Has anyone tried dry incubation and does it work well? And a sexlink breeding question.

[Debbie292d]

So can I put an egg in the incubator when the eggs in the incubator are 2 days old? Is it okay if they are all different ages??
P.S. I love that cabinet/dresser!

Thank you! It was a find on Marketplace.

I do staggered hatches but always have minimally 5 days in between them, and for the reasons @NatJ said.

Without having a second incubator, this would get tricky as you'd have some eggs in back-to-back lockdowns.

 

[Moon Daizy]

What does that mean? Is it something that I should look out for??????

Um... Well, we drew round the air cells after candling on day 17, but the chick pipped well outside of this air cell. So I was worried it wouldn't be able to get air - the pip had cracked the shell but had not broken through. So I candled the egg to see if the pip was inside the air cell - and thankfully, it was. The air cell had grown a lot or moved. In anycase, this chick managed to unzip okay and came out live an kicking, full of spunk!

THAT IS SO EXCITING!! I hope the other ones make it out great too! Any araucanas yet??

Yes, we have 5 happy chicks at the moment! Two cream legbars (one girl, one boy), one cuckoo Maran (I think a pullet, as she's very dark, no hint of grey), one lavendar araucana and one black araucana. Still two Maran and two araucana eggs left in the incubator, but I fully expect one of these to not hatch as it was questionable at the last candling.

The other araucana is unsure - it looks viable on the float test and candling, but has not internally pipped. The same story for the other two cuckoo Marans, but candling them is almost impossible! I have made a tiny safety hole into the air cells of these three, and popped them back in the incubator. Will give them a bit more time. Can't hear any chipping/pecking or cheeping noises, but I wouldn't expect to hear anything until they have internally pipped anyway.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

In anycase, this chick managed to unzip okay and came out live an kicking, full of spunk!

Phew!!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Thank you! It was a find on Marketplace.

I do staggered hatches but always have minimally 5 days in between them, and for the reasons @NatJ said.

Without having a second incubator, this would get tricky as you'd have some eggs in back-to-back lockdowns.

That makes sense. I think maybe 3 of the eggs in there now are only a day older than the rest. Last night my incubator went down to 99! Is that okay?? I'm very worried about them.