Valentine's day hatch -a-long

[Familyfarm47]

is it possible the chicks could've started developing already? one egg has a pretty definite darker red spot compared to others. daughter and husband both agree. new to candling but just comparing within sample.

 

[Familyfarm47]

That is a beautiful foam to ship eggs in! Nicely done-- only thing better would be if it had foam above and below to make sure they don't get bumped in shipping. Whoever sold that did a pretty great job! I'd be interested to know that seller.

yep, it was shipped well! foam on top and then more packing material all the way up to top.
meyer hatchery in ohio. very good experience so far. arrived a day early and they kept in close contact thru-out shipping without me initiating.

 

[Hirad]

is it possible the chicks could've started developing already? one egg has a pretty definite darker red spot compared to others. daughter and husband both agree. new to candling but just comparing within sample.

The first few days you likely won't see anything. By now the only development would be enlargement of the blastoderm. Blood first appears around day 3-4. By day 5 you should see the vascular system including the heart beating. By day 9 the heart will likely no longer be visible but the embryo should be dancing.
The darker spot you're seeing is likely the chalaza.

 

[Familyfarm47]

I washed my incubator last minute and then it smelled too bleachy even though i used very little bleach cleaner on it. so I rinsed again. I think water must have gotten in between styrofoam and outer plastic, because the humidity just keeps climbing. 70% now with the wells dry! I'm on day 2. Can these eggs wait to see if it evens out? Or does humidity normally climb when you start incubating and then it drops later?

 

[chonsey]

I was slow on getting the incubator set up. Had to go get distilled water. Sterilized with bleach, I had to keep opening the lid to get the humidity down. I've decided to get my other incubator out, will be sterilizing & setting it up. My RCom lays the eggs down horizontal and rolls them back and forth. My other incubator is new and the eggs sit upright and rotate every 2 hours.

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

I washed my incubator last minute and then it smelled too bleachy even though i used very little bleach cleaner on it. so I rinsed again. I think water must have gotten in between styrofoam and outer plastic, because the humidity just keeps climbing. 70% now with the wells dry! I'm on day 2. Can these eggs wait to see if it evens out? Or does humidity normally climb when you start incubating and then it drops later?

Do you have the red plugs in the top? There are usually two. If so, remove those until the humidity goes down and watch the temperature closely. For future reference, when you are planning to incubate it is a good idea to set the incubator up several days in advance and let it run to even things out.

 

[Faraday40]

I happened to have a bunch of pretty orpington eggs on the counter and production just started to pick up. I couldn't help myself & put them into the incubator.

For the past month, I noticed that only about 1/2 the eggs were fertile. I have a very old & a young rooster. I'm trying to figure out which one or if both are mating. Hopefully, I'll be able to tell by the chicks.
My old blk/lav split orp roo:

My inexperienced silver laced orp roo:
(June 17th hatch; just started crowing a couple weeks ago & saw him mate only once)

I guess we also have a baby orp male, but he's only 17 weeks. The girls pretty much ignore him. He's named Dinner, but DD really likes him. Although pretty, I consider him a cull.


It's been years since I've seen any infertile eggs coming from our coop, so hopefully I can figure out if it's age or if they're in need of some butt fluff trims.

Anyway, It looks like I'm joining you for the Valentine's Day hatch-a-long. I set the eggs on Thurs.

 

[pineapple416]

Why is he a cull? Is he aggressive? He is very beautiful!

 

[Familyfarm47]

Do you have the red plugs in the top? There are usually two. If so, remove those until the humidity goes down and watch the temperature closely. For future reference, when you are planning to incubate it is a good idea to set the incubator up several days in advance and let it run to even things out.

it has dropped. I did have it set up three different times for a couple of days each, and it was running well, but hadn't disinfected it yet. I am not the kind of person who bleaches things, but started reading horror stories about exploding eggs and fungus etc. and panic bleached at the last minute. Then didn't like the smell so then panic rinsed. ANd then panic rinsed again 12 hours later at one in the morning!!!I'm learning the hard way I guess!

 

[Faraday40]

Why is he a cull? Is he aggressive? He is very beautiful!

I want a pure lav for breeding & this guy has some gold leakage. He's a gentle giant like all of our orps. He'll be of good size and DD wants to keep him for an Isabel Orpington project. I have not fully decided his fate.

Craziest hatch ever! I hatched 16 lavender chicks September 22 & randomly sold 8 in 24 hrs. I don't know how to vent sex, so I just sold them straight run. I needed to keep a male to breed in spring, so I took down my ad and grew out the remaining 8. I sold 6 as soon as I could confirm they were females. I was sure that the one with the gold leakage was male, but I was really hoping to keep the other lav as my future roo..... until I finally determined at 17 weeks old that she's not a cockerel! So, I wanted a male and ended up with 7 females out of 8!

I still have the great grandpa around (a black/lav split who is more of a pet these days) and we also hatched another black/lav split male in Dec. He's OK but I was hoping for a pure lav.

I swear "Dinner" looks like he's got a mullet.
Besides his 1980s hair, I like his wing & saddle feathers lacing. (gold edges on lavender feathers) It's very pretty and why he's not currently in the freezer.