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

[Happy Chooks]

Yeah, I kept toggling the temp setting to keep it between 99.5 and 101, though it usually stayed 101 right at the top of the incubator and 98.7-ish around the bottom. So I figured that the eggs were in the middle and would be okay. DH insists I try putting the incubator in a different room next time to see if that helps.

ETA: the digital thermometer/hygrometer would be at the lowest point in the incubator when tipped forward, and would read the 98.whatever. When the incubator was tipped level, it usually read 100.0 or so. When the incubator was tipped back, putting the therm/hyg at the very top, it read 101.

I'm still thinking your temps are off. Is your incubator still air or have a fan? Are you sure your thermometer is accurate? I would try a different room and get a Spot Check thermometer.

Candled our eggs last night. It was so exciting! My husband was giddy like a kid in the candy shop, and our 3yo was so excited to call grandma and grandpa and tell them about it. Out of 12 eggs we saw embryo movement in 11 and veining in all!! It was fascinating. This is our first time candling (ever!). (I also popped a beautiful egg in a little less than a week later than our original 12 and so far it has nothing, which is expected). This was day 8 for us.

Incubator Wars!
Breaking news
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Distressing news has reached us of a trauma with Contestant #3, Amber. During this morning's chicken chores, Amber was found frantically pacing and refusing to return to the nest. Upon closer inspection the nest was torn up and one of the eggs missing. The remaining eggs were scattered about and quite cold. They were rushed to Contestant #2's incubator for monitoring and closer inspection. Amber was allowed to range with the flock and scratch about to calm her nerves while the cause is searched for. We will bring you updates as more information becomes known.

Sounds like she got kicked off the nest by another hen.

for this HAL I am doing shipped eggs for the first time and I heard at day 18 i should put them in a egg carton. Is that true?

You can hatch them either way. I hatch all of my eggs in cartons.

Make sure they are wide end up if you do.

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

Quote: Do i have to do anything special to the cartons. What is the advantage?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
You can cut the bottoms out of the carton, put the eggs in wide end up. (though I don't always) I usually separate the cartons into sections of 6. Advantages: less mess to clean up, no chicks playing egg soccer. Disadvantages: None that I've found.

 

[bekkanblue]

Oh... well they are probably still in PA. The USPS only uses the Expected Delivery Date to tease us. It means nothing to them. I shipped a package last Wed. to WI from KY. It was supposed to be there Friday, but didn't get there until yesterday. The tracking did not show delayed until Sunday, I believe.  They will probably take 2 more days if they scanned in Philly today. I'm sorry. I hope they are still good when you get them. 

Ya, wasn't expecting them to get to IA by tomorrow if they're averaging 60 miles a day. That's the thing that blows my mind, only going 180 miles in 3 days! My commute since Sat is more than that!

 

[Dcat]

I'm just going to stop counting eggs until everyone hatches. Tossed two more quitters today with the possibility of a clear and one more quitter. I have a couple eggs that you can't see any viening but there is definatly a chick kicking up a storm in there so I don't want to toss the pissible just in case. It's really sad to see this super tiny perfectly formed chick that just couldn't make it. One of the quitters died probably a gew days ago but I dont candle all the eggs every day, just a few different ones to see that they are growing then I candle different ones thw next day and so on. I'm getting antsy for hatch day! I am so looking forward to this and seeing baby's hatch. I will be glued to the incubators from the time I see the first pip I'm sure. Problem is, I have two upstairs and one downstairs. Guess I'll be getting my exercise!
Congrats to the mommy to be(again). I'm glad I'm done but always so happy to see others with new bundles of joy.
Sorry for those losing eggs, I'm feeling your pain as I'm way down from the 80 I started with. Sigh

 

[Flowers of Abba]

I am so excited!  I candled and saw things jumping around.  I *may* have even seen something jumping around in the marans egg I checked!  My chickens might be having babies!  I really wasn't sure that Gilgamesh (roo) had even noticed George (marans hen).

So far, in my hatches, I have had good rates of develepment, but poor hatches.  I *think* it's some interrelationship between high altitude, the brinsea holding humidity too well, and lack of sufficient oxygen, but I am not certain.  For now, I am trying to hold humidity at 35%.

C'mon chickies!  You can do it!

I am at 6,500 feet and have had miserable hatched since getting a hydrometer. Lol I didn't realize it but I had been running dry / 25-35% humidity. After getting the hydrometer I started trying to raise it to the suggested 45-55 with 65-70 at ckdown.... no bueno!!!!!! Sticky shrink wrapped a babies many piped only to die. Super sad. I'm back to a dry run and praying my 80-90 % hatches return...

If you really want to buy one right now, I would recommend the PI-24 for 119 plus shipping. Its available on Amazon as well as from Double R Supply in FL. It would serve as an excellent hatcher later on.

Pros: Very stable temperature. Auto-turner. Can view eggs and chicks from outside because of translucent lid. Although the capacity says 20-24 eggs, one can easily place 10-12 eggs outside the tray as well and turn them manually.
Cons: Very big water channels, so instead of using the water channels, you may have to put a small cup or its lid to maintain lower levels of humidity. However, excellent during hatch because easily maintains 70-80% humidity without any problems.

I saw that the other day. The are only 9 left. It's 65% off and the same price as a
Foam bator! Very tempting. Have you had sucess with this one?

I....have had a bit of a shock today...I had planned on doing some spot candling this afternoon to show my daughter but around noon I started feeling nauseous and dizzy...I have had a mild headache for a few days and a cold so I just thought my blood sugar was low or something. I ate lunch and was annoyed that the bacon I heated up tasted off...then I remembered my eggs tasted off last night...and I polished off a bag of sourcream and onion rings which I normally never eat...I keep DollarStore pregnancy tests in the bathroom because I get anxious if I am late and yesterday one said clearly that I wasn't pregnant...I keep one pair of expensive tests as a backup if I need it and so I took one of those....mother of fluffy baby chickens....

I AM PREGNANT!!!!

Congradulations. I hope your very sick. Lol have a good strong pregnancy....



Confession. My mini has been on a cool down cycle since day one! I didn't know I should have it starting after day 7!

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

Thanks. Also all of my shipped eggs have saddle air cells. Will this help with that? 18 are developing

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Here is the process..fast and easy..I think someone posted it on here earlier..that's why I tried it today.

http://lifehacker.com/quickly-peel-a-hard-boiled-egg-by-shaking-it-in-a-glass-1683335985

are the eggs warm in this method or do they need to be chilled overnight? I'm looking for a method that I can use when I cook eggs and want to eat them warm for breakfast.

 

[Junibutt]

Quote: I saw that the other day. The are only 9 left. It's 65% off and the same price as a
Foam bator! Very tempting. Have you had sucess with this one?

@Flowers of Abba its Day 10 for me today and the eggs are going good. Don't know how many will hatch! As I mentioned in my first post, you will have to use a small cup-lid (I am using 2 medicine bottle caps) to maintain humidity at lower levels, but close to hatch it will be great because once you put water in the channels, the humidity easily goes up to 70+ and stays there.

 

[Ravynscroft]

are the eggs warm in this method or do they need to be chilled overnight?  I'm looking for a method that I can use when I cook eggs and want to eat them warm for breakfast.

I do the boil water first method with fresh eggs... bring water to full boil, lower eggs in carefully with slotted spoon... let boil for 13 mins for small eggs, 15 for medium, and 17 for large eggs... turn off burner, let sit for a couple mins...
Take pan to sink and run cold water over them until just cool enough to handle... crack and peel, easy... just be careful the insides might still be too hot, so I run them under more cold water as I peel sometimes... shells come off easy and egg is still nice and warm... hope this helps!