Too Early for Feb Hatch-A-Long Thread??

[ShannonsChimkens]

I actually have an excel spread sheet on my computer to note down the individual weights of all the eggs on day 5, 7, 12, 15 and 18 with cooresponding % they need to have lost by then and also automatically calculating the weights they should be at each day, also aitomatically calculating the average weight... so no, i don’t think it is weard That you write it down.

Glad I’m not the only crazy one! With so many different kinds in one incubator, we have to keep track so we know who’s who. I did have to put a few of the silkie bantams on top of one row for now.

The newest eggs have been added to the incubator as of this morning. The incubator is FULL. Have eggs in between the turners on the bottom(have to hand turn for a bit). I do expect some infertile eggs and some that die early on, so they can go in the turners soon.

Good luck to others with fluffy butts hatching out today!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Just found out that the silkie bantam eggs were left in the coop for almost two months?! Is that even possible? Just candled them all, 6 little embryos are alive and moving around. The other 4 didn’t develop. But still... 6 growing chicks and the hen laid her last eggs the beginning of November.

 

[Stonewall Acres]

I have 10 ameraucana eggs in my incubator set to hatch the 3rd. They came from a farm not too far from me that breeds a variety of colours. From the looks of her labeling they are Wheaten. (I told her I would take whatever she had available, as I am just beginning to add the breed to my flock) Hoping for a successful hatch as this is only our second time hatching eggs

 

[Merrymouse]

Ill join. I just set 7 eggs in my Mini Brinsea. All first time breeds for me and this is only my 2nd time hatching. I have 3 LF RC Ancona and 4 Silkies. Ive never hatched Bantams and LF at the same time. I posted a question on its own thread about the turning. I have it set at 9 every 45 min. I checked and the LF are turning 1/4 turn and the Bantams are turning about 1/2. I really want the three LF to hatch do you all think this is ok? The other problem is I just figured out the hatch day is Sat Feb 8th and I will be away all day Saturday and Saturday night and coming home Sunday!!! Im so dumb. My hubby will be home to check on them but if they hatch on Saturday they will be ok to stay in the incubator for 12 to 24 hours right???

I did not plan on hatching Bantams but the women I agreed to buy the LF eggs from actually dropped all but 3 of the eggs. I didnt want to hatch out only 3 so I bought the silkie eggs too.

Hatch-a-longs are so fun!

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

I have 10 ameraucana eggs in my incubator set to hatch the 3rd. They came from a farm not too far from me that breeds a variety of colours. From the looks of her labeling they are Wheaten. (I told her I would take whatever she had available, as I am just beginning to add the breed to my flock) Hoping for a successful hatch as this is only our second time hatching eggs

I’m excited for you!! I adore Ameraucanas. I have a Wheaton, a Lavender and 3 White Ameraucanas in my incubator right now!

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

Ill join. I just set 7 eggs in my Mini Brinsea. All first time breeds for me and this is only my 2nd time hatching. I have 3 LF RC Ancona and 4 Silkies. Ive never hatched Bantams and LF at the same time. I posted a question on its own thread about the turning. I have it set at 9 every 45 min. I checked and the LF are turning 1/4 turn and the Bantams are turning about 1/2. I really want the three LF to hatch do you all think this is ok? The other problem is I just figured out the hatch day is Sat Feb 8th and I will be away all day Saturday and Saturday night and coming home Sunday!!! Im so dumb. My hubby will be home to check on them but if they hatch on Saturday they will be ok to stay in the incubator for 12 to 24 hours right???

I did not plan on hatching Bantams but the women I agreed to buy the LF eggs from actually dropped all but 3 of the eggs. I didnt want to hatch out only 3 so I bought the silkie eggs too.

Hatch-a-longs are so fun!

I am not a pro with turning so I’ll let someone else chime in about that. I bet the babies will be fine in the incubator until Sunday. Can’t wait to see them!

 

[wolfwalker]

I posted a question on its own thread about the turning. I have it set at 9 every 45 min. I checked and the LF are turning 1/4 turn and the Bantams are turning about 1/2. I really want the three LF to hatch do you all think this is ok?

If I am reading this right, every 45 minutes your turner turns the eggs either 1/4 turn or a full 1/2 turn correct?

I have 2 different turners in my incubators, 1 gives a full half turn every 2 hours and the other holds the eggs pointy end down and turns from side to side to a 45 degree angle. Moving constantly so a full cycle of one side to the other takes about 2.5 hours.

A half turn every 45 minutes is a bit faster than most auto turners are set at and the big hatcheries rate of turn is at. if you can slow it down a bit I would. Though that said, I don't think there is a lot of experiments reported on rapid turn rates easily found, most use number of times turned in a day and stop when they reached the results they wanted, which was the most hatched.

[/QUOTE] The other problem is I just figured out the hatch day is Sat Feb 8th and I will be away all day Saturday and Saturday night and coming home Sunday!!! Im so dumb. My hubby will be home to check on them but if they hatch on Saturday they will be ok to stay in the incubator for 12 to 24 hours right??? [/QUOTE]

They will be fine for 12 to 24 hours without problem.

That said, one of the biggest issues with keeping newly hatched chicks in the incubator with the yet to hatch chicks is the chicks playing pool with the unhatched siblings so to speak. If you have a way to block the eggs form being rolled around, it will help your hatch rate as a chick who is moving into position for pipping can become disorientated if all of a sudden it is rolled all over the place, thus causing it to drown or turn the wrong way. There is a reason the big hatcheries stuff the hatch out trays so there is not a lot of room for the eggs to move and get fantastic hatch rates.

While it is nice to spread the eggs out in the belief we are giving the young chick room to dry off and get their legs under them; with the invention of nice smooth surfaces we can keep clean between hatches, eggs can move so much more than an egg in a nest. if you think about it, an egg under a hen in a nest, is naturally blocked from being moved by young chicks by the nesting materials, a little movement is possible, but not the roll across the room type of movement we can get with modern plastics that the eggs sit on.

Rubber shelf liner works to help curb the rolling, and spiraling a nylon cord and placing the eggs inside the spiral so the eggs can only move so much also works. People have hatched in egg cartons, the turner trays and all sorts. the other thing people will point out is that they don't do any of that and have no issues, But i would point out that they open space inside the incubator is not that large and the eggs can't move around that much to begin with.

 

[FortCluck]

Ill join. I just set 7 eggs in my Mini Brinsea. All first time breeds for me and this is only my 2nd time hatching. I have 3 LF RC Ancona and 4 Silkies. Ive never hatched Bantams and LF at the same time. I posted a question on its own thread about the turning. I have it set at 9 every 45 min. I checked and the LF are turning 1/4 turn and the Bantams are turning about 1/2. I really want the three LF to hatch do you all think this is ok? The other problem is I just figured out the hatch day is Sat Feb 8th and I will be away all day Saturday and Saturday night and coming home Sunday!!! Im so dumb. My hubby will be home to check on them but if they hatch on Saturday they will be ok to stay in the incubator for 12 to 24 hours right???

I did not plan on hatching Bantams but the women I agreed to buy the LF eggs from actually dropped all but 3 of the eggs. I didnt want to hatch out only 3 so I bought the silkie eggs too.

Hatch-a-longs are so fun!

I put an x and an o then turn them completely 3 to 4 times every day changing them from x to o every time.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

So... the other half still doesn’t know about the new batch in the incubator. I’m sure he’ll know soon enough. If I never come back, we know what happened! Lol

21 still going from the first batch of 24. It looks like 2 more from dark eggs are infertile. Will candle the 30 from Friday, tomorrow evening. I have a feeling there will be 50+ babies going into lock down at different times

Trying dry hatch for the first time. Anyone had better luck with shipped eggs dry hatching? So far air cells look correct and actually much better than 40% humidity in the last batch. Would really like more than 50% hatch out of this bunch.

Still no wiggles in the emu eggs

 

[FortCluck]

So... the other half still doesn’t know about the new batch in the incubator. I’m sure he’ll know soon enough. If I never come back, we know what happened! Lol

21 still going from the first batch of 24. It looks like 2 more from dark eggs are infertile. Will candle the 30 from Friday, tomorrow evening. I have a feeling there will be 50+ babies going into lock down at different times

Trying dry hatch for the first time. Anyone had better luck with shipped eggs dry hatching? So far air cells look correct and actually much better than 40% humidity in the last batch. Would really like more than 50% hatch out of this bunch.

Still no wiggles in the emu eggs

I do dry incubation now...

My first hatch sucked so bad that I cried for days. 9 chicks were fully developed and died... 10 others had unabsorbed yolk that they eventually absorbed after a day or more in cups. And the other 19 were good. It was just exhausting. I had added water and kept it at 40% or as close as I could but the air cells looked awful the whole time.

With dry incubation, my air cells look perfect and my chicks seem a lot healthier and better hatch rates. My rates have been 90+% each incubation with dry.