Uh oh... found an egg today! ... - A journal of sorts, from finding eggs to hatching them... Update

[PeepsCA]

Yeah...it ain't lookin' so good. We candled when we put them in, but were going quickly so just saw that it was dark and mostly filled the space with good air sacks. Didn't watch for movement. If I don't see anything by tomorrow morning, I'll pull them out and candle again. Suspect these petered out somewhere.

Boo. Well, we have another seven in the bator, but they haven't been canlded yet at all. After that we will have to wait til the girls start laying again. Today was gorgeous--probably close to 70--so maybe they'll start soon.

I hope your little guy gets himself unzipped. That is the hardest part for me to watch--the slow process from pipped to out. I guess that's also the fun part, but I hate to lose a chick in that stage. Just feels wrong, somehow!

Enjoy your eggs and dark fudge brownies. I guess if you have to perform the heinous crime of eating guinea eggs you know to be fertile, at least you're using them in brownies!

Good luck with your wait, Perchie Girl! I'm right there with you!

Fingers stayin' crossed 'til you say you tossed them

I collected 24 eggs today (that's 2 days' worth). In the fridge they went, it was hard too cuz they were all nice pretty clean good sized eggs! I'll check each one for fertility as I use them. Hope it's gettin' better, cuz more girls are laying now. Silly Hens keep changing laying spots... today most of the eggs were in a recycle bin that's full of their alfalfa, lol. Tomorrow they'll be back under the built in brooder or behind the 1/2 sheet of plywood leaning against the wall at an angle

Oh and "Zippy" made it out fine, I missed it tho. Pied Brown like I thought. 3 more pipped eggs as of a little while ago. I'll probably wake up to a few more keets.

 

[perchie.girl]

Yay for Zippy....

deb

 

[Country Chickens]

I have a pip!!!

Yay! Now let's hope he gets a buddy or two, and they make it out alright. But a pip is kinda the all important first step!

Yay that zippy made it out!

I'm impressed that you were able to predict his color from the tiny bit you saw. You could hire yourself out as an oracle or someting! I can picture it now...all of us lined up with bators in our arms, waiting for you to tell us what our hatching keets are!

 

[PeepsCA]

Yay, a pip!!! Come on keetsies !!!!

Are the eggs sittin' in egg carton bottoms, or laying in their sides in the hatcher? And how many eggs are you waiting on? I forgot.

LOL... oracle. I've just had lots of practice staring into my hatchers for hours and hours, figuring out who was what. Kind of became an obsessive thing last season when I was trying to hatch out Coral Blues, Buffs, Opalines and Porcelains. My nose was glued to those stupid little windows on 2 LG's set up as hatchers, the whole season, lol. You get used to seeing certain colors after hatching so many, so it gets easier. Sometimes I can candle an egg that has just a pipped out piece of shell missing missing, and a small hole in the membrane and I can see inside enough to see if it's a light or dark keet, lol.

No more new keets for me this AM, just a couple more pipped eggs, but it's only the morning of day 25, so that's typical. It's dark and raining out... they seem to hatch better when there's more sunlight coming in.

Now I need to go get a brooder set up for the 2 early keets...

 

[perchie.girl]

So.... I am curious. If they can hatch right in the incubator before lockdown.... Then do they really need a lockdown? Or are the ones that hatch early in danger of being shrinkwrapped.

deb

 

[PeepsCA]

So.... I am curious. If they can hatch right in the incubator before lockdown.... Then do they really need a lockdown? Or are the ones that hatch early in danger of being shrinkwrapped.

deb

In my experiences with hatching, the shrink wrap thing usually happens after extra humidity has been added, then lost and replaced with cold dry air (which is why it's always recommended that you don't open the 'bator/hatcher during the lock down). The cool dry air causes the membrane to shrink and stick to the keet, then once it's stuck their movement is limited, and if they haven't pipped the membrane yet, they run out of air fast or get smothered/asphyxiated basically.

The early hatching keets that hatch fine in the 'bator at 45-50% humidity are typically really strong keets and also the ones that have enough of their own moisture inside the egg to be able to spin around, zip the shell and hatch... but not all eggs lose the same amount of moisture, so IMO most would probably be too dry/sticky to be able to pip, spin around in the egg and zip, and die trying to hatch. If they can't move well enough inside the egg because they are sticky, they can get a leg, foot or wing in the way and will usually die cuz they can't move their head enough to continue pecking the shell.

Also they would not have the extra humidity to soften the membrane and thick hard shell so the keets would have to struggle more than they already do, giving them another reason to expire while trying to hatch. I have never hatched a complete hatch at a low RH level tho (referred to as dry hatching), so I can't say for sure if most would die or not. I did not want to risk killing a bunch of keets that would have hatched fine if I'd have bumped up the humidity for the rest of the hatch.

I keep waiting to see if anyone posts about a successful dry hatch with Guinea eggs, but so far I have yet to see this. I know I'm not gonna try it tho.

 

[perchie.girl]

I just read a thread on dry hatching. Those people were hatching in areas where the relative humidity in the room was running around 40 percent. Gawd I dont even think it gets that humid here in the shower.

I am getting ready to assemble and fire up my 1588 to see how well it works. When I order my sumatra eggs I want it to be in good shape. and I am OBSESSING over maintaining the proper temps and humidity. I know those are set pretty much plug and play.... but Dang the very first time I ever tried hatching eggs with was with a still air and I killed them all. They were Guinea eggs. I gave away the incubator.

Now reading up on the subject I was doomed from the beginning. I had no way of checking the humidity. The eggs were shipped off ebay and I had them on the dining room table in a room that was not temperature controlled. I also let the reserviors go dry a couple of times.

I found a thermometer/hygrometer combo made by Accurite. It has two separate sensor leads that allows for reading both temp and humidity. They carry it at a Reptile store and they are only sixteen dollars. I am heading out today to go get one.

deb

 

[PeepsCA]

I just read a thread on dry hatching. Those people were hatching in areas where the relative humidity in the room was running around 40 percent. Gawd I dont even think it gets that humid here in the shower.

I am getting ready to assemble and fire up my 1588 to see how well it works. When I order my sumatra eggs I want it to be in good shape. and I am OBSESSING over maintaining the proper temps and humidity. I know those are set pretty much plug and play.... but Dang the very first time I ever tried hatching eggs with was with a still air and I killed them all. They were Guinea eggs. I gave away the incubator.

Now reading up on the subject I was doomed from the beginning. I had no way of checking the humidity. The eggs were shipped off ebay and I had them on the dining room table in a room that was not temperature controlled. I also let the reserviors go dry a couple of times.

I found a thermometer/hygrometer combo made by Accurite. It has two separate sensor leads that allows for reading both temp and humidity. They carry it at a Reptile store and they are only sixteen dollars. I am heading out today to go get one.

deb

Were those that dry hatching hatching Guinea eggs, or any other thick shelled eggs? Chicken eggs are super thin shelled compared to Guinea eggs... plus Guinea eggs take 26-28 days so they are in for a week longer losing more moisture from the eggs than chicken eggs do. Plus the thin shells are easier to hatch out of. Guineas really have to work for it, big time. I'm interested to know if it works or not, but like I said, I don't want to risk my keets, lol.

Humidity is low here too, my airtight woodstove dries out the house in the winter (but maintains around 22% RH), then I'm dealing central A/C in the summers (it's usually down around 11% in the summers)... I only have to fill the middle trough/reservoir in the 1588 tho, and it holds 46-48%. I have to add water every 4 days, usually when I see it drop to the high 30s. I don't hatch in mine, but if you need extra humidity besides adding water to the other reservoir, there's lots of tricks.

The Accurites are good hygrometers, most are thin enough to just lay flat in top of the eggs, and not worry about messing with the sensors, but that's your call. The less crap getting knocked over on top of my 'bator and scratchin' the window, the better IMO, lol. You can check the RH calibration on it with the salt test, just to see how accurate it is, (it may be off a small % either direction). With Guinea eggs the RH is a little forgiving tho, if it's a little too high or low you are usually still ok... so just in a general range is fine (40-50% for incubation, 70-80% for hatching). Can't say if that's the case for chicken eggs tho.

I am absolutely not a fan of still air incubation. I have nothing good/nice to say about it, lol. The 1588s are a piece of cake, you'll do fine this time, so you can relax. The preset temp is reliable and stays stable. Just set it up in a draft free area and where it doesn't get direct sunlight, in a room that has a somewhat stable temp 24/7, add water and eggs and you're good to go. both of mine maintain a stable temp even if the room temps swing 15 degrees in either direction (oops, but I try to prevent that). I'd say fertility rates and egg viability will be more of a concern than the 1588 is gonna be for you.

 

[perchie.girl]

Yep that was dry hatching for Chicken eggs. Didn't know what the term meant so I read most of the thread.

My trick is to find a place to put the thing. Grandma would have a fit if she knew.... so I have to put it someplace discreet inside the house. Still thinking on that one.

deb

 

[Country Chickens]

So the little guy that had pipped is working on unzipping now. Peeping and pushing with his beak. Wish I could hatch him out by sheer will power!

There were only four eggs in this batch after the last candle, and they were from the first half dozen collected from a brand new pullet (do you still call them pullets when they're a young guinea hen?) so maybe they were never going anywhere, despite the development. However, I did learn today that I've been counting the days wrong--today is day 28. That explains part of why all the chicks were coming late. Also, I've adjusted the temp on our Brinsea after talking to the guys at the Brinsea place, so hopefully that will help the next batch!

In other good news, I collected another guinea egg today!

First one in several weeks, so it's good to see the girls getting going again. Guess they just needed a really balmy day! Also, the first silkie egg of this batch (in with the guineas) has pipped, so the little guy trying to unzip will have a buddy.

The dry hatch thing is always interesting to me...can't imagine trying it with guineas, but I guess I might sometime with chicks. In theory, at least.

Not sure I'd ever feel ready/willing to experiment on my eggs. I appreciate your insights on the shrink wrap issue...something to put in the back of the brain and keep available. It's really tempting during that first day of lockdown to fuss with the humidity, but that sounds like exactly the LAST thing to do!

Good luck with your new eggs, Perchie Girl! I think guineas are a tough way to go the first time, and I know still air bators wouldn't help that! I'm sure you'll do fine!