So far so good. All chicks are in with Turkey Mama, and just in time, too. I added the chicks a few hours before she finished hatching and lead everyone out of the nest. She hatched 9 of 11 eggs. Two partially-developed eggs were smooshed and well rotting deep down in the nest so I removed...
Needless to say, I won't do that again. I was just too eager to squeeze a few more eggs into the hatch. And of course, 4 of the 5 I added a day late had issues- 2 were the dead ones, and this one I think was poorly positioned, its foot was covering its beak. And another didn't fully absorb...
I do appreciate all the feedback! I'm so full of curiosity! I'm glad my first ever hatch has gone well, all things considered! I can't wait to fill the incubator up again ;)
And do I need to sterilize the bator specially before setting new chicks? Or a general thorough clean and dry will...
The last chick is out and alive! Very, very weak though. I removed him from the incubator and put him in a brooder. That incubator is starting to stink and is super soiled, I feel like there's going to be a bigger bacterial exposure risk leaving him in there for the next few hours. He's in...
I wonder if it has to do with the temp spikes influencing their feather growth. I really am shocked that 12 of the 15 made it! I thought I had toasted the whole batch with the warm weather!
The membrane was not dry, but it was sticking to the dead chick. It didn't look like the few photos of 'shrink wrapping' I've seen, with a white dry membrane. It didn't seem unusual otherwise, I took a long time 'unwrapping' the egg and chick, literally expecting to see life because it looked...
Well, 1 egg never made an internal pip. Candling I could see 'stuff' floating freely around in the sac. No movement. It was a floater. I didn't crack it open to see.
1 egg still hadn't pipped this morning. I candled and it appeared to have internally pipped, but no movement. I opened the...
10 chicks extracted. 1 of the remaining 5 eggs has hatched since. 3 have pips. 1 doesn't appear to have activity, but I won't lose hope just yet!
Wooohooooo! I forgot how much I love EE beards on chicks
Oh! QUESTIONS!
The first chick hatched while I was away Wednesday. Safe to say it hatched no earlier than noon. So it's safe for the chicks to remain in the incubator until Saturday around noon? 3 days before they need food and water? Just checking in case I have an egg hatch real late or...
8 now, pips in 5 of the other 7 eggs. Considering 5 of the eggs were added a day after, I'm not worried. No issues! Lots of little black babies, my black copper maran rooster's been busy! I thought I might get a little variety but I guess not :P
The biggest thing that changed my mind was...
AmyLynn and Nankat, thanks for the info!
Just to point out- I had watched several videos of chicks hatching and realized why hatching in an egg carton could be very difficult for the chick. I had cut the cartons down to just "egg holders" to keep them upright, but realized this could still be...
6 eggs have little tiny holes in the shells. Maybe more I can't see some of them properly. Lots of little chirps in there :D
Questions on terminology: What's the difference in pipping, zipping, etc?
AAHHH! I hear peeping and one of the eggs is rocking! I can't contain myself! I know anything could go wrong still, but AAHHH! I hear peeping and one of the eggs is rocking!
Sooooooo not gettin any sleep tonight...
Good point! I just kind of jumped into this on a whim. Started getting 10 eggs a day and realized I could be turning some of these into baby chicks! So I ran out, got an incubator, calibrated it, and spent the day reading what I could. Obviously I didn't retain it all, but hey, I'll know...
Oh, I was starting at the pointy end with candling, like I said for some reason I had it in my head that the air was supposed to be down there. The one's I couldn't see any empty space on that end I flipped over and inspected the round end. I'm probably just stuck behind a learning curve here...
Oh okay. Why then do I have some with air pockets on the pointy end? For some reason I thought pointy end is where it was supposed to be. SHould I put the point-end-air-pocket eggs upright?
Ack! Dream after dream after dream of hatching those darn eggs! In one dream, 6 chicks came out of one egg! 2 were dying, but I held them in the sunlight and it brought them back and all 6 lived. Dreams of my cats snatching and eating the chicks as they hatched. Dreams of the eggs...