Multi breeder hatching thread.... Hatch-Along

[Sazbaby]

Ok, can you tell I'm getting antsy?? lol Everything is going well with the bator, seems stable and happy, and humidity is about the same, so I'm quite content with following the directions for now... I'm so excited that lockdown is coming up... I'm trying to decide if I should stick with this bator or swap to the more "used" bator I have (the one I'm using now is fairly new and in great shape, the other one is more heavily used and definitely not as pretty lol) for hatching, so as to keep the nice one clean... Ah, decisions, decisions... The other bator powered on fine and came right up to perfect temperature, just can't decide whether to mess with what's working for now...

Well, as if the broody hens weren't giving me enough to stress out about- today is day 8 for the eggs I set under those two silkies, so I figured I'd go ahead and candle, so I could create a bit more space in the nests if any weren't developing, since that one outside hen continues to bust in and lay her big ol' egg in one of the nests to crowd out the good eggs... anyhow, I was quite happy to see that the 4 dorking eggs I bought are all developing nicely, and these are the first white eggs I've ever candled- you can see SOOOOO much more in there! It was amazing!!! I want to go back and look again, it was so cool! But, I ended up taking out 5 silkie eggs that appear to have no development, and I had 2 more (I think it was 2??) that had blood rings... I left them in and will give a second look in a few days before throwing them out. Then I also had 1 or 2 that appeared to be developing. Here's the thing... I set 11 eggs (4 dorking and 7 silkie). Now I have 4 dorking eggs in the nest, 5 non-developing silkie eggs in the house, and 2 with blood rings in the nest... but when I think back to setting those hens back on their nests, I can't remember how many eggs were left underneath! Not that it matters a whole lot, maybe that second hen laid an egg after starting to go broody, she was on the fence for so many days... :/ Definitely 1 or 2 more than I set under them initially... I am quite bummed that there were 5 that appear to be non-fertile, and the 2 blood rings are disappointing, I've never had blood rings before. Don't know why they would have happened, collected fresh, handled carefully, clean hands, etc. but oh well... the silkie roo is still young, maybe he's not completing the act when I see him jump on the girls! lol Hope he gets his act together though, I want some more silkie babies!!!

So anyhow, that's the hatching drama on this end... how is everything going for you guys???

 

[Sazbaby]

Alright! Day 18 and I'm on lockdown... seemed to be quite a process to go through, at least for now since I'm candling, marking air sacs, weighing, and also taking out the turner... but all went well! Out of the original 17 eggs, I did end up throwing out the two suspects tonight, and my suspicions were confirmed- the one I doubted from the day 7 candling indeed had no development whatsoever, and the one I questioned at the day 14 candling did indeed have a small dead embryo, maybe about an inch long or so. I was nervous cracking them open, but glad to have confirmed my suspicions! I feel like I'm learning a lot each time I candle, before I would just candle once along the way near the end when a hen was broody so I could pull out the obvious clear eggs, but never took the time to really *look* at them- I saw movement in all the keeper eggs, which is just too cool to see!!!! I had a few eggs I wanted to separate out from the rest, so I made 2 little cages to go in the bator to keep the three groups of chicks separate... hope it works out ok...

The time seems to have gone relatively quickly now, looking back, can't believe I'm only a few days away from pips!!!

I've been checking the broody hens nests daily (sure they love it...) due to the 2 hens now that are roaming around... gotta keep those fresh eggs out of there... Anyhow, I did somehow end up with 2 extra silkie eggs in the nests, so I guess that second hen did lay a couple after deciding to set... Glad she did, since so many of the silkie eggs didn't seem to be fertilized. So, in all I have 15 in the bator due thursday/friday, and I think 8 (4 dorking and 4 silkie) under the broodies, so I think it will be manageable, as long as the one hen will take so many chicks!!

 

[Derrick]

Keep me informed how things go.. One more day. I'm going into lockdown today as well for a Friday hatch. A little late but I don't think it will matter. I'll try to fit all the week younger eggs in only one of the bators

 

[Sazbaby]

I saw one egg shaking around a bit this afternoon! So exciting!!! Hoping things will start up on time, the days have gone quickly up until this very end part... After doing "chores" with the eggs on day 18, the bator seemed steady at 99.1-99.3 degrees with the thermometer that had been reading 99.9-100.0 when the turner was in... after about 18 hours, it did finally rise and I'm watching it now, seems steady for now at about 99.7. I filled both the inner and outer troughs and humidity is steady at about 69-73% for now...

 

[Sazbaby]

Aha! I have my first pip, and at least 5 of the eggs are rockin and rolling!!! I'll hardly be able to sleep tonight, although I know not much is likely to happen...

This is the good part!!!

 

[Conchis]

Cool!!! Good luck! Sounds like stuff is starting to happen. I still have a week until ducklings.

 

[Derrick]

Awesome. Post some pics here. I did a last candle on the eggs yesterday. I got rid of any no go eggs and put all the week younger eggs that were left in the smaller bator. All the older eggs are now in the bigger bater. I took out the turner and filled up both troughs. I did here some chirping coming from the eggs... That was cool.

 

[Sazbaby]

Yay!!! Sounds like good progress!!

This morning I now have 4 pips and can hear chirping, and still seeing lots of rocking around! Funny though, the eggs I've seen move the most are *not* the ones that have pipped! I'm so excited... I'll probably look in at least 40 times today to check progress... lol

I would love to post pictures, but my bator is in a bit of a dark room with poor lighting, and my camera flash reflects off of the lid! I'll try again and see if I can get any pictures to come out... I've been looking in with my flashlight this whole time! lol

 

[Sazbaby]

Lots of pips here! ( I think maybe 7 or 8) and the first chick hatched!!! Lots of rockin' and rollin' in the bator, and lots of cheeps!!! My girls are so excited, they just want to sit and watch that one chick forever!!! I have the bator up high on the piano, so luckily no one can open it early... lol So fun!!!

 

[Sazbaby]

Lots of excitement... after the one chick was found, we had 2 that started zipping right in front of us- they were just going to town, and then when we came back later, it looks like they mostly zipped but now I don't see any movement inside... then there's another one that pipped and zipped about an inch or so, and the membranes are dry now, and no progress. then just had another one pop out, actually got to see it push itself out! So something must be right, but those three didn't agree with it. Temp is between 99.5 and 99.9 and humidity is up to 78% this evening. I went ahead and pulled the two vent plugs at the top of the bator for more air circulation and will watch the numbers... Anyway, looks like a lot of pips still there and several that haven't pipped but are moving around a bit... trying not to look in there every 5 minutes...