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

[AusHen]

As in you only got 3 pullets?? Wow. I know I will get some males with this batch (and every batch) but I’m hoping it’s not that bad. I’ll be happy with 50-50.

Yep only 3 pullets. Breeder said it may have been the time of the year, apparently hens make more males in hot weather but I just put it down to bad luck. thankfully I have had good luck with broody hatched and purchased straight runs.

I want an extra rooster this year so totally fine with me to have some to choose from.

I wouldn't mind a few roosters from this batch either, need to start building my flocks and they are nice dark eggs for around here anyway so the roosters will be very useful

 

[LilyD]

Yep only 3 pullets. Breeder said it may have been the time of the year, apparently hens make more males in hot weather but I just put it down to bad luck. thankfully I have had good luck with broody hatched and purchased straight runs.


I wouldn't mind a few roosters from this batch either, need to start building my flocks and they are nice dark eggs for around here anyway so the roosters will be very useful

I have one rooster but he's not really a Casanova. I'm getting about 60% fertility in my eggs so I figure a few more girls and another boy will make sure we cover our bases. Now just to figure out which boy I want to keep.

 

[hysop]

I’m on Day 11 and their air cells are all pretty much the same size. I drew it on this egg. Should I wait til Day 14 to see how it is or should I just go ahead and decrease humidity now. Right now it’s reading at 48%.

 

[hysop]

I have one rooster but he's not really a Casanova. I'm getting about 60% fertility in my eggs so I figure a few more girls and another boy will make sure we cover our bases. Now just to figure out which boy I want to keep.

Oh so fertility has to do with the rooster? I thought all they had to do was do their thing and bam the egg is fertilized (well as long as the hen ruffles her feathers and whatnot).

 

[LilyD]

Oh so fertility has to do with the rooster? I thought all they had to do was do their thing and bam the egg is fertilized (well as long as the hen ruffles her feathers and whatnot).

Well...when the rooster you have is not entirely sure how to do his thing it makes it a little more difficult lol. Cogburn is giving it a good old Yankee try but is finding the ladies to be a little unreceptive to his charms. They will let him breed sometimes but not all the time lol. He needs to work on his wooing abilities.

 

[hysop]

So I accidentally let the egg turner slam on the table while trying to remove it to take some water out of the channels. Dumb me I dunno what I was thinking.

Will it affect the eggs? It wasn’t a heavy slam, but it did rattle the eggs a little. Can I lose some of them due to that or are they strong enough to handle a little rattling once in their entire incubation?

I don’t want to touch them anymore I feel so bad. I looked at all of them and no visible cracks. I’ll candle on Day 14 to double check but for now I will be leaving them alone for 3 days.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

How long does it take for emus to hatch? Where can you get an emu incubator? What do emu chicks look like?

Emus take anywhere from 49 to 60 days to hatch. All depends on the temperature that you incubate the eggs. I am incubating at about 98F. So should have some hatching 50 to 52 days. The incubator is just a cheap forced air incubator, made in China I believe. Works fine and got 80% hatch rate on my last batch of shipped eggs. Emu chicks are so fricken cute! Must YouTube videos of them.

The Silver Deathlayers are officially in the still air at 101.5F and no water added. Will probably be around 30% humidity or less like the last batch. Should be perfect! Going to see if I can leave these be for a while. Never works but it’s a nice thought.

Had some help, but he had some evil motives... he LOVES eating eggs. $100 carton of snacks!

(Don’t mind the crazy chicken persons incubating and hatching station)

Now doesn’t this incubator look a tid bit empty?

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

I’m on Day 11 and their air cells are all pretty much the same size. I drew it on this egg. Should I wait til Day 14 to see how it is or should I just go ahead and decrease humidity now. Right now it’s reading at 48%.
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I am definitely not a pro by ANY means. But...that does look a little small to me. I would drop the humidity, but I’m sure someone else will chime in. I personally incubate closer to 30% humidity, but it doesn’t always seem to depend on the eggs.

 

[hysop]

I am definitely not a pro by ANY means. But...that does look a little small to me. I would drop the humidity, but I’m sure someone else will chime in. I personally incubate closer to 30% humidity, but it doesn’t always seem to depend on the eggs.

Thank you. Yes, I removed most of the water. Not in a very smart way, will definitely find an easier way to do it next time, but it’s done. Yes, I kept reading about dry incubation and keeping it at 30% but I figured the water would have gone down, but it stayed pretty consistent.

That’s what I thought too. All the pics showed that Day 7 should be around that small. And I’m closer to day 14 than I am to 7.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m on Day 11 and their air cells are all pretty much the same size. I drew it on this egg. Should I wait til Day 14 to see how it is or should I just go ahead and decrease humidity now. Right now it’s reading at 48%.
View attachment 2033488View attachment 2033490

They look pretty spot on for day 11 to me.

So I accidentally let the egg turner slam on the table while trying to remove it to take some water out of the channels. Dumb me I dunno what I was thinking.

Will it affect the eggs? It wasn’t a heavy slam, but it did rattle the eggs a little. Can I lose some of them due to that or are they strong enough to handle a little rattling once in their entire incubation?

I don’t want to touch them anymore I feel so bad. I looked at all of them and no visible cracks. I’ll candle on Day 14 to double check but for now I will be leaving them alone for 3 days.

I'm sure they're ok! There are some eggs that have taken some serious fumbles and they ended up fine!