May Hatch Thread--Fill up those bators n' broodies!

[jnjmanning]

I move 4 into the hatcher around 5 am but I'm not sure I'll hatch anything on Friday I think you will win the race I can bet these will be 24 hrs late if they go at all

I dont know El, these air cells are horrible. I will be gone all day Saturday too. So we will see!

 

[el pollo rey]

I dont know El, these air cells are horrible. I will be gone all day Saturday too. So we will see!

I hear ya jac ,,, these cochin eggs were beat up pretty bad during my loss of power my hatch and chicks I had in the brooder took priority over the two sets I had incubating the power inverter I was using was only big enough to handle the hatcher and one bulb in the brooder so the hova took a back seat to my immigrant egg hatch I still think I would have had a better hatch if I had not lost juice but was happy to save what I did ,,, it's going down as the 9 gallon hatch as it took 9 gallons of deisel to keep it all going lol

 

[mollybuck]

good vibes for good hatches for you too! i was seriously thinking about what to do with the eggs last night if we lost power... i kept waking up just to see if the alarm clock was on..DH couldnt sleep.. so I told him if he woke up and we didnt have power.. the incubator and I would be in the van!! at least it has a house plug in and I could run it all night cause I just filled the tank up...!! i think that was the first bad storm that the light only flickered!!

 

[jnjmanning]

I hear ya jac ,,, these cochin eggs were beat up pretty bad during my loss of power my hatch and chicks I had in the brooder took priority over the two sets I had incubating the power inverter I was using was only big enough to handle the hatcher and one bulb in the brooder so the hova took a back seat to my immigrant egg hatch I still think I would have had a better hatch if I had not lost juice but was happy to save what I did ,,, it's going down as the 9 gallon hatch as it took 9 gallons of deisel to keep it all going lol

LOL @ 9 gallon! Just got talked in to 12 black silkie hatching eggs! Very high quality birds too. Still looking for guinea eggs at the swap. Still have 23 of my neighbors RIR to get hatched also. Plus I got the Bunts late Saturday, put in incubator Sunday. Not sure where they will go, if anywhere!

 

[oesdog]

Yes they are I had around a dozen chicks. Two polish and two bannies. A few copper marans. I am loving them all. I will get some pics tomorrow.
I am so glad you discovered the yellow dish cloth. Please don't give up. Try to find some local eggs and try one more time with us on the June thread.

I am sorry but June is not going to happen this year for me as we are away for most of June so sadly no one here to turn the eggs!
My DD is minding everything and she is very good to do that but it would not be fare to expect her to tend eggs! Mybe next year!
IT is nice that I will be missed from the hatch threads as I have not posted much this month. I got very upset and low over all the losses so was glad to just leave it a while.

I am behind in reading so not sure what day you are on.
I always wait at least 25 days.......................sometimes can be a little slow.
I had one hatch on day 27...................named it 27............

If I had not been to busy to clean the incubator.it would have been in the garbage can..............
Also, I do not always see or hear anything from eggs before hatch........
My experience being that some do and some are sneaky. Just pop out of their shell.................
Good Luck

Ha ha I love that you had a very late arrival, It would be interesting to find out what is the very last day anyone managed to hatch a live chick. The latest I had was Blue day 27 and Omlet day 28. Both needed help. Like you they were about to be tossed. DH and I only kept this load of eggs as long as we did because of Blue and Omlett, We eggtopsied on Day 25 and were right to do so this time the only other two fully formed chicks were dead, Nothing in any of the rest of the eggs. So we ended up with little lonely Eggbert.

We went to our friends today ( The fellow I gave Blue and Omlett to ) His yard was full of all sorts of chickens. I asked him about Blue and Omlett. He told us the sad news that my beautiful rare breed cream crested legbar Blue had died over the winter. Not too surprised as they are very exposed to the cold winds up on the hills and we lost 3 hens to the bitter winds here comming off the sea as we are also in an exposed area. But the good news he said is that he has Blues son running about the yard and Omlett my dear sweet baby who was sooo ill and sick is still alive!!!! Running about and there are quite a few more cuckoo maran hens about too so he is also a daddy!

I can't believe out of the 4 roos we had that year Duck and Big red, Who went to live on a local farm ( where they killed them!) and Blue and Omlett who went to the petting farm. Of all of them the very very sickest chick is the one that is still living! My day 28 hatchling! There is always hope!

That aside the best news is - when we were there we told him that we had a lone day old chick and asked if he had anything - he smiled and said come with me! We went to his hatching shed and there inside he explained. He was checking on the hens the day before and found a little chick laying on the ground without a sign of the mother. He has no idea where it was from and what it is? He scooped this tiny thing up from the bator and gave it to me. OMG it was a little yellow fluff ball almost identical to eggbert! I stuffed him in my blouse to keep him warm and we brought him home. He didn't even cost me anythign because we had given him two roos a few years back and he owed us a chick or two! lol When we got home I put the new baby in with Eggbert and they are exactly the same size! Eggbert seems a little stronger but then he didn;t spend any time out in the cold! I guess they are both lucky. Isn't that amazing that there was another little orphaned chick just waiting for a friend! SOmetimes I think God is great! how does he do that?????

Oes - will post pics of the chicks as soon as DH takes some!

 

[BearSpringsFarm]

how do you tell if they have internally piped other than hearing them chirp?

If you candle them - you will see their beaks or sometimes even part of their heads or feets in the air cell. Also if you candle and see part of the chick in the aircell and it just sort of flops around while you rotate the egg - chances are it failed at pipping through the external shell and died. However if you can see the chick moving around in the aircell and it hasn't pipped yet then you can help it - but be very careful and break the shell just a little bit where the air cell is - this will allow the chick a little more air and time to move around and get itself out - but watch them closely incase they get stuck in the shell - if they do then you will need to help it completely out but very slowly and stopping if you see veins and/or blood to give the chick time to absorb them.

 

[mollybuck]

oes! you saved a baby!! that is so sweet! it must have been meant to be. ; )

 

[oesdog]

oes! you saved a baby!! that is so sweet! it must have been meant to be. ; )

I think it is actually 2 now this year!!!!! lol - Two little biddy fluff balls. I am delighted as we lost so many.

Oes -

I love them

 

[el pollo rey]

good vibes for good hatches for you too! i was seriously thinking about what to do with the eggs last night if we lost power... i kept waking up just to see if the alarm clock was on..DH couldnt sleep.. so I told him if he woke up and we didnt have power.. the incubator and I would be in the van!! at least it has a house plug in and I could run it all night cause I just filled the tank up...!! i think that was the first bad storm that the light only flickered!!

. I use a 2500 watt dc inverter and a car battery moll it will run both my incubators and turners or a combo of one bator and a brooder bulb for about a hour and a half with out the need for the truck but any thing over a hour and a half and I need to move the inverter to the truck or car to keep the battery up the power grid down here is stable for the most part if we do have it go out it is only a hour or so and the battery and inverter will do ok stand alone but I had it go out in the middle of day 21 for about 23 hrs and it totaly screwed things up but we got through it ok

 

[el pollo rey]

I am sorry but June is not going to happen this year for me as we are away for most of June so sadly no one here to turn the eggs!
My DD is minding everything and she is very good to do that but it would not be fare to expect her to tend eggs! Mybe next year!
IT is nice that I will be missed from the hatch threads as I have not posted much this month. I got very upset and low over all the losses so was glad to just leave it a while.

Ha ha I love that you had a very late arrival, It would be interesting to find out what is the very last day anyone managed to hatch a live chick. The latest I had was Blue day 27 and Omlet day 28. Both needed help. Like you they were about to be tossed. DH and I only kept this load of eggs as long as we did because of Blue and Omlett, We eggtopsied on Day 25 and were right to do so this time the only other two fully formed chicks were dead, Nothing in any of the rest of the eggs. So we ended up with little lonely Eggbert.

We went to our friends today ( The fellow I gave Blue and Omlett to ) His yard was full of all sorts of chickens. I asked him about Blue and Omlett. He told us the sad news that my beautiful rare breed cream crested legbar Blue had died over the winter. Not too surprised as they are very exposed to the cold winds up on the hills and we lost 3 hens to the bitter winds here comming off the sea as we are also in an exposed area. But the good news he said is that he has Blues son running about the yard and Omlett my dear sweet baby who was sooo ill and sick is still alive!!!! Running about and there are quite a few more cuckoo maran hens about too so he is also a daddy! I can't believe out of the 4 roos we had that year Duck and Big red, Who went to live on a local farm ( where they killed them!) and Blue and Omlett who went to the petting farm. Of all of them the very very sickest chick is the one that is still living! My day 28 hatchling! There is always hope!

That aside the best news is - when we were there we told him that we had a lone day old chick and asked if he had anything - he smiled and said come with me! We went to his hatching shed and there inside he explained. He was checking on the hens the day before and found a little chick laying on the ground without a sign of the mother. He has no idea where it was from and what it is? He scooped this tiny thing up from the bator and gave it to me. OMG it was a little yellow fluff ball almost identical to eggbert! I stuffed him in my blouse to keep him warm and we brought him home. He didn't even cost me anythign because we had given him two roos a few years back and he owed us a chick or two! lol When we got home I put the new baby in with Eggbert and they are exactly the same size! Eggbert seems a little stronger but then he didn;t spend any time out in the cold! I guess they are both lucky. Isn't that amazing that there was another little orphaned chick just waiting for a friend! SOmetimes I think God is great! how does he do that?????

Oes - will post pics of the chicks as soon as DH takes some!

. Good news oes I'm happy to hear eggberta ( still hoping hen here ) lol has company and is still hanging in there ! Good for you oes