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

[SoManyHats]

In my experience, it would be humidity or ventilation issues. Do you have a picture of the membranes?

I don't. My vent hole was wide open and the humidity was approx. 65%. I did have the humidity on 55% for four days during the middle of incubation while I hatched a turkey egg in there, but I can't see that being such a problem as I had 11 hatch out just fine. I'm leaning toward maybe it's an issue with the Delawares, though I got the breeding stock from Will Morrow. I should watch and see if it's the eggs from one particular hen because 6 of the 11 were full Delaware. They are vigorous and happy.

 

[SoManyHats]

Another problem is Delawares. Most lines in the US do not have vigor and do not hatch well. The newly created line from Kathyinmo does not have that problem

I hadn't heard that about Delawares. In fact, I was just talking to someone else who breeds Delawares and he has great hatch rates. I got my breeding stock from Will Morrow and the birds are very healthy and strong. My roo is a beast - in a good way.

 

[ronott1]

I hadn't heard that about Delawares. In fact, I was just talking to someone else who breeds Delawares and he has great hatch rates. I got my breeding stock from Will Morrow and the birds are very healthy and strong. My roo is a beast - in a good way.

Do you know what the line is?

several years ago I hatched Braden line(sand hill) Dels for a local breeder. They were hand delivered and not shipped. They hatched terribly! Wrong end pippers, late quitters and then pipped and zipped but dead. The next year the breeder had New Dels(recreated) by kathyinmo and they hatched perfectly.

Sometimes the goodness of things are exaggerated--often it is part of salesmanship....

Added: I hatched both lines for an entire breeding season--not just once each.

 

[SoManyHats]

Do you know what the line is?

several years ago I hatched Braden line(sand hill) Dels for a local breeder. They were hand delivered and not shipped. They hatched terribly! Wrong end pippers, late quitters and then pipped and zipped but dead. The next year the breeder had New Dels(recreated) by kathyinmo and they hatched perfectly.

Sometimes the goodness of things are exaggerated--often it is part of salesmanship....

Added: I hatched both lines for an entire breeding season--not just once each.

Will Morrow (Whitmore Farms) has his own line, which he's been working on for years. He was specifically highlighted in the book The Small Scale Poultry Flock for his work restoring Delawares to a truly dual purpose breed. I got mine as chicks from him - picked them up on his farm in Emmitsburg, MD.

The person I was talking to wasn't trying to sell me anything. He's not in the hatching egg or chick business.

I mentioned this to Happy Chooks, but I'm considering it's a specific hen since 6 pure Delawares hatched with no problems and all but one of my Del mixes (Del roo) hatched fine. I'm also going to give a bunch of pure Del eggs to one of my buffs that just went broody, see if she has similar problems.

 

[ronott1]

Will Morrow (Whitmore Farms) has his own line, which he's been working on for years. He was specifically highlighted in the book The Small Scale Poultry Flock for his work restoring Delawares to a truly dual purpose breed. I got mine as chicks from him - picked them up on his farm in Emmitsburg, MD.

The person I was talking to wasn't trying to sell me anything. He's not in the hatching egg or chick business.

I mentioned this to Happy Chooks, but I'm considering it's a specific hen since 6 pure Delawares hatched with no problems and all but one of my Del mixes (Del roo) hatched fine. I'm also going to give a bunch of pure Del eggs to one of my buffs that just went broody, see if she has similar problems.

It could be one hen.

inbreeding will cause hatch vigor problems. Every 5 years or so, new not closely related breeding stock needs to be rotated in. The problem is having limited genetics.

Since they are hatching hard, it would be a good idea to work on flock nutrition. Adding some calf mana, granulated kelp and etc. may help.

The new brinsea should have a cool down cycle built in. Use it for two hours a day from day 8 to 18.

I hope you get this figured out!

 

[SoManyHats]

It could be one hen.

inbreeding will cause hatch vigor problems. Every 5 years or so, new not closely related breeding stock needs to be rotated in. The problem is having limited genetics.

Since they are hatching hard, it would be a good idea to work on flock nutrition. Adding some calf mana, granulated kelp and etc. may help.

The new brinsea should have a cool down cycle built in. Use it for two hours a day from day 8 to 18.

I hope you get this figured out!

My chickens forage and we also give them all our fruit and vegetable scraps and Countryside Organics feed. I don't think nutrition is the problem.

I am using the 2 hour cool down feature on the Brinsea - thank you for confirming that was the right choice! I appreciate your help. I'm going to keep trying. I just gave my broody 7 Delaware eggs, so we'll see.

 

[NikkiCole5]

That was exactly what I got out of that too. 

I think if you can get a bator to hold a steady temp you can work it out and have fine hatches. A lot of the issues with the 9300 I've heard is that probe and lots of people have found ways to stabilize it so the temp holds more steady. Most people t hat I know that are using them AND having decent/good hatches also have to set the darn thing 3-4 degrees higher than it says to get the correct temp inside the bator. No, you shouldn't have that much trouble with a bator and yes, LG has seriously goofed up with these new ones, but if you can work out the snags you can make it work. Luckily I have the 9200, and while it takes much babysitting, I am having awesome hatches.

Oh well if that's what people mean by them hating it I can understand lol, I use a mercury thermometer inside the incubator and set the digital one at 103 most of the time ;-)

 

[NikkiCole5]

I have a question I put my ducks outside because the temperature was 70 to 85 the past several weeks, they are just under 2 months old, all they have for shelter right now is a dog kennel, it has started to rain today and was wondering if they need to be brought inside until the rain stops? Thank you!

 

[Mama Bay]

What do you all use to clean your incubators? I have eggs due to arrive Wednesday!!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

What do you all use to clean your incubators? I have eggs due to arrive Wednesday!!!

I just use bleach water.