[newatthis]

Hi, it was birthday yesterday(40 something)... and i have been playing with the idea to hatch out some chicks( to try and boost my lot up the allotment) and to teach my 10 yr old about life from egg onwards,
i first got myself a octanon 10, (second hand) and then i got my 10 eggs and thankyou lisa, they are nice and warm sitting there at 37.5, in bed... 

so they have been in there 24 hours now, and i cant wait for them to hatch, (for the last few weeks have been flying past), now i bet the weeks will drag by, i worked out the date they are due to hatch is 30th june ish....

i have 10 lavender araucana eggs.. im smiling from ear to ear....
will keep you up dated on how it's going...
any advice for a newbie chick mum to be will be taken on board thankyou

[Tazzy]

Hope it goes well for you - I'm now up to day 8 with Olive perched on top of a dozen eggs that have been given to me. I have to lift her off twice a day to encourage her to feed as he just won't budge. She has a ten minute stretch, clucks and poops for England, then gently gets back on. Not seen her drink much at all, but she seems content enough.

My hatching day is about 23rd June. 9 eggs are a mystery, but 3 are Menorcans - don't know much about them. Hope all goes well

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

Happy Birthday and fingers crossed for you in your hatching endeavours    I've just got the three eggs under my broody Imelda now as she's somewhat of a clumsy mum to be.  One is a Black Silkie, one a Partridge Orphington and the third is a Cream Legbar.  I have every possible thing crossed that we have no more mishaps and they hatch.

[Trisha]

Belated Happy Birthday and I hope everything goes well with your chicks 

[newatthis]

thankyou eveyone for the birthday messages, well it's the start of day 3 and i've just toped up the water well, and the temp is still at 37.5 and eveything is still looking good, i cant wait till they hatch,
we have been given a large indoor rabbit hatch( the plastic bottom with wire top), for the chicks when they hatch, we already have the heat lamp, all ready for indoors...
as for outside, we are almost ready LOL, i have the wire to make a run of 6ft long by 3ft high and i think it will be about 2.5 to 3ft wide( we are making a run to join a spare coop thats up on the allotment,)
the plan is to sell 4/5 as week old chicks or older not sure yet, then whats left can go up to the allotment to grow on to POL, or if cockerels re-home, i plan to keep 2 girls out of the 10 and my friend wants 2 girls so im hoping to have at lest 4 girls out 10( if all hatch)..
then i would like to hatch out some other eggs..
does any one breed of hens that lay white eggs please thankyou so much

[newatthis]

hi, just a quick up date, day 21 and no sign of life as yet 

[TeaPots]

did you candle them for signs of fertility at 7 days ish?
 

[newatthis]

hi teapots, yes i did, and eveything looked good, i had the temp set at 37.5, and had them in the kictern i found out later that wrong temp and wrong place about 10 days in to it, so moved them in to the living room and changed the temp to 39.0 so dont know if this had anything to do with it, did candle them the next day to make sure eveything was ok, and i saw some movement i think( could have be me moving the egg and making it move), then candled at day 18, and 1 egg was clear so binned it, and the rest, 2 total black inside, the others are half and half air sack at top and clear at the bottom and some had black lines in dont know if they are dead in shell from when i moved them or leave it for another couple of days
what do you guys think..
could it be my octogen 10 not working prop?, or wrong temp from the start?

[TeaPots]

    why did you up the temp to 39??   37.5 was the right temperature. I always candle at 7 days, anything with veins or not sure stays in, totally clear eggs get binned. Then I close incie, and dont open it again until the 18 day check.  I top up the water  every 3 days, to maintain relative humidity at 45% for first 18 days, then adjust it to 65% for last 3 days.

On day 18, I candle again. Anything that is just black with an airsac stays in, clear, or half formed, dark line (called a blood ring) gets binned, to avoid the risk of bad eggs exploding in the incie (it makes such a mess and is a bio hazard). I put my hatching mat in, to prevent 'splayed legs' in new-borns. Drop temp down from 37.5 to 37. and humidity up from 45% to 65% . I top up the water, then LEAVE THEM ALONE.  even if one or two hatch, it is best to leave them in for 24-48 hours until any stragglers hatch.

it is unlikely that you will see any chick movement, mostly because you need to candle for the SHORTEST possible time. The light can affect the growing chick, so a flash just quick enough to see if its fertile is all I do.

If nothing has even 'pipped' by day 23, I bin them, but usually open then to see if I see why they died, ie, drowned(humidity too high, small airsac), shinkwrapped (membrane drying out, air sac too large, relative humidity too low) mal position (breach). Temperature affects humidity, as the humidity is worked out to be RELATIVE to temp. If they hatch a day early, temp is half a degree too warm, lower it to 37, if a day late, raise temp by half a degree to 37.5 - 38, this is a sort of trial and error thing from experience of your own incubator/eggs.

Hope that helps

Using a broody girl is so much easier for beginners, as the hen USUALLY  manages it all automatically