Tonight, May 16, is lockdown. We are hatching!!!

[chickintexas]

Now I'm really worried sick. I've had 2 pips sometime last night/very early this morning. I saw them when I got up at 6 this morning. I also saw that my humidity had dropped to 55/60% sometime last night. I immediately got the humidity back up to 70% in a big hurry. Could those 2 pips been shrink wrapped? It's been 3 1/2 hours since I saw the pips and no change.

 

[NYCmadness]

3 pippeds, one is already out of its shell!
this is so exiting! The other eggs are just there! No moviment...so far. They were peeping like crazy yesterday night when still inside the egg.

Update; I got 5 beautiful chicks! One died while piping. the shell was almost open, but it never zipped.

 

[lemurchaser]

Quote:
They'll often pip and then rest for 12-24 hours. No need to worry yet. If you look closely you can often see little movements under the membrane, or a little beak tip poking out.

 

[chickintexas]

Quote:
They'll often pip and then rest for 12-24 hours. No need to worry yet. If you look closely you can often see little movements under the membrane, or a little beak tip poking out.

I didn't know about the "pip then wait 12-24 hour thing."

Here's the latest news;
A third egg pipped shortly after I got the humidity back up. Then nothing. The third egg hatched at 3:20 this morning. Right after that, one of the first pippers decided to join in on the fun and popped out at 5:20 am. The other early pipper is just now zipping. And, amazingly enough, one of my BBS Silkies is working on it's great escape! And that one's not due to hatch until tomorrow! I guess that one never read the "Chicken Hatching" manual because it's also hatching at the wrong end.

No other pips on the remaining 4 buff silkie eggs.

BTW-the drop in the humidity did seem to have a minor effect on one of the early eggs. The 3rd egg hatched super easy and the shell popped right off. The membrane on this early bird seemed to be tougher. It wasn't sticky but it sure looked tough. Poor little guy had ribbons of the membrane still attached to both ends of the egg that seemed to make it a little more difficult for it to hatch out.

 

[chickintexas]

Another update;
3 Buff Silkies in the hatcher with 4 that still haven't pipped yet. Today is day 22 for them.

The BBS Silkie did not make it

When I opened the egg to examine it, it was way too early for it to be pipping. Huge egg yolk, very small feet compared to the ones already out, and the poor thing's neck was at a very odd angle. Seriously, it was at a 90 degree angle about 1/2" behind it's head.

Another BBS Silkie had pipped about 4 hours ago but at least this one pipped on the big end. I don't expect it to do anything until tomorrow.

Hoping the rest of the Buffs join in pretty soon and that the remaining BBS are healthy hatchers.

 

[silkiechick05]

I have nine hatched and one that pipped yesterday that hasn't gotten any further.

I helped it a little this morning, but he still hasn't made any progress


Should I help more?

 

[chickintexas]

Quote:
I'd leave it. The two that had pipped for me early yesterday morning didn't finally come out until over 24 hours later. Good luck!

 

[chikalady]

Well I think it is over now. I had 15 out of 19 chicks to hatch. I don't think the other eggs are doing anything. I overall think it was a good hatch. I did have problems with the temps and humidity the last day. They are all doing well and are very loud.

 

[chickintexas]

I've got 3 beautiful Buff Silkies in the brooder. The other 4 eggs haven't done anything. Not even a pip. Being that today is day 23 (and the 3 that hatched did so early on day 22), I should give it a couple more days, right? Is there still hope that they will hatch?
I've got two of the BBS that I set Monday on the hatcher that hatched last night/this morning with two additional pips. The other 3 I can't see well enough to say whether or not they've pipped. And this is exactly day 21 for the BBS.

 

[lemurchaser]

When I get to day 22 with no pips (or 24 hours after the last one hatches), I'll either candle the eggs, see if there's movement, or I'll peep at them and hold the egg up to my ear. Sometimes I can hear peeping or scratching inside the egg.