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

[LisaLouHoo]

I got a chickie!! After finding my first pip this morning at 3:40 my little cream bar just hatched! Needs a little drying but here's the first look

I would love to have a couple of those right now!!!! Congrats!!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Update on my high drama hatch:
All seven OE babies have started eating and drinking. Even the weakling is much stronger and doing what all the others are doing. To those who haven't followed, I had to assist 3 eggs after my cat tipped over the cage, including the incubator that was in the cage. The remaining 3 eggs became shrink-wrapped after the incubator was flipped open and they spilled out. So here they are successfully learning about eating and drinking.

So glad your adorable little ones are all doing well!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Alright ladyhawk, you have got me worried about an egg exploding. I had one that I thought was a dud but it did seem to develop just slower. At 18 the egg was about 1/2 filled with dark stuff but I don't remember seeing veining, but it's a blue egg so it's kinda hard to tell. Anyhow it's not stinking but I'm a little anxious now. I've got 3 pippers so I know I don't need to even attempt getting it out. What's everybody think? Leave it till I get a few chicks hatched out or wait until it starts smelling?

I would leave it for now. It will start to get an odor is it is going bad, and sometimes the eggs will ooze a little. If it's a little behind everyone else, I'd give it a chance to catch up. By the time they are ready to hatch, you won't see vessels in the air space any more, and just a black blob where the chick is sitting. The ones that die really late in incubation are really tough, because they look the same as everyone else when you candle, but never pip. I usually give eggs that don't hatch with the main crowd another couple of days just in case they are late bloomers. The eggs that blew up on me likely were infertile (she snuck a few more eggs into the nest after I candled the main batch) or really early quitters - they had a whole month plus of being incubated that way. In the incubator, you check development often enough so that you can get most deaths or duds as soon as they happen. None of the eggtopsies I have done on quitters or eggs that never hatched were stinky when I pulled them from my incubator.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

They are doing a pretty good job considering they are working the completely wrong end of the egg!

 

[rainbowchick]

Nice! Hope it makes it out!

 

[cedarcovefarm]

Chickie Number 2 is out
Little Blue Isbar. Is it normal for them to flop around for a bit?

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Chickie Number 2 is out
Little Blue Isbar. Is it normal for them to flop around for a bit?

Totally normal! In fact, the flopping around and banging into the other eggs encourages the other chicks to hatch!

 

[Purpletie3]

Chickie Number 2 is out
Little Blue Isbar. Is it normal for them to flop around for a bit?

Congrats on your little chickies! Unfortunately, they flip and flop around so much you think they are dead or their not breathing or their neck must be busted. It takes them hours and hours to get their legs.

 

[cedarcovefarm]

Thank you so much for the reassurance. If you've never seen a newborn chick it can be a little shocking to say the least

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

YAY! Lockdown in a few hours!

If anyone is interested in how I constructed my dividers for my incubator they can visit my thread on the Janoel Incubation Experience
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/951784/janoel-incubation-experience/10#post_14855682