Christmas 2014 Hatch-a-Long (12-25-14)

[Peep-Chicken]

I just set 32 eggs, so they should be hatching a day or 2 after yours, Peep-Chicken! I'm glad to be able to hatch along with someone. I tried to hatch last month, and sadly, had no success. I've made a few changes and am trying again.

I wanted to start so they were due on Christmas, but I had to wait until today because I wanted different eggs. I waited so I could add some blue eggs that I got from a local guy. I doubt it was worth the wait, because he claimed to have Araucanas, but only 3 of the 14 eggs he gave me are blue... and two of those are over a week old. I also debated doing the new year hatch along, but by then, none of the blue ones will be as good. So here I am! And excited, too!

Besides the eggs I got from him, I have several of my own. We have one rooster who is only about 7 months old. We have no idea of his breed, and he is most likely a mix. Cool comb, though. I've put in several from our young black star, welsummer, and white leghorn, as well as some from an old hen who I think might be a Rhode island red. So, who knows what we'll get out of this! If I end up with any live chicks, I'll be thrilled!

My last attempt was thoroughly disappointing.

It's always fun to hatch with someons else . I will be interested to see what you get of the eggs, mutt chickens have always interested me

I also have a little giant still air incubator. Maybe I could learn some tips from you to make this hatch more successful? It seems like you have hatched successfully in the past?

I have hatched two small hatches before. This is my first large hatch as well with no auto turner.

One thing I will recommend, keep the bator off a high shelf if it's not completly secure. It's not to good if it falls. (Only one unfertile egg cracked, but it leaked to the good eggs and they got bacteria from it. If it didn't crack everyone could of made it )So I currently have the bator on the floor in a room with the door closed so the cats can't get there.

Good luck, keep us posted . I'll do my first candle with these in a few days

May I ask what happened last month? But I wouldnt feel to bad, first hatches don't always go to well. It couldn't of been as bad as the incubator falling like me.

Let's hope for a good hatch with lots of chicks!

 

[gogetter]

Oooh! Sorry to hear about yours falling! I bet that was traumatic! Great idea to put it on the floor. Mine should be pretty secure. The surface it's on is large and it's up against a wall. I have a gate around it, and it's in a room with a gate up as well. An egg fortress is necessary with my kids and pets!

However, despite my attempts to keep them safe, I'm afraid my problem is inside the bator... humidity.

My last attempt seemed to start off well. I was using my own eggs, and with the young hens and roo, I wasn't sure what the fertility would be... but when I candled around day 5, I had 10 that seemed to be developing. We were all so excited. Over the next two weeks we had several stop developing. Around day 19 we had 3 eggs wiggling, so we were hopeful. But day 21 came and went and none of them pipped, and none of the eggs were moving any more. After about day 26, I did egg-topsies. All 3 were fully developed, dead in shell. None had pipped internally. I had turned them 3 times a day through day 18.

I had been trying the dry hatch method since I'd heard a lot of positive comments on that. I didn't have a hygrometer anyway. I got one halfway through the hatch. When I put it in, it said only 10% humidity. I'm in dry Colorado, so that didn't shock me, but I was worried the dry hatch wasn't a good idea. I added some water and got it up to about 58-63% for the end of the hatch. When I opened the eggs, none had absorbed the yolk. They all looked pretty "shrink wrapped", so I felt that the low humidity had been the problem.

This time I calibrated the hygrometer using the salt and water in a Ziploc bag method. This method shows that my meter is off by 13% ! This means that my humidity wasn't as low in the first hatch as I had thought, though it was probably still too low for too long. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I paid money for such a ridiculous device! I'm not sure I can even trust the temperature on it either, so I have 2 other thermometers in with it. Since I have no idea if the hygrometer is going to be helpful at all, I weighed the eggs and plan to use the weight loss method of taking humidity. However the only scale I have is only accurate to 2 grams. I'm afraid that's not going to be accurate enough either. grrr!

I also think, in our enthusiasm, we candled too often. My kids had their hands on the eggs, as well. I was hoping it would be educational, but I'm sure we probably introduced bacteria, or disrupted their development with all the handling. This time we will only candle a couple of times, and I'm using gloves.

Also, I raised the thermometers to measure the temp at the top of the eggs. Last time they were on the floor of the bator.

So I am hopeful all these changes will result in a good hatch this time. However, it's been really cold here, so I'm not sure how active my roo has been. And as I mentioned before... I don't know whether I can count on the hatchability of the other eggs.

 

[gogetter]

What breeds are you hatching, peep?

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Oooh! Sorry to hear about yours falling! I bet that was traumatic! Great idea to put it on the floor. Mine should be pretty secure. The surface it's on is large and it's up against a wall. I have a gate around it, and it's in a room with a gate up as well. An egg fortress is necessary with my kids and pets!

However, despite my attempts to keep them safe, I'm afraid my problem is inside the bator... humidity.

My last attempt seemed to start off well. I was using my own eggs, and with the young hens and roo, I wasn't sure what the fertility would be... but when I candled around day 5, I had 10 that seemed to be developing. We were all so excited. Over the next two weeks we had several stop developing. Around day 19 we had 3 eggs wiggling, so we were hopeful. But day 21 came and went and none of them pipped, and none of the eggs were moving any more. After about day 26, I did egg-topsies. All 3 were fully developed, dead in shell. None had pipped internally. I had turned them 3 times a day through day 18.

I had been trying the dry hatch method since I'd heard a lot of positive comments on that. I didn't have a hygrometer anyway. I got one halfway through the hatch. When I put it in, it said only 10% humidity. I'm in dry Colorado, so that didn't shock me, but I was worried the dry hatch wasn't a good idea. I added some water and got it up to about 58-63% for the end of the hatch. When I opened the eggs, none had absorbed the yolk. They all looked pretty "shrink wrapped", so I felt that the low humidity had been the problem.

This time I calibrated the hygrometer using the salt and water in a Ziploc bag method. This method shows that my meter is off by 13% ! This means that my humidity wasn't as low in the first hatch as I had thought, though it was probably still too low for too long. Anyway, I'm so disappointed that I paid money for such a ridiculous device! I'm not sure I can even trust the temperature on it either, so I have 2 other thermometers in with it. Since I have no idea if the hygrometer is going to be helpful at all, I weighed the eggs and plan to use the weight loss method of taking humidity. However the only scale I have is only accurate to 2 grams. I'm afraid that's not going to be accurate enough either. grrr!

I also think, in our enthusiasm, we candled too often. My kids had their hands on the eggs, as well. I was hoping it would be educational, but I'm sure we probably introduced bacteria, or disrupted their development with all the handling. This time we will only candle a couple of times, and I'm using gloves.

Also, I raised the thermometers to measure the temp at the top of the eggs. Last time they were on the floor of the bator.

So I am hopeful all these changes will result in a good hatch this time. However, it's been really cold here, so I'm not sure how active my roo has been. And as I mentioned before... I don't know whether I can count on the hatchability of the other eggs.

Oh wow, sorry about that. I have never had issues with humidity. Right now the humidify is naturally about 50% in Michigan. Good luck with your humidity

What breeds are you hatching, peep?

Just mutts. RIR crosses, sex-link crosses, barred rock crosses, stuff like that. It will be interesting to see what I get

 

[gogetter]

Oh wow, sorry about that. I have never had issues with humidity. Right now the humidify is naturally about 50% in Michigan. Good luck with your humidity
Just mutts. RIR crosses, sex-link crosses, barred rock crosses, stuff like that. It will be interesting to see what I get

Fun! I saw you also have some due next week also... Do you have two incubators or are you doing a staggered hatch somehow?

 

[gogetter]

Oh wow, sorry about that. I have never had issues with humidity. Right now the humidify is naturally about 50% in Michigan. Good luck with your humidity
Just mutts. RIR crosses, sex-link crosses, barred rock crosses, stuff like that. It will be interesting to see what I get

Fun! I saw you also have some due next week... Do you have two incubators or are you doing a staggered hatch with one somehow?

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Fun! I saw you also have some due next week... Do you have two incubators or are you doing a staggered hatch with one somehow?

I have the one incubator. Had two but one wing work.

It works for some, not for others. So we will see

I have done staggered hatches. As long as the last chick of the first hatch is out before lockdown on the second batch.. The added humidity at the end never seemed to affect the others. I've hatched twice this year in one incubator with different hatch dates.

 

[gogetter]

I have the one incubator. Had two but one wing work.

It works for some, not for others. So we will see

That's great! :yiipchick I have the possibility of getting more eggs in a week, but I was afraid I'd mess up both batches. Do you still turn the younger ones while the older ones are on lockdown?

 

[Peep-Chicken]

That's great! :yiipchick I have the possibility of getting more eggs in a week, but I was afraid I'd mess up both batches. Do you still turn the younger ones while the older ones are on lockdown?

I probably will. I'll turn maybe twice a day instead of 3-4 times.

Pic through the bator window of the eggs due Sunday. I like the pinkish brown colored shells The one egg has had a crack (no leakage) since the beginning, it's still developing do I hope it makes it .

I also have one due 12-25 with a crack as well, I will need to keep and eye on it, don't want it going bad.

But this stagger hatch will indeed be interesting

 

[TheChickenQueen]

I have some! Hatch date actually starts at 10 pm Christmas Eve though.