They're starting to hatch!!!!! (Update: Dead in their shells)

[dospuercos]

Patience is the most difficult part about hatching eggs. I also have a LG incubator (with the fan & egg turner). My first hatch was a disaster! Today is day 21 for me on my 2nd hatch. So far one baby is out & 4 more have pipped. It is so hard to be patient & watch. Trust me I have seen many eggs rocking & heard many chicks peeping & realized it was all in my head later

Wishing you the best with your little clutch!

 

[Squishypuff]

Still hoping, but there's no sign of anything from these four eggs. On the plus side, my sizzle hen has been laying daily so I'm going to set her eggs when I give up on these. Should have used free eggs first, rather than $30 eggs. Stupid. My batch of Cochins, Red Stars, and Golden comets came in the mail today though and they are SOOOO cute. They handled their ordeal very well.

 

[nurse_turtle]

When it was all said and done... 19 of 21 healthy and spry! Last hatch was 6 am on 07/06/11.

 

[Squishypuff]

I'm so glad you got lots of healthy babies!

 

[Squishypuff]

I gave in and opened two eggs. It was weird- perfectly formed beautiful chicks, but everything was very dry in there. Very sticky, with a thick membrane inside. They both had to have died at least a day ago. The other two get another day and I'll open them too.

 

[cuntryuppiechick]

So sorry it didn't go well. I have done three hatches now with a still air. Silkies seem to have a harder time and need a bit more consistent humidity. I am not doing it this way again. I am going to minimally have a fan and if I have bought eggs they are going to need a good incubator, not the foam cooler type which I think are junk. I'm in Texas so humidity is a bit different for me than most areas. I half fill the reservoir when setting. I used three hygrometers to try to figure out what is accurate. I don't think any are. When going into lockdown I put them on the wire and added a soaked sponge. When humidity dropped I would pull out the sponge from the small opening (which always burns my hand on the heat element, great design) and re-soak it with hot water. The last day I used a dropper to drop hot water into the hole onto the sponge and into the reservoirs. Watch closely after you add water because the humidity can spike. When they start to pip I watch for drying out which I get pretty badly so I can hopefully reach them through a small hole with the dropper and add a little moisture if needed. You can also lightly damped the outside of the shell to help. There is a fine balance to humidity or you find you have drowned your chick. It sounds like your humidity was too low from how they formed but didn't push out. I've also seen my temp spike to over 110. You don't know that didn't happen when you weren't watching.

 

[ShortCircuitRanch2332]

my first still air hatch BLEW I got 3 babies out of 20 so I installed a computer fan and I use the dry incubation method then in lock down I boost the humidity to 70-80% and I have been getting 70-80% hatches but these are OEG banty's and VERY fragile ive recently been doing BR and EE eggs just to see and they are hatching way better so I know its the bantys still
I added this link to give you some incite on still air and the benefit of forced air hope this helps and GOOD LUCK NEXT HATCH!!!
http://cmfarm.us/stillair.html

 

[Squishypuff]

The next time around I know I'll do a lot of things different. This time they'll start off in the egg turner, which I got halfway through this hatch. I also have the fan sitting on my counter to be installed, so that will help I think. I got a water wiggler and new thermometers, and will be testing my hygrometer. I now have new ideas for keeping the humidity up during lockdown, this time I could not get it over 60% for some reason, with 2 sponges, a pan of water, and a wet washcloth in there.

I opened the other two eggs, and same thing. 2 beautiful little chickies, one with yolk absorbed and 3 without. They were two buffs and two black or blues. At least i didn't lose the Showgirs I was hoping were in those eggs- that would have been even more depressing.

I'm collecting up eggs from my beautiful (and correct, aside from the frizzling) Sizzle, she is in with my white SQ Silkie roo. Hopefully he's been doing the deed, I'm going to crack some of her older eggs that are in the fridge and see if they're fertile.

So sad ending, but I learned a lot from the first time and am up for another shot.

 

[blazensasha]

I understand how you feel I went through two hatches with eggs that I had bought instead of using mine and they had those thick gummy membranes to.24 eggs and only 2 hatch,one I had to help out of the shell.Talk about nerve wracking!Next time will be much better.

 

[WillowWoodsFarm]

Im sorry to hear that your hatch didnt go well. I am so nervous about my own. I now have 29 eggs that are definately moving around inside and 3 that stopped developing early on. I am so scared that I am going to do something wrong or that they are all gonna die. I have a still air little giant incubator and I hope so much that it does what it needs to do. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my little chicks.