Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[rossfam06]

I came SUPER close to ordering them from MPC the other day.. my chicks are headed to my house on Tuesday and I checked online if they had any white silkies to add to the mix prior to shipping  and they were calling my name... buy me... buy me... but at almost $40 per chick I had to tell them sorry.. maybe if you were Cheap*er.    I also had to use restraint on the Legbar... They are cool looking and lay * I hear* really nice blue eggs.. but they want $50+ dollars per chick!


But I did snag a Blue splash Maran- and a couple blue and black silkie chicks. ... Can't wait to see them ... but I'm going to have to post pics and you tell me who's who... cause I'm not going to have any idea!!

Lost my first two.  Humidity is not performing to what the instruments say.

Oh no! I'm so sorry! It . So sad when they happens,

 

[WalnutHill]

Well, the humidity is now up high enough to have killed my accurite thermometer/hygrometer, so it has to be in the mid 80's + for humidity. If that's not enough, I must have mistakenly set reptile eggs.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Lost my first two. Humidity is not performing to what the instruments say.

Oh no!!!

Sorry to hear that.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Well, the humidity is now up high enough to have killed my accurite thermometer/hygrometer, so it has to be in the mid 80's + for humidity. If that's not enough, I must have mistakenly set reptile eggs.

I use the accurite combo as one of mine and it's held pretty good when my humidity shot up in the 80's.

 

[WVduckchick]

Ok I finally got a minute for an update. Its been a busy several hours. As of now, I have 7 beautiful babies chirping their heads off. The third one hatched at 1:00 am so I pulled the first 3 at 3:00 am. The one with the stuck shell piece was a tiny bit sticky. Lucky for you guys, I didn't show a pic of the other side of its head. It had a piece of shell stuck just behind its eye. But I left the pieces until I pulled them all out. I thought it was going to need a blue dawn bath, but its doing just fine.

Here are those 3:
The black one was first out.






Since 3:00 a.m., 4 more have hatched and we have 2 good pips working. 4 still have not pipped. All 7 of those out seem to be doing fine. 4 are still in the bator.

The weirdest thing happened. The second one to pip started zipping strongly. Got a little off track and was headed toward the pointy end, but it got straightened out. It had some good opening going. and was striking the egg hard! As it rotated, it skipped a space of egg and started another zip line. Then it did it again... skipped another space and started another hole. Then I thought it was resting, but soon realized that it was no longer moving. When I pulled the 3, I was hoping to still be able to help that one but it was too late. I was 99% sure it was gone, but I wet the membrane and put it back in, just in case. Now I'm sure its gone, as it has not moved at all. I have no idea what happened. When they are all done, I'll open it up and see if I can figure out what happened. Maybe got into a wet area and drowned? Maybe got wrapped in cord? I really don't know yet. Anyone ever had that happen? Its in the back of the bator, so I can't get pics just yet. I did note at last candling, that one had a small clear area running from the pointy end, up one side. I thought it looked odd, but had another one similar, and it hatched ok.

If the 2 remaining pips aren't very big yet, I'm going to pull the 4 soon. I also need to clean out shell pieces and check those remaining 4 eggs.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok I finally got a minute for an update. Its been a busy several hours. As of now, I have 7 beautiful babies chirping their heads off. The third one hatched at 1:00 am so I pulled the first 3 at 3:00 am. The one with the stuck shell piece was a tiny bit sticky. Lucky for you guys, I didn't show a pic of the other side of its head. It had a piece of shell stuck just behind its eye. But I left the pieces until I pulled them all out. I thought it was going to need a blue dawn bath, but its doing just fine.

Here are those 3:
The black one was first out.






Since 3:00 a.m., 4 more have hatched and we have 2 good pips working. 4 still have not pipped. All 7 of those out seem to be doing fine. 4 are still in the bator.

The weirdest thing happened. The second one to pip started zipping strongly. Got a little off track and was headed toward the pointy end, but it got straightened out. It had some good opening going. and was striking the egg hard! As it rotated, it skipped a space of egg and started another zip line. Then it did it again... skipped another space and started another hole. Then I thought it was resting, but soon realized that it was no longer moving. When I pulled the 3, I was hoping to still be able to help that one but it was too late. I was 99% sure it was gone, but I wet the membrane and put it back in, just in case. Now I'm sure its gone, as it has not moved at all. I have no idea what happened. When they are all done, I'll open it up and see if I can figure out what happened. Maybe got into a wet area and drowned? Maybe got wrapped in cord? I really don't know yet. Anyone ever had that happen? Its in the back of the bator, so I can't get pics just yet. I did note at last candling, that one had a small clear area running from the pointy end, up one side. I thought it looked odd, but had another one similar, and it hatched ok.

If the 2 remaining pips aren't very big yet, I'm going to pull the 4 soon. I also need to clean out shell pieces and check those remaining 4 eggs.

Congrats on the hatchers and pippers and sorry to hear about the little off course zipper. Wonder what made it do that?

 

[Math]

Well, the humidity is now up high enough to have killed my accurite thermometer/hygrometer, so it has to be in the mid 80's + for humidity.  If that's not enough, I must have mistakenly set reptile eggs.

So, do you think the humidity was too high? What happened?

I usually get concerned when my windows fog up. I know at that point breathing must be difficult. I open the windows and dry them and let out some of the humidity. And take out chicks and shells, etc. I may even take out my sponges and water cups. It all depends on how many wet chicks I have walking around inside the incubator. Wet chicks create a lot of moisture.

 

[WalnutHill]

I generally hatch my chicks at 65-70%. I know turkeys like a little more humidity, so I set at 75%. But the membranes are hard as leather and shells are hard as glass. I've raised the humidity, I cannot maintain 85%, but I am trying. The membranes look far better, but are still not as soft as I'd like to see.

The next poult is zipped and trying very hard to break free.

 

[WalnutHill]

Two poults out now, humidity was the key. One more pipping, but a whole lot of quiet eggs when there should be a lot of activity. Needless to say, I'm stressing more than a bit. I need to see more than 2 poults out of 29 eggs (26 if you count those I left in as "wishful thinking").

 

[WVduckchick]

Two poults out now, humidity was the key.  One more pipping, but a whole lot of quiet eggs when there should be a lot of activity.  Needless to say, I'm stressing more than a bit.  I need to see more than 2 poults out of 29 eggs (26 if you count those I left in as "wishful thinking").

Wow, glad you got it straightened out and some action going. Best of luck!!

I think mine are done. Nine beautiful babies. (8 lavender, 1 black). One died while zipping. (will do another thread with pics of the eggtopsy) have 4 still in the bater but I think they are gone. Just wanted to give them one more day to be sure. I candled and think I saw movement in one, but will see what happens by tomorrow. I might actually get some sleep tonite! Yeah!