Anyone else hatching 6/25? Chicks are here!

[chsfairy2007]

Go Marans! Go! I hope you get some good ones, walkswithdog.

My last pipped chick is coming on out. Should be here within the hour. Yay! Five chicks! I like odd numbers. :3

So, for these last four eggs that have not pipped, what should I do with them? Paganbird, you wrote that you poked holes in the air cells. Could you possibly elaborate, please?

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:
My first hatch was with 5 of my hen's own eggs. Only one hatched. Two other eggs had been peeping and rocking, but never hatched. I was just so happy to have hatched something!
Congratulations on your first hatch!!

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:
I took a pair of tweezers and made a pin-head-sized hole in the top of the large end with the air cell. Then I candled them to see if there was any movement.
The one with no movement, I opened the hole enough to shine a penlight in and see the chick. If the chick is not moving at all, it's probably dead. If it still moves, wet the membrane & put it back in the bator. Do Not try to help!!
If the chick is still alive, just keep humidity up & give it more time.

Chances are, if the egg is going to hatch, the chicks will have pipped internally already. The hole I make just ensured they get enough air until they pip.
I did have to crack the shell some on my last chick. It had pipped & it was bleeding from the pip. I don't like to help unless absolutely needed, though.

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:
July is coming... not much longer on the rest of your chicks!
I want pics of those showgirl chicks. I'm not joking!
As a matter of fact, I would like to see some pic of the marans chick that hatched. Showgirl chick pics are my all-time-favorite, but you should share pics of your little Houdini with us!
Oh, and BTW, I got 16 day-old poults for a friend when I ordered my hatchery chicks this year. I was sooo glad when he picked up those things! They aren't the smartest... or the cleanest... or the easiest to take care of. Good luck with yours - may you be blessed with more patience that I had!

 

[walkswithdog]

Turkeys are funny, it often depends on breed and breeding whether they're smart or not. My BRs are horridly smart and busy critters and I love that.

Yeah, they're messy - chick poop x 5. I don't mind, they're much more companionable. Laura calls mine Turpeys. Turkey Puppies.

They call for me, when I let them out of their pen they run to me, many leap in my lap, they all have to say HI and they follow me around the yard on chores, eating bugs and greens, looking at what I"m doing. If I sit on the deck stairs they all come to sit in the sun, stretch, sit on my lap to be petted or settle in on the dog bed. Twelve BR babies in the space of a few feet.

A turkey will look you in the eye and consider your face in a way no chicken ever will. They're good babies, and the eldest pair are still sweet Momma's birds at over a year.

Nah I wouldn't skip the mess for the companionship. They're amazing. I love my chickens but until you've met a bright, thoughtful turkey who loves you, you just don't know what it's like.

I just sold a bunch of flighty, brain dead Calico turkeys. Hated em. Not all turkeys are equal. I'll stick with my BRs and look maybe for another breed with actual brains. The Calicos were not good at all. Raised exactly the same - they were distant, flighty, mindless.

I keep the animals that tame themselves, that come when called, that think their way out of trouble. I don't have time or energy for the ones that cannot or will not.

 

[MagsC]

Congrats to everyone!!!

Nothing more on this end yet, but as my hatches are staggered over several days I wont give up yet.
I do find I usually have better luck with mixed eggs but getting a bit better with the purebreds.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I have 4 pips and one is zipping. Its a BS silkie. Which I think means blue or black splash. I have 2 buff and 1 cooko pipped. Can't wait to get home and check on them this afternoon.

Congratulations to everyone on their chickies....

 

[chsfairy2007]

Thanks for the congratulations, everyone.

Well, the fourth chick hatched around 11 a.m. today, and something wasn't quite right with it. Instantly, I remembered reading about rough navels, or them not being completely closed. That is what is wrong with this chick. I quickly scanned BYC for more information on what to do. In one thread, Miss Prissy advised to just leave it in the 'bator for 24 hours, then evaluate. I decided to just do that. It's doing fine, and acting just as the rest. Very vigorous. As of now, it's look a lot better, and there's not much protruding at all. I think I will eventually be able to put it with the rest of the chicks. Still, any more advice is very welcome.

By the end of this whole thing, four eggs did not pip. I investigated, and all were dead. One was probably within a day of hatching, but it's navel, also, was not closed. I could have had a much better hatch, and I'm worried about this navel thing. One of my books reads that "high or fluctuating temperatures" causes the rough or exposed navel. Do you all agree with that? What do you think went wrong with my hatch, and how might I improve next time?

 

[Paganbird]

I found that my problem (chicks making it to lockdown, then dying before pipping) was due to a humidity issue. I resolved it by raising my humidity during incubation to about 45% and hatching at 60% or higher. This may not be a problem for you, but it seemed to resolve my problem.
Hope that helps

Where are everyone's pics???

 

[goldnchocolate]

My RIR hen has been sitting on 6 eggs for almost 3 weeks and tonight when I went out to feed the hens and collect the eggs I looked in on my broody and saw 2 little tiny faces peeking out from under her

I wasn't expecting any chicks until Sunday.

This picture is a little blurry but you can see the 2 little heads under her. This is my first time of having a broody hen hatch some eggs. The roo is a big beautiful EE. Three of the eggs are blue and 3 are brown. At least one of the blue ones has hatched.