Trader Joes & Other Grocery Store Egg Hatching Club - Are you a Member

[alisar]

Hmm, the eggs I popped in the bator last Friday turned out to only have two fertile out of the dozen. Do you think they are on to us?

 

[Mini Meat]

I made a new candler today and just had to test it out but didn't have time to do all the eggs.

I grabbed 8 of the 24 WF eggs, 4 from each bator..

Results
Bator 1

1 clear
3 developing

Bator 2
1 clear
1 developing but possible blood ring?
2 developing

I am stunned... 12 day old eggs, shipped and refrigerated... life just wants to happen don't it.

Good stuff, Good fun!!!

 

[ronott1]

I made a new candler today and just had to test it out but didn't have time to do all the eggs.

I grabbed 8 of the 24 WF eggs, 4 from each bator..

Results
Bator 1

1 clear
3 developing

Bator 2
1 clear
1 developing but possible blood ring?
2 developing

I am stunned... 12 day old eggs, shipped and refrigerated... life just wants to happen don't it.

Good stuff, Good fun!!!

Yes!

You will get some chicks from those eggs.

 

[Mini Meat]

I just did my day 14 candling... a day late.

Of the WF eggs I pulled 12 of 24. 4 showed no development and 8 were quitters. Still I am very satisfied thus far. One more candling at lock down in 3 days.

I also pulled 3 of 17 turkey eggs 2 clear and 1 quitter.

11/11 Bresse all good 5/5 Dark Cornish good.
The Marans and the OE's I can only see air sacks.

The majority of the air cells seem a wee bit small but our ambient humidity has been high.

I am thinking I should continue to run dry (been dry since about day ten) until first external pip then bump humidty up. Is this the correct thing to do?

 

[ronott1]

I just did my day 14 candling... a day late.

Of the WF eggs I pulled 12 of 24. 4 showed no development and 8 were quitters. Still I am very satisfied thus far. One more candling at lock down in 3 days.

I also pulled 3 of 17 turkey eggs 2 clear and 1 quitter.

11/11 Bresse all good 5/5 Dark Cornish good.
The Marans and the OE's I can only see air sacks.

The majority of the air cells seem a wee bit small but our ambient humidity has been high.

I am thinking I should continue to run dry (been dry since about day ten) until first external pip then bump humidty up. Is this the correct thing to do?

A dry incubator is not a "dry hatch". Do not let humidity go below 30% now matter what the air cell looks like. Below 25% is the area of embryo damage.

Air cell size is very misleading. You will have big air cells with shipped eggs but they will hatch worse than eggs from your yard. The fresher the egg, the smaller the air cell will be.

Set them for hatching on day 18 or 19. It is called lockdown. You can wait until you see a pip but sometimes that is too late.

 

[Mini Meat]

A dry incubator is not a "dry hatch". Do not let humidity go below 30% now matter what the air cell looks like. Below 25% is the area of embryo damage.

Air cell size is very misleading. You will have big air cells with shipped eggs but they will hatch worse than eggs from your yard. The fresher the egg, the smaller the air cell will be.

Set them for hatching on day 18 or 19. It is called lockdown. You can wait until you see a pip but sometimes that is too late.

If I open it up, I add a bit of water, like a teaspoon to a sponge, then it stabilizes at about 35-40 percent with no addition water needed unless I open it up.

So your saying go ahead and start upping the humidity at lockdown? .

The small air cells do have me second guessing and worrying. But after doing more research it sounds like it is not unreasonable for Dark eggs and green eggs to have smaller cells since they are not as porous. And as you mentioned all the eggs except the WF's were less than 3 days old.

Thank you it think you are getting me refocused.

 

[ronott1]

If I open it up, I add a bit of water, like a teaspoon to a sponge, then it stabilizes at about 35-40 percent with no addition water needed unless I open it up.

So your saying go ahead and start upping the humidity at lockdown? .

The small air cells do have me second guessing and worrying. But after doing more research it sounds like it is not unreasonable for Dark eggs and green eggs to have smaller cells since they are not as porous. And as you mentioned all the eggs except the WF's were less than 3 days old.

Thank you it think you are getting me refocused.

At this point, you will not be able to change the air cells--there is not enough time.

You will be very surprised at how big the aircells will be for the chicks that hatch. Air cells grow a lot during the last several days as the chick takes in the yolk and absorbs the moisture in the egg.

Contrary to what a lot think, wet sticky chicks are not usually a humidity problem but a development problem. Same for mal positioned chicks. Those are usually chicks that died before moving into position. You can have mal positioned chicks but those are the ones that have trouble hatching--are still alive on day 21. Nearly all chicks that die before day 18 will be malpositioned.

Also, chicks that die before they internally pip did not "drown". They died because of a development problem--usually caused by temperature being off.

The safe zone for incubator temperature is Plus;minus 1 degree. Safe zone for humidity is from 25% to 65%. Within that range you will have good hatches.

Focus on temperature since it needs to be more tightly controlled than humidity. Temperature is the most important thing and most do not do a good job of this one basic thing. If you do not have one, get a brinsea spot check. Trust me on this from experience and hosting hatch a longs--Brinsea is the gold standard.

 

[Mini Meat]

At this point, you will not be able to change the air cells--there is not enough time.

You will be very surprised at how big the aircells will be for the chicks that hatch. Air cells grow a lot during the last several days as the chick takes in the yolk and absorbs the moisture in the egg.

Contrary to what a lot think, wet sticky chicks are not usually a humidity problem but a development problem. Same for mal positioned chicks. Those are usually chicks that died before moving into position. You can have mal positioned chicks but those are the ones that have trouble hatching--are still alive on day 21. Nearly all chicks that die before day 18 will be malpositioned.

Also, chicks that die before they internally pip did not "drown". They died because of a development problem--usually caused by temperature being off.

The safe zone for incubator temperature is Plus;minus 1 degree. Safe zone for humidity is from 25% to 65%. Within that range you will have good hatches.

Focus on temperature since it needs to be more tightly controlled than humidity. Temperature is the most important thing and most do not do a good job of this one basic thing. If you do not have one, get a brinsea spot check. Trust me on this from experience and hosting hatch a longs--Brinsea is the gold standard.

Thank yo good info.

I do trust you... 2 Brinsea spot checks ordered for next incubation.

 

[ronott1]

Thank yo good info.

I do trust you... 2 Brinsea spot checks ordered for next incubation.

You are on the way to having great hatches!

 

[BusyBearMama]

Oh gosh I had no idea that stores carried fertile eggs or that you could incubate eggs that had been in the fridge!?

We have our own barnyard mix but up until now have always just bought hatching eggs from people. This year I've ordered a few from a company to hatch maybe and we should have some from a friend but they're otherwise all our eggs. 22 hatching by the weekend I hope!! But now I want to just walk
Around and buy eggs places and see what I can get!! This post is basically like Pokemon ... There are cute animals hiding in eggs around your town.. Go find them!!