April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Aw yay congrats!

 

[CoopChick719]

Today is Day 21 for the 1 egg in the Bator that I took from the broody, who had broken the others she was sitting on. I’m sure I saw something in there when I candled it. Tomorrow is Day 18 for the other batch in the same Bator. My question is will I hurt the 1 egg’s chance of hatching if I open the Bator to candle the others?

 

[Minky]

Wow, Lots happening here. Congrats to those who have chicks already. Sounds like there have been some sad and/or tense moments...Some really cute video of some chicks hatching- thank you for that!! and some cool photos of candeling.
I am still in the early stages- Day 8. My first incubation.
I candled about 25 of my 48 eggs tonight (mostly Marans, Welsummers and Olive Eggers), and made notes on which ones I think are doing good and which ones I think are either non- fertile or something weird is going on.
Some look much further along than others. I truly cant see any veining but I am assuming its because the shells are so damn dark, and as long as I am seeing 60 % or more of the egg darkened, I am happy. I may have 2 of those blood rings. Looks like dark but not in a big blob on one side- more like a galaxy.

Should I candle all the eggs again on day 10-?
I was planning on doing the other 24 eggs on day 10, and then all of them on day 14. and again 18 before lock down. Too much?

How often do eggs really explode?

So glad I read that I was supposed to wash my hands before turning..... I wasn't doing that to turn my "extra" 6 eggs that I jammed in the side of my turner. But I started on day 4..so hopefully we're good.
Still not sure how Im going to separate the chicks into groups on lockdown. Will little card board walls work? I would poke lots of holes thru cardboard so the air can move. I have hardware cloth, but I think it will be hot(?) and hard to work with. Maybe a popsicle stick fence? Ideas?

 

[CindyinSD]

They’re almost all the way fluffy but don’t quite have their sea legs so I think I’ll wait until tmr to give them water.
I’ve never heard of hobbles...I’ll have to do some googling. How on earth do you manage to get those little tiny toes in the tape? Do you tape the toes straight? Thanks CindyinSD for your help I’m sorry I have so many questions!

Have you seen the ankle chains prisoners are sometimes made to wear to court? You see how the length of the chain from one ankle to the other allows them to walk but not run? That's called a hobble.

People do this to chicks to keep them from doing the splits until their legs get stronger. Sometimes they hurt themselves flopping around in the incubator, learning to walk, then they can't keep their legs from spreading apart, so they may just sit there--or they may walk anyway, but with their feet way far apart. It's called spraddle leg. People put that nubby, rubbery shelf paper in their incubators during lockdown to give the chicks an easy surface to stand on, in an attempt to prevent this, but sometimes they hurt themselves anyway.

As for the "boots," I've never had to use them yet. I don't really assist hatching. I may put a pinhole in an egg aircell that's been internally pipped for 24 hours or so, but that's really it. If they've zipped and are too tired to get themselves out, I may nudge off the top or something, but as to the deep interventions some people do, I don't do that. Most (not all) of the time I hear about curled toes on chicken chicks, it's been (it seems to me) with a very late-hatching chick or one they've intervened with. Obviously that's not the case here, but I think that may be part of the reason I haven't seen that.

I would give it time and see what happens. Then, I probably would use vet wrap, or if it were a quail, maybe scotch tape. I believe they gently set the foot down on the sticky side and then apply another piece over the top (or fold over the piece from the bottom if it's long enough.) I'll bet it's really tricky. You may want a helper. It's not guaranteed to work, and it doesn't always, but sometimes it does.

 

[CindyinSD]

Wow, Lots happening here. Congrats to those who have chicks already. Sounds like there have been some sad and/or tense moments...Some really cute video of some chicks hatching- thank you for that!! and some cool photos of candeling.
I am still in the early stages- Day 8. My first incubation.
I candled about 25 of my 48 eggs tonight (mostly Marans, Welsummers and Olive Eggers), and made notes on which ones I think are doing good and which ones I think are either non- fertile or something weird is going on.
Some look much further along than others. I truly cant see any veining but I am assuming its because the shells are so damn dark, and as long as I am seeing 60 % or more of the egg darkened, I am happy. I may have 2 of those blood rings. Looks like dark but not in a big blob on one side- more like a galaxy.

Should I candle all the eggs again on day 10-?
I was planning on doing the other 24 eggs on day 10, and then all of them on day 14. and again 18 before lock down. Too much?

How often do eggs really explode?

So glad I read that I was supposed to wash my hands before turning..... I wasn't doing that to turn my "extra" 6 eggs that I jammed in the side of my turner. But I started on day 4..so hopefully we're good.
Still not sure how Im going to separate the chicks into groups on lockdown. Will little card board walls work? I would poke lots of holes thru cardboard so the air can move. I have hardware cloth, but I think it will be hot(?) and hard to work with. Maybe a popsicle stick fence? Ideas?

IMO, as long as your hands are clean and you are careful not to drop the eggs, candle all you want. I do--every day unless I'm too busy or tired. I like looking at them. They're so beautiful... these little creatures being knit together in their tiny eggs. It's awe-inspiring to me.

As for keeping them separate, some people use mesh bags, like the ones you might use to wash delicate garments. Some get the plastic mesh organizer baskets from the dollar store. TBH, I can't imagine any of those things working well.

If you have special eggs that are going to produce chicks you don't think you'll be able to identify by sight, that you need to keep track of, you could try isolating them with a piece of plastic canvas of the sort that's sometimes used for artistic needlework like needlepoint or cross-stitch.

Hardware cloth is so sharp along its cut edges that I can't look at it without slicing myself up. Definitely not an option.

 

[Cynthia12]

8 babies. Now more on lockdown tommorow. I think I remember how to do this now. . And how much fun it is. Even though I may not be able to through the year, it's been something to help keep my mind on other things other than my sister here and us waiting for the inevitable, and my husband declining rather quickly with his Alzheimer's. Chicks... chickens...good for the soul and mind.

 

[SongBird1798]

I was opening the incubator to turn the eggs and the top fell in and caused a bunch of movement... like shaking the eggs practically

Should I be worried?

 

[Beckynh99]

I was opening the incubator to turn the eggs and the top fell in and caused a bunch of movement... like shaking the eggs practically

Should I be worried?

I think you’ll be fine. I have dropped my lid a couple times. (My hands don’t always work properly.) But I still have a pretty good hatch rate. I just try to remind myself that Mama Chickens are not always gentle with their eggs

 

[Beckynh99]

Yesterday was day 19 and I had three babies. Another in the incubator when I woke up this morning and another working it’s way out right now. And several pips in progress . Photos to come

 

[legojenn]

As I mentioned earlier, my broody hen Esther got one out of four from her clutch of lavender Orpingtons. I couldn't leave her with one. Yesterday she was pecking at unhatched eggs, so I got her three more babies. I was a little worried about them being too cold in the house, they were huddled together and too quiet, so I brought them to Esther before it was completely dark. She knew something was up. They were chirping. When she saw the first one she cooed, puffed up and sort of made a tunnel under her breast. The little ones ran underneath.

I checked this morning and all four babies were warmly tucked underneath mama. I think that they make a happy family. Supposedly the new birds are brahma/Orpington mixes. The one in front is the original lavender.