6th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[carcar80]

My hatch is complete.

Of the 10 I set, 4 that I placed under a broody were only incubated for a day before the hen decided she wasn't game. Those 4 eggs were discarded.
And of the remaining 7 that were set in the incubator, one quit sometime around day 5. One more quit after lockdown. That left me with 5 hatched chick's.
BUT THEN, DW decided to open the incubator and take pics to post on FB of those 5 "cute fluffy buts".
I just placed 4 chick's in the brooder.

Oh, and by the way, a warning for those of you with a Brinsea Mini, the space between the water pots and the drop for the fan inlet, is just about the perfect size to trap a chick's head when the lid is placed back on the tray.

 

[Roan]

I snatch mine out. I put them right under the brooder light to dry. I don't like them rolling the eggs around. ron takes care of that problem with...carton hatching.

Well, that's just it with mine, they were carton hatched but this little girl was just too crazy clumsy, even though the eggs are in cartons, she was still turning them as she tried to crawl across them. But anyway, she's all dry and fluffy and #7 has hatched!!! She's very very wet so she will definitely stay in the incubator for a little while. Meanwhile, no other pips...yet. But there's still time.

My hatch is complete.

Of the 10 I set, 4 that I placed under a broody were only incubated for a day before the hen decided she wasn't game. Those 4 eggs were discarded.
And of the remaining 7 that were set in the incubator, one quit sometime around day 5. One more quit after lockdown. That left me with 5 hatched chick's.
BUT THEN, DW decided to open the incubator and take pics to post on FB of those 5 "cute fluffy buts".
I just placed 4 chick's in the brooder.



Oh, and by the way, a warning for those of you with a Brinsea Mini, the space between the water pots and the drop for the fan inlet, is just about the perfect size to trap a chick's head when the lid is placed back on the tray.

Aww!!! That's so sad!!! I'm sorry to hear about that. Give your DW a big hug and tell her it's okay, I'm sure she feels terrible about it.

 

[FuzzyHens]

Had 3 more hatch today. I ended up with 17 out of 20 hatching. I still have two no shows in the bator but I don't expect them to hatch. One died after it pipped internally.

Here they are keeping warm on a ziploc bag full of hot water in a towel last night when the power was out.

absolutely adorable and great idea!

 

[FuzzyHens]

My pip that started yesterday morning still hasn't made much progress. I'm re-reading the information on how to assist.

When do you decide to step in? The membrane still looks good and I still see the chick moving. I just don't want to wait too long to help.

Thanks for the advice!!!

edited: I re-read the information and it talked me off the cliff. I'm leaving him along...

 

[chicken pickin]

My pip that started yesterday morning still hasn't made much progress. I'm re-reading the information on how to assist.

When do you decide to step in? The membrane still looks good and I still see the chick moving. I just don't want to wait too long to help.

Thanks for the advice!!!

I hope it hatches for you

I personally don't assist hatches anymore. I did when I first started hatching 2 years ago because I felt compelled to save all the chicks lol. But often trying to help only makes it worse. I ended up with too many problems, some healthy chicks that made it too. But I now leave them be and if they hatch on their own then they show health and vigor. Those that cant make it past a pip show weakness. I do not want weak chickens in my flock nor do I want to sell them to other peoples flocks. So I am a non assister.

If you feel you need to help you can peel some of the pipped egg shell away to make the hole bigger so you can sort of get a better view of whats going on in there. if there is blood wrap it in a moist paper towel and put it back in the incubator. If there is no blood you can peel away a little more of the egg.

There should be assisted hatching links in the first post of this thread that will help guide you.

Keep us posted.

 

[FuzzyHens]

I hope it hatches for you

I personally don't assist hatches anymore. I did when I first started hatching 2 years ago because I felt compelled to save all the chicks lol. But often trying to help only makes it worse. I ended up with too many problems, some healthy chicks that made it too. But I now leave them be and if they hatch on their own then they show health and vigor. Those that cant make it past a pip show weakness. I do not want weak chickens in my flock nor do I want to sell them to other peoples flocks. So I am a non assister.

If you feel you need to help you can peel some of the pipped egg shell away to make the hole bigger so you can sort of get a better view of whats going on in there. if there is blood wrap it in a moist paper towel and put it back in the incubator. If there is no blood you can peel away a little more of the egg.

There should be assisted hatching links in the first post of this thread that will help guide you.

Keep us posted.

Thanks for the advice!! I re-read the thread on assisting and I'm going to be patient. Based on what I read, I think he is just waiting for everything to finish in the egg before he gets down to business. I'm just so excited to have chicks...I need to find a project to do around the house to distract me.

 

[carcar80]

Wrong end pipper did mange to make his hole larger last night, but is now trying to zip with his forehead. :/

Membrane still looked mostly OK (he has a hole big enough to stick whole beak out either way), so I left him while I work until noon and if he's not out (or dead) when I get home I think it'll be time to assist- IF he still seems strong. Ugh. I hate assisting. But he was vocal and was REALLY making some strong effort with the forehead zip, lol.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Wrong end pipper did mange to make his hole larger last night, but is now trying to zip with his forehead.

Membrane still looked mostly OK (he has a hole big enough to stick whole beak out either way), so I left him while I work until noon and if he's not out (or dead) when I get home I think it'll be time to assist- IF he still seems strong. Ugh. I hate assisting. But he was vocal and was REALLY making some strong effort with the forehead zip, lol.-
LOL...well i used to hate assisiting!!! I have been doing it for nearly 8 years (at least every week..so thats more than 52 x 8 = 416 times of paractiser...so i have learnt my ways and am kinda good at it...lol!!!

 

[ChickyChickens]

Ooops, something funny happened there...

 

[GAGE]

23 out of 29 are out, but unfortunately our lone silkie was too weak to make it. We still have one 3/4 zipped and two more that have pipped, which leave 3 unresponsive eggs remaining.