before lockdown...

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:49 am

Have a pregnant cat in the mudroom (enclosed the front porch) decided to take her a couple of bad eggs from the bator...cracked one open and big chick...maybe 3-4 days from hatching inside, felt so bad that I'd let temps run amok....but figured the cat would like it...then it gasped...!!!! what the world!!! hadn't pulled the egg yolk inside so it couldn't do other than die....I feel so bad for it.....put the other two eggs back in the incubator.....will continue to wait another week....but turners were turned off 2 days ago, eggs sitting in cardboard cartons....does anything have a chance???? 40 eggs still in there...bummed!
congrats on your hatch OC, I'm off to haul manure...later all, Hay

hayladee · Post by **hayladee** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:57 am

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST I ran a hova (very similiar to little giant) with fan, wafer thermostat, and auto-turner in a damp basement. Never added water to machine, with decent results on chickens, muscovy ducks, and quails. I had a problem that when the autoturner removed the bator temp would drop (from the turner motor not adding heat) and i'd piss around getting the temp right. I learned to leave the turner in and running but the egg racks out and eggs on bator floor so it was a turner motor turning nothing: did that for 20 years.

thanks for the tip on leaving the turner motor in.... will try that next time....also like the idea of a "hatching" incubator....such useful info and helpful folks on here! thanks to all!

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:59 am

hayladee wrote:QR_BBPOST Have a pregnant cat in the mudroom (enclosed the front porch) decided to take her a couple of bad eggs from the bator...cracked one open and big chick...maybe 3-4 days from hatching inside, felt so bad that I'd let temps run amok....but figured the cat would like it...then it gasped...!!!! what the world!!! hadn't pulled the egg yolk inside so it couldn't do other than die....I feel so bad for it.....put the other two eggs back in the incubator.....will continue to wait another week....but turners were turned off 2 days ago, eggs sitting in cardboard cartons....does anything have a chance???? 40 eggs still in there...bummed!
congrats on your hatch OC, I'm off to haul manure...later all, Hay

I've made the mistake of giving up too soon, my problem was incubator heaters failing and the eggs cooling- I thought they were all done for but some did hatch after all. it' ain't over till the fat lady sings! Now I wait for 23 days no matter what! Don't feel badly, you didn't know there was a live chick in the egg, hopefully some others will hatch for you.

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:35 am

Sometimes they are 4 days late after hydro failure, wait a bit.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 10:56 am

Just think in the wild: a hen on a nest, a fox comes by, she takes off to lead the fox away, she might come back an hour or two later once the coast is clear. Nature has to have some give in it, contingency plans. I had a pair of bobwhites in the barn, the hen laid a nest of eggs, then she died, the male sat on the nest and hatched them out!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:57 am

I am using a borrowed Little Giant incubator...the digital readout is never correct, and temp has to be adjusted up or down regularly...three days ago temp spiked, said 103 on the readout but my own trusty thermometer in the incubator said 43 C, that's 109 degrees!!!! I candled all and threw out 4 obviously dead eggs, and marked 4 more with a question mark because I couldn't see movement...but April 7th was hatch day, and guess what? They started popping out on the 6th, and as of a couple hours ago, all remaining eggs have hatched. One chick is having trouble lifting it's head after 8 hours and will probably die, but the rest are all healthy looking and zooming around in there. Those suckers are tougher than we give them credit for!!!

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:12 am

:storkbaby: congrats Jan, it's amazing how resilient the egg/chicks are if you give them half the chance!
Sooo, what did you hatch Jan?

Post by **Killerbunny** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:33 am

Had some eggs from Jan before I got Lucky and the chicks were the most beautiful robust things going. My broody had trouble keeping up!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:56 pm

Ontario Chick wrote:QR_BBPOST :storkbaby: congrats Jan, it's amazing how resilient the egg/chicks are if you give them half the chance!
Sooo, what did you hatch Jan?

Mostly a bunch of 'Roadrunner Project' bantams, they're the ones giving me the most eggs at the moment :/, and a few layer mixes. Beautiful mutts, all! The one that was having trouble lifting his head is up now, eyes open and peering around, and looking wobbly but much better. He's also the whitest chick I've ever seen, snow white. I apologize for the terrible picture. Can you see the one that's yellow/white with a black blotch on his head? There's two in there like that...When ALL my bantam project birds hatch like that, I think I might call it good. They grow up black and white mottled and males have red barring in hackles and wing bows. Either way, they're all new fuzzy babies and I think they're spectacular :) Now, if the d**n Giants would just give me some eggs, I'd be off to the races. There are still two turkey eggs in the incubator for another week (amazed the heat didn't kill them) because I'm too silly to have set them first and then the chickens a week later. Next hatch will be turkeys put in first, unless a jen decides to sit...one is thinking about it.

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:58 pm

Killerbunny wrote:QR_BBPOST Had some eggs from Jan before I got Lucky and the chicks were the most beautiful robust things going. My broody had trouble keeping up!

Thank you, KB! The hens have to take all the credit, they HAVE to be tanks to survive ME LOL