THE MOTHER'S DAY HATCH-A-LONG!!!! The last day to join in and set eggs with us is April 28th.

[BantamBabesFarm]

How do you know if they are alive or not without checking them during lock-down? It seems everyone is hearing something or seeing something right on time and mine are not doing anything. I'm worried none will hatch from these 6. If something is wrong or off about my lock-down I need to know before I stick my other eggs in for their lock-down on Sunday.

 

[lcammack]

We have 3 pips this morning and we hear peeping. Today is day 20. We can't stop staring at the incubator, nothing is going to get done today for sure!

 

[yinepu]

How do you know if they are alive or not without checking them during lock-down? It seems everyone is hearing something or seeing something right on time and mine are not doing anything. I'm worried none will hatch from these 6. If something is wrong or off about my lock-down I need to know before I stick my other eggs in for their lock-down on Sunday.

I ignore "lockdown".. lol.. been doing this so long when I first saw the term I started laughing since i never heard of such a thing.. but after having manufactured bators instead of home made ones I can see why there is a need for it.. some bators will not get the humidity back up fast enough and some have fans that blow directly onto the eggs causing problems when the chicks start to dry out too quickly during pipping and zipping
..
we always called it "hatch" and would routinely check pips.. see how eggs were progressing when doing a staggered hatch.. continue to turn eggs that needed it (staggered hatches) .. check on hatching chicks to see if they needed a bit more humidity and so on..
I was candling eggs this morning that are in "lockdown" to see how many had made internal pips.. and also pulled two hatched chicks out of the bator.. have had it opened two more times turning other eggs and to lower the humidity a bit for the ones still incubating (staggered hatches)

ok.. so what I do isn't "recommended" but you have to realize that the "rules of lockdown" are for newbies who haven't been incubating for a while (or ever) and who don't know what to do when they do check on their eggs to keep problems from arising

so as far as I am concerned.. if you know what you are doing.. the "rules of lockdown" don't apply.. but the rules are a good safety precaution for people who are new to hatching

 

[wolftracks]

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were just getting ready to leave to go camping and I looked down at the Sportsman and there's a chick that just hatched sitting there. I went to make sure everything was ok and another is way in the back. I have to leave. Will they be ok till Sunday night when I get back if I leave them in there????????? They aren't dry yet.

 

[Toxic Chicken]

Can only get my brinsea to 41% humidity, with both reservoirs filled. I guess I have to add a wet sponge ? when it gets closer to hatch day ? I have the plug open all the way for air. Ugh. This is my first time hatching. I'm just sitting here , look at the eggs turn look at temp. and humidity, back to eggs. Lol. They aren't due till Monday but since they are in lock down I'm glued here. Haha :/

 

[mstricer]

Okay so I locked down this morning at 5am and it doesn't look good. I started wit 24 eggs and now down to 6 that look like the temp was too low or the turner wasn't working. I guess I should have paid more attention to it. Which the not paying attention thing is costing me to much money, due to them being shipped eggs. My last batch of shipped eggs only hatched one chick.

 

[emrys]

My "early bird" Mother's day chicks. Five hatched but one had what I will call neurological problems. I just hated culling the little thing but it was just so pitiful.
The far left chick is solid black and the next one has a white spot on the head. I'm thinking those might be from a BR hen. The two little tiny ones on the right have light markings in the black and light undersides. Thinking those may be SLW.

Think I may head over to the incubators anonamous thread. Thursday I traded soap for some BLRW and Lav. Orp eggs.

 

[yinepu]

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were just getting ready to leave to go camping and I looked down at the Sportsman and there's a chick that just hatched sitting there. I went to make sure everything was ok and another is way in the back. I have to leave. Will they be ok till Sunday night when I get back if I leave them in there????????? They aren't dry yet.

if they are chickens they should be fine.. though when you get back they will need to have their beaks dipped into the water to get them to drink and you will need to make sure they are eating

some other species wouldn't last that long

 

[yinepu]

Can only get my brinsea to 41% humidity, with both reservoirs filled. I guess I have to add a wet sponge ? when it gets closer to hatch day ? I have the plug open all the way for air. Ugh. This is my first time hatching. I'm just sitting here , look at the eggs turn look at temp. and humidity, back to eggs. Lol. They aren't due till Monday but since they are in lock down I'm glued here. Haha

first.. don't stress..
second.. what day are they on.. and are they chickens?.. chances are that if you have both channels filled with water that your hygrometer is off ... if you are before day 18 I would drain the water out of at least one and candle the eggs to check on air cell size.. then depending on if the air cells are progressing on track or not you may need to drain down both channels



edited to add...

can you tell I'm still asleep?.. didn't notice where you said they were due monday..

41% is fine for now.. when they start to pip the humidity should go up on it's own.. if not you can add a sponge or something similar to increase the surface area.. but chances are with both channels filled that your hygrometer IS off... it's probably closer to 50% if not higher

 

[jandrusrn]

I ignore "lockdown".. lol.. been doing this so long when I first saw the term I started laughing since i never heard of such a thing.. but after having manufactured bators instead of home made ones I can see why there is a need for it.. some bators will not get the humidity back up fast enough and some have fans that blow directly onto the eggs causing problems when the chicks start to dry out too quickly during pipping and zipping
..
we always called it "hatch" and would routinely check pips.. see how eggs were progressing when doing a staggered hatch.. continue to turn eggs that needed it (staggered hatches) .. check on hatching chicks to see if they needed a bit more humidity and so on..
I was candling eggs this morning that are in "lockdown" to see how many had made internal pips.. and also pulled two hatched chicks out of the bator.. have had it opened two more times turning other eggs and to lower the humidity a bit for the ones still incubating (staggered hatches)

ok.. so what I do isn't "recommended" but you have to realize that the "rules of lockdown" are for newbies who haven't been incubating for a while (or ever) and who don't know what to do when they do check on their eggs to keep problems from arising

so as far as I am concerned.. if you know what you are doing.. the "rules of lockdown" don't apply.. but the rules are a good safety precaution for people who are new to hatching

Whew... rules of safety. got it... lockdown at my house will for sure mean just that. ha!