15th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-Along

[Tstraub]

My broody hatch is complete she hatched out 7 from 9 eggs

My DIY incubator is on hatch day so far one is out no other pips that I can spot lots of chirping going on

 

[The Cottages]

Our count is in and we had 30 hatch. of 53 not a great hatch rate, But just as much fun was had by our staff and residents...Till next year BYC family!

 

[BantyChooks]

Our count is in and we had 30 hatch. of 53 not a great hatch rate, But just as much fun was had by our staff and residents...Till next year BYC family!

Congratulations on the hatch and it's good to see you all participating again! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BantyChooks]

My broody hatch is complete she hatched out 7 from 9 eggsView attachment 3789244

My DIY incubator is on hatch day so far one is out no other pips that I can spot lots of chirping going on
View attachment 3789245

Wow, love the incubator.

 

[angiez628]

My hatch was complete on Saturday 3/30. 17 hatched out of 22. One died during zip, another had piped or the egg got cracked during the hatch.

The last two hatches were difficult. The first had some crazy goo coming out of it and I thought it was dead but it started zipping so I left it go. Then right before hatch neon green goo came out. I was afraid of what would hatch out. Upon hatching out I could see the yolk hadn't fully absorbed which I think was the initial goo. Then it was dragging around the yolk and getting blood everywhere in the brooder. I had another chick that was zipping on the wrong end so I didn't want to open the incubator. I figured the chick would die. Next morning the chick was still surprisingly alive and active. However I did notice that some goo had dried around its eyes and it had small pieces of shell glued to it. I am pretty sure it damaged one eye. Poor thing couldn't catch a break. It appears to be fine except for an eye infection which I am trying to treat with terrimysin. It is eating but keeps scratching at the eyes. I have it with the other chicks and I think it sight is limited for now. I am going to give it a few days to see if the antibiotics will work.

The last hatch zipped and was peeping up a storm but it became apparent that it was shrinkwrapped and stuck. I did my first assist and it hatched out. It had curled toes and spraddle so I attempted to correct with a hobble and then suspending the legs. After two days it wasn't really using its legs and seemed very stressed since it couldn't move and hated being alone in the incubator. I made the difficult choice to euthanize it. First time I had to do that.

I'm thinking that with 15 healthy chicks it is not really an incubation problem but will be reading up to see if there was anything else I could have done on my second hatch.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Last broody has half hatched. Waiting to see if the remaining eggs hatch or not. Colder weather must have slowed it all down.

 

[Nomadicus]

Still have some hatching. Not many left to hatch. One or two may not hatch but some are pipped. By morning they out to be done. Over all I did have a decent hatch with silkies and White Bresse eggs.

 

[Yard Farmer]

Here's my babies for the hatch along.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Incubator A had finished hatching on April 1st! Look at all these cute Easter Eggers/Blue Eggers

Baby #6 was an assisted hatch as the chick popped halfway down the shell towards the pointed end of the egg. External pip happened over 12 hours before I assisted. Initially, all I did was add coconut oil to the membrane that was exposed from establishing the external pip a bit more for the chick. After another hour, almost 2, I ended up breaking away the shell towards the air cell to add more coconut oil, as I was doing that the chick was struggling to get anywhere and wasn’t really using its one leg to help itself. I ended up noticing the membrane stuck to the leg that was moving holding it back some and added coconut oil there before allowing the chick to try and break out of the egg itself. Ended up using a good deal of coconut oil put down into the side of the egg I could see the membrane drying out. After some attempts the chick ended up popping out into my hand right as I said I was going to put them back in the incubator

Unsure if anyone would want to see my progress photos or not of assisting, but majority of it was done over FaceTime with a new chicken mama to help her understand this aspect of it more. I did manage to get a few photos to establish a baseline for myself on when it’s necessary to step in or not. The very inner membrane being stuck to the chick and very gummy made my decision easier to make as the chick really couldn’t move with it being stuck like it was.

All 6 babies happy and adorable in their brand new brooder box

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

I got so excited about everyone’s posts about their chicks and posting my chicks, that I forgot to update on Incubator B (ft C )!

Out of 70 set eggs (2 incubators), we have another 26 going into lockdown today! More babies to come for Saturday

Only two had to be taken out from this final candling before lockdown, one quit between first candling and now and the other just didn’t develop I guess. We were unsure about a few of the blue eggs but that one must’ve been really questionable first candling, it was very apparent by now that it was not developing at all.