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

[Medic]

I set the eggs o. The 14th at noon so do I stop turning today at noon or tomorrow?

Thanks

 

[chicken pickin]

Chicken pickin I hope they do hatch for you

Thanks! Me too

I will keep everyone updated as the next few days go by.

Im thinking I might lock down a day or 2 late for them, Ill gage it when I candle them again tomorrow night.

 

[chicken pickin]

I set the eggs o. The 14th at noon so do I stop turning today at noon or tomorrow?

Thanks

Tomorrow round noon time will be lockdown for you.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

What should the humidity be pushed to at lockdown?

I am most comfortable with mine at 70-75% (I'm a meddler.)

Ask 10 people, get 10 answers. Ask 20 people, get 20 answers.

Higher than 45 and lower than condensation point, but exactly where has a whole lot of variables.

Amen!!!

This is great..goes to show how different ways work for different folks. A lot of different variations causing the difference. Different bator? Different humidity in the house..warmer in your home? Raz just talked about that. So many things to work out for yourself..but, having said that, if you are new at hatching, go with what is considered the norm for now. You can always learn how to adjust with later hatches.

As well as the hatcher's habits- rather they are strickly hands off, or if they are a "meddler" (like me). If they remove chicks during hatch or are willing to assist if needs be. It's such a big worl of variables.

Here is a picture of my eggs air bubbles.. They are at day 17, does this look right?

The three in the front right look great.

x2 I agree, the three in the front look borderline ok. The other couple I see marks on look small for 17 days, but hopefully they will do just fine.

Tonight is the first time I got nervous. I recalled a childhood experience when our family tried to hatch eggs our neighbor had given us. 80% died right after pipping. I don't want that to happen to us. I don't want my little boy (or myself or my husband!) to be all excited, only to experience the devastation of "almost made it" chicks. *sigh* I keep reading stuff, but everyone seems to say something different.

There's a lot of variables and people do things a lot of different ways and there is no wrong way, it's a matter of finding what works for you. Go with what sounds logical to you and that you are most comfortable with and then you tweak/change things as you go along to find what works under your conditions.

That is a good idea. I think I will buy a few that way I will have back ups for later. I feel just terrible about all the could have been chicks that likely wont make it. I had 35 eggs in that bator, plus I put in 4 more a week later.

I wonder if it is possible for some of them to catch up on development even if they take a few days longer to hatch. Anyone have experience with accidentally running the bator too cool and have eggs that are very developmentally behind. Im expecting a zero hatch from this incubator but I try to be hopeful.

My first hatch was 6 degrees too cool (faulty new thermometer- never checked.) For the WHOLE incubation. I ended up with twoo hatching days 24&25, the day 25 hatcher died the day 24 hatcher is a beautiful roo. (He has a couple issues that I feel are related to delayed development, but he's still my baby.) This batch I had maybe 4 that look a bit behind, (Cool spots in the bator.) and I moved them to the warmer areas of the bator. A couple look as though they've caught up, but I still have a couple that look too behind to me that I am not holding out too much hope for.

I know they're not chickens, but I saw TWO ROBINS, yesterday evening, out by my chicken coop! Spring has officially made it to the swamp of northeast Michigan!

I saw two yesterday too!!! The first this "spring" (and I use that term loosely.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I set the eggs o. The 14th at noon so do I stop turning today at noon or tomorrow?

Thanks

I set mine the 13th about 2pm, and will be going into lockdown tonight before bed.

 

[CherMoz]

I'm happy I have a broody and don't have to worry about lock down, temperature, humidity, etc.

 

[chicken pickin]

My first hatch was 6 degrees too cool (faulty new thermometer- never checked.) For the WHOLE incubation. I ended up with twoo hatching days 24&25, the day 25 hatcher died the day 24 hatcher is a beautiful roo. (He has a couple issues that I feel are related to delayed development, but he's still my baby.) This batch I had maybe 4 that look a bit behind, (Cool spots in the bator.) and I moved them to the warmer areas of the bator. A couple look as though they've caught up, but I still have a couple that look too behind to me that I am not holding out too much hope for.

Thanks for telling me you experience with this. Im not sure how cool my incubator is, I did up it a full one degree by this morn. I am going to run out to get batteries for my spot check this afternoon and I will know for sure what Im dealing with. I bought my spot check last April for use in my homemade coolerbator. Since the coolerbator is so big I wasn't using the Hovabotors and didn't bother to check the temps on them. This time I pulled out the hovabators instead of the cooler bator and that is when I found my Spot Check had dead batteries. I have had good hatches in the past so I was in no rush to run out for the batteries. Now I know batteries should have been top of my list of things to do.

Now thinking about it over time I notice that with each hatch in that particular incubator the hatch rate went down a little every time. I assumed I was having issues with my flock of purebreds and thought it was a breed issue. Maybe it was the incubator slowing getting cooler with each hatch and I didn't even notice

 

[chicken pickin]

I'm happy I have a broody and don't have to worry about lock down, temperature, humidity, etc.

Sometimes I wish I only used broodies lol. They get it right just about every time.

 

[CherMoz]

Sometimes I wish I only used broodies lol. They get it right just about every time.

This will be this particular broody's fourth hatch (over the last four years), so she is a proven mother. She does a great job!

 

[Happy Chooks]

What should the humidity be pushed to at lockdown?

It depends on your area. For me, I like it between 55-65%. It works well for my hatches, and if a bunch hatch at once it doesn't spike my humidity too high.

Quote: I'm hoping for the same. Murphy's Law says they will go broody AFTER this hatch is over.

Quote: I usually take the temperature at the top of the eggs, but it doesn't have to be that precise. Your temperature will be fine. IMO, it's better to run a bit hotter than a bit lower.

I hate when they stop wiggling! I know they are resting and there is a lot going on but holy cow does it make my stress levels go up! I have Seremas and silkies in the one bator and they are all very small eggs, ive been prepared for thwm to hatch a day or two early just in case. I put them on lock down today instead of tomorrow as I can hardly see anything in those eggs anymore. My other bator has some EE eggs that are really tiny and I'm debating on moving them to the first bator as they seem a lot more developed than the larger leghorn and Orphington eggs they are in with. But then I think, hey they're doing just fine and I can always pop thwm out real quick if they hatch before anyone else. Ugh, I'm so excited. I've always had some condensation on thw windows of my DIY bator, hatches were always great at 65% humidity. Maybe I'll drop it down some to see if they pop like popcorn too lol.

They wiggle when they are getting into position for hatching. Then they need to rest and absorb the yolk before hatching. What you are seeing is totally normal! Breathe and wait.

Quote: Whatever it is, it's cute as heck!

Here are a few of my current babies!

Adorable!

Welsummers are the ones I should have in my bator but I only have EE's.

I can help you with this problem.

I'm sorry I haven't been on here much. I do stop in to read but I wanted to make sure I"m right, tomorrow is day 18 right?

If you set according to the set dates in Post #1, then yes.

So Im pretty bummed. Every day while turning my eggs I couldn't help but feel they din't feel as warm as the eggs in the other incubator and also they didn't feel like they were getting heavier for days I thought nothing of it but last night I decided to candle again. So, much to my sadness I found quite a few stopped developing and all the others are soooooooo far behind on developing that I have serious doubts about any in that incubator hatching at all. The temp has got to be way off and too cool for this to happen. I turned the bator up by almost a degree and I might go up a tad higher today. I really need to get a battery but the nearest target is a few towns over, I think I will try Walmart today, thats closer. This incubator is full of mixed breed eggs, so at least all my Cream Legbar eggs were in a different incubator and they are looking good so far.

I guess that's what I get for not getting out to the store to get a new battery for my spot check thermometer

I could really kick myself, I think one of you needs to give me a boot to the butt.

I'm sorry they are not doing well.

Holy cow I have a pip!! I believe thos is a Serema.

Wow, that is early!

I set the eggs o. The 14th at noon so do I stop turning today at noon or tomorrow?

Thanks

Tomorrow.