FEBRUARY Hatch-A-Long 2015:Please Read First Post To Join H-A-L

[vonrow]

This thread is moving soo fast; so many new posts every day. To quote the lil girl from Despicable Me "It's so awesome!" Anywho, here's an updated pic of the first pipper. It's actually a few days early but it is the 'oldest' egg we collected. We can hear several different peepers in the box. The camera has a hard time focusing on the eggs, but the fist pipper is the green egg in the center.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

My pip looked much larger this morning - I managed to sneak a peek at everyone by distracting mama with a some tasty treats when she took her break. Didn't have enough time to candle it before she got back - so I'm not sure how far along he is. The other eggs haven't pipped yet, but they are jumping about! The two I pulled aside and put in the incubator for my daughter to imprint have not pipped yet, but have been wiggling away all morning long!

The suspense is killing me!!

 

[vonrow]

for poops and giggles I set up a webcam for friends and family to keep an eye on the hatch. http://www.livestream.com/decafisforwimps
if that link doesn't work, this one might http://www.livestream.com/decafisforwimps?t=104169

...and if links are a no-no then please forgive me, my bad.

 

[bamachicks8]

for poops and giggles I set up a webcam for friends and family to keep an eye on the hatch.  http://www.livestream.com/decafisforwimps
if that link doesn't work, this one might  http://www.livestream.com/decafisforwimps?t=104169

...and if links are a no-no then please forgive me,  my bad.   

Neither are compatible for mobile.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

I let my first pipper sit for 36 hours, then pulled the egg from momma. He had gotten shrink wrapped a bit, with those blinding white shoe leather membranes. He met my criteria for an assist, so I opened up the airspace, removed the dried membranes, and popped him in the incubator, where I know the humidity is as high as it needs to be for him to finish the job. The poor thing is exhausted from trying to hatch through those rock hard membranes, so we are watching him nap away. He'll finish his hatching when he is ready..

You know you've hatched a lot of shipped eggs when you can spot an egg that needs an assist from all the way underneath a broody.....

 

[gogetter]

Ugh! Lockdown takes FOREVER! I'm only on day 19 and I feel like I check the bator every hour!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Ugh! Lockdown takes FOREVER! I'm only on day 19 and I feel like I check the bator every hour!

Lockdown is the most painful wait on the planet! As soon as you lock down the incubator, space and time suddenly become warped and a couple of days feels like 6 months!!!

 

[rainbowchick]

High drama in the middle of the night with my hatch. Everything was zipping right along, pun intended. Four of seven babies were out and under the hot plate, it was 2:30 am, and a lull in the action, so I decided to lay down on the couch right by the dog cage that held the incubator and the hot plate with the four babies.

Not sure how long I slept, maybe an hour, and then crash! My cat had tried to jump from the rocking chair to the top of the cage and I guess hooked his claws into the top of the cage and pulled the whole thing down against the rocking chair. The Brinsea mini was flipped open and the remaining 3 eggs were out of the incubator, along with all the water. I quickly righted it and placed the eggs back in and threw in the wet sponges that were laying there and closed it. When I put one of the eggs in I noticed that it was almost all the way zipped around. Luckily the 4 chicks under the plate managed to be protected and were all ok. I went back to the couch and slept until 4:00 and when I got up the the zipper was exactly the same and seemed to be stuck. I thought, oh NO, it is probably shrink wrapped because of all the humidity being released when bator was flipped open. I got warm water and soaked towel and proceeded to pull the dry/white membrane off of it and it just exploded out. He was really stuck!!! So when I put him back in the bator to dry, I added more water and went back to sleep. Before I could go to sleep, I realized that those last two eggs were probably never going to pip if they were shrink wrapped, too. So I get up and proceed to open their shells and release them from the wrapping. The only problem with the last two was I saw blood that I hadn't seen in the other one. Anyway, they are still alive and it's been a little over an hour. I didn't feel I had a choice and it's a done deal now, so I'm hoping they live. Dang cat!!!!!

Here's one of the first chicks all fuzzy and cute. All of them are blue, so the blue marans roo must be the baby daddy.

How are your eggs/chicks doing??

 

[cedarcovefarm]

On day 19 of lock down, my humidity just won't stay high in my brinsea Eco. I did the sponges and extra cloth below in the water area. I did even open it to throw in a wet sponge today. It went up but tonight it's around 62. Should I add more water now before they start pipping, or just leave it alone.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

How are your eggs/chicks doing??

Thanks for asking, Rainbow. All of the chicks are doing really well The last one I helped out is still fairly weak, but drank some nutri drench and is staying under the heat plate. I keep checking on it and it can walk around, but mostly is just sleeping. The rest of them are adorable and acting like lively chicks. This is my first time with this hot plate brooder heater and you can't see the chicks once they're under it, but they seem to like it. So I guess I'm 7 for 7, even though the cat tried to mess that up.