Recent content by onfurtherreview

Oh, wow, what a day. I went to collect eggs and found a broody hen. After the kids went to sleep (of course they stayed up late), I went out and made her a broody nest out of (of course) a styrofoam cooler, and now she's keeping 14 eggs safe and warm. I'll post more as things develop.

Okay, okay! Their wing feathers are starting to come in a bit, which makes them look quite funny to me, but I'll post more pics as they grow. I don't really have a spot for the incubator in the house, but I'm buying a thermostat before I hatch again, which should take care of it. The one that...

Just to close out the book on this hatch, I'll post one last update. I'll put up details on how I made the incubator in the next few days in a separate thread. I cleaned out the incubator today, and opened the remaining eggs. Six of them were fully developed, but never pipped internally - I...

For your viewing pleasure:

The other little sticky guy has had his bath, and I dried him as best I could with a microfiber towel. The heat lamp did the rest of the job, and now it's hard to tell which chicks were sticky. Dawn dish soap works wonders I guess? The little guy is showing a lot more energy now that the...

The six chicks that hatched have made it through the night: I had two sticky chicks, and one of the sticky ones also had some unabsorbed yolk. I wrapped the one with the yolk problem in warm, wet paper towels for about five hours, which worked for the yolk but made its sticky feathers look...

I really did just use a screw-in lamp dimmer ($6 at Lowe's) to fine-tune the temperature. It was not ideal, and I'd recommend a thermostat if at all possible. I was trying to put something together as quickly as possible because the mystery eggs were getting old, and I couldn't find a suitable...

So, I did a quick search and found out that the yellow goo is leftover egg white, which would explain why the little guy looks like he took a bath in hair gel. The chick seems to be okay, but looks frightful with those plastered-down feathers. I guess I must have let the humidity get too high at...

On the bright side, all six of the ones that had pipped are now out of the shell! Two are still wet and resting, but I pulled the four dry ones out and put them in the brooder (actually an aquarium with a screen top on it). A couple of the eggs that haven't pipped are wiggling and making noises...

Now that I've looked a lot closer, I'm not too sure it actually was yolk - it's clear, but has a yellowish tint to it - looks more like egg white than yolk to me. At first glance, I saw a big glop of yellow stuff inside the shell and freaked out, but the chick seems fine and looks healthy...

Woah! Just had another one go from half-zipped to out of the shell in the time it took me to fix a glass of sweet tea and type that last message! The little guy seems to be resting comfortably. Problem: the one that didn't absorb all the yolk? It looks like the yolk ruptured when it was trying...

I'm up to five chicks, but the last two are iffy to make it - one hadn't absorbed all the yolk yet, and the other has something weird going on with its abdomen, I'm not sure what. It looks kind of like a belly button stump on a baby. Anybody ever had that, and have any wisdom to share?

The one that had zipped has hatched. My internet's acting up right now, bu I'll get a pic up when I can.

I've been going on and on about it over at https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/776178/first-hatch-mystery-eggs/20#post_11262138 ever since I set the eggs, but I've had four hatch so far in my homemade incubator - the first hatched last night, #2 hatched sometime between 3 and 5:30 this morning...

I woke up a few minutes before 6, just in time to watch the third chick hatch! This on came from one of the white eggs. Another of the brown mystery eggs is zipped, and at least two more have pipped.