~*Third Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch-Athon*~ all poultry welcome!

[ronott1]

I'm going to ask here since it seems people are here. My eggs that I set for this HAL all have very different air cells. Some have to big and some are to small... I only have one bator and one hatcher. Idk what to do. Some still have loose air cells so they are hats to handle. I would use my hatcher as a bator but I just moved the chicken eggs to it since they are due on Friday but some are tiny badmen eggs and seem like they will come on day 18 or so... Any advice please?

Set the eggs like you normally do. It is very hard to figure out air cell development from the charts. The shape of the egg makes a big difference and since the air cell bends down, the ones that look small may be bigger than you think. Weighing is the best way to go.

Have a great hatch!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

lol.. I have more too....

Ohhhhhh, you have one for the muscovy!!!! I've NOT seen THAT one!

you may not have seen that one before is because I made it for my muscovy hatching article.. so it better not be on anyone elses website!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
yup.. weighing is the best way to go (and the only way to go for some eggs like emu).. but not everyone has a gram scale or wants to be bothered doing the math so that's why I offer the air cell charts... I can go either way with it (weighing or air cells).. and it's really not all that hard to judge the size of a wonky air cell.. it just takes a bit of observation (and imagination) to make sense of the really bad ones

Foxvalley.. one thing which you can do for the ones which have air cells that are too small for their day of incubation is to remove them from the bator and mist them.. once they are dry put them back into the bator.. mist every day until hatch or until they catch up .. the evaporative cooling should help some depending on how close to hatch they are.. if all of them are on day 18 you're pretty much at the mercy of the hatching gods and may have to assist some of the sticky chicks

 

[SilkieSensation]

 
Not exactly….

Sometimes I know they have internally pipped because I can hear them chirping.  I really don't candle on any kind of specific schedule and depending on the incubator and how much you have to handle them, I would recommend do it less often rather than more often.

I have Rcom incubators that recover temp/humidity VERY quickly so I don't worry too much about opening them.  And, because the eggs incubate on their sides, I can candle them without picking them up.  My incubation room is a basement room with no windows so it is very dark in there and I have a lamb on the table to turn on when they are hatching, but the rest of the time, I leave the room dark.  I also keep a flashlight next to the incubators so when I need to candle, I just turn on the flashlight, open the incubator and hold it up to the air cell end of the eggs. I can see into them exceptionally well like that.  I can whip up and down the line candling each egg and only need to have the lid off about 30 seconds to check on all of them.  Super, super easy.

I don't necessarily candle on day 18.  Honestly, sometimes I kind of forget about the incubators and don't check on them for several days.  So when I do go and check on them, depending on how many days into incubation they are, I might just top up water, or I might do the 30-second whip around candling.  It is easy to see if any are pipped internally because I will see them moving in the air cell.

lol.. I hand turn.. so I am always having my hands in there... and since I am messing with them anyway it's easy to give them a quick looksie when I think about it... but yeah.. there have been times when I have lost track of who is hatching when.. and hear peeping or see an external pip where I didn't expect one...

 

 
Not exactly….

Sometimes I know they have internally pipped because I can hear them chirping.  I really don't candle on any kind of specific schedule and depending on the incubator and how much you have to handle them, I would recommend do it less often rather than more often.

I have Rcom incubators that recover temp/humidity VERY quickly so I don't worry too much about opening them.  And, because the eggs incubate on their sides, I can candle them without picking them up.  My incubation room is a basement room with no windows so it is very dark in there and I have a lamb on the table to turn on when they are hatching, but the rest of the time, I leave the room dark.  I also keep a flashlight next to the incubators so when I need to candle, I just turn on the flashlight, open the incubator and hold it up to the air cell end of the eggs. I can see into them exceptionally well like that.  I can whip up and down the line candling each egg and only need to have the lid off about 30 seconds to check on all of them.  Super, super easy.

I don't necessarily candle on day 18.  Honestly, sometimes I kind of forget about the incubators and don't check on them for several days.  So when I do go and check on them, depending on how many days into incubation they are, I might just top up water, or I might do the 30-second whip around candling.  It is easy to see if any are pipped internally because I will see them moving in the air cell.

I only candle when I run out of room for more eggs. Oh, wait...that happens a couple times per week.

yeah... with 6 bators that can hold 300 eggs each.. it's easy for me to run out of room... which is almost every day at times!.. so I feel your pain! 

I have 4 of the styro bators but really want a cabinet. I hand turn mine so have taken to writing hatch date on 1 side & breed/source on the other. That way it's harder for me to miss when to stick them in the hatcher...lol

 

[yinepu]

Quote: yeah... with 6 bators that can hold 300 eggs each.. it's easy for me to run out of room... which is almost every day at times!.. so I feel your pain!

I have 4 of the styro bators but really want a cabinet. I hand turn mine so have taken to writing hatch date on 1 side & breed/source on the other. That way it's harder for me to miss when to stick them in the hatcher...lol
and you're probably like me.. several different species in the same bator..
right now I have ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys cooking.. had emu eggs in earlier this year.. and in two bators by themselves are several species of parrots....
so things like hatch dates can get a bit confusing.. lol

 

[winteree]

Day 14 candleing nothing to report

their is little if any change inbetween the eggs from day 7, 10, and day 14 candleing. i think i payed a stupid amount of money for unfrertized eggs

but i'm not going to jump to conculeions yet. can anyone tell me if any of these egg's are "good"?
RIR egg (No "air cell" present, no veins, no movement)

RIR egg (small moving air cell, no vien or movment).

RIR egg (medium moving air cell, no viens, no movemet)

White bantam egg (largest air cell, no viens, no movment)

Blue bantam egg (second largest air cell, no viens, no movement)

Creme bantam egg (tiny moving air cell, no viens, no movement)

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

Set the eggs like you normally do. It is very hard to figure out air cell development from the charts. The shape of the egg makes a big difference and since the air cell bends down, the ones that look small may be bigger than you think. Weighing is the best way to go.

Have a great hatch!

I wish I had been weighing. But I don't have a scale. Audio these are shipped eggs with some horrible shapes to the cells. But some are smaller also one egg has the oddest shape. I'll take a picture when I get home.

 

[SilkieSensation]

and you're probably like me.. several different species in the same bator.. 
right now I have ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys cooking.. had emu eggs in earlier this year.. and in two bators by themselves are several species of parrots....
so things like hatch dates can get a bit confusing.. lol

Lemme see if I can remember what's in:
Hatcher-
blrw
bbs eng orps
ee banty
polish mixes
rainbow layers

Bator 1-
Coturnix (2 batches)
Polish mixes
ee bantam
slate turkeys
ancona ducks

Bator 2-
Mallards
white bresse
cochin bantam
mixed heritage turkeys
Anconas

Bator 3-
Scovies
slate turkeys
anconas
call ducks
ee bantams
polish mix
eastern wild turkeys

Each bator has eggs on different dates except Bator 2...all due on 5/14. The other bators have 2-5 dates each, including the hatcher.

 

[Alaskan]

and you're probably like me.. several different species in the same bator.. 
right now I have ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys cooking.. had emu eggs in earlier this year.. and in two bators by themselves are several species of parrots....
so things like hatch dates can get a bit confusing.. lol

Lemme see if I can remember what's in:
Hatcher-
blrw
bbs eng orps
ee banty
polish mixes
rainbow layers

Bator 1-
Coturnix (2 batches)
Polish mixes
ee bantam
slate turkeys
ancona ducks

Bator 2-
Mallards
white bresse
cochin bantam
mixed heritage turkeys
Anconas

Bator 3-
Scovies
slate turkeys
anconas
call ducks
ee bantams
polish mix
eastern wild turkeys

Each bator has eggs on different dates except Bator 2...all due on 5/14. The other bators have 2-5 dates each, including the hatcher.

I want that to be me!!!

 

[lsmith]

I'm so excited!!! I just got my turkey eggs from Arielle. That was super fast! How long should I let them sit before putting them in the bator? I want to try to hatch all of them if possible and I only have 4, so I want to do everything right. Also, my class is really excited about the chicks hatching this week. I felt like such an amature talking to them about hatch expectations and how long it might take for the chicks to get out of the shells. I think I'm more of a wreck than they are. I have a student on "peep patrol" sitting next to the bator. My principal came and asked me if she could take a few home- that was awesome!!