blue laced pom poms i hope!
i say cO-chin... anyhow, sorry to hear the first one didn't make it Sheila, how is it going now?
Hatching your own Fowl 101 - For all birds!
OK, I got home and this is what one of the eggs looks like. Is it supposed to leak yolk when it pips, or is this a bad egg? Can anyone tell me? I got the R-Com 20 'bator but I don't wanna put it in there if it's bad.
if it's seaping throw it, it's rotting.
I now have 12 pipped out of 25. It is going to be a long night. Hoping for at least 3 pullets in blue black and Splash and 1 cockeral in each color. Is that to much to ask the Chicken Fairy for, I think not. Since I keep bailing her hind-end out of trouble by taking all these extra chicks.
Sheila
tee hee!
Yah and silly me I marked all of the eggs with what they are, but on my last turn, put all of that marking on the bottom. So I can't even see what has pipped.
Sometimes I don't know how I can find my own home at the end of the day.
Sheila
roflmbo!
Are you supposed to give cooked yolks and whites to new hatched chicks or just the yolks????
ya know i should do that. when mine hatch they crack through what i write,lol. have any of u tried the carton method yet? it's what i use to hatch.
i don't know. i make scrambled eggs with both parts and i feed it to them. i hope there is no difference. i give them meal worms for treats to.
I have never hatched in a carton. Do you put them in point down and then just let them hatch???
Like silkiechick--I hatch in cartons. First I drape the cartons in cheese clothe and put them in the homemade incubator that I use as a hatcher. My "real" incubator has a turner and on day 18 I move the eggs that no longer need turning into my homemade incubator and settle them large end up in the cheese cloth covered egg carton. It makes clean up much easier and you can keep the real incubator more bacteria free by not having the actual hatch take place there.
me too. SC got me started on it, i really like hatching that way!
i alwyas fed the yolks. they may not want to eat for a day or two.
the chicken fairy loves you!
i have sportsmans i just lay the cartons in there open. the bator it's self has 3 trays each which all sit on an auto turner. the first i lay open, the next one the bottom sits in the top of the first one's lid so they all over lapping till tray is full.
i have no idea where to get cheese cloth so i don't use it. i put little end down of the egg. after they hatch i move unhatched to front cartons. as they empty i just toss the cartons. i put paper towels under neath though or a hand towel incase i loose little chips of eggs or their bellies leak blood a little. sometimes they can be messy but it is so, so much more cleaner and easier to clean in a cabinate bator. the main reason i use it is i've found i get better hatches, less babies stuck, less breeches, normally i don't have to interviene, eggs don't bounce and roll, they zip out of eggs faster, i know more when hatch is done ect. it can be done in foam bators to. when i first started useing it i did them in my hovas and LG's. i keep my eggs in the cartons from the day i set till hatching is done and like it so much since i tried it i always do them that way now. i was just curious how many others knew about it and had tried it. wondered how u all liked it since u've started doing this method?
SC
Update on my eggs from the hens that were sitting. I have done a few candling sessions and have identified some more "dud" eggs. I have now narrowed down 29 eggs to about 12. I am still not sure of a couple of them. But, today, when I was candling this morning, some of the ones with the very defined line for the air cell showed movement! I could see something move against the air cell. Does that mean the chick is moving? I think it must mean that. I was so excited to see this! Does this give any indication at all of their age? The problem is I have no idea how long the hen was sitting on them, so no idea what their timing would be. I will just keep them in the 'bator and keep them turning because I don't know when to stop the turning since I don't know their age.
Any advice at this point is welcomed!
Claire
SC -a fabric store or the cooking utensils section of a bigger chain, Target etc.
Don't know, Claire, except I would try to stay close if they are filling the egg. I believe the biggest problem is orientation towards the air pocket so maybe watching that and being there to help them the minute you hear pipping?
The local chicken Guru only turns his eggs once a day and I have had very good luck doing this. Maybe slowing down the # of turns would give them a better chance of getting turned right?
How many days you have had them + how big the embryo/air pocket is + how much motion. If they look really full it may be safe to stop turning or at least do it in 24hr intervals. Hatched 18 of 24 doing that and it should increase their chances of getting oriented. Did you check Fran's link?
They are, in my opinion, filling the egg pretty well. There is maybe half an inch of air pocket in the large end. I have had them for 5 days - well, I got them Sunday night. How much motion...that's hard to say. When I held up the flashlight (I am using a high power LED flashlight) I could see something kicking against the air membrane (well, kicking or pecking?) that I had not seen before when I candled them about 3 days ago.
I am not seeing a link from Fran in this thread - is there another thread with the link you were referring to?
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res00-index.html I think is the one she is referring to
OK, that is useful. I think they are well along the track to hatching. I am worried about having candled them this morning since it says not to candle after day 18. What is the risk? Oh gosh, I hope I haven't hurt them. I just have no idea how old they are...
Thanks, Luvs, yes.
Claire, unless someone else says different, I would try to only turn them 1/4 turn a day until you hear pipping from here on out.
If they are filling the egg they should be close.
Movement once a day should keep them going if not quite close enough.
1/4 turn should be a small enough increment not to hurt them if so.
But I'll recheck that link.
your very welcome, I still had it on my copy thing so was easy.
OK, I will turn off the turner when I get home today. I think it turns once every few hours right now.
it shouldn't hurt to leave it on till first pip or first hatch depending on turner if it is a sportsman it is fine but if it is a foam i would only till pip. they sound really close to me or at least some. sounds like beak in air cell space.
keep humidity at about 60-65% if same bator cuz u definately got a speratic hatch going by looking at the candleings above.
They are all in the same 'bator. It's a digital R-Com 20. Not styrofoam. It has a fan and all that jazz. Not still air.
This is it: http://www.brinsea.com/products/rcom20.htm
Temp is at 37.5 Celcius which I think is 99 F. (sorry, I'm Canadian so I do metric!)
Humidity is at 48% which is what the book recommended but now I will turn up when I get home tonight in preparation for hatching.
I've read that you can actually stop turning them much earlier than day 18. Probably by the time they are large and active enough to move themselves around there isn't much danger of them sticking. Keeping the big end up (or at any rate higher) does seem to be very important for them orienting themselves to pip into the air cell.
i forget they have r-coms. that is kool u have one! i don't hear that reply very often,lol. set about 60%.
u probably could but i think turning longer is better. i actually leave mine in the sportsmans a day longer and turn a day longer before i move to hatcher. i was told to do it for seramas by a reputable breeder to keep them from dieing in shells right before hatch since seramas r so hard to hatch. so we tried it and had way better hatch rates. we then tested it with our other breeds and it worked also now we always use this method for anything we hatch.
Hi silkie--have ever used a Silkie to brood Serama eggs? I have one Silkie and several Nankins which are suppose to be equally broody and good for hatching everything from chickens to pheasant and quail. I am thinking of giving it a try with the next eggs I get--right now 3/5s of my standard breeds are broody--but I don't think I would want to count on them.
I also turn my eggs to at least day 18--the fewer day idea was from a research paper I read.
at the time i hatched my seramas i didn't have any broody but i sure was hopeing,lol. i'm collecting from my serama girls now but no broodies. if i let them set they all will be sitting and i'll have a ton of winter babies so i don't want that. so i'm only setting a few certain ones i want in the bators for a few small last hatches. i don't want 5 full brooders over winter again, rotfl.
i'd love for my broodies to hatch them, i trust them but i have to many showgirls and silkies if one goes broody forget it it's a chain gang they all do one after another. i need orders so i can't have them doing that either plus show is next weekend.
That is exactly what happened with my standards--first the Marans, then the Welsummer (not suppose to be a broody breed) and now the Buff Orpington. What is the best way to make them stop when they have already been brooding for 2 weeks. Is it just as fast to let them finish up on their own?
I just wish I knew how close to hatch they are. If I knew it was day 20, for example, I could stop the turner. Thing is, I think some of them are further along than others, because these eggs are a mix from 2 different setting hens. Maybe I should wait for first pip and then stop turning?
Get an order of chicks and play stork in the middle of the night?
Claire, I kinda lean towards turning longer rather than stopping too soon. Not because I've read anything, but because I often have late hatchers and with the transferring you had to do from nest to 'bator there's just no telling how much they may need.
This message was edited Aug 28, 2008 1:57 PM
Just read your post. Can you separate them? Hand turn? Maybe mark those who are close and do the 1/4 turn thing with them, turning the others 180*?
Catscan,
DE-BROODING.
Cage with wire bottom fit with large comfortable roost.Do not provide bedding (most important). Hang food and water so she has to eat while perched on roost. Ideal size for one hen is 18" wide x 20" long. this should be hung in area that is safe(nothing can reach into cage) and temp is comfortable. Add additional 20" in length if more hens are to be de-brooded(they will come around quicker with less privacy).Leave hens in cage for 7 consecutive days. They will be very upset but will improve daily. If you feel sorry for them and let them out to soon they will go right back to brooding. If you can do without the eggs sometimes its easier to just let them be broody. If you do let her finish on her own get her moving around a couple of times durring the day and make certain she eats and drinks at that time.
Thank you so much fereal--As you probably know we are very hot here--107+. I would probably have to move them into the basement to keep them cool enough. I do have a large dove cage that might work for one. Right now I am frustrated because my only steady layer, the BO, became broody yesterday--joining her two sisters that have been at it for at least two weeks. If I don't work to break them up, how long will they not lay? I am assuming 21 days to hatch their eggs and then some time to gear up again. So about a month? Longer?
I am leaving the country the second week in Sept--DH will have to cope then.
Yes--I think I will just wait. I'll miss the eggs though.....:0)
*CLAIRE*
please dont' be too concerned. a half inch air cell is still quite small. once the air cell is taking up nearly 1/3 of the egg, THEN it is hatching time! you will hear them pecking from the inside. once they break into the air cell, they will start peeping! coem running back to the pc and tell us ;-)
tf
OMG, I have a pip!!! I have a PIP!!! OMG!!!!!
I am so excited. But it's 11:21 pm. I hope it will take its time.
It is peeping a lot. A LOT!! I am just all a-twitter!!
oh, just have a hot totty and get some rest... twill be a long week for you!
Nobody outta be **In Labor** that long.....LOL
well, she just has so many eggs at different stages.... i figure between the staggered hatches and the brooding, she is gonna be needing some hot tottys pretty regular LOL