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

[UThobbyfarmer]

Day 18 for these shipped Showgirl/Silkie eggs. 8/12 have made it to lock down. I'm SO excited for this hatch!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I gasped when I saw this pics! They're beautiful

Thank you!

 

[Jules929]

@Phillyndilly The thread below is excellent for hatching advice. It can be a bit overwhelming, because they're is so much info and links, but it's time well spent. I quoted what it says about humidity. You're wiser now and will do much better your second time around!

"Humidity is NOT A SET NUMBER, you need it YES!,
However, you use it as a tool to "adjust" egg weight loss during incubation.
We candle on days 7,10,14,18 To WATCH WEIGHT LOSS IN EVERY EGG!"

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...thread-w-sally-sunshine-shipped-eggs.1137467/

Great info. I started using weight loss instead of marking the air cells. I can't have a rooster, so I always hatch shipped eggs with wonky air cells. The weight loss % is a much easier indicator for me, and my hatch rates are now better.

 

[gmjarvi]

The last egg under Broody Judy hatched! All three chicks are alive and well and it looks like mama is in love. I will take a pic when I get home. They all look different .

Candling an incubator batch tonight, they are due 3/31 (today is D14). I will be candling duck eggs tonight as well, they are in the EHAL so I will be updating that thread as well as the April thread for them. I will update the Year round thread for both clutches .

 

[ASteelman]

Hello all I believe I hurt the chick when making a breathing hole but I fully believe it was going to die anyway so I’m upset but more upset about another factor.
I feel I need to warn new hatchers.
I opened a few of my eggs I did not want to but I had to know. ALL of these babies were shrink wrapped.
I live in New York State the climate and my home are dry right now. I have a pellet stove I know this is a factor even though I was told it was not. I was told by many many people on here dry hatch is best. I posted many times on different forums about my humidity and was told to keep it low. Now that may be true for people who live in places with a higher humidity but if you are in my area or somewhere that is very dry now. PLEASE do not keep your humidity as dry as me. I should’ve kept it at about 50 and if I saw the air cells were small I would’ve just let the humidity drop which would’ve been very simple as it was such a chore to keep it up.
I didn’t follow my instincts and a bunch of innocent babies died because of it.
Right now I can not prove for sure that it was the humidity, but this next hatch I will be starting today I will keep higher and I have a very good feeling my results will be better.
I appreciate all the advice I have gotten and it is no fault but my own to have when against what I felt was right but among so many people who are saying low humidity is best I want to please say take your area into consideration please.
I’m happy I have some healthy babies I am praying this next hatch will go better.

So sorry about your experience! Failed hatches are so disappointing. I live in Oklahoma where it's relatively humid most of the time. I still add water to my incubator as directed and I get good hatch rates. Many, many people have told me to hatch dry (especially marans eggs) but I don't see how it's a good idea considering I have central heat and air keeping the house dry. I also don't bother with weighing eggs or marking air cells as I feel that results in overhandling of the eggs. I hope you have better luck next time.

 

[ASteelman]

The chick I helped out of the shell seems rather weak. Not a surprise of course but here I am checking on him in the brooder constantly. S/he's top heavy and stumble-y.

My husband is like "oh no we made a mistake helping" when he was the one insisting on it

I just told him we'll do the best we can and see if it perks up. I helped it get a drink earlier and I'll see if it has any interest in food this evening.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

So sorry about your experience! Failed hatches are so disappointing. I live in Oklahoma where it's relatively humid most of the time. I still add water to my incubator as directed and I get good hatch rates. Many, many people have told me to hatch dry (especially marans eggs) but I don't see how it's a good idea considering I have central heat and air keeping the house dry. I also don't bother with weighing eggs or marking air cells as I feel that results in overhandling of the eggs. I hope you have better luck next time.

How interesting that you were given the exact opposite advice for Marans eggs that I got when I first started hatching them last year. I have good hatches with my Marans eggs so I don't plan on changing anything but the breeder mentioned that they needed slightly higher humidity at hatch because they're slow pokes when hatching.

45-55% (I do occasionally let it drop to 35% if the air cells look small to me) for the first 18 days and 65% at hatch is what I do for all of my chicks now in the Nurture Right 360, in the IncuView I try to stay toward to higher end of that range and more like 70% at hatch. The styrofoam incubators (Hovabator, Little Giant, and Farm Innovators are what I've used) I stayed about 10% lower overall and I didn't need to add as much water to achieve those numbers.

BUT every circumstance is different!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

The chick I helped out of the shell seems rather weak. Not a surprise of course but here I am checking on him in the brooder constantly. S/he's top heavy and stumble-y.

My husband is like "oh no we made a mistake helping" when he was the one insisting on it

I just told him we'll do the best we can and see if it perks up. I helped it get a drink earlier and I'll see if it has any interest in food this evening.

Do you have any poultry vitamins to offer it for a little boost? I hope it pulls through for you! Sometimes it just takes a little longer for them to come around when they have a difficult hatch.

 

[ASteelman]

How interesting that you were given the exact opposite advice for Marans eggs that I got when I first started hatching them last year. I have good hatches with my Marans eggs so I don't plan on changing anything but the breeder mentioned that they needed slightly higher humidity at hatch because they're slow pokes when hatching.

45-55% (I do occasionally let it drop to 35% if the air cells look small to me) for the first 18 days and 65% at hatch is what I do for all of my chicks now in the Nurture Right 360, in the IncuView I try to stay toward to higher end of that range and more like 70% at hatch. The styrofoam incubators (Hovabator, Little Giant, and Farm Innovators are what I've used) I stayed about 10% lower overall and I didn't need to add as much water to achieve those numbers.

BUT every circumstance is different!

I've gotten all kinds of weird advice about marans eggs including using sandpaper to scratch some of the brown coating off

 

[ASteelman]

Do you have any poultry vitamins to offer it for a little boost? I hope it pulls through for you! Sometimes it just takes a little longer for them to come around when they have a difficult hatch.

I have some brewer's yeast and molasses but not chick vitamins specifically. I had considered mixing him up some special water.