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

[ronott1]

Maybe I was unclear with how they died. They ALL died in the egg. Some died after their first "peck" through. All that have hatched are alive and well. It must be the bator or something I am dong with my bator or?????!

Same answer but change the last part to if they had lived give them vitamins.

Use the analyzer I posted--the number one cause is temperature. The thermometer or thermometers were likely reading more than 2 degrees low. That is deadly for chicks.

I am so sorry they all died!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Alright, I don't know if this will count, but this is my story and I am sticking to it. On Monday the 9th I set 12 eggs in a panic around 2:00 pm because I, for some reason, thought that was the day I was supposed to set the eggs. When I was able to get back on here at this wonderful "chicken people" place I realized that I was way ahead of schedule. So I threw my hands up and just added eggs for the next 3 days because there was no way I could remember to do it on Saturday, the 14th. We were hosting a double birthday party that day for our boys. They got Wheelers! It was a big day. So for the days of the 9th-12th I set 29 mixed breed chicken eggs. I set 0 guinea eggs. If this counts I am still in with you guys. I do have some woes...out of 84 eggs I set since Jan only 2 hatched out. 2 were killed by an accidental 5 yr old boy fall. They would die just before hatch and others would die in the middle process. A couple even beaked through then died as their beaks hung out of the shell. There has been sooooo much chick death in this household. We changed incubators and Sunday was supposed to be their hatch date. The first hatched out Tuesday. The other 3 hatched out today. I checked the air pockets of others. I still have 7 alive and about 15 gone....some ready to hatch...blood was drawn in and so was the yoke. I currently have 4 lovely ALIVE chicks in a tote today.... And hopefully 7 more. BIG QUESTIONS!!!!!!! Why are my chicks hatching out late? Why are they dying? Will my 29 eggs still count for the total count? I did have a regular tractor supply bator with egg turner. The new bator is a hova bator and I opted out of doing the egg turner. Have bator hidden in a non drafty place under a dresser. I would be happy to share more info if needed to answer my questions. So confused and sad...what am I doing wrong. I believe we have lost over 100 eggs/chicks. I would not want 100 but I keep trying to replenish our stock.

When you lockdown, do you shut the air vents down? I had those pipped but dead in the shell chicks when I closed my top vents for lockdown. There may not be enough oxygen at hatching time. I leave all my vents wide open during lockdown and just add water daily to keep my humidity up.
For the rest, it seems suspiciously like a temperature issue. I agree that the spot check is the way to go. I use an industrial temperature probe hooked up to out multimeter that I thread in through an air vent to egg level for taking point measurements of temperature at regular intervals. I would be insane about monitoring parameters for a full test hatch cycle, so you can get a handle on where the problem is.
If everything is running right I would investigate the eggs for genetic/fertility causes.

 

[chickwhispers]

Today is a good news/bad news day.
Yesterday I couldn't seem to get the temp stable but watched it closely. It did get up to 102.5 for a maybe 1/2 an hour but It was going from 98 to 101 and finally settled down in the evening! Today has been uneventful. Thank Goodness!

This morning I watched as 2 geese came on to the pond. Then 2 more. I scared them off but 2 returned later.

I usually don't mind a couple of geese making a pit stop. but not this year. And the 2 that returned looked like a mating pair.

The other bad news for today is I had to cull one of my RIR's. She had vent gleet and I couldn't get her any better. She was in pain and her abdomen was very swollen. I though maybe yesterday she was getting better, her comb color was better, but today she could hardly walk. She was one of 5 that survived an attack by a couple of neighborhood strays shepherd/beagle mix and beagle. She is the 2nd one in 2 months to succumb to internal issues. Neither had been laying.

But the good news is the bator is stable today!

 

[TwistedPines]

I'm in! I'll be setting my mixed breeds and wyandotte eggs.

 

[chickwhispers]

for setting eggs!

 

[jbkirk]

NOOOOOO! I'm supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow.

It's spring, darn it. I want it to be spring. Someone show me some pictures of blue skies, flowers, and green grass. Preferably including baby chicks.

Here

This was several weeks ago!

 

[Aprildeesunshin]

Thank you so much for the helpful replies! I will take better note for this next hatch.

 

[bantambury]

I gave in and candled. LOL

my seramas aren't looking too hot. air cells still bad. I cant tell if they have any veining yet, but they are on day 2.
my other eggs (23 of them) are looking nice! I can see a little eye ball on one, tons of veining and more! I may have one clear, but that's alright. I just hope I get at least 2 seramas...

 

[ronott1]

I gave in and candled. LOL

my seramas aren't looking too hot. air cells still bad. I cant tell if they have any veining yet, but they are on day 2.
my other eggs (23 of them) are looking nice! I can see a little eye ball on one, tons of veining and more! I may have one clear, but that's alright. I just hope I get at least 2 seramas...

You candled on day 2?

There will be nothing to see on day 2.

Do not touch them until day 7 please.

(I set 29 bresse eggs this morning and now I want to candle them tomorrow....)

Myself to stay away from the eggs!

 

[bantambury]

You candled on day 2?

There will be nothing to see on day 2.

Do not touch them until day 7 please.

(I set 29 bresse eggs this morning and now I want to candle them tomorrow....)

Myself to stay away from the eggs!

ITS SO HARD I JUST CANT!! LOL

I haven't rotated the seramas in a day... seeing of the cells will settle.
GOODNESS SOMEONE NEEDS TO TAKE ALL CANDLERS AND FLASH LIGHTS FROM ME

I normally candle on day 4 for anyway to check out progress, and candle again on day 9.