The 7th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long!

[katsdar]

I candled my eggs, and I have 22 developing nicely, one had a blood ring and one wasn't fertile,

I know I waited a little longer to candle but I just wanted to make sure they were dancing in there

 

[athalia17]

Can I still enter? Mine are hatching this week!

 

[Penny Hen]

We finished the mods on the coop. Everyone's got the new and improved roosts. The girls have their nest boxes back plus 2. The guys are safely tucked away in their own section...lol.

I candled the eggs tonight starting with the eggs that were due. We got two chicks yesterday; one red jungle fowl chick and one olive egger chick. I stayed up all night with the olive egger chick making sure he didn't get stuck in the egg because his efforts were just too dismal...lol. I ended up helping him out of the shell this morning, the membrane was sticking and holding him in. He hasn't been able to move around or hold his head up to any extent, so I gave him sips of chick vitamins earlier and switched to giving him poultry electrolytes/vitamins now that his yolk appears mostly absorbed. I was thinking he wasn't gonna make it, BUT I see he's holding up his head and shuffling around.

Jungle fowl Olive egger

The red jungle fowl chick is way too scary smart. He watches everything you do and seems to pick up quick on what's going on. I don't know what he's going to be like. Should be interesting...lol.
As far as the rest of the hatch, nothing else made it.

Pretty dismal results. I also candled all the eggs for the E HAL. Everything in the same styro incubator except for 3 eggs were a no go while eggs that were just a few days older and in the new plastic incubator had much better results even with being off when I was fixing things. (Although I do see a few spiders that probably stopped because of the fix) I'm going to take the styro incubator apart and rewash it again and air dry it.

March 14th
Eggs laid Feb 5-12: 1-2 eggs developing 3 developing, 26 tossed
Feb13-21: 17 eggs developing 12 developing , 13 tossed
Feb 22-Mar 2: 19 eggs developing 24 developing, 3 questionable, 4 tossed
March 2-9: 31 eggs developing
March 2-7 * counting only HAL eggs 22 developing, 8 tossed


First pic is of the new plastic incubator I made that shows the trays of eggs...lol.

Second pic is of the eggs oldest eggs being tossed to newest eggs being tossed (right to left) I was surprised the percentage of large eggs being tossed in newest eggs. I had the large roosters locked away from the hens. It hasn't been that long but it must be making the difference...lol.


Full incubator before candling Oldest tossed eggs to newest >>

Thanks for being inspiring Wickedchicks. I have been having problems getting my homemade incubator adjusted right too. Lost a whole hatch just prior to the EHAL, silver cots, Orust, Neiders, and Twentse and a couple of OE's from my birds. Had a lightbulb go out and I was terribly sick that day and didn't get the bator checked and lost them on day 17-18. I have been having a couple of rough days this week. One of my Wyandotte bantams got stepped on and her hip is out of socket. I got it back in but didn't have any vet wrap and it popped back out. What makes this super tough is I am dreading that I might not be successful in putting her back together. My oldest daughter lives with me (she is 30) and she is in a wheelchair from Cerebral Palsy from birth. She has no cognitive problems just physical ones. But it would severely depress her if I culled this hen for being a cripple. I find myself dreading that I may have to stage her death as natural if I can't fix her and I determine that she will suffer from being in pain from the injury. I ordered a chicken diaper. I think I may even try making a scoot board out of the wheeled Lego sets so she could be a house chicken if I can't fix it and she is not in pain all the time.

I have 120 A&M quail eggs to candle plus some of my OE/Sapphire eggs today. I got my 2000 lumen flashlight so I should be able to see whats going on even in the OE eggs. I believe I have a hotspot in my bator and I am going to try to make some adjustments to where the lightbulb is without having to take the bator totally apart. My humidity has been running between 38 and 41%. I think it may be too damp. I am going to see how the aircells are doing and cover the pot of water if I need more drawdown. The task of candling the mass of quail eggs was daunting but I feel encouraged now and will take it on. Thanks again.

 

[StarMeKritten]

Slightly odd question... Is 96 degrees too cold for hatching? I assume that it is.. but if day old chicks need 95 degrees to stay warm, perhaps a lightly lower than normal temp is ok? I'm trying to decide whether to set up an LG incubator for hatching or to use the bottom part of my cabinet incubator. The bottom of the cabinet is about 3 degrees cooler than the top part with the eggs in it...

 

[CGilbert]

Slightly odd question... Is 96 degrees too cold for hatching? I assume that it is.. but if day old chicks need 95 degrees to stay warm, perhaps a lightly lower than normal temp is ok? I'm trying to decide whether to set up an LG incubator for hatching or to use the bottom part of my cabinet incubator. The bottom of the cabinet is about 3 degrees cooler than the top part with the eggs in it...

Too cold, it could kill them. I know it sounds like not much, but when they're still in the egg, it makes a big difference.

 

[Penny Hen]

I forgot to mention, I've hatched in my IncuView before, but these are bantam eggs and I can SEE them sticking.

Try wrapping them in warm wet papertowel and lie them flat with the stuck side up in the bator. Between the wet towel to rehydrate the stuck portions and the tug of gravity, you may be able to unstick them. Check them in 4 hours to see if there is progress. Roll the egg gently back and forth. If still stuck repeat. If they don't come unstuck mark the stuck area with a pen and be prepared to assist with the hatch. If the shell is still stuck to the yolk at hatching try to leave just the stuck part of the shell on the yolk until the chick has absorbed as much of the yolk as possible. Then try again to soak off the stuck shell.

I qualify that I haven't had to do this yet, but this is the measures I would take if the eggs were mine. Bounce this off Sally Sunshine for a more experienced opinion.

 

[Penny Hen]

He can't stand, can't swallow, has lost control of his bodily functions multiple times and not know it until my mom changes him, can't speak right half the time, sowing all signs of a stroke but the 'dr' says all tests were clean. Then he told us to get my dad Medicaid or insurance and then surgery for his back... WHAT THE!!???? He just said there was nothing wrong then he tells us my dad should have back surgery!!!??? Then he sends him home saying he's done all required for 'this' patient.

Basically no insurance or cash... He doesn't care.

And that very thing is why we need a one payer system that will only cost $17 per month per person in taxes and cover everyone. I am standing with Bernie Sanders on this.

 

[Saris]

Is it too late to join this HAL?

I set 24 eggs on the 4th, that should be hatching on Friday March 25th. Didn't realize when Easter was this year!
I pulled 4 infertile eggs last Friday and have a few more that questionable fertility. Marans!

Not too late! anything set 2 days before or after the set dates counts ( so set dates would be the 3rd through the 7th ). Which means hatching 2 days early or late as well.

 

[athalia17]

Don't take this as me being insensitive, I will sure say a prayer for him. However to Penny hen's response, I feel like the hatch a long isn't a forum for politics and health coverage issues. Maybe you can start a forum on byc about that if it's a topic that meets the guidelines for byc.

 

[JoyfulPromise]

So Excited!!

Last evening I candled my first tray of eggs (all 39 look good!

) and moved them down to a hatching tray on the bottom of my Ova-Easy cabinet incubator. Upped the humidity to 50% (from 30%) last night, and then this morning put it up to 60%. This afternoon/evening starts Day 20 for this tray, so I am hoping to see some pips by late tomorrow morning!!!

This is my first hatch in this incubator (and the first chicks for me this year!), so I am a bit nervous, but VERY Excited!!!

Here is a picture of the babies-in-waiting... I opted NOT to use the tray cover because I want to be able to see what is happening!

P.S. In case this helps someone else with a similar incubator, I was having trouble getting the humidity above 55% just using the attached Humidity Pump, which adds tiny portions of water at a time through a tube to the sponge in front of the fans. So, I had an idea, and I wanted to try it now before I had any pips or hatchers down below... I got two small strips of papertowel, folded in half, and wet them with warm water. Then I opened the incubator and laid them flat in the humidity tray on either side of the sponge, quickly closing the door. The humidity sensor dropped to the low 30's by the time I shut the door, but as soon as it was shut, it began steadily climbing...and climbing... all the way up to 65% humidity in less than 5 minutes! And it has stayed there without the help of the humidity pump for the past hour and a half! So now I know a quick and easy way to boost the humidity if I need to open the incubator during hatching for any reason!