bigsurfwaves
Songster
- Apr 6, 2023
- 108
- 313
- 123
This is an odd situation. My 3 darkest eggs (Wheaten Marans, Partridge Penedeseca) pipped, zipped and hatched easily on day 19. Big healthy chicks emerged and tore around in the incubator moving the other eggs a bit. I removed them when dry because I was worried they would move the others out of position from the air cells. I put the eggs back the way they were. This was a very quick open up. I have the incubator in a room that is very warm with an oil heater to minimize any temp fluctuations. I have a humidifier in there too. I even ran the shower to keep humidity high in the room when I had to open it up briefly.
I started them late on Feb 24. I had a broody that changed her mind so I put her eggs in the incubator plus 9 more. So it is possible that the 3 that hatched had a head start. The eggs that hatched were the darkest and I'm pretty sure those were under the broody. So that explains the early birds perhaps. Since these eggs are all dark Marans and Partridge Penedeseca, and 3 are dark green, I ran lower humidity until day 18. I increased it from 35 to 65 and now it's 68-70. When the chicks hatched and were all wet in there it jumped up to 78. I've been really mindful of the humidity since the earlier part was a dry hatch. None of the 3 that hatched were even remotely shrink wrapped. One took a long time after pipping so I pulled it out to check it and heard it chirping. I made sure it had a hole through the membrane and loosened one side of the shell to help it get started and put it back super fast. It was zipped out on it's own in 8 hours. Honestly the 3 that hatched were the 3 that I was 'testing' fertility on based on their being from a new rooster who was purebred and seemed to have a heart attack after chasing hens. He was often out of breath and suddenly died. I checked him for tumors (none) and he seemed to have an enlarged heart from a defect. Mixed birds are almost always healthier it seems.
Now at day 22 are eggs from all my proven roosters. I still have nothing from them. No pips, no sound, no movement. I'm miffed. I have always sold my eggs and had excellent hatch rates with them. Several area schools use them. We have plenty of roosters, the hens are well covered by healthy roos fed an appropriate diet and given vitamins, and there is no fertility issue here. I could not see anything in these eggs being SO dark, so candling was pointless. None of them smelled bad before lockdown. I did not want to float test them because of the delicate nature of the bloom. The eggs I used are clean. The incubator is brand new and has excellent reviews. It obviously worked for the 3 that hatched. How many days should I wait and what should I try next? I am reading that some eggs hatch pretty late. Should I turn up the temp or what? Thanks for reading.
I started them late on Feb 24. I had a broody that changed her mind so I put her eggs in the incubator plus 9 more. So it is possible that the 3 that hatched had a head start. The eggs that hatched were the darkest and I'm pretty sure those were under the broody. So that explains the early birds perhaps. Since these eggs are all dark Marans and Partridge Penedeseca, and 3 are dark green, I ran lower humidity until day 18. I increased it from 35 to 65 and now it's 68-70. When the chicks hatched and were all wet in there it jumped up to 78. I've been really mindful of the humidity since the earlier part was a dry hatch. None of the 3 that hatched were even remotely shrink wrapped. One took a long time after pipping so I pulled it out to check it and heard it chirping. I made sure it had a hole through the membrane and loosened one side of the shell to help it get started and put it back super fast. It was zipped out on it's own in 8 hours. Honestly the 3 that hatched were the 3 that I was 'testing' fertility on based on their being from a new rooster who was purebred and seemed to have a heart attack after chasing hens. He was often out of breath and suddenly died. I checked him for tumors (none) and he seemed to have an enlarged heart from a defect. Mixed birds are almost always healthier it seems.
Now at day 22 are eggs from all my proven roosters. I still have nothing from them. No pips, no sound, no movement. I'm miffed. I have always sold my eggs and had excellent hatch rates with them. Several area schools use them. We have plenty of roosters, the hens are well covered by healthy roos fed an appropriate diet and given vitamins, and there is no fertility issue here. I could not see anything in these eggs being SO dark, so candling was pointless. None of them smelled bad before lockdown. I did not want to float test them because of the delicate nature of the bloom. The eggs I used are clean. The incubator is brand new and has excellent reviews. It obviously worked for the 3 that hatched. How many days should I wait and what should I try next? I am reading that some eggs hatch pretty late. Should I turn up the temp or what? Thanks for reading.