18 eggs into lockdown!

[UThobbyfarmer]

To experiment with shipped eggs, before the expensive ones. I got 4 dozen barnyard mixes off ebay. About 2/3 had detached aircells. They went immediately into the incubator for 5 days before moving to the turner. Almost all cells had reattached (like 2-3 eggs still had loose ones). Good development on the eggs. Had I nailed the humidity it would have been an excellent hatch.

The Marans eggs also arrived with almost all air cells detached (2 dozen). I settled them outside the incubator for 1 day then incubated only 2 days before moving to the turner. I noticed significantly less had reattached vs the barnyard mixes.

I'm trying one more order of shipped eggs before spring. The reasons my previous hatches failed were multifactorial. But I think I'll go with how I handled the barnyard mixes for the new eggs.

 

[theuglychick]

That's so cool.

Now just for poops and giggles I'm going to try to hatch out some of my detached aircell eggs.

I don't get them often, but one hen seems to lay them quite a bit during the molt.

This fascinates me!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Definitely give it a go!

 

[theuglychick]

Any more progress?!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Apologies for the slow update. So far I've had 4 chicks hatch. With two more just pipped.
Yesterday evening one egg had lots of movement and noises. I thought for sure it would hatch over night. When I woke up and it had made no progress I decided to open it. Sadly the chick was dead. It was properly positioned but ithe was an egg from one of my sexlink pullets. It was a smaller egg with an incredibly hard shell. The chick was properly positioned. The only abnormality was a slight cross beak. I think that combined with the small hard egg was what did him in.

Neither Marans egg made progress. I pulled them out this evening and the were dead in shell. Both fully developed and positioned. Just had too much to overcome I guess. Still sad though.
There are 11 eggs left. 2 external pipped. 4 with internal pipping. 2 I'm guessing have a couple more days. And 3 I'm not quite sure about. I've really bugged them alot. My plan is to leave them alone from here on out.

 

[theuglychick]

Thanks for the update, sorry about the one who didn't make it.

I can't wait to see more of your babies!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Great morning. I woke up to one new chick and one 3/4 zipped! Two pipped. Three others moving well.

 

[theuglychick]

Great morning. I woke up to one new chick and one 3/4 zipped! Two pipped. Three others moving well.
View attachment 1140825

Yes!!!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Eek. What did I do? The egg that zipped hadn't made progress in 2 hours. It was drying out and I made the decision to help it out. It came out ok. Just need a bath to remove the dried off egg residue. The problem is the chick is deformed. It has a very odd shaped lumpy head (see pics). Reminds me of a pigeon. It also has a large bubble of air under it's skin. It back in the incubator to dry off. I don't think I did the right thing. Mother Nature would have had it die in the shell. Now I've interfered and made myself responsible for it. I'm going to give him a few days before making any decisions. Any ideas on care or what went wrong? I'll probably start a new thread on just him.

 

[theuglychick]

Is it hard or soft?

I've heard of "skull knobs" and "vaulted skulls" in some breeds. Maybe check into that?