Valentine's Day 1st Annual Hatch Along

[misfitmorgan]

Can you elaborate on this? Sticky chicks hatch "sticky" due to having too dry conditions during lockdown. The fluids from the egg dry on them and form a sort of crust. You can wash them with warm water and dawn dish soap (be sure to rinse well and keep them warm to dry thoroughly). Running the incubator at too low of a humidity before lockdown can cause shrink wrapping, which is even worse than sticky chicks.

I had a sticky chicks hatch under a broody last summer. She was the last one to hatch and I think the hen had already got off the nest so the humidity dropped and she was sticky. She seemed fine otherwise. It looked like she was wet for a long time and I started to wonder why she wasn't drying. Upon touch her, she was dry but her feathers were hard like they had been painted with clear fingernail polish. She washed off fine and joined the rest of the chicks.

Yep thats sticky chick....but inside the egg before they hatch...there is a lot of extra fluid ad the fluid turns into a hard gel that they have to try to break thru and climb out of. Its like alot like the consistency of orange marmalade kinda the color too. The chicks dry like they were shellac'ed and remain wet looking. As far as i know sticky chick come from to much humidity during incubation and two little during hatch...the combo.

To much humidity consistantly thru incubation makes wet chicks....to little throughout or at lockdown makes shrink wrapped. Also to much air circulation and air directly on eggs can make shrinkwrapped chicks.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Misfit morgan- thanks so much. I did put them in late that day so hopefully im good but anyway just ran and took the younger eggs out into another incubator and put my 12 out of 24 eggs that made it to lockdown IN LOCKDOWN! Many of the 12 that didnt progress were very dirty. Im not sure if this effects fertility or i just got a bad batch? They definitely experienced shipping from hell, as most of the air sacs were misshapen and/ or loose. Anyway 12 in lockdown. Thanks again.

Your welcome. They should be fine...you may have a few malpositions if they were in an autoturner but the few hours less of lockdown should not hurt the chicks. Alot of people hatch dirty eggs without a problem so im more inclined to think it was the shipping. on shipped eggs i lose roughly half or more, it seems about 1/3 of those lost give out in the first 10days, another 1/3 of those eggs give up around 14-16 days...and the last third give up after going into lockdown. I have not noticed that pattern with local eggs..they are either growing at day 6 cause their fertile or not.

My eggs went in late Saturday night (the 24th) so I'm locking them down tomorrow morning. Last time I think I locked down too late and I had several mal-positioned chicks.

Yep if their in auto-turners locking them down late can cause malpositions because they get part way turned and then the auto-turner turns the eggs and they have to start over and can get confused which part is the true top of the egg. Thats why your suppose to lay eggs down to lockdown with the lowest side of the air cell up, then they just have to worry about having their head facing up.

is it possible for a full incubator to spike independently of the heating unit? i mean at some point along development the embryos become endothermic, so with a full incubator can they alone by biomass collectively raise the internal temp in a styrofoam (insulated) unit?

i've never seen that happen...i have however seen ambient humidity spike an incubator temp though, same as ambient temps plummeting/spiking incubator temps.

 

[StephensonC]

Some of my eggs have slightly small air cells. That would mean my humidity has been too high right? I've been pretty much doing it dry the entire time and humidity hasn't reached over 40% and stayed around 30% most of the time. What can I do at this point since it's time for lockdown and I need to up my humidity?

And BTW I have a wiggler already!!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Some of my eggs have slightly small air cells. That would mean my humidity has been too high right? I've been pretty much doing it dry the entire time and humidity hasn't reached over 40% and stayed around 30% most of the time. What can I do at this point since it's time for lockdown and I need to up my humidity?

And BTW I have a wiggler already!!

i think aircells also depend on breed....i know the cochin frizzle eggs i hatch have what look like very small aircells compared to egg size but the best hatch rate yet(aside from the lethal frazzle ones). The banty eggs seem to have a larger then exspected aircell...chicken eggs are rather standard.....muscovy eggs will scare your pants off near hatch, you look at it going where could the duckling possibly be with that huge air cell.

If ambient humidity made for slightly small aircells there is not a whole lot you can do at this point. Hatching mostly dry may be an option if ambient humidity has kept it around 30%...you could try say 40% humidity for hatching maybe. Do what you feel is best and what you think will give your chicks the best chance. i know alot of people incubate and hatch completely dry, never adding water. i remember in school hatching eggs in an aquarium, with a clip on light and hand turning twice a day....almost all the chicks hatched. A lot of times us impatient hatchohalics worried about every tiny detail kill more chicks then we save. Remember momma hens rely on ambient humidity, you dont see them out there dragging bowls of water and sponges under themselves the last 4 days to up the humidity to 60-70%, that said hens are far superior at hatching then our machine broodies.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

is it possible for a full incubator to spike independently of the heating unit? i mean at some point along development the embryos become endothermic, so with a full incubator can they alone by biomass collectively raise the internal temp in a styrofoam (insulated) unit?

I think so. I know if one bakes cookies in the next room the heat from the oven can increase the incubator's temperature. The incubator is now no where near the kitchen or the laundry room.

I tossed a more eggs today. I think there was a fertility issue with a rooster or two. I'm thinking they spent their time looking at each other instead of mating the hens. I now have a small wall blocking their view of each other.

I'm hoping to get close to 30 chickens this hatch. the turkey eggs did not grow, maybe the ones I set today will take off.

 

[Lapeerian]

Yeah, my turner quit on me. Eggs in same position tonight. Pulled them out for lockdown, hope they'll be ok. Not sure how long it has been stuck. Someone else mentioned the LG turner housing separated? Think it was the same thing here. Hubby squeezed it back together after helping me do a final candle and it is back to rotating.

 

[DarthRooster]

23/33 shipped eggs made it to lockdown. Good thing I got a digital hygrometer because it looks like my genesis 1588's is busted. Showing 20 degrees less than my calibrated digital is

 

[emvickrey]

So far all my eggs for the hal are doing well and will be going in lock down very soon. Both my bators are full with staggerd hatches. I'll just have to turn off the turner till the first set hatches. I was hoping to add some more porcelain eggs but I don't have room right now. I have a couple broodies I need to put to work. I still haven't gottem my brooders set up yet.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

I haven't officially joined the hatch-a-long yet, just watching on the sidelines. I have 25 eggs in the incubator, set to hatch on Valentines Day. I have been trying not to get excited about this hatch, which has been very hard. This is a test hatch. I had a disease hit the flock and I am hoping these eggs escaped the craziness. Otherwise, I have to start over from scratch. (Not fun.) If all the chicks (that hatch) are happy and healthy after the first week I will be relieved. If even one of the chicks shows signs of illness I will have to get it tested, clean and sterilize everything (again), and start the flock over (again, not fun). I am hoping and praying for the best.

I noticed that several of you locked down today/tonight. I was planning to lock-down tomorrow afternoon. I set the eggs on a Saturday and figured they would hatch on. or around, a Saturday. Am I wrong? Should I go ahead and lock-down now?

 

[Alaskan]

I haven't officially joined the hatch-a-long yet, just watching on the sidelines. I have 25 eggs in the incubator, set to hatch on Valentines Day. I have been trying not to get excited about this hatch, which has been very hard. This is a test hatch. I had a disease hit the flock and I am hoping these eggs escaped the craziness. Otherwise, I have to start over from scratch. (Not fun.) If all the chicks (that hatch) are happy and healthy after the first week I will be relieved. If even one of the chicks shows signs of illness I will have to get it tested, clean and sterilize everything (again), and start the flock over (again, not fun). I am hoping and praying for the best.

I noticed that several of you locked down today/tonight. I was planning to lock-down tomorrow afternoon. I set the eggs on a Saturday and figured they would hatch on. or around, a Saturday. Am I wrong? Should I go ahead and lock-down now?

I don;t think it matters too much.

Locking down a day late shouldn't hurt anything.

Locking down early is more likely to hurt stuff.....


Me... on my 'set too early' eggs...

or maybe

THREE of the olive eggs have pips now, but none of the Marans do.... and I have way more Marans eggs in there than Olive eggs. It is making me wonder if something is wrong with my Marans... dunno..... the olive egger is in with the Marans, same location, same diet, same rooster.....


all of the eggs were mixed up in the incubator....

so why are all three pips only in olive eggs??????? I am thinking no chicks until tomorrow