URGENT - Incubator help!

[MeepBeep]

See this post on how I deal with lice/mites...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1113638/infestation-of-mites-and-maybe-lice

 

[MeepBeep]

I think some breeds are harder to hatch than others.

Some eggs are harder to hatch and sometimes want works well for chickens doesn't work well for others even in the same incubator, you need to tweak things...

Also consider a dietary change and/or fortify the diet of the hens with additional vitamins and minerals, the hens diet can effect the vitality of the egg and chick that is hatched...

Mixing in some ground up dry cat food into the hens diet to increase protein and dusting the food with a product like Diamond V (I use the original XP) to give a vitamin and mineral boost, can help create better more viable eggs and chicks...

 

[jrose1970]

I see. I've seen chickens go crazy over dog food. LOL It must be the protein.
Thanks!

 

[BackyardDove]

I really hate that about the pheasant. I'm not sure what to do for lice. I think some breeds are harder to hatch than others. My wife has Cuckoo Marans, and they hatch like crazy. The lavender orpingtons almost never hatch in the same incubator.

Oh yes, some are definitely harder to hatch/raise. All the breeds of fowl I raise, Silkies, Booted Bantams, and Red Golden Pheasant, HATCH well, but raising the pheasants is hardest, followed by the Silkies, then Booted Bantams are the easiest to raise. The Red Golden Pheasant, out of the other pheasant breeds, is the easiest to breed due to their readiness to breed in captivity, but raising them is another story. They are very clumsy and noticeably weaker that the other chicks. In fact, my 5 week old pheasant is still stumbling about sometimes, meanwhile my 5 week old Silkies are practically self-sufficient. But like MeepBeep said, it may just be a diet issue, but I still believe certain breeds may be more sensitive and/or harder to raise than others.

See this post on how I deal with lice/mites...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1113638/infestation-of-mites-and-maybe-lice

Thank you, but I believe I've got the lice issue under control now

 

[BackyardDove]

Day 14: Technically today is day 16, but I candled on day 14. Second candling showed 22 eggs are definitely, 100%, without a doubt, growing. These eggs had large, thick, obvious veins and I was able to clearly see movement. It appears 3 embryo's may have died, as I marked them as growing on day 7 but was unable to find movement or obvious veins on day 14. I left them in there though, in hopes that I'm wrong. I'm still unsure about 9 eggs that I noted as possibly being infertile, since I can see a mass within the egg, but it's a mass smaller than the live embryo's with no obvious veins. So I can't tell if it's an embryo or the egg beginning to fill with bacteria - BUT, none of the eggs smell rotten.

With hatch day being so close, I'm quite nervous, especially because of the recent unexpected lice infestation. After the other chicks and chickens received their first lice treatment dusting, I haven't spotted anymore live lice running around on any of my chickens, but because some of my girls had eggs on them, they will be undergoing two more dust treatments. Tonight will be their second treatment, since I did their first last Sunday. Hopefully, by the time the chicks hatch, there won't be any lice issues anymore.

 

[BackyardDove]

Well.. It's day 20, and I'm starting to get nervous. I hear no cheeping and I don't see any of the eggs moving. I haven't seen if any have internally pipped because I don't know how to do that, but I'm starting to get quite anxious...

 

[FridayYet]

Hoping things go well for you! Do you mark your air cells? For me, when the cells quit growing it's the first indication that the chick has quit.

I mark on day 7, 14 and 18. If nothing is going on, I'll candle again and look for draw-down, when you see it, things are getting closer!

 

[Kilkilkorken]

Hoping that some babies have started to pip, zip, and hatch!

 

[BackyardDove]

Two babies have hatched so far! Last night, I saw 7 eggs were pipping. Because these two babies hatched during the night, I wasn't able to take them out before they moved around the other eggs, but they didn't seem to make too much of a mess.

 

[FridayYet]

Two babies have hatched so far! Last night, I saw 7 eggs were pipping. Because these two babies hatched during the night, I wasn't able to take them out before they moved around the other eggs, but they didn't seem to make too much of a mess.

Great news! Good luck on the rest.