- Sep 29, 2014
- 6
- 0
- 45
This is long, but I want to give a background on things. I am so puzzled as to what has happened...
Just hatched my first batch of chicks ever. Thanks to Sally Sunshines' excellent instructions we built a cooler bator. I used eggs from my own chickens and incubated in the cooler bator. I got a bit ambitious and so started a second batch in the cooler bator before the first was hatched. I used a styrofoam Hova Bator (still air) for the hatch. I moved them to the hatcher day 18. At lockdown 28 eggs out of 33 (only two went bad--the rest were infertile) were doing well. I saw movement in all. I had high hopes for a good hatch. They were at the right weight loss percentage so I was able to keep the humidity right. In the hatcher I was able to get the humidity to 70% for lockdown...not sure about the temp. Day 18 & 19, temp was 99.5-100. Day 19 I saw 3 pips and was super excited. Then there was nothing for 24 hours. No worries...I had read the hatching 101 link multiple times so I didn't worry or disturb the eggs. Finally the following evening (day 20) some chicks started to hatch. I think I got 6 chicks that night. Anyways, all seemed to be going well. But then things slowed down and so far (day 23) I have had 14 chicks hatch. Two had something wrong with their leg(s) One could hobble around, but couldn't' put it's foot down. It stuck out to the side. The other one was the same except that both feet were out the side (and it wasn't a spraddle leg problem (had one of those too)) The ankles were thick and would not bend. I euthanized both. Then there was one chick that pipped and zipped 3/4 of the way, but then got stuck because of me opening the bator to get chicks. I know, I know, you're not supposed to do that for several days. The problem was that the chicks in the hatcher were hot so then I'd turn the temp down and it got too low...like 95.5/96 or so. If I turned it up then they would pant and looked obviously distressed. So I risked it. I did mist warm water when I opened the hatcher to keep up the humidity. Anyways, I decided to help this chick since it was pushing and trying hard to get out...and was peeping very loudly. I wet a q-tip and loosened the membrane so that it was not stuck and then put the egg on a warm & wet paper towel back in the hatcher. After 12 or more hours and no more zipping or any progress of any kind (and the membrane was loose!) I slowly pulled back the shell and some membrane. I left it for a couple more hours as it looked like it should just be able to push out super easily, but it just couldn't do it for some reason. Eventually I pulled the top off the egg and the chick came out immediately with a nice strong neck and was walking around very soon. It'd obviously been more than ready to come out and I was glad I helped it. So then another chick pips later on and sits there for over 24 hours as well. It had only zipped 1/4 of the way, but couldn't seem to keep zipping. It was banging the egg shell in the same spot and peeping away. So after a while I helped this one get out too. This chick wasn't as strong, but you could tell that it was more than ready. There were absolutely no blood vessels anywhere. Yolk had been completely absorbed and it had pooped in the egg as well. But it's not doing quite as well. I can't figure out what, or if anything is wrong with it. I will continue to observe. The third chick also pipped yesterday early in the day and after 24 + hrs of a just a pip hole I decided to help it too. This one was also ready, but wasn't zipping. I don't know what is wrong with these late hatchers, but they just can't seem to zip. The last one is not doing well---it can only sit on it's haunches and I think it may have the thick ankle problem the other two did. To add to all this, there is another egg out of the 14 left that pipped. I honestly don't want to see anymore eggs pip because at this point they just seem to get stuck... I haven't had a chance to candle any yet or to do a float test or "eggtopsy" so i can't give any more details yet.
Can someone tell me what their guess is as to what went wrong??? Also, so far none have hatched with unabsorbed yoke or any mushy chick type problems so I don't think they're trying to come out too early.
I'd really like to figure out what went wrong because I want to hatch some eggs from another person that are important to me. I don't want to go thru this again. It's like having a new baby! I was up so much the last several nights checking on the chicks and helping stuck chicks. :/
Just hatched my first batch of chicks ever. Thanks to Sally Sunshines' excellent instructions we built a cooler bator. I used eggs from my own chickens and incubated in the cooler bator. I got a bit ambitious and so started a second batch in the cooler bator before the first was hatched. I used a styrofoam Hova Bator (still air) for the hatch. I moved them to the hatcher day 18. At lockdown 28 eggs out of 33 (only two went bad--the rest were infertile) were doing well. I saw movement in all. I had high hopes for a good hatch. They were at the right weight loss percentage so I was able to keep the humidity right. In the hatcher I was able to get the humidity to 70% for lockdown...not sure about the temp. Day 18 & 19, temp was 99.5-100. Day 19 I saw 3 pips and was super excited. Then there was nothing for 24 hours. No worries...I had read the hatching 101 link multiple times so I didn't worry or disturb the eggs. Finally the following evening (day 20) some chicks started to hatch. I think I got 6 chicks that night. Anyways, all seemed to be going well. But then things slowed down and so far (day 23) I have had 14 chicks hatch. Two had something wrong with their leg(s) One could hobble around, but couldn't' put it's foot down. It stuck out to the side. The other one was the same except that both feet were out the side (and it wasn't a spraddle leg problem (had one of those too)) The ankles were thick and would not bend. I euthanized both. Then there was one chick that pipped and zipped 3/4 of the way, but then got stuck because of me opening the bator to get chicks. I know, I know, you're not supposed to do that for several days. The problem was that the chicks in the hatcher were hot so then I'd turn the temp down and it got too low...like 95.5/96 or so. If I turned it up then they would pant and looked obviously distressed. So I risked it. I did mist warm water when I opened the hatcher to keep up the humidity. Anyways, I decided to help this chick since it was pushing and trying hard to get out...and was peeping very loudly. I wet a q-tip and loosened the membrane so that it was not stuck and then put the egg on a warm & wet paper towel back in the hatcher. After 12 or more hours and no more zipping or any progress of any kind (and the membrane was loose!) I slowly pulled back the shell and some membrane. I left it for a couple more hours as it looked like it should just be able to push out super easily, but it just couldn't do it for some reason. Eventually I pulled the top off the egg and the chick came out immediately with a nice strong neck and was walking around very soon. It'd obviously been more than ready to come out and I was glad I helped it. So then another chick pips later on and sits there for over 24 hours as well. It had only zipped 1/4 of the way, but couldn't seem to keep zipping. It was banging the egg shell in the same spot and peeping away. So after a while I helped this one get out too. This chick wasn't as strong, but you could tell that it was more than ready. There were absolutely no blood vessels anywhere. Yolk had been completely absorbed and it had pooped in the egg as well. But it's not doing quite as well. I can't figure out what, or if anything is wrong with it. I will continue to observe. The third chick also pipped yesterday early in the day and after 24 + hrs of a just a pip hole I decided to help it too. This one was also ready, but wasn't zipping. I don't know what is wrong with these late hatchers, but they just can't seem to zip. The last one is not doing well---it can only sit on it's haunches and I think it may have the thick ankle problem the other two did. To add to all this, there is another egg out of the 14 left that pipped. I honestly don't want to see anymore eggs pip because at this point they just seem to get stuck... I haven't had a chance to candle any yet or to do a float test or "eggtopsy" so i can't give any more details yet.
Can someone tell me what their guess is as to what went wrong??? Also, so far none have hatched with unabsorbed yoke or any mushy chick type problems so I don't think they're trying to come out too early.
I'd really like to figure out what went wrong because I want to hatch some eggs from another person that are important to me. I don't want to go thru this again. It's like having a new baby! I was up so much the last several nights checking on the chicks and helping stuck chicks. :/
