Starting a batch tomorrow 1/25 anyone want to join me? Valentine hatch-along!

[DraigAthar]

Well hopefully you won't get hit too bad. By the hatcher what do you mean do you use a different incubator to hatch? I'm new to all of this and still learning. I also didn't weigh my eggs so I have no clue what they need to lose or not! Mine were shipped eggs so I'm at 50% which I'm thinking isn't too bad lol! Especially if all of those are actually viable and hatch I will be glad for my first experience!

Yes, I have a second incubator I use as a hatcher. That way I can move eggs that are ready to hatch out of the main incubator, and have eggs at different stages of incubation going on at once. Currently, I just have the one batch going, but I still use the second incubator as a hatcher so I can move eggs over as they are ready, instead of raising the humidity for all of them at the same time. I do stop turning all of them on day 18, though.

Weighing the eggs is how you tell if your incubation humidity is correct. You can also candle to monitor air cell size, but this isn't as exact. Eggs should lose 13% - 16% of their weight during incubation, so by weighing them a few times along the way you can tell if you've had your humidity at the right level. Brinsea has another good article about this: http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/humidity.html

Or you can read about it in a good article by pete55, here on BYC: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

In fact, all of his articles are awesome, check the bottom of his about page for links: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pete55s-page

Anyway, yes, 50% developing on shipped eggs is pretty darn good! I hope you get most of them to hatch successfully!!!

 

[chevynova]

I am also using a second incubator as a hatcher, but this is my first time doing a staggered hatch. Seems to be working well!

I set aside 6 that I believe are no good. They are still in the bator, but I put them to the side to see if I was right!

Just a friendly heads-up -- if you leave bad eggs in the incubator, you run the risk of bacteria contaminating your good eggs. The bad eggs can even explode if they get rotten enough!

And as for today's hatch, I've got a chick! It's a Cochin, possibly frizzled. And there's a pipped, rocking egg! The membrane that's showing is nice and wet, so I know the humidity is right this time.

There's snow everywhere. I was wading almost up to my knees to feed everyone else. Even my ducks and turkeys went inside!

 

[FromChictoChick]

I think I know the answer. .. is this one a quitter?

I had to repair the shell, it was doing well after that, but now I don't think so

 

[FromChictoChick]

Also a dud?

 

[McPhersonFarm]

I think I know the answer. .. is this one a quitter?

I had to repair the shell, it was doing well after that, but now I don't think so

This one looks like it might have veins on the left to me and from what I understood as long as you have veins it is still ok. I am a newbie though so I'm not sure

 

[McPhersonFarm]

Also a dud?

This ones a clear for sure

 

[DraigAthar]

This one looks like it might have veins on the left to me and from what I understood as long as you have veins it is still ok. I am a newbie though so I'm not sure

Yeah I don't throw anything that still has visible veins. That egg looks more like a late stage healthy chick. Once they get past day 15 or so, they start to take up so much of the egg there's nothing to see anymore when you candle except for a big dark blotch. Hard to say really from a photo, but if McPherson is right and you can see veins, I'd leave it alone! That other egg, the clear looking one, looks simply infertile.

 

[FromChictoChick]

Ugh I was 50/50 on the suspect eggs and now I feel simply awful

One was a dud.
The other the veins had changed color and the wasnt any movement yesterday or today so I discarded it to not contaminate the rest. .. But there was a chick in there but I think it was dead.
This is my first batch and I was afraid of it rotting, but next time I'd let it go just in case

Tuesday is lock down I have 9 eggs

 

[DraigAthar]

Ugh I was 50/50 on the suspect eggs and now I feel simply awful

One was a dud.
The other the veins had changed color and the wasnt any movement yesterday or today so I discarded it to not contaminate the rest. .. But there was a chick in there

but I think it was dead.
This is my first batch and I was afraid of it rotting, but next time I'd let it go just in case

Tuesday is lock down I have 9 eggs

Well, try not to be too hard on yourself. Consider it a learning experience for future hatches, and start getting excited about the 9 eggs going into lockdown soon! Mine are on the same day as yours, we can post cute peeper pics at the same time.

 

[chevynova]

It really is upsetting when you open dud eggs for the first time, especially if you don't know for sure. I don't have a very strong stomach, but I've done a lot of what I consider extremely gross things for my chickens and hatching eggs and found I could be a lot braver than I thought. It's hard, but I've learned a lot and have a healthy flock to show for it.

This weekend's hatch went very well for me, even though I only have four chicks out of 34 eggs. The others either quit at about day 18 or were victims of detached air cells that grew too strangely shaped. Two of my Orloffs, for example, pipped into a narrow bit of the air cell in the middle of the egg and could not move enough after that to pip the shell. No chicks were shrink wrapped or drowned, so at least I know I gave them the best chance I could.