November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[cocker]

Im curious: has anyone hatched eggs after day18 with a heat lamp?? Since they need to be still I thought it might be possible to put them in a rubber mate with a heat lamp over it at the right temperature and to keep the humidity up with a wet rag and try hatching that way??

Anythings worth a try here in texas where it stays above 90 for the low we had an egg hatch a week after the hen quit settin on it. Its not inpossible for an egg to incubate its self giving the right temp.

 

[Faraday40]

1 BCM is out! 1 more has pipped, but not in/near egg sack (but still 'upright'). Any advice on that? I see a tiny speck of blood, but it does look like it can breathe through it.

Isn't great watching those chicks hatch out!?
The other egg with the blood may be malpositioned inside the egg or the chick simply hit a blood vessel while trying to pip. Either way, I wouldn't try to open it yet. Chicks can be very hardy. They heal up quickly & can be strong enough to hatch under less than ideal conditions. It may stay safe in the shell & finish hatching tomorrow - all by itself. If you try to assist too early, the yolk wouldn't be absorbed or you could cause additional damage. With everything else going on today, you don't want to risk all the other eggs.

And, power is still scheduled to go out in 3 hours. We have strung a very long series of extension cords from an unaffected neighbor to try to keep the bator going. If that doesn't work, I may have to bundle them up and take them to our church to plug in.

Sounds like your neighbors are understanding & very supportive. The eggs/ chicks generate & give off some heat. If the cord doesn't work, you could probably just wrap up the incubator in blankets (or any other insulator) & that should slow down the heat loss. The short time of cooler temps may slightly slow down development, but rarely would it kill them.

I had a broody hen get lost & returned to the wrong nest. Her eggs felt cool to the touch. I put her back on the eggs & life went on. All the eggs still hatched even though she left them cool for 6 hrs.

 

[tequl]

Our babies that wrapped his umbilical cord around his neck he's still going this morning

 

[Tashaf]

Yay! A fellow Texan! Seems to be hard to find a Texan around here.

 

[Jessimom]

She pointed it out first..that, the light one may be a splash. I looked at it better when dry. I have found that most of my blue splash have a hint of yellow around their necks, or wings, or bums.



You can't see the yellow in the photos. It is lighter though.

Yours are SO CUTE!!!

I was running SO very late this morning I only had time to get a few pictures. I've had 11 hatch - 2 still aren't fluffed out yet, so they are still in with the last 3 eggs. One of which was pipped. I'll take a closer look at them this weekend, after they've had a few days to settle in. Most are dark - Rayvn said that they could still be blue, since some of her blues start out very dark.

They are all huddled under the heat plate at the moment.

 

[theceltichorse]

Those are Cute! (Can I assume they're spoiled too?)   Did any of the other eggs pip?  Do you hear peeping if you tap on the incubator?

These are the only two. No signs of movement in the other 5 eggs.

Yes, I would say they are getting spoiled! I'm so in love, and so is my granddaughter!

 

[Dion Fiacre]

I just have to say...what a beautiful little girl!

 

[NysiaAnera]

Im curious: has anyone hatched eggs after day18 with a heat lamp?? Since they need to be still I thought it might be possible to put them in a rubber mate with a heat lamp over it at the right temperature and to keep the humidity up with a wet rag and try hatching that way??

It is possible. I had wondered about the possibility of incubating eggs just using a heat lamp because someone had snuck an egg under our newest momma on day 18 I believe. So I looked it up and came upon several success stories and some videos. There are even posts about doing it here on BYC. I decided not to try, since it was just one egg, and any other I put with it would be 5-6 days behind, and temps are only getting colder.

 

[theceltichorse]

I just have to say...what a beautiful little girl! 

Thank you! My granddaughter, 2 years old. She's got a major stubborn streak. LOL She also threw a fit to beat all fits when I told her the babies had to have a break and go back to the brooder. All. Day. Long: hold baby chickens? LOL

 

[orrpeople]

This is largely how the day looked for us!

This one makes me laugh... how often do they just look dead during the hatching process??

And then the big nap after its all over!

Our wonderful neighbor's power kept us in business all day, so despite 6 hours without electricity, the Little ones were warm and moist!
Also, my malpositioned pip is still just a pip, but it's making noise in there, so I will let it be. It got knocked around a bit today by the others, but seems no worse for it.
The stats are: 12 shipped BCM went into lockdown, 4 have hatched, 1 has pipped. 4 OEs and 1 RIRx also went into lockdown with them. RIRx hatched, totally RIR looking with fuzzy feet! 1 OE hatched, can't tell it apart from the BCM's right now.