Will they or won't they ???? Maybe some words of wisdom?

[meburges]

:/Depending on day count, my due date could have been Tues 4th or Wed 5th. I candled about 2 wks ago, got rid of 2 bad ones, thought it looked like the others MIGHT be ok. (Not great candling technique...) Well, is now Fri 7th and nothing has happened. Can I assume it is time to give up and try again? Have had luck in the past w/ same bator but w/ guinea eggs, this is my first chicken hatch attempt. (They were mailed eggs....) Help!!

All my girls outside keep asking and I don't know what to tell them!

 

[Wynette]

First of all, welcome to BYC! Glad you found us!

What was your temp/humidity through hatch, and what type of bator? If it's forced air, temp. should be 99.5 and humidity between 40-50 for the 1st 18 days, then about 70 humidity (same temp.) for day 19-21. If you temp. was a little low, they could possibly still hatch late; however, I would think that a full 48 hours late would be a very slim chance. I'm sorry! I would candle a few again to see if you can tell if any have pipped the air cell.

 

[meburges]

I ran about 100 degrees (kept the water in, could not find my humidity thingie), had to keep adjusting temp as it wanted to rise. I have the styrofoam hovabator w/ the wire bottom. We were successful w/ the guineas, thought chicks would work similar. Oh well. Looks like I need to buy a new humidity thingie and try again.

Quick question - would I be better off keeping eggs on their sides or turning from big end to little end on next try?

 

[HenMaster]

I'm with you! My eggs normaly hatch early but this batch, my first mail order, is hatching on time and that is unsetteling to me. I will give my eggs until I get home on monday evening and they will be out, that will be 60 hours after their due date.

 

[Maryallison]

Good luck & give them a few more days. I'd candle again and see how they look.

 

[meburges]

Thanks. Interesting about the mail order ones taking longer... I'll candle again, maybe give them a couple more days - - - just in case!

 

[kelidei]

Quote:
My first attempt was with shipped eggs too and I got 0 out 6

I just put up six of my own eggs about 1 week ago. I candled them this am and found veining and "wigglers" in all of them--- embryos were moving. Since having had a batch of bad eggs I can definitely see the difference with these. I have no idea what they will be because I have two roos (blue andalusian and cloumbian wyandotte) and a bunch of hens, white and partridge rocks, dark cornish, white wyandottes, black australorp and buff orpington--- they are mystery chicks--- I hope they make it all the way through

Do you have a way to get hatching eggs without shipping them?

 

[meburges]

I probably should have tried some of my own eggs before going for mail order......however, 2 weeks ago my roo (who had always been tranquil and easy-going) attacked one of my favorite girls, Lanie for no reason at all. Well, as far as humans could tell. I tried to save her, hoping was minor wound, but it ended up killing her as she passed away Tuesday. So. Won't have any more home made fertile ones until I get another roo, and I plan to shop around carefully! Sure miss my original guy, Fred.

Good luck with yours - I can't wait to be able to see the little guys/gals growing! Will give it another shot soon.