Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[julskinka]

I cheated and spot-checked a few on D4, although not bothering with my darkest eggs. I found one probable-clear in a local egg, but everything else, including all shipped eggs I looked at, were chugging along!

 

[julskinka]

So how do you know to keep them for lockdown? I’ve read people say they weigh their eggs but I didn’t do that from day one. I’ll probably try it next time though.

I weigh because I use shipped eggs and the air cells can be wonky (I do also check air cells, but I've found it's less useful than weight). I weigh on D0, D7, D14, and D18, so I can make adjustments to humidity as needed. I use a conditional excel sheet to tell me if things are too dry, too humid, or on track. Doing it this way has made my hatch rate significantly better.

For lockdown, I just candle them. Even with very dark eggs, by the time you get to D14/18 you can usually see activity.

 

[gmjarvi]

Y'all are making me want to candle my eggs so bad! I was trying to wait until day 7 since it's my first hatch and I didn't want to get discouraged if there weren't obvious signs of development.

Currently on day 3 (counting last Sunday as Day 0 as the eggs went in during the afternoon) and it seems like an eternity.

 

[hysop]

Y'all are making me want to candle my eggs so bad! I was trying to wait until day 7 since it's my first hatch and I didn't want to get discouraged if there weren't obvious signs of development.

Currently on day 3 (counting last Sunday as Day 0 as the eggs went in during the afternoon) and it seems like an eternity.

I candled my first one at Day 4. But I don’t bother candling them all. If one is showing progress then something is right haha. But I will candle them all as a whole around Day 14. But before then I’m just candling a handful here and a handful there.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Y'all are making me want to candle my eggs so bad! I was trying to wait until day 7 since it's my first hatch and I didn't want to get discouraged if there weren't obvious signs of development.

Currently on day 3 (counting last Sunday as Day 0 as the eggs went in during the afternoon) and it seems like an eternity.

Since it's your first time, I would say just wait! Once you get more experience and have a better idea of what you're looking at then it will just be interesting for you to peek early rather than stressing about what you might not see.

 

[gmjarvi]

I weigh because I use shipped eggs and the air cells can be wonky (I do also check air cells, but I've found it's less useful than weight). I weigh on D0, D7, D14, and D18, so I can make adjustments to humidity as needed. I use a conditional excel sheet to tell me if things are too dry, too humid, or on track. Doing it this way has made my hatch rate significantly better.

For lockdown, I just candle them. Even with very dark eggs, by the time you get to D14/18 you can usually see activity.

Very interested in the excel sheet if you wouldn't mind sharing a screen grab and some of the formulas. I can always make my husband help me if it's just a screen grab...he is way better at conditional formatting than I am.

 

[hysop]

I weigh because I use shipped eggs and the air cells can be wonky (I do also check air cells, but I've found it's less useful than weight). I weigh on D0, D7, D14, and D18, so I can make adjustments to humidity as needed. I use a conditional excel sheet to tell me if things are too dry, too humid, or on track. Doing it this way has made my hatch rate significantly better.

For lockdown, I just candle them. Even with very dark eggs, by the time you get to D14/18 you can usually see activity.

If you don’t mind sharing your formula I’d love to use it for my next batch. But honestly I may not hatch any after this batch since I can only handle so many chickens haha.

 

[gmjarvi]

Since it's your first time, I would say just wait! Once you get more experience and have a better idea of what you're looking at then it will just be interesting for you to peek early rather than stressing about what you might not see.

I know you're right but it's hard to wait! hahaha.

 

[LilyD]

Very interested in the excel sheet if you wouldn't mind sharing a screen grab and some of the formulas. I can always make my husband help me if it's just a screen grab...he is way better at conditional formatting than I am.

ditto

 

[Mosey2003]

I'm in for March. Making breeding pen choices and adding the rooster tonight. Probably start collecting to hatch on Monday. Plan to collect for 10-14 days initially and then set every week until I'm pretty sure I'll end up with ~200 chicks.

As usual, Barred Plymouth Rocks. Hoping to weed out a comb defect that came up last year, thus the high hatch goal.

Picking up another GQF 1588 HovaBator tonight from Facebook, so I'll be running 4. Probably 3 incubators and one hatcher.