Incubating eggs to hatch about August 8th

[Puddin Fluff]

I'll join the party super late!! 

My salmon faverolle, Floris, has been going broody with a VENGEANCE off and on ever since she laid her first egg. It's extremely hard to get her to think of anything else when she goes broody, and can often take weeks to break her, so I finally relented and grabbed half a dozen eggs from a friend whose hens run with roosters. 

All six were developing great, but a couple days ago, one of the eggs got cracked and the hens ate it.

HOWEVER,

the other 5 are starting to hatch today!!

They're a bit earlier than expected--this is day 19 or 20, depending on your opinion--but I'm SO EXCITED. Three of them are pipping. No action from the other two just yet, but I candled them for the last time two days ago, and they all looked very promising.


This is my FIRST TIME EVER hatching babies, and I'm way more excited than I thought I would be. Floris is excited too! She's been a very, very dutiful brood, so I hope she makes an equally great mom. I know that at least of the couple of the eggs are from Easter Eggers (they're blue), but the others are a mystery to me, and there were multiple breeds of roosters running about, so who knows what I'll end up with!  Hopefully some girls.

I'll have pics as soon as the babies hatch and I can safely get a photo. For now, Floris is on lockdown. 

Congrats. Sounds like fun! Welcome to the thread.

 

[Alaskan]

Yeah for more chicks!

 

[EggDropSoup]

So I peered into the hen house and saw that Floris was standing over her eggs and that one of them was quite a bit cracked (shell only--membrane was still intact, save the little pip hole). Floris was picking off little pieces of shell and eating them. Is this normal?? She was only doing it to the shell--not the membrane or baby chick (thank god). Is she "helping" the baby?? Do I need to worry? She did settle back down and sit back onto the eggs after a bit.

 

[Alaskan]

I worry about everything... So I would worry.

Some hens do eat the babies when they hatch...

But, if when you were watching, she wasn't going after the chick, you are probably OK.

 

[duluthralphie]

Puddin Fluff:

Thanks a lot ! I never thought about drowning a chick, I figured if I did not see a hole I was ok to put it in water. NOW I will worry about that. Even though I set them into the water gently and with the air sac up... Oh Boy, I may never do that again..Oh My!


Egg Drop Soup...
Grats and good luck. may the hatch go well.

I would be so worried about the one with the membrane intact and the hen picking at it. I would probably do something stupid like help it out,,,and kill it. Patience is not one of my virtues.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

So I peered into the hen house and saw that Floris was standing over her eggs and that one of them was quite a bit cracked (shell only--membrane was still intact, save the little pip hole). Floris was picking off little pieces of shell and eating them. Is this normal?? She was only doing it to the shell--not the membrane or baby chick (thank god). Is she "helping" the baby?? Do I need to worry? She did settle back down and sit back onto the eggs after a bit. 

I don't know the answer to that. You might want to search on the hatch forum to see if it has been asked before, if not, start a thread.

My last straggler just popped out. I don't think anymore are coming but I'll leave them another day.

Final count: 9 Phoenix, 3 Buttercups, 3 backyard banties, 1 silkie' 1 spanish, 1 duck.

 

[EggDropSoup]

I checked on things as I was putting the other hens up for the night. Floris is still sitting tight, and I hear peeping coming from inside several of the eggs. There is a definite tapping sound coming from inside the egg whose shell she was picking at, so I'm thinking everything will be alright. I will check one last time before bed, and get up ridiculously early in the morning in hopes of finding a baby chick or two!!

 

[Alaskan]

I checked on things as I was putting the other hens up for the night. Floris is still sitting tight, and I hear peeping coming from inside several of the eggs. There is a definite tapping sound coming from inside the egg whose shell she was picking at, so I'm thinking everything will be alright. I will check one last time before bed, and get up ridiculously early in the morning in hopes of finding a baby chick or two!!

@Puddin Fluff

At least you got three buttercups! Are you hoping they will be all girls, or did you want some roos?

 

[EggDropSoup]

Unfortunately, the little chick whose shell was being picked at didn't make it. I noticed a great deal of membrane had been exposed, but I could still see the chick moving around, so I wrapped the egg loosely in a damp paper towel and put it back under Floris. When I checked a couple of hours, there was no movement at all. I went ahead and peeled back the membrane, and the chick was definitely dead. Very sad, but I think something was wrong to begin with. The chick's head and beak were nowhere near the hole that I thought was from pipping, so that makes me think the egg was somehow damaged. 3 of the remaining 4 eggs ARE pipping, though, and I can hear peeping coming from inside. The fourth egg hasn't done anything yet, but it's only day 20, so there's hope. I really hope at least three of them can hatch out alright. I know time from initial pipping to hatching can take 24 hours, but there's not been a whole lot of progress from when I first noticed the little holes (around 10 this morning) until now (12:39 a.m.), so I'm a little apprehensive. I guess as long as they're still peeping, there's hope.

 

[Alaskan]

I would greatly recommend reading through this article:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

It is great. It needs at least three read throughs to understand all the info. It is worth the time.

I have had two eggs, hatching under broodies, that pipped, and mostly zipped, and then got welded in. Those two needed to be quickly snatched away from the broody and soaked out of their shell.

However, it is rare that they need help, so yes, it is best to wait until tomorrow.