April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[BluebirdHomestead]

Your second pic looks exactly how Uno's underside looked. Hopefully someone will have helpful advice on what to do.

Poor baby. Thanks.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Update on my 3 assists. The one I got out yesterday is in the brooder with the others. He is more wobbly than a normal chick and I can hear/feel a little click when he breaths. He is happily drinking nutri-drench and the others aren’t bothering him, so we will see.
I got the other 2 out of their eggs late last night because the veining was gone. One still has a bulge of yolk coming out of him so he slept in a cup in the bottom half of his shell but it’s still there this morning. He’s not attached to the egg. I have him in a cup still so he doesn’t pop the yolk. What do you think will happen? It doesn’t seem like he’s absorbing this anymore. He’s so perky otherwise.
And then the last baby had fully absorbed the yolk but the area doesn’t look normal and one of his legs is sticking out straight in front of him. Maybe it’s a slipped tendon but his hock isn’t swollen and he doesn’t chirp in pain when I bend the leg. He was in a very weird position in the egg. I have him in a bowl so he can rest and try to keep his legs under him. Pic attached of his umbilical site too. What do you think?View attachment 2077583
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Question, have your temps been reading high? The navel in the first chick looks like it started to seal before the chick finished absorbing the yolk sac but it has a fluffy butt so it's difficult to see the actual navel. I don't anticipate it absorbing further but it might a little bit more... It's a large amount still sticking out so it's chances are slim unfortunately but sometimes they surprise you! If it does make it, it will dry up and fall off but like any exposed navel area it opens up the possibility to infection.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Not sure I’ll be assisting again for a while after this unless they’ve pipped on their own. On a happy note, one of my 3 Sky Girl Farms Black Ameraucana eggs has pipped.

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be assisting again the moment I see a chick struggling but this last hatch I had was the first time I left a malposition to just let nature take it's course, without touching anything, so I definitely understand. It's motivating to keep helping when you have so many successes but when it doesn't work out it's quite clear to me why so many people just choose to allow whatever is going to happen, just happen. Anyone new to hatching I always try to be very clear that there is nothing wrong with either choice. If you decide to let things be what they will be, then no harm done. If you decide to step in and only 1 out of 3 assists grows to be a healthy happy chicken, well then you saved a life but it doesn't mean you're responsible for the ones that don't make it either. You're literally giving them a chance that they wouldn't have had otherwise. If we didn't have surgeons when a pregnant woman has complications we would lose a lot of people babies that grow up to be perfectly fine too.

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be assisting again the moment I see a chick struggling but this last hatch I had was the first time I left a malposition to just let nature take it's course, without touching anything, so I definitely understand. It's motivating to keep helping when you have so many successes but when it doesn't work out it's quite clear to me why so many people just choose to allow whatever is going to happen, just happen. Anyone new to hatching I always try to be very clear that there is nothing wrong with either choice. If you decide to let things be what they will be, then no harm done. If you decide to step in and only 1 out of 3 assists grows to be a healthy happy chicken, well then you saved a life but it doesn't mean you're responsible for the ones that don't make it either. You're literally giving them a chance that they wouldn't have had otherwise. If we didn't have surgeons when a pregnant woman has complications we would lose a lot of people babies that grow up to be perfectly fine too.

Yes so true. I like the way you think about it. I probably won’t be able to help myself helping in the future either. Lol. It’s just hard when I feel like I’ll probably have to cull these 2. I hate doing that.
And yes I’ve been having a hard time regulating the temp in my incuviews. They swing from 98 to 101 sometimes. I’ve moved them into my kitchen now and plan on doing my next hatch there to see if it helps.

 

[HeaterCW42]

Can you share your bandage suspenders?

I dont know if I'm doing it correctly, but I'll try to share Margaretyakoda's photo. I didn't take one of mine.https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6350320/

 

[CindyinSD]

Yes so true. I like the way you think about it. I probably won’t be able to help myself helping in the future either. Lol. It’s just hard when I feel like I’ll probably have to cull these 2. I hate doing that.
And yes I’ve been having a hard time regulating the temp in my incuviews. They swing from 98 to 101 sometimes. I’ve moved them into my kitchen now and plan on doing my next hatch there to see if it helps.

I've put mine in my mom's room (since she is no longer with us ), closed the door and set the thermostat on 65°. Seventy would be better, but the electric bill is already unmanageable. They are keeping much more stable now. Unless you're able to fuss with them constantly, a stable, little-used room (or even better, closet) is best if you can manage it.

 

[Allie Grace Sanders]

I just candled my 9 shipped eggs from meyer hatchery and 1 of my own eggs (they are on d3) and EVERY ONE of my eggs are developing!!! Little spidery veins and a tiny embryo in every egg! Is this normal for shipped eggs?

 

[CindyinSD]

I just candled my 9 shipped eggs from meyer hatchery and 1 of my own eggs (they are on d3) and EVERY ONE of my eggs are developing!!! Little spidery veins and a tiny embryo in every egg! Is this normal for shipped eggs?

Not generally... be very happy!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Yes so true. I like the way you think about it. I probably won’t be able to help myself helping in the future either. Lol. It’s just hard when I feel like I’ll probably have to cull these 2. I hate doing that.
And yes I’ve been having a hard time regulating the temp in my incuviews. They swing from 98 to 101 sometimes. I’ve moved them into my kitchen now and plan on doing my next hatch there to see if it helps.

I think the 1st and 3rd chicks have a good chance and just need to keep the navel area clean and antibiotic ointment on them. I've never tried it but it might be worth using a q-tip to spread antibiotic ointment on the one with the exposed yolk sac as well. If you plan on continuing to hatch as often as you do I would grab a bottle of chlorhexidine. It really is my favorite product for this use and on some of my worrisome or expensive hatches I dab it on each chicks navel as I take them out of the incubator and put them into the brooder. Just as an extra precaution. One bottle will last an eternity. I'm still on my first bottle and I've used maybe 1/8 of it since last year, lol.

The higher temps are more likely to cause the unabsorbed yolk sac and premature sealing of the navel, that's why I asked and I know the IncuView can be finicky with temps. I keep 4 thermometers in mine to adjust for every hatch. The size and number of eggs are what seems to change the temperature so any time you add or remove eggs it's good to double check it after a few hours because this is usually when I see the changes in mine. I had to adjust it 2.5 degrees with the goose eggs.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I've put mine in my mom's room (since she is no longer with us ), closed the door and set the thermostat on 65°. Seventy would be better, but the electric bill is already unmanageable. They are keeping much more stable now. Unless you're able to fuss with them constantly, a stable, little-used room (or even better, closet) is best if you can manage it.

I keep mine in a stable room but what I find frustrating is that the incubators thermostat doesn't adjust when all 4 of the other thermometers show that the temps have indeed changed. It's confusing to me because I felt like if I calibrated it once it should be the same all the time but it differs in almost every hatch. I still love my IncuView, don't get me wrong. It's better than a lot of the other incubators I've used as far as inconsistency goes. But it was pricey to be such a finicky incubator.