Mahonri's 3rd Annual, BYC Easter Hatch-a-long! - Page 1012

My hatch is done.  I ended up with 15 Silkies hatched of 20 eggs, but 5 chicks died soon after hatching.  Ten adorable little fluffballs running around--they are really too cute.

My air vents are open I believe. This is a large egg too. Someone told me my temperature was low. I haven't heard any peeping at all. I believe they are open but I will check.

In the good news columns, more chicks hatched overnight! 

 

I have a feeling I am done, but I will leave the remainder in the incubator just to see.  So far, I have:

 

• 1 Orpington mix from swap
• 1 Rose Comb Brown Leghorn
• 2 Marans mixes from swap
• 2 Blue Birchen Marans (1 black, 1 blue)
• 6 Speckled Sussex and Speckled Sussex / EE and Ameraucana mixes from my flock
• 8 Euskal Oiloa / Marraduna Basque Hens - of which I might lose two.

 

All in all, that's 20 chicks from 45 or so eggs.  This hatch and the resulting ICU chicks have left me feeling a bit bruised, but I am learning and experiencing things I never have before.  Life is about learning and growing.  I'm a theory/book learning type of person, that part comes easy, but 90% of knowing something is the practice; only 10% is theory in my experience.  Growing pains are part of the process, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to learn and grow.

 

Happy Easter & belated equinox celebrations everyone.

ChestnutRidge, have you checked for pasty butt?  It is the only other thing I can think of.

One air vent was open, I opened the other....

Try seeing if you can bump the temp up a little bit.  My first hatch was on the low side on temp and once I realized that and bumped the temp up they started hatching.  I was hatching all the way to Wednesday that time and hatch day was Saturday.  They may be a little late but hope is not lost yet.

 

 What a beautiful way  to start this miraculous day.  Happy Easter  EVERYONE. Thank you Mahonri.  Gloria Jean

Thanks. I bumped it up a little.  Still hoping and praying. If I lose this hatch, I will try again. Thanks for the help :)

 

Happy Easter everyone!

 

Thanks, dsqard.  They are under ecoglows, so I don't think it is the temperature.  (ETA: Little butt looks good too.)  It's leg band is missing, so I was thinking it might have swallowed it, although I can't feel it in the crop.  There is other stuff in there though.  I've been feeding parrot food and water and massaging its crop, neck, and abdomen a bit.  It opens its eyes to drink, and it is fighting to get out of my hand now, which I think is a good thing.  I've been through the Mereks/Coccid/Newcastle descriptions and have calmed myself a bit - I don't think it is any of those.  Everybody else in the brooder looks fine for now - even Sneakers, who is a bright little thing and figured out the hamster waterer already - but I am not moving the chicks from the incubator over just yet.  A bit more reading first. 

 

I've never had any problems before that weren't resolved within an hour or two - not a curled toe, not a disease or parasite, not a loss to predators - in the chicks I hatched last year or raised.  This is all new to me - splints, wrapping toes, coddling sick chicks.  I hope I can do right by these chicks, whatever that means.  I also really am very thankful for the healthy chicks and chickens that I do have.

 

Good luck to everyone as we finish up our hatches! 

Edited by ChestnutRidge - 4/8/12 at 5:28am

Thought my hatch was over yesterday, took out the hatched chicks last night and looked over the rest of the eggs - no pips or peeping when tapped (I do this in a hot steamy bathroom). Left them in overnight an lo and behold, this morning there was a maran chick snoozing! An easter surprise.