Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Colly1470]

Thanks! I hope I have babies making an appearance in 10 days.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Josefina]

That's wonderful. Mama hen did excellent work for you!

FULL HATCH!!!
Well, 6 of 7 eggs actually; but I didn't really think the suspected quitter egg was going to hatch. I'll candle it again today and then open it up to see what's inside. Last night 2 D'uccles had hatched and everyone else (excluding quitter egg) had external pips! I'd been fretting over the quiet Cochin so feeling pips on all the eggs was a relief. This morning everyone was out of their shells and drying off! The Cochin egg with the saddle air sac had hatched, no sign of problems when I examined the membrane and shell after hatch. I haven't seen all the chicks yet, but mama hen let me grope around under her and I'm pretty sure I touched all the babies. They ran away from me so I'd say the chicks are all doing fine post hatch.

I love my mama hens! I don't even own an incubator right now, I just rely on timing my egg arrivals with when the girls go broody. I have two girls raising the babies (I failed to mention that previously) because I was worried about putting seven eggs under one bantam Cochin, and I have oodles of broody hens right now. Marie has the 3 D'uccle chicks and Marian has the 3 Cochin chicks--all of which I have seen now! The babies are getting livelier and were willing to peek outside.

After one last candling, I went ahead and opened up the 4th D'uccle egg. I cracked the shell over the air sac and started peeling it away. It was really fascinating getting to see into the air sac (slightly saddled) and see the inner membrane separating it from the chick/yolk/innards. Then I pulled off the inner membrane and spilled the contents into a bowl. It turns out my day 10 quitter guess was off--the embryo looks like it was a day 4 or 5 quitter. Poor little thing! It was a dark pink crescent, complete with black eye spot, about the size of my pinkie finger nail. The yolk looked like it had gotten scrambled up with the egg white, but the yolk membrane may have only broken when I emptied it out of the egg. There wasn't a single vein to be seen in the yolk or any of the membranes. It smelled kind of weird, but not bad like a rotten egg. I'm still not sure why development stopped, but at least now my major curiosity is satisfied as I know what was inside.

 

[Cerise1924]

We just lost one of the new ones for no apparent reason I hadn't check on them in a few hours and when I went back in they were on their back & gone everyone seems perfectly fine & healthy.... No pasty butt, eating & drinking. Praying the rest make it to morning!

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. Sometimes, a chick has something wrong with it that isnt' evident from the outside. Glad to know all your others are doing well.

 

[Cerise1924]

My sole baby that made it from 6 Papa's Poultry eggs is doing just fine! My little Sebright broody is teaching the Lemon Orpington to eat from my hand, and the two stick close together in the run. The big ladies of the flock don't bother mother and baby at all, thank heavens!

 

[Cerise1924]

It's Day 11 for my remaining shipped eggs - 18 of the original 29 - and I'm intensely curious to see if they are still okay. However, I read this from a European site on incubation science:

• Do not candle between 11 and 14 days of incubation, as it interrupts the movement of the embryo to the length axis of the egg.

So, I will just be patient and wait three more days before I check again.

I did notice that, once I removed the clears and early quitters from the crowded incubators, the temperature dropped. Have you found that the density of eggs in your incubator affects the temperature?

-Cerise

 

[Kiki]

It's Day 11 for my remaining shipped eggs - 18 of the original 29 - and I'm intensely curious to see if they are still okay. However, I read this from a European site on incubation science:

• Do not candle between 11 and 14 days of incubation, as it interrupts the movement of the embryo to the length axis of the egg.

So, I will just be patient and wait three more days before I check again.

I did notice that, once I removed the clears and early quitters from the crowded incubators, the temperature dropped. Have you found that the density of eggs in your incubator affects the temperature?

-Cerise

Can you share a link to that site...I would like to read it.
Please.

 

[Morrigan]

Can you share a link to that site...I would like to read it.
Please.

Ditto.

 

[Morrigan]

My sole baby that made it from 6 Papa's Poultry eggs is doing just fine! My little Sebright broody is teaching the Lemon Orpington to eat from my hand, and the two stick close together in the run. The big ladies of the flock don't bother mother and baby at all, thank heavens!

That is really, really precious. I'm still sad about losing all 4 of my Lemons, but it's great to see what a little Lemon chick looks like. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Zinjifrah]

I'm not sure Tiny will make it. It keeps breathing with its beak open, but isn't overheated. It can't walk, though it can move around - scooting on its butt, and swimming with its wings. It doesn't appear to be spraddle-leg, since they're not splayed to the sides - they stick out in front of it, instead, and it kicks vigorously while scooting around. I'm putting it into a saki cup for a couple minutes at a time every so often, to get it to try and stand upright. I'm making sure it gets water into it, with ACV, vitamins and electrolytes in the water, and there's a pile of food it can eat from since it can't reach over the side of the one-inch high jar lid I grabbed for a baby-Serama food dish. It's eating with a good appetite. The other two seem to be doing fine. Sorry for the bad photo, but I'm trying to disturb them as little as possible.

 

[Cerise1924]

Can you share a link to that site...I would like to read it.
Please.

https://www.pasreform.com/academy/f...ndle-or-not-to-candle-thats-the-question.html