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

[mlm Mike]

I need help what is lockdown and what am I going to need to do when it happens

Day 18, stop turning eggs. Raise humidity.

LOCKDOWN!
Stop turning, Remove Turner and Raise Humidity to 65% - 70%
depending on what your air cells may still need

NOTE: It is now known that the different embryos communicate with each other by a series of clicking sounds,
the rate of clicking being the important feature. Ensuring the eggs on the hatching trays are in contact with each other facilitates
the synchronization of hatching where the eggs are incubated in a modern machine. This assists in reducing the time between when the first and last chicks hatch.


After Day 18 candle you will “LOCK DOWN” your eggs. Lower the temperature see suggest temps below and increase the humidity the last three days. STOP turning and the incubator stays closed, for the next three days while the chicks hatch! If you’re having a hard time with humidity it is OK to open quickly to boost, add warm water or increase the size of the pan or add a wet sponge. NEVER ADJUST HUMIDITY BY cutting back airflow. VENTILATION is EXTREMELY important at this stage!


​

Read this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Well, not sure if they'll get here in time for the hatch a long, blowout they do, but I just won an addiction for 8+ bearded Silkie hatching eggs lol.

Wow, I wasn't tired when I wrote this post, was I lol. That was SUPPOSED to say "but I hope they do" and " won an auction" but hey, it is an addiction lol. Darn autocorrect!

Does anyone know if there's a way to sex polish chicks at a young age? I just picked up a few the other day and I want to try to keep at least a pair.

 

[TJordan]

Just wanted to say GOOD MORNING New layer

 

[chickendreams24]

I got them from a guy here in SC , we drove about an hr. He's in Chester, SC. I think he's willing to ship. Real nice guy, ill put link below. If you contact him just tell him Christina sent you. He got his lavs from TX (Paul Smith). Hoping for a good hatch. I'm very new at this but the eggs from my girls are doing good so far, so hoping these will too.

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/grd/5452984338.html

Thank you I'll keep that in mind if I don't get any from my hatch *fingers crossed*

Ok experts. Still need help on this one. One day off 8 weeks old. Roo or pullet I'm stumped on this guy. Day was a barred rock mom was a EE.

Pullet is my guess too

By the way, my last update on the hatch:

Canary, the chick that was getting so strong and lively and beautiful, died under her mother yesterday. Her mother stepped on her and her feathered feet made it so she couldn't feel the chick under her. Being too weak, Canary likely suffocated. I held her in my hand, wishing her back to life for a few minutes and crying. I've had just about enough of chicks being dead in my hands. I know that it was my choice to try and get her under her mother, but I can't help but think waiting a few more hours she would have been strong enough and wouldn't be dead now.

On a better note, though it is snowing and cold, both Coulsen and Agent are doing well and keeping up with their mothers. Buttercream seems to be getting around fine, so I'm hoping her leg strengthens on its own. I found a home for Acorn and Diamond, so hopefully more of my Dalmatians will actually be white with black spots. The two chicks that were white both died. I buried Canary next to Snart out in the field and finally caught up on some sleep. An obnoxius wild bird out the window keeps making the calls of a hatching chick, which keeps distracting me. I keep thinking the eggs in the bator are hatching way early!

I checked on Goldie's eggs for the first time and found a few of them eaten. I cleaned up the other eggs and put some hay under them to keep the nest clean. Hopefully that predator won't return, whatever it was. I know it can't be the skunk, they can't climb at all.

Anyways, I'm going to be cleaning up the incubator soon, getting the blood out of it and sweeping off my carpet, which is COVERED in egg shells. I'm still wondering though, why were so many of my chickens upside-down in their shell? Was it because I put them into lock-down too early? (I didn't know when they would be hatching so I put them in on the 18th and they hatched on the 26th). I stopped turning them. Is that why they were positioned wrong?

So sorry Gita for your loss I wish I had the words that would make it all better but I don't so I'm just gunna tell you that we love you and that I'm sending lots of hugs and prayers your way.

 

[chickendreams24]

Just calibrated my new thermometer (thank you to the snow we got lol) in two Ziplocks it was 2 degrees F off I took it out of one if the Ziplocks and it was a perfect 32. but I did discover that it doesn't show tenth if degrees. Shoot! Forgot to check for that. Is that really bad or no?

It's now being calibrated for humidity. While I double clean the bator.

 

[chickadeeNSC]

Ooohhhh okay. Thanks for clarifying that! But ohh I've always wanted SFH and recently isbar...

Nah, there's an actual heating pad method and a thread on it!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

Although the basic concept is the same as the heat plate and there are some in the thread who made a plate instead of bending it into a cave but it's a lot cheaper.

If you can't read the whole thread then just read the first couple pages and the last couple, there's been a lot of improvements since the original design.

But yeah, the basic concept is the same but the HP is way cheaper!!

But anyway, I used the method for mine and it worked out wonderfully!! The concept for both is the same, natural day/night cycles, more natural/like a broody hen, less stress for both, healthier, if you do it outside or in a cooler place they feather out much faster, no worry of fire risk, etc. I personally think it's way better.

And the best part is at night they are QUIET. No loud cheeping!!!!

@chickadeeNSC

Sorry , I didn't see your reply! Thanks for the thread link. I'm Def excited to try it out. Hubby is backing the idea obv bc it's cheaper/quieter lol. The weather here is warming up and I would love to do it for these that are in the cooker right now. The concepts all make sense to me.

 

[chattery41]

Wow, I wasn't tired when I wrote this post, was I lol. That was SUPPOSED to say "but I hope they do" and " won an auction" but hey, it is an addiction lol. Darn autocorrect!

Does anyone know if there's a way to sex polish chicks at a young age? I just picked up a few the other day and I want to try to keep at least a pair.

Auction, addiction. . it's all the same when it's chickens. LOL

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Wow, I wasn't tired when I wrote this post, was I lol. That was SUPPOSED to say "but I hope they do" and " won an auction" but hey, it is an addiction lol. Darn autocorrect!

Does anyone know if there's a way to sex polish chicks at a young age? I just picked up a few the other day and I want to try to keep at least a pair.

Polish are really hard to sex. But I used to raise them and the best I can give you is this: when they are young, look at the bump on their head. The females tend to be round and stick up further, the males is shorter and thinner. I'll see if I can dig up some old pics. It works pretty well but deffinately isn't fail proof.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Sorry , I didn't see your reply! Thanks for the thread link. I'm Def excited to try it out. Hubby is backing the idea obv bc it's cheaper/quieter lol. The weather here is warming up and I would love to do it for these that are in the cooker right now. The concepts all make sense to me.

It's okay!! I figured which is why I went back and tagged you! easy to miss posts on here!! But anyway, no problem!! All the people in that thread are all really nice and helpful and can answer most any question! And the other great thing is a lot of people have made their own adjusments or done it different and everyone can learn from each other Lol well those are definitely good reasons to back it! You should definitely try it!! The other great thing is unlike with heat lamps, there's usually far less fatalities and no pasty butt! A few have gotten caught in pillow cases and such but well secured or with something else besides pillow cases that's not an issue. I lost one chick early due to pasty butt but that was only because I had them in the house the first 3 weeks and for the first week I had it on the highest setting because I hadn't realized the people who had it all the way up were brooding outside in fridgid weather. Was instructed to turn it down and had no issues after. If I had had them outside it would have been fine. Lost that one at 6 days old but she had the problem at 5 days, it came back. So def be sure to either to it outside or on a medium setting. That was my fault all the way, not a fault of the system. My chicks also didn't tell me they were hot though, usually they do. They moved to the garage when I FINALLY got something built at 3 weeks then to their coop at 7 weeks. ANYWAY. It's definitely much healthier and better for them and I think you should try it! I've even heard people say that not only do they feather faster but they also develop socially a lot faster. I had bought a heat lamp but then I saw the post about this method and I'm so glad I did. Next time I'm going to improve some things and it will be even better, like not having it so high, having them outside from the beginning, maybe trying the plate or multiple open sides. But it's a fantastic method. And it's so fun to watch them just zip around the brooder and duck under as needed or watch them climb and play on top just like they would with a mama hen. It's so great.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Polish are really hard to sex. But I used to raise them and the best I can give you is this: when they are young, look at the bump on their head. The females tend to be round and stick up further, the males is shorter and thinner. I'll see if I can dig up some old pics. It works pretty well but deffinately isn't fail proof.

Thank you there is definitely one with a much bigger crest on its head right now but it's also the biggest one lol.