April 2023 Hatch-A-Long

[junior67]

So far I’ve never had to help, I try to be out of the house since it’s sooooo tempting lol

I have had to help a couple times. Not sure if I HAD to help but sure felt like I did and glad I did. but I just zip a bit for them and let them do the rest hopefully. if they don't then I do a bit more and give more time etc. I helped 2 my last hatch and they are doing great. Then 2 I got nervous with since it seemed a LONG time since internal pip so I just put a safety hole in the air cell for them, barely the size of a tip of a pencil and let them be. They hatched on their own after that, but think they would have been DIS if I didn't do the safety hole.

 

[ChickyMudder]

For those of you who incubate eggs collected from your own flock, what is your method to decide which eggs to incubate?

I choose clean eggs over 65 grams with a nice shape. I have three small coops and separate my favorites with traits I want to select for. I keep them in the breeder coop for a month before selecting the eggs.
I also
Make sure to give them electrolytes and work them the season before.

 

[Poodlemum]

poor baby! has she popped out now that you got the cap off?

Hoping to check soon! I hear lots of loud peeping… My four year old asked me to sit by her for “this many ” lol, but you know how that goes! I’ve raised a monster! She won’t stay in her bed now that the incubator in her room is off. Guess that means I need to set more eggs

 

[Poodlemum]

One teeny tiny little black puff is bopping about the incubator Thank you all for holding my hand during our first minor assist! She looks great

 

[Waterfaery]

I think I read before to give them an hour from when they start zipping before helping. Some of them don't start zipping until they're ready and they do it quickly but others zip a bit and take breaks to keep absorbing and then zip a bit again. Sometimes I've been nervous and peeped in and I could see half zipped chicks still chewing in there so I left them well alone and they hatched fine.

I helped one once because it had a leg sticking out and clearly wasn't able to turn properly to zip. It was probably malpositioned, as were so many in that hatch. (That was before I modified the base under the turning discs.) It was struggling and cheeping and going mad and even then I waited an hour before intervening. I just zipped almost all of it but left the top mostly on so it could push itself out. It also turned out fine. I've read horror stories about helping and then having to cull deformed or otherwise unwell chicks. It is such a hard call and so tempting to help!

I think it was earlier in this thread that one of you (sorry I don't remember who!) posted that you have a policy of only helping if you know the problem is probably your fault due to a mistake with some part of the incubation. I thought that sounded like a great idea to follow.

 

[Waterfaery]

One teeny tiny little black puff is bopping about the incubator Thank you all for holding my hand during our first minor assist! She looks great

That is so wonderful! Congratulations.

 

[Waterfaery]

I have given chicks to a hen but if she hasn’t been sitting very long she might not accept them. I would start collecting eggs to give her, then when you have enough, throw out the ones she is sitting on and give her the new ones. Mark the eggs you give her and remove any others that get laid in the coop.

Thank you! I've given her 7 eggs and marked them. I chose ones that I hope are hers from over the last week. I'm hoping she's still been laying fertile eggs because it's more than a couple of weeks since she mated with the cockerel when he was at a normal level of fitness.

There's always the chance one or two are Australorp eggs and now it will be a problem because my Light Sussex cockerel has been in there with them. I don't know how successful his awkward mating attempts have been since his lameness started but if there are some fertilised Australorp eggs in there, I'm not sure how I'll tell if they're pure breeds or crosses. I suppose we'll have to see what they look like if she hatches them successfully.

I might try to candle them in a week and if they're not developing I can replace them with some fertile Bresse eggs.

The nest box is a long, communal one and she's at one far end so I put in a sort of low divider to try to give her her own space. The others can still access it but hopefully it will help a bit.

I guess I'll be unexpectedly joining the May group now as well!

 

[lilwanderer]

All remaining babies are out! but one we had to help as we noticed a scissor beak, once we dug in further, chick has a deformed skull and one eye. I read that sometimes when this happens they either don't survive, their remaining eye is blind, or they can see in the one eye and make it. Yet to tell if this chick can see yet though.

Update:
It may be blind or partially blind but it can walk, and it can hear! I tapped my finger on the table while making a mother hens call and it came running. not to my finger but to where the sound came from, my mouth. So i dont know if that means it saw and heard my mouth moving and came to it instead of my finger or if it heard my voice an didnt see my finger. I did somewhat see it move its head like it was looking around. More updates later along with some chick photos.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Lockdown #2 has begun. I'm not keeping my hopes up, but...

I'd be happy with just a 50% hatch at this point.

 

[Honora]

Bad news here. My son accidentally unplugged the incubator last night. I only just realized and it’s probably been around 18 hours.

I am hoping a few manage to survive but my house is very cold so I am not getting my hopes up. (Incubator temp said 14 c when I plugged it back in).

Looks like I will have to start collecting eggs for the next hatch & hopefully next time things go better. And my kids are now banned from unplugging anything in my room.