Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Dozen Barnyard Chicks

Chicks relaxed in the brooder.
 

Fact sheet on first round incubation.
 
Day 21 on the first hatch using Janoel8-48 and the hatch rate was 25%.  10 of the chicks hatched on the 20th day and 2 chicks hatch today with assistance.  The two chicks eggshell appeared to be dry even though the humidity reading was showing 64% this morning.
 
The disappointing part of this incubation was the 9 fully developed chicks that were dead.  The yolk sac on each of these chicks had not absorbed into their abdomen, so this tells me something went wrong on day 17 or later.  The other 12 eggs with dead embryo had varied developed chicks. 
 
Reviewing the instruction manual for incubation faults or operator error are:
  • Eggs held longer than 7 days before incubation.
  • Incubator temperature to high or low.
  • First time incubation rarely brings hatch rate success above 50%.
 
Time to clean the incubator and make it ready for the second incubation.

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