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

[java girl 2]

Quote: no, it's fine as it is and seam to help them if you keep the sides high.

 

[mstricer]

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. 

Your chicks are cute. Sorry about the other chick. I had a turkey poult the was walking backwards and falling over. I was going to cull it but instead seperated it from the others, I am so glad I didn't cull it, now its back with the other turkeys, and doing great.

 

[Arielle]

I looked at the air cells again. Each group had different air cell development. THey should be the same as they were all mixed together and rotated around the incubator. The BO all have a small air cell--doesn't look good for them. The good news is that I have more BO eggs waiting to go in!

 

[rebelINny]

Well I woke up to five more chicks out- 2 EE's, 1 EE/NHR, 2 Mottled Anconas. There's also several pips and I have one solitary quail that is pipping now too WEEEE!!!

So as it stands I now have 11 out of, shoot! I can't remember how many I set for lockdown. 39 maybe? lol have to go back and look.

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Well my mothers day hatch is over. I had 16 duck eggs, all quit developing except ONE. I also had set 8 various chicken eggs. All quit except for ONE.


My official entry numbers into the worst hatch rate: 2 out of 24












Seriously, I feel a bit like a loser...

 

[mstricer]

Nice... soap for eggs.  I love it.  I'll have tomatoes and fresh cucumbers soon... will that work?  My eight year old daughter drives me nuts enough to trade her once in a while... what about that???  Hey... this may work.  Good thing I'm already on the IA thread.  (dropping head and looking for a meeting)  "Hello my name's Jane and I'm a hatchaholic".... HELLO JANE! 

if you only have one bator.. you are not a hatchaholic......................









yet

I have 3. All are running. One has 180, 60,and last one has 6 not a good hatch. So am I qualifing for a hatchaholic?

 

[aaggjg]

I have too many Brinseas...............



and hate every one of them...

you may need to clip the paper towel to the tray the eggs sit on.. or weigh it down a little.. one of mine likes to blow the corner of the paper towel up to one side of the fan yet blows down directly onto the eggs when the towel isn't blocking it.. kind of weird how it works.. I know they have a "diffuser" in most of the models.. but the slits in it allow for the air to dry the eggs out too much since it directs too much of the air flow down onto the hatching eggs..

it's a poor design and you would think Brinsea would know better.. but I believe they are more concerned about their profit margin (lol.. can you tell I'm not a fan of theirs any more?...)

I borrowed a brinsea to use for a staggered hatch... Last week I came home and found fluffed up wing and leg of a silkie sticking out of the egg but the membrane had dried so much that the chick couldn't get out!! I wish I had taken a picture but the chick was chirping so loudly I was afraid something was wrong !!!! So I loosened one small piece of membrane and the chick popped right out. Almost all fluffed up!!! Poor little thing ....

It was the funniest looking egg ever!!! Like a joke toy egg.... Or cartoon character.

 

[mstricer]

Thinking worst hatch rate is gonna be mine folks...

I'm in that race with you I set 24 eggs and only locked down 6. I don't even know if they are going to hatch. Plus I just noticed one of my mottled d'Duccles have szl on it with th bm crossed out. AHHH go figure only 3 made it to lock down and it had to be that one.

 

[mstricer]

Me and my mother went ahead and helped the one egg that was piping. After opening the air cell we saw that it was papery dry and some was stuck to a wing. My humidity was up 50-63%. He is fully developed and was nearly fully absorbed. He is now sitting in the shell laying in the bator. Not sure he will make it, its very very weak.

We went ahead and opened the rest. All dead, formed... dry membrane on the outside, once opened very wet, yellow fluids surrounding chicks. Maybe the air cell got to big durring incubation? Im thinking the humidity was too low for them at 39-41% but how can this be if people use completely dry incubation?

What happen with this bunch? I feel bad and very upset that I could have done something different. I have 11 going into a "lock-down" on Sunday and I dont want to make the same mistakes. Ive already risen their humidity up a bit in the case they too are getting to dry inside already.


:*(

if the chick had the membrane stuck to him it sounds as if he had made a pip.. then the fan of the incubator dried it out before he could turn and zip.. I'm not sure what kind of bator you are using.. so this is a guess.. but if it's a Brinsea or something similar you may need to use paper towels or something a thin cloth laid over top of the eggs when the next chicks hatch to help block the direct flow of the fan

if the others died in shell and were extremely wet and surrounded by an amber fluid then it means the incubation humidity was too high not too low

right now I'm incubating with a humidity of 30% and the chicks are hatching fine.. I'm dry incubating since it has been very wet and rainy here.. if I tried incubating at 40% i would have drowned chicks..

for air cell size...  candle the current eggs and compare them to this chart

So do you wet the paper towel? I've been having the same issue. Is there a way to disconnect the fan for hatching? I have been thinking of ordering a still air for lock down.

 

[karimw]

Thanks! I borrowed my son's good LED last night and looked at 2 eggs. Both had an air sack that was 1/4-1/3 of the egg and the rest was dark. So that seems like a good sign.
I was given these eggs so I was not sure how this would go.

Now I'm really excited. Should be next week.

I will work on a place to move her but I have some broilers in the other half of the coop right now. I really am overrun with chickens!

The little one didnt make it. Not surprised. Sad. So the first 12 all didnt make it. I candled the other bunch, 11 of them due the 15/16. All 11 still alive. Hope everyone else is having better luck and enjoying all those new babies. I cannot wait to see pictures!

That's too bad

I would double check the air cells on the next batch so I could change the humidity now if I needed to. Good luck with them!