# Can we talk chickens?



## trestlecreek (Sep 4, 2009)

I'm not a member over at BYC,...
I have chickies due in a few days,...just thought maybe some here might have some due to hatch as well?


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## cw (Sep 5, 2009)

we are about to hatch 42 as well


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## trestlecreek (Sep 5, 2009)

What breed? I have Bantam Cochins in...


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## Quail (Sep 6, 2009)

I have two late in the year broodies! One broody is on 13 eggs....7 Welsummer and 6 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. The other broody is on 11 eggs...5 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and 6 mixed bred eggs from my bantams.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 6, 2009)

I had wondered if my bantams may 'think' about being broody. One of my hens appeared to be thinking about it these last few day, but I have read it is pretty late in the year? I would have preferred to just let the hen do the job, but I had a nasty mean hen(full size-other coop) kill all of hers as they hatched last month, so I collected to incubate these.... my banties are much nicer than the full sized hens I have out there...


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## trestlecreek (Sep 13, 2009)

I waited 25 days,....no chicks.
On day 19, my electricity went out for a few hours.  
Have to wonder if that wasn't the problem.
It's so frustrating I could scream!!! I saw all of the little heartbeats during candling around day 12-14.
So, I have put another set in the incubator.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 13, 2009)

Sorry your chicks didn't hatch. That had to be a big disappointment. I hope your next set does just fine and we see some pictures of cute little chicks.


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## rebelcowboysnb (Sep 13, 2009)

Usually power outages are not that big of a deal. I've had outages well over 24 hours with my incubator out in the cold an still had good hatches. Most bad hatches are ether shipped eggs, temp spike above 103, bacteria related or a humidity problem.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 13, 2009)

Well, that is what I was thinking from what I have read and heard.... It dropped to 85.0 F during the outage, and was down to that temp for about 2 hrs. That was the only drastic problem that happened...

I'm really not sure what the problem was. My temp. was a little low at first(96.9-100.0) and I was able to maintain it at 99.00-100.5 during the last week. I wonder if the temp was too low? My humidity ran 60%-65% the entire time.
I had read that low temp was better than high,...so that is part of why I kept it lower, and my incubator would not hold steady at first... it would not hold within the degree until the end....
I collected these eggs myself, so I know they were good....none were older than 2 weeks....
So I put some in the incubator last night and I have it from 99.0-101.5 at the moment... 

Just from candling those eggs that didn't hatch, it seems that 1/3 died at around 14 days, 1/3 died at around 18 and the other 1/3 died just before hatching.... 

This is my first time to hatch out chicks,....so I'm learning .....


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## trestlecreek (Sep 13, 2009)

Thanks Karen!
Yep, it was a disappointment, but I am good and ready for the next time, assuming these hatch out. Those 21 days seemed to go on and on forever. 
Had to get set up with the brooder, the lights, the box, the shavings, the feed, the room, etc...so now all I need is the chicks,..LOL.


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## rebelcowboysnb (Sep 13, 2009)

It does not take long over 103 to kill eggs but a little high is better than a little low. A little low makes for weak chicks that grow but cant hatch. I personally like to keep my humidity about 35% the first 18 days an about 65% to 70% the last few.


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## jhm47 (Sep 13, 2009)

Too high humidity in the early part of incubation is bad.  Keep it around 35 - 40% for the first 2 weeks, and then gradually increase it to 60 - 65% by hatching time.  If the humidity is too high, the chicks will drown in the egg.  I had the same problem at first.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 13, 2009)

Ahh, okay, grow and then weak sounds like the problem....  I saw movement in 1 egg at 23 days, so that is why I waited until 25 to give up...

The 60% humidity is how it is running(humid here in IN this time of the year),...I'm not adding any water/humidity,...think I should try to dry it up? Maybe rice in the incubator?


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## trestlecreek (Sep 13, 2009)

Oh,, forgot, I did check the air pocket at the different days of candling,..all looked well according to charts I saw?
When I took them out yesterday to pitch, the air pocket was very large...
Is it that the humidity early on drowns them as far as the gases not releasing as fast as they should??? Poisoning them?


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## rebelcowboysnb (Sep 13, 2009)

I would open the vents up more if I could. Here read this.
Incubator ventilation v/s humidity. 

You only see the effects of humidity at hatch time. If the eggs get to dry they cant move around in the egg an hatch if its to wet they drown in the shell. I try to get it too dry an then add moisture with high humidity at hatch time. That's what has worked for me.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 14, 2009)

Thanks!  I will check out the link.
With this incubator, I can not adjust the vents, they are pre-set. I could probably figure out a way to close them off more, but can not open....


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## Kooshie (Sep 21, 2009)

You should join BYC.  I don't write a lot here because of the pull of Backyard Chickens!


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