On the 3rd I had a temp spike - the dogs unplugged the bator fans... to 134... only one Marans survived (again) but the less developed silkie/sizzle eggs due a week later appear to possibly have fared better. At least some of them were moving on the 8th.
So the coming week will prove whether they can survive that AND actually hatch. There are seven apparent living eggs. So we'll see. I'm figuring more like the marans - appear to have survived but die before hatch.
The little Marans survivor - Faith, I managed to get stuffed under a broody who hatched one chick the same day. So he has a momma and a brother.
She crushed two eggs, one had died before I found it, the other was still alive. He wasn't damaged like Stomp had been but the shell was crushed and the outer membrane had collapsed onto the inner membrane, the air cell gone. So I spent a LOT of time trying to find his nose and get him some air while NOT tearing the obviously still veined membrane. Hence his name, Puzzle. He wasn't even near enough hatch to peep. But he did what I told him, keep breathing dude.
On the fourth or fifth try I found his nose. I pinched the inner membrane and held it. After a minute I tore a tiny, careful hole over his nose and quickly packaged him back in his little plastic sleeping bag and stuffed him back in the bator. Over the last 36 hours Puzzle has slowly come to life and is now peeping and waddling/tumbling around the bator. He never really had an egg to hatch but I made him work his way out of the sleeping bag once he'd absorbed the yolk. He's fluffing slowly, determined little bugger. If he's strong enough tonight he can go back to mom and brothers.
So the coming week will prove whether they can survive that AND actually hatch. There are seven apparent living eggs. So we'll see. I'm figuring more like the marans - appear to have survived but die before hatch.
The little Marans survivor - Faith, I managed to get stuffed under a broody who hatched one chick the same day. So he has a momma and a brother.
She crushed two eggs, one had died before I found it, the other was still alive. He wasn't damaged like Stomp had been but the shell was crushed and the outer membrane had collapsed onto the inner membrane, the air cell gone. So I spent a LOT of time trying to find his nose and get him some air while NOT tearing the obviously still veined membrane. Hence his name, Puzzle. He wasn't even near enough hatch to peep. But he did what I told him, keep breathing dude.
On the fourth or fifth try I found his nose. I pinched the inner membrane and held it. After a minute I tore a tiny, careful hole over his nose and quickly packaged him back in his little plastic sleeping bag and stuffed him back in the bator. Over the last 36 hours Puzzle has slowly come to life and is now peeping and waddling/tumbling around the bator. He never really had an egg to hatch but I made him work his way out of the sleeping bag once he'd absorbed the yolk. He's fluffing slowly, determined little bugger. If he's strong enough tonight he can go back to mom and brothers.
