Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[MrsMoonCat]

I am officially done. I have 16 little feathered fluffs zooming around the brooder. Picture soon.

42 eggs set: 30 shipped, 12 mine

27 eggs locked down: 15 shipped, 12 mine

17 eggs hatched: 7 shipped, 10 mine

The little shipped Ameraucana egg chick that I had to cut the cord from around his foot didn't make it. He was just too weak after all of that.

So from my shipped eggs I have 5 Ameraucanas and 1 Light Sussex. From my own birds I have 2 Cochins, 3 Sumatras and 5 Andalusians.

I used the dry incubation method. I used the 1588 to incubate and then the still air to hatch. I ran humidity at about 30% the first 18 days and then upped it to 65% - 70% in lockdown. I kept a close eye on the air cells. My last three straggler chicks (shipped) were gooey, but the humidity had spiked to 78% by then due to the others hatching.

So I am considering it mostly successful as my control group unshipped eggs hatched 10 out of 12 set. I tossed a bunch of the shipped eggs at first candling due to damage from shipping and infertility so that immediately sent the percentages down. I also put the shipped eggs in the turner but didn't turn it on for the first 5 days. I hand turned my own eggs for that time. There were still some wonky air cells in many of the shipped eggs, but they were trying to develop so I locked them down anyway.

I plan to keep using this method as it seemed to work for my situation. This thread and forum has been an outstanding resource and support group. I look forward to doing it again next year. (Of course I already have another bator going and swap eggs on the way to try again now.) I am hooked.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I've got 11 Silkies out so far. 1 just finished hatching. I'm not packing things in until tomorrow night ....

 

[brijay2]

Thanks for the hatchability report. It was helpful. it allowed me to see possible issues. I will be hatching again-maybe taking a break for a while though!!

 

[stone_family3]

Well official live count is down to three I left a dozen in the incubator just in case they were alive and I really doubt they are.

Went to the brooder to feed and water the chicks and found one of the bantam chicks dead. Also found my broody no longer broody So I put her eggs in the incubator with the duck egg which still seems to be alive.

It's not been the best hatch I've got to try something different.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

It's reassuring that it is not just me, but they look so pathetic, I think people will think they are unhealthy. My birds are spoiled rotten (cabbage, mealworms, UltraKibble, organic soy-free feed, scratch, range....

They are shiny, robust, lay well - but I am sure people would think they have parasites or are overcroweded or something. This picture is even a bit old - the Silver Am girls are now picked down clear to their chest.



ETA: But these two make cute babies!

I tried everything as you have. They just ate any goo I put on like it was frosting. What finally worked was feeder of free choice oats with the hulls still on plus one or two other grains all together in an additional feeder. They will self regulate how much they eat and egg production went back to normal after a week or two. PLUS I put aprons on them. For us aprons are a must at first sign of trouble.

I'll try the oats! It's worth a shot.

Have you looked them over for external parasites, like mites and lice??

That was the first thing I looked for, but, nope, they don't have anything I can see in their feathers, under the roosts, or in the nest boxes.

In other news, my German New Hampshire eggs arrived!

 

[mbleily]

I think the wording DRY hatch is misleading people. I've read posts of many people who never added water in first 18 days. There needs to be a more accurate phrase as people take the word dry literally.

I myself am a huge advocate of dryer or lower incubating humidity. Older resources will say 60% first 18 days and 80% last 3. I believe all can agree that is ridiculously high. I think 50% is too high also. Basically, if your air cells don't develop enough then your humidity is too high. If your chicks take more than 12 hours to dry then your humidity is too high. Yep, huge advocate of a dryer hatch and monitoring air cell growth or weight loss of eggs to adjust humidity if needed.

Running at 40% my air cells were a bit small day 10 so let dry out day and half to 20% then back to 40. Next year I'll try 35%.

And when you lock down what do you go to? We live in a rather dry area and have wood heat. Although we are not using the stove for heat right now. We do have it on on some nites during this hatch. I ran around 35 to 40 and it would go down to 35 sometimes. It is a home made job and the thermostat had a glitch in it for a while where the light would waver and not go all the way off but the temp seemed to hold anyway. It did that for about a week then stopped. I am thinking that it might have gotten a piece of material in it from the fan or something. Anyway it is fine now. I bumped the humidity up to 65 at lock down. I did not have a good hatch on my side of the bator and my sis had 8 out of 12 hatch on her side. I got 4 out of 13. These eggs on my side I could not see into so I am not sure they were even advancing. The air space did get larger though in the ones I could see that. I had my roo locked in with 12 hens and I am not sure he liked all of them. He has very special hens when he is with all of then and some he never touches. You can tell by their backs who are special to him. Others are slick and smooth. and sis has several roos and her chicks run outside most of the day so they are more fertile, I think. I did have to open the bator several times because it was not big enough for all the chicks on her side so I had to take them out after they were dry.
Sorry for the long explanation. I can't seem to just ask a question. LOL So anyway , what I wanted to know is what humidity to go to at lock down. I have genisus bator now that will lock down in about a week. I have been running it at 50% humdity... Should I lower that?????

 

[kvmommy]

So, the eggs in my hovabator is chirping and rocking like crazy. The 4 or 5 heatspikes to 107-110 and the dips to 91-96 didn't kill them after all! Waiting on a pip though because they were chirping and rocking like crazy last night and nothing so far. Soooo...any advice for my serama singleton? Brood with polish or try to raise it hands on by itself?

 

[dsqard]

IMO 50% humidity before lockdown is a bit high. I have run it that high for the first 18 days and wound up with some sticky chicks. I try to keep it around 30 for the first 18 days. Just did a dry hatch (absolutely no water in the incubator for the first 18 days). I have no idea how low the humidity was in the bator because I didn't have a hygrometer. I put wet paper towels in the channels for lockdown (removed some after the windows fogged up and wouldn't clear) and just left it at that. Again, I have no idea what the humidity was. I do have a hygrometer now and I think I might add a little water for my next hatch since it is below 20 but actually the hatch went pretty well. Only three eggs out of 18 that made it to lockdown in that bator did not hatch. You want the air cells to get big enough so that the chick doesn't drown when it internally pips. I am not a hatching expert and this is only advice. I read other people's suggestions, take what I like and fiddle with them to see how they work at my house. House temperature, humidity and the altitude you are at can all effect how a hatch goes. What works at sea level may not work as good at the altitude I am at. You just keep adjusting a little here and a little there till you find the mix that works well for you.

 

[rarely bored]

good day! The chicks were a big hit yesterday with my sil. She almost took some home with her! Wouldn't be surprised if they claim a few soon, after they set up an in town chicken pen. It is almost legal there.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: I had good results in the Genesis at 35% humidity for the first 18 days. The new Genesis runs low for Humidity readings. If you have the digital type and the display says 50%, It might be as high as 70%. It read 65% at lockdown but may have been too low. It actually went down to 59% on the display before the last two hatched at 24 hours after the first one hatched. They were not too wet.

With all that said, the best way to tell if things are going well is to watch the air cell. If it is not getting to the correct size for the day of incubation you need to adjust humidity up or down. Another way is to weigh the eggs and match the percent of weight loss again at the days of hatch. My Brinsea high intensity candler came with a picture of an egg with the size and days. The first day was day 7, then 14 and then 18.

With the uneven hatch from one side to the other I would suspect temperature un evenness in the incubator. You won't have problems with this with the Genesis.

Tip: remove the plug and leave it out. Let the temperature go down at lock down. It can go as low as 97.5 then. I am keeping mine at 98.5. Important: I am not talking about the digital display. I am getting the temp from a Brinsea spot check at egg level. The new style Genesis is set at 101.8 to maintain that temp at egg level.

I hope this helps,

Ron