I 💛 Silkies.. But Bless Their Hearts They’re Not Too Bright- Wrong End Pip Help

[Jojociita]

Because I’m always here every Hatch Time, and after Oatmeal was the only hatch from my last clutch months ago, I’ve wholly reassessed and made changes. Still Not getting hatches even with ample circulation, temperature, humidity, AND separating the Silkies from Olive Eggers and BCMs into their own incubators for different incubation conditions. It’s late into day 21 and finally heard some frantic chick screeching. Alas, the culprit was on of my little silkies… pipping at the wrong end.

Little background;
- Most were set 2/9/24 (at like 4am.. insomnia am I right?) and a handful on the 15th when my coworker gave me more. The incubator consists of 5 silkies, 4 booted bantams (I think they’re the ones that lay small light brown eggs), and 5 unknown random light colored small eggs.

- This was a hand-turn operation - ie. 3x daily, opposite directions each time, at nearly the exact same hour each day: 6am, 11am, & 10pm (I work second shift an hour away).

- They in a DIY incubator which includes a few layers of non-adhesive shelf liner, sat atop an aquarium divider, over a tray of non-toxic water beads (great for humidity stability.. seriously). I’m not sure you could call it “forced air”, but there is a cpu fan blowing fresh air from a rectangular hole I made in one side of the bator, and an exit hole on the opposite bottom corner.

- Humidity for stayed roughly consistent from 50% - 55% all 18 days, with bumping it to 65% then 70% over 12 hours on day 19.

- Controlled fully by IoT devices I built and programmed myself aside from a variety of Govee Hygrometers, heat source of two cheap panel LED lights that get too hot to use as normal LEDs but just the right temp so they only toggle every 20-45 minutes when the readings hit my parameters. Temperature ranged from 98.5 - 100 Fahrenheit and averaged a clean 99.5 the entire 21 days.

- Water is added to the trays via aquarium tubing run through the aquarium divider into the tray and the other end through a measured hole through the side wall of the incubator, plugged when not actively adding water. The incubator was only open for brief moments when turning.

Right. So this little butthead started screaming and trilling about 5 hours ago. I’m not looking to help until past 24 hours UNLESS she shows signs of giving up or the membrane begins to dry (which shouldn’t happen unless the humidity drops (which I won’t let happen). I understand silkies are notoriously hard to hatch, bring up through the first week.. and every week until adulthood. Then basically every week until forever. They’re special little babies that need special care and attention.

When I found out who pipped (by leering into the closed incubator at every angle and using the webcam and my phone video to get angles my head wouldn’t fit lol) and noticed that when she bypassed her air cell she pipped into, what looks like, a very small vein. She’s not actively bleeding but there is a tinge on the pipped shell that’s still there.

My Questions;
Is this cause for concern? Are silkies know to ‘give up’ quicker than others? Anything else I should have on hand? Other than Bacitrin (regular), save-a-chick, and a toasty brooder already prepped with a brooder plate, food, water, a stuffed chick and a mirror (if she’s a lone Hatcher), ready and waiting for her and anyone else who makes it out? I can bump the ambient humidity of this room to 65% pretty quickly if I do need to assist so I don’t risk her or anyone else.

She’s QUITE vocal, scared trills, loud bouts of frantic peeping, etc. which is pretty normal, but she is seeming to peep a bit weaker over the last 2 hours and she’s not moved her beak from the hole. From my understanding, when they just hang their beak out like that.. that’s usually a bad sign… no? I also understand that silkies have big noggins, so turning may be difficult or impossible for her.

Thanks in advanced BYC Gurus!

 

[Slothinc]

I hope she does okay!! I just had my first hatch in years and didn’t have any wrong end pips this time but several years ago it happened to me several times with silkie eggs and it seemed like a lot of them hatched on their own from that end without issues. It has been awhile and I could be misremembering but I would just watch and see how she does til she hits 24 hours. She might surprise you and come out on her own.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Because I’m always here every Hatch Time, and after Oatmeal was the only hatch from my last clutch months ago, I’ve wholly reassessed and made changes. Still Not getting hatches even with ample circulation, temperature, humidity, AND separating the Silkies from Olive Eggers and BCMs into their own incubators for different incubation conditions. It’s late into day 21 and finally heard some frantic chick screeching. Alas, the culprit was on of my little silkies… pipping at the wrong end.

Little background;
- Most were set 2/9/24 (at like 4am.. insomnia am I right?) and a handful on the 15th when my coworker gave me more. The incubator consists of 5 silkies, 4 booted bantams (I think they’re the ones that lay small light brown eggs), and 5 unknown random light colored small eggs.

- This was a hand-turn operation - ie. 3x daily, opposite directions each time, at nearly the exact same hour each day: 6am, 11am, & 10pm (I work second shift an hour away).

- They in a DIY incubator which includes a few layers of non-adhesive shelf liner, sat atop an aquarium divider, over a tray of non-toxic water beads (great for humidity stability.. seriously). I’m not sure you could call it “forced air”, but there is a cpu fan blowing fresh air from a rectangular hole I made in one side of the bator, and an exit hole on the opposite bottom corner.

- Humidity for stayed roughly consistent from 50% - 55% all 18 days, with bumping it to 65% then 70% over 12 hours on day 19.

- Controlled fully by IoT devices I built and programmed myself aside from a variety of Govee Hygrometers, heat source of two cheap panel LED lights that get too hot to use as normal LEDs but just the right temp so they only toggle every 20-45 minutes when the readings hit my parameters. Temperature ranged from 98.5 - 100 Fahrenheit and averaged a clean 99.5 the entire 21 days.

- Water is added to the trays via aquarium tubing run through the aquarium divider into the tray and the other end through a measured hole through the side wall of the incubator, plugged when not actively adding water. The incubator was only open for brief moments when turning.

View attachment 3761234

Right. So this little butthead started screaming and trilling about 5 hours ago. I’m not looking to help until past 24 hours UNLESS she shows signs of giving up or the membrane begins to dry (which shouldn’t happen unless the humidity drops (which I won’t let happen). I understand silkies are notoriously hard to hatch, bring up through the first week.. and every week until adulthood. Then basically every week until forever. They’re special little babies that need special care and attention.

When I found out who pipped (by leering into the closed incubator at every angle and using the webcam and my phone video to get angles my head wouldn’t fit lol) and noticed that when she bypassed her air cell she pipped into, what looks like, a very small vein. She’s not actively bleeding but there is a tinge on the pipped shell that’s still there.

View attachment 3761235

My Questions;
Is this cause for concern? Are silkies know to ‘give up’ quicker than others? Anything else I should have on hand? Other than Bacitrin (regular), save-a-chick, and a toasty brooder already prepped with a brooder plate, food, water, a stuffed chick and a mirror (if she’s a lone Hatcher), ready and waiting for her and anyone else who makes it out? I can bump the ambient humidity of this room to 65% pretty quickly if I do need to assist so I don’t risk her or anyone else.

She’s QUITE vocal, scared trills, loud bouts of frantic peeping, etc. which is pretty normal, but she is seeming to peep a bit weaker over the last 2 hours and she’s not moved her beak from the hole. From my understanding, when they just hang their beak out like that.. that’s usually a bad sign… no? I also understand that silkies have big noggins, so turning may be difficult or impossible for her.

Thanks in advanced BYC Gurus!

This happened to an egg I hatched this week! Odd thing is, there was a massive unexpected humidity spike, and I think it killed another one of my eggs. So maybe this isn’t always a bad thing, and it just needs a few more hours.

Anyway, I hatched ten out of fifteen eggs, resulting in nine healthy chicks! (The other one was eaten by my cat)

 

[Jojociita]

This happened to an egg I hatched this week! Odd thing is, there was a massive unexpected humidity spike, and I think it killed another one of my eggs. So maybe this isn’t always a bad thing, and it just needs a few more hours.

Anyway, I hatched ten out of fifteen eggs, resulting in nine healthy chicks! (The other one was eaten by my cat)

noooooo! I’d be so conflicted. I love my kitty but the little babies Mine is still peeping every once in a while. The bleeding / vein seems to have chilled out so I have half a mind to give her a bit of a jumpstart and move a tiny bit of shell. It’s already 79% humidity in here in preparation and though it’s only 88 degrees Fahrenheit , I have a little assist box that I have up to temp. She’s still the only pipper and peeper so I worry. Hr beak looks like it’s paling but I could be seeing things. No one else is doing anything of interest so I may just at least moisten her membrane and knock of a few cm of shell before I put her back. She’s stopped “gulping yolk” aka moving her mouth like she’s eating air. But if I pass out and wake up to her not alive.. I’d almost feel better if I gave it a shot and she still passed vs not trying. Were about an hour shy of my hearing Amber screech but I’m fairly sure she pipped about 6 hours prior. But she’s moving weakly and I’m in an internal turmoil

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

noooooo! I’d be so conflicted. I love my kitty but the little babies Mine is still peeping every once in a while. The bleeding / vein seems to have chilled out so I have half a mind to give her a bit of a jumpstart and move a tiny bit of shell. It’s already 79% humidity in here in preparation and though it’s only 88 degrees Fahrenheit , I have a little assist box that I have up to temp. She’s still the only pipper and peeper so I worry. Hr beak looks like it’s paling but I could be seeing things. No one else is doing anything of interest so I may just at least moisten her membrane and knock of a few cm of shell before I put her back. She’s stopped “gulping yolk” aka moving her mouth like she’s eating air. But if I pass out and wake up to her not alive.. I’d almost feel better if I gave it a shot and she still passed vs not trying. Were about an hour shy of my hearing Amber screech but I’m fairly sure she pipped about 6 hours prior. But she’s moving weakly and I’m in an internal turmoil

Remove a small amount of shell, not enough to dry the membrane, just enough so you can see it a little better, if the bird starts unzipping on its own, then wait for it to get 3/4 of the way around, then gently lift the loose part off. If not, well, your bird seems a bit tired, and maybe you should gently help.

 

[Jojociita]

Remove a small amount of shell, not enough to dry the membrane, just enough so you can see it a little better, if the bird starts unzipping on its own, then wait for it to get 3/4 of the way around, then gently lift the loose part off. If not, well, your bird seems a bit tired, and maybe you should gently help.

We hit 28 hours with no progress just angry screeching, I went in and chipped a bit of shell, pre-moistened membrane with Bacitrin, set her back with a warm damp paper towel tented over her. Did this every 2 hours for roughly 10 hours, eventually she didn’t have much test to go but wouldn’t push (though her vessels had receded and she wasn’t mouthing like she was absorbing her yolk), and eventually, about 2 hours ago, I essentially finished her hatch. I figured she wouldn’t be able to walk or move or anything, but aside from being far floooier than normal newborn chicks, she seemed elated. I think she had shrink wrapped before she even pipped. Unsure how as the humidity was stable and the incubator hadn’t been opened since lockdown (prior to assistance). So this was a 99.9% assisted hatch. She’ll likely be a special needs inside chicken, but my coworker is 100% fine with that. She’s in her brooder trying to fluff out. She’s sticky so when she gains a bit more strength we’ll have a gentle warm water and Castile soap wash. For now, she’s getting better on her feet but still tends to keep her chest down and use her back legs to scoot like a wheelbarrow lol. Tho it’s only been 2 hours. She has had some save a chick, and has a very shallow tiny lid of water nearby which she already figured out. She’s just super uncoordinated. (To be expected) still peeping indignantly, and has scoodled to the warmest part of the brooder plate near the back. She does hit the nitro and scoodle with lightening speed when I lay my hand flat and palm up in the brooder. Right up onto it and gets pissy when I put her back. No siblings yet, but she has a chick plushie and a mirror. She is, however, mostly just narcoleptic rn. Well she if she makes it until I sleep at 5am, then through to 9:30 am when I have to get up to ready for work and drive the hour there. Husband is home all day to dote on her (he says he’s “not an animal person” but he is always the first to reach them to eat and drink… he’s a good foster momma hen- hehehe)

She’s energetic when she’s not passed out and has the FuRRIEST FLOOFY FEETS that I have ever seen. And looks to be almost 100% black with a thin strip of gray from the bottom of her crest, under her belly and up to the underside of her tail. Almost blue. Pretty baby, strong baby… slightly special baby

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

We hit 28 hours with no progress just angry screeching, I went in and chipped a bit of shell, pre-moistened membrane with Bacitrin, set her back with a warm damp paper towel tented over her. Did this every 2 hours for roughly 10 hours, eventually she didn’t have much test to go but wouldn’t push (though her vessels had receded and she wasn’t mouthing like she was absorbing her yolk), and eventually, about 2 hours ago, I essentially finished her hatch. I figured she wouldn’t be able to walk or move or anything, but aside from being far floooier than normal newborn chicks, she seemed elated. I think she had shrink wrapped before she even pipped. Unsure how as the humidity was stable and the incubator hadn’t been opened since lockdown (prior to assistance). So this was a 99.9% assisted hatch. She’ll likely be a special needs inside chicken, but my coworker is 100% fine with that. She’s in her brooder trying to fluff out. She’s sticky so when she gains a bit more strength we’ll have a gentle warm water and Castile soap wash. For now, she’s getting better on her feet but still tends to keep her chest down and use her back legs to scoot like a wheelbarrow lol. Tho it’s only been 2 hours. She has had some save a chick, and has a very shallow tiny lid of water nearby which she already figured out. She’s just super uncoordinated. (To be expected) still peeping indignantly, and has scoodled to the warmest part of the brooder plate near the back. She does hit the nitro and scoodle with lightening speed when I lay my hand flat and palm up in the brooder. Right up onto it and gets pissy when I put her back. No siblings yet, but she has a chick plushie and a mirror. She is, however, mostly just narcoleptic rn. Well she if she makes it until I sleep at 5am, then through to 9:30 am when I have to get up to ready for work and drive the hour there. Husband is home all day to dote on her (he says he’s “not an animal person” but he is always the first to reach them to eat and drink… he’s a good foster momma hen- hehehe)

She’s energetic when she’s not passed out and has the FuRRIEST FLOOFY FEETS that I have ever seen. And looks to be almost 100% black with a thin strip of gray from the bottom of her crest, under her belly and up to the underside of her tail. Almost blue. Pretty baby, strong baby… slightly special baby
View attachment 3761989View attachment 3761992View attachment 3761990View attachment 3761991

She is perfect you may want to safety pip the others.

Side note: I am attempting to incubate frozen eggs…. Probably will not work, but I have a few normal too.

 

[Jojociita]

She is perfect you may want to safety pip the others.

Side note: I am attempting to incubate frozen eggs…. Probably will not work, but I have a few normal too.

Listen, never say never. I hatched 2 of EIGHT Egglands Best eggs. I was curious. They’re not supposed to have Roos but at the stage of puberty some pullets can outright just become cockerels. They don’t swap back and forth like frogs.. kinda a one time thing.. and I have no idea HOW it works, but if the eight, 7 were developing, 1 was not. Ultimately 5?went stinky and the last two legit just hatched out on their own. Pullets too. Apparently the storage temp before can affect this. Not so much as they just swap genders mid-egg, but more pullets can survive colder temps than cockerels. Fascinating.

Regardless, my husband named her “Chuck” because I kept typo-ing ‘Chuck’ and she’s a fireball. But.. feathering already!

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Listen, never say never. I hatched 2 of EIGHT Egglands Best eggs. I was curious. They’re not supposed to have Roos but at the stage of puberty some pullets can outright just become cockerels. They don’t swap back and forth like frogs.. kinda a one time thing.. and I have no idea HOW it works, but if the eight, 7 were developing, 1 was not. Ultimately 5?went stinky and the last two legit just hatched out on their own. Pullets too. Apparently the storage temp before can affect this. Not so much as they just swap genders mid-egg, but more pullets can survive colder temps than cockerels. Fascinating.

Regardless, my husband named her “Chuck” because I kept typo-ing ‘Chuck’ and she’s a fireball. But.. feathering already! View attachment 3766555

My eggs are all either empty or not developed anymore. I think it’s a bad hatch, the eggs are from a young free range flock, and like I said, some were frozen. I’m going to try quail at some point.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

My eggs are all either empty or not developed anymore. I think it’s a bad hatch, the eggs are from a young free range flock, and like I said, some were frozen. I’m going to try quail at some point.

Oh, but look at the last hatch I did