# Attempting to Hatch



## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I put my first dozen in the incubator at 3:30 .


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

There is some SLW,RIR,BO, ISA brown eggs and couple not sure which chickens they are from.
Buckeye and Black sex link roosters.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You're not attempting, you're going to do it. 

The one thing you want to do with the still air is rotate the inside eggs out and the outside eggs in. 

I feel confident that you will keep everyone up on how it goes.


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## HappyHens (Jan 19, 2016)

I just plugged in two used still air incubators from Little Giant. I got the instruction manual off the internet. I had not read the rotation advice anywhere. I'll be sure to do that. Do we just keep the water reservoir full? How does one the later INCREASE humidity for the hatching? Either there is water in it or not. Wouldn't humidity be equal until the water all evaporates? 

By the way, what is this chicken? It was thrown in my mom's meat chicken order eight months ago. Murray McMurray called it a "fancy" chicken when they asked if they could send it with her 50 chicks. Seems to finally be developing into a rooster. It has a rose comb. It doesn't really look like like a Barred Rock or a true Dominique. It has no friends. Not amongst the meat chickens long ago and now not at our house for six months. It has oddly long legs and couldn't even fly up to roost until a month ago. Poor thing would wait outside in the dark even until I came home, picked it up and placed it on a special "handicapped" perch I made it!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Looks like a Dominique.
I originally had to run a humidifier to get the humidity to 60% then we got rain and i had to shut it off.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Just did the first turn on the eggs.Now rebuilding the environment under the dome.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Cool! You can keep the temp better stable by throwing a piece of bubblewrap over it. The windows in those things are a major heat loser.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

It's been staying fairly stable!!
100-102 
58%-60% humidity


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

If you need to increase humidity for hatch day I found a warm wet towel put in there hikes up the humidity fast.... When I had a Styrofoam I had to do that every day, it just could not keep it up with the usual water reserve. SIGH. Good luck though!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Your humidity is a tad high. You want it to be in the 40 to 45% range. 60% is closer to what you need the last three days.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Hey Robin!When you mentioned moving eggs on the outside to the inside and vice-versa in a still air incubator are you supposed to do that with an egg turner,too?If so,how often?I might be dusting off mine this year and I haven't heard of this.Seeing all these baby pics makes my mother hen hormones all in an uproar.Last year I didn't do peeps but I didn't see any so it wasn't too hard not to hatch/buy chicks.When the feed store had theirs in last year,I wasn't "allowed" to go in.In previous years i went in to pay for feed and walked out with a box of chicks(I just can't resist).The local fish hatchery had a little FYI box stating snapping turtle eggs that are kept cooler tend to hatch out more males(or females,I can't remember and it wasn't in last years catalog.My question is:has anybody else heard this and does it work with chicken eggs?The chicken is supposed to be the closest living relative of the dinosaurs.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I move the inner eggs out to the perimeter daily so they are not affected by microclimates in the bator. Regardless of whether it's still air or not or turners or not. I have not heard about any temp related sexes being born. However, chickens are supposed to alternate male and female egg laying every day. Pigeons lay and sit on 2 eggs at a time. One male and one female.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I wonder if that's true.It makes sense though.If both sexes aren't available,no babies and chickens have been around a long time.The last time I hatched eggs,I ended up with 8 roosters.I tried to find them homes but no luck.I kept one,the lap rooster,because I knew he was special.The other 7 were slaughtered and I felt too guilty to eat them,I kept seeing their faces.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Robin ,candle on day 7? I always heard to do it on day 7 then read about doing it on day 4.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If you don't have a lot of experience under your belt candling then don't do it until day 7. By then there is no doubt what is or isn't growing.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Yea. Day 7 will show more signs. Day 4 signs may not be obvious. This is fun, isn't it?


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

28 silky eggs


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Zee, you are too funny! 8 years ago I didn't want anything to do with silkies. Now I have ten that I hatched last March. 7 are boys. 5 boys live together in another coop. I can't wait to see your silkies hatch!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

chickenqueen said:


> I wonder if that's true.It makes sense though.If both sexes aren't available,no babies and chickens have been around a long time.The last time I hatched eggs,I ended up with 8 roosters.I tried to find them homes but no luck.I kept one,the lap rooster,because I knew he was special.The other 7 were slaughtered and I felt too guilty to eat them,I kept seeing their faces.


It's funny and sad. I couldn't possibly eat them either. But the reality of roosters is that any more than one is too many. I do not mind giving them to someone else to butcher and eat. I have 7 silkie roos that I keep, 2 Jerseys , and a Polish.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I have an Americauna/Silver-laced Wyandotte mix who turns 13 yo @ the end of the month,a 4 yo Blue Cochin and 2 yo Americauna/Blue Cochin mix,my lap rooster.The 4 yo is the king of the yard.The 13 yo is small,he's not even as big as an Americauna hen but he's not as small as a banty.I love my roosters but I will not have one who flogs people,mine have to be lovable and found the ones I raise are docile or I just pick the right breeds.Still can't have all I want tho.The 4yo and 2 yo spar but nothing serious,2 yo runs away eventually and 2 yo chases 13 yo,so I keep my eye on them.If I have to,I can always put the offending party in the nursery for a time out.


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## HappyHens (Jan 19, 2016)

I just posted in here in another thread how I candled my first eggs ever. It was day five and I recognized nix! I therefore popped one open before tossing them all. Guess what...heart beating, chick. The whole bloodshot was about the size of a fingernail.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Sorry. Did you put them back?


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I candled them last night ,4 of them for sure have development.The others I'm having a hard time telling.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

When I wasn't certain I waited until the next candling to know for sure they were not developing. As long as they are not stinky or weeping there's nothing to lose.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Me too, Robin. If I'm in doubt, I wait.

One time I ordered eggs from a reputable breeder on ___ that had salmon faverolles. She sent me eggs but one was bad and stunk really bad. I removed it and put the rest in the incubator. On day 4-5, one was sweating. At that point I thought it was best to toss the whole batch. I put them in a plastic bag, took them to the trash, whacked the bag on the side of the can a few times and left them in the garbage. Temperature was 50's. That night I emailed her about the rotten eggs and asked her for a refund. She sent me a refund but wrote me an email implying that I was nuts. Her eggs were never bad. The next day she emailed me to say that I should put the others back in the incubator. So I fished them out of the garbage. Some were broken but 6 were intact. I candled them and there was growth! So I did end up with 6. A few weeks later she publicly apologized on a Faverolle thread about thinking I was crazy because someone else had a problem. Turns out she never realized that the back of one nest was wet from rain leaking. I still have one of them!


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## HappyHens (Jan 19, 2016)

We candled our 17 chicken eggs and are excited to recognize definite development of at least a dozen. Of the six duck eggs it looks like at least four are developing. But one looks like it has twins!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

7 down 3 more to go!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Congratulations on the first peeps of the season.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Iddie biddie fluff butts are sooooooooo cute!


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I have the same incubator but no chicks- yet.They are precious!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

9 out of 10 made it.The last one didn't make it out.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not shabby results at all. Congrats on the new peeps.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

The first 3 really knocked the remainder of the eggs around.The one that didn't make it out was fully developed but had a premature crack in the shell??


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Sorry for the poor little one that didn't make it. The others sure look happy and fluffy though! Congrats.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

It sucks trying to find fresh chick starter this time of the year.
Ending up getting the Blue Seal medicated starter dated Feb, 11 2016.
Nutrena was dated July 14 at FFH, September 20th at TSC.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

The black ones i assume came from the BSL roo.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'd be raising holy heck over that old feed at every one of those places. It should not be more than six months old and that is even too old. 

It might be worth it to get a starter/grower for the higher protein level and get corrid to use if you spot trouble. Since the peeps won't be outside for the foreseeable future you could probably get away with that.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I bought Blue Seal medicated starter 20% protein.I normally don't use the medicated but it was only 9 days old at time of the purchase.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I tried to candle eggs last night and I can't see anything-the shells are very dark green or brown.I tried a lamp and flower pot and flashlight and toilet paper cardboard roll with no signs of anything.The light did not pass through.


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

Do u happen to have a phone with a flashlight? That's what I use. I put the egg over the little light on the back of an iPhone and I'm able to see fairly decent. I have green and brown eggs too and I was able to see veins.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

baby pics.............


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