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

[TJordan]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

 

[country lovin]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

oh no! I'm so sorry.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

Oh that's terrible, I'm so sorry you lost so many birds

 

[Penny Hen]

I candled all 109 quail eggs today and pulled the clears and a couple of blood rings. I was able to candle the blue Sapphire eggs but my OE girl Crystal's was too dark for even 2000 lumen. I guess that means I will buy the 3000 lumen flashlight and give the 2000 one to my DH. He is really impressed with it. I was impressed that it generated that much light but didn't feel but warm to my hand. I put all the pulled eggs in a cup. I will count them tomorrow and get the accurate count of how many were pulled.I was even able to see veins in the quail eggs. The four chicken eggs are looking good with strong veins. My air pockets were a bit small so I put a plate over the pot of water and got the humidity to drop to the high 20's. I'll work with it like this for about 3 days and then candle again to see if that set things right. Well I am going to go turn the eggs one more time and then go to bed. Night all.

 

[Penny Hen]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

I am so sorry. When you are ready to start again I can send you some EE/OE and Sapphire/OE eggs.

 

[gander007]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

Wow nothing I can imagine worse than what I just read here

 

[Junibutt]

Was out of town for a few days and DW and DS ate all the eggs in my absence (at least thats what they are telling me). So only setting 9 eggs this time:

2 Legbars (hoping for white)
1 chocolate cuckoo orpington
1 black mottled orpington
1 chocolate orpington
4 black australorp x orpington crosses

Down to 8 eggs now. 1 of the Legbars did not grow!

 

[Sassyhens1]

Set 12 Ayam Cemani

Update: the day after I set these I tossed in 3 of my Orpington eggs. This brought my number to 15. The had 1 yolker and one quitter. Current viable total is 13

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Woohoo!! I have a first PIP on my test hatch tray!!!! It is one of the Ameraucana x Leghorn eggs!!

Can't wait to see what they will look like!

I have the humidity at 65% right now - BYC hatching veterans - do you think that 65% is safe for now or should I try and get it higher? I would rather not go TOO high because of the staggered hatch eggs in the upper trays, but I want the hatching babies to be safe. I know they will raise the humidity higher when they start hatching also. Any thoughts?

I would keep it there too. Good Luck!

These two ladys have there nest so close together

I have been watching her for three weeks now and she is located at the Loma Linda Veterans Hospital

very cool!!!

finally got a flashlight that was powerful enough to candle my darker eggs! YAY!

But, when I candled my dark shipped olive egger eggs, they all had horrible saddle air pockets!!!

Can they still hatch properly? I can see veins and movement.

Here's an example of 2 of them:

Agree with Ron, another issue with these eggs is the size of the air cell, the AREA of the Open Membrane to the air cell is larger, one may hink that weight loss effects equally around the egg, but the larger the surface area of the "exposed" membrane at the air cell the quicker the weight loss. Sometimes I actually put special eggs like this is a little dish that has holes in it and add a damp sponge in this dish just to keep them from drying out too much. Most cant do this but with coolerbators I can sorta do what I want because I have room to do so.

Well ladies and gents had a pretty crazy day here. The wind here was absolutely horrendous today and we need to check our roof in the light tomorrow. Anything that wasn't buried or nailed down blew or just about blew away. Lol I think we may need a new yard thermometer. Lol

Okay now for the update. Went out to check the broodies and Ginger was on the wrong nest, she was set on the 11th and wouldn't you know it there were two extra eggs in her nest and two of her eggs are missing. The other eggs have yolk on them.

My guess is the wyandotte that layed in the nest accidentally broke the eggs and a feeding frenzy ensued. There was nothing left of them. I'm thanking God they were that early still but I'm very bummed even though Ginger isn't participating in the hatch-a-long BC she is my favorite silkie(don't tell the others) and she so wants to be a Mommy. She has been doing great up until now, but the eggs were cold. We candled and I think the two that are still out there may have been clears but I'm not 100% so I left those two under her. The other two I knew were developing so I brought them in the house and put them in the incubator. I will candle again tomorrow and if they're alive I'll give them back to her.

But idk what to do about the egg yolk should I gently try to clean it off? I knew these eggs were a long shot anyway BC they're my black oegb, Minnie's, first eggs but I do so want some of her babies. If the eggs don't survive I will probably reset Ginger as we have two more of Minnie's eggs found today but I guess we'll see. Other than the odd extra egg here and there we have had no problems with our broodies at all they will even kick the other birds out of the nest usually.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys

If it wasnt a BAD egg I wouldnt wash it, if it was a bacteria ridden one I would
Washing, Cuticle, Sweating eggs post #63837

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

Oh T!!! I am so sorry!!! what do you think happened? awwwwwww so sad!

I am sure your a mess!! Please let us know how you are in the morning! awwwww

 

[BantyChooks]

It's 2am and my chicken coop is in smolderes. Fire killed 16 3 week olds. I'm depressed now. NEVER PUT A HEATLAMP , even 1 with emergency shut off, in a coop.

OH my goodness!!!! I am SO sorry!!