APRIL Hatch a long ......Anyone?

[Sterl18]

It's the morning of Day 21 and I hear a peep now and then!

I did take the quitter egg out and opened it in a ziplock. The chick was about 3/4" long and stuck on the shell just like it looked in candling. I still have 9 in there that at last look are still hanging in there. Temps in my homemade cooler bator have been up, down and sideways, just hoping for the best!

As I type this I see an ad on the sidebar for that little 7 egg Brinsea...hmmm...someone trying to tell me something? lol

 

[Drache]

It just sounds cold I guess. Broke my heart my first year hatching that's for sure. But everything from ostrich to button quail applies. If it doesn't happen in nature, we don't let it happen in our environment. There are exceptions to every rule of course. Ostrich chicks can sometimes bust out just enough egg to get their head, neck, and "shoulders" through and then it looks like they are wearing an egg dress or something. But they can't get the leverage to break out the rest of the shell. Their legs are basically kicking air. We candled one last week that was in this state. When they have gotten themselves into that position, we will wait until they have been out for a total of 2.5 days. And then and only then will we assist them. They get banded immediately. We record what we did, when we did it, and we observe that bird all the way to juvi age. Those are the ONLY cases in which we have a survive rate of over 90%. Everything else? 10% if you are lucky.

For my part I feel similarly. Unless I feel that something I did directly contributed to the chick struggling to hatch, I just let nature do it's work. But sometimes it's tough to use the "if it doesn't happen in nature, we don't let it happen in our environment" argument. This is an attitude I had to deal with a lot during my decade as a wildlife rehabilitator. The question of when to let go and when to keep trying is always on a knife-edge. But when it comes to incubating eggs in a machine, I can't think of anything more "unnatural". We're taking eggs from the nest and expecting everything to work out. I'm not the one who is going to break every chick out of the shell if it doesn't hatch, but if it appears to me that a tiny bit of assistance will mean life or death for an apparently healthy chick, I don't find doing so to be any more unnatural than what I've been doing with that egg for the last 21 days. And so far, my success rate of assisting chicks is 100%. I must be very very lucky indeed.

 

[FarmerJayne]

Day 20 and I came into my classroom this morning to find a couple eggs have pips!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

I have helped w/ shrink wrapped chicks many, many times over 80 and all but just a couple lived and made it to adult chickens, healthy and energetic. I know my incubator or my process (I've tried adjusting the process several time w/ the same outcome) tends to shrink wrap chicks and they will 100% die in that state unassisted, but w/ assistance can have a near 100% success rate.

 

[Sterl18]

Day 15 action shot:




No, there's nothing to see...but you wouldn't believe how many times I looked just the same!!

On the other hand, this is the place where I'll find people that would believe AND understand! LOL

 

[Kassaundra]

Day 15 action shot:




No, there's nothing to see...but you wouldn't believe how many times I looked just the same!!

On the other hand, this is the place where I'll find people that would believe AND understand! LOL

so true!

 

[Sterl18]

OMGosh! External pip! I just went to pick up my son and when we came back there it was!!



Still not counting! Not hearing any other peeps yet. I have the lid taped to keep in humidity, still it was down to 51% when I got back. I added water to the sponge via a dropper and a hole in the styrofoam. 71% last I checked.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I agree with the thought that artificial incubation, turning, and hatching has already interfered with nature so much that assistance is only one very small step further. I might feel differently if I were incubating eggs from my backyard, but I'm usually incubating shipped eggs which have gone through an extra level of stress and "interference" because of me, the human. If I think a shipped egg is developing malpositioned I'll mark it and keep an eye on it during hatch. intervening too early can be disastrous if you are inexperienced. the amount of waiting in between assisting is usually 12+hrs, help, wait 12hrs, etc -- and the chicks live. its people who get chicks out of the shell in 5-6hrs that have really bad results.. there is no harm in waiting longer as long as they can breathe, and the membrane is kept moist. waiting longer is always better, and I never take the chick out of the shell I make them fight out of the membrane (after removing shell) on their own.

it is a very personal decision.. it is not for everyone.. and for those who want to take a hands off approach I completely understand and respect that. I have also lost chicks and seriously doubted myself and reconsidered what I was doing. I really get it, I understand the fundamental question you ask yourself in that moment

especially if they are backyard/local eggs recently laid, healthy, never shaken.....
I am more likely to intervene if they are rare/expensive eggs too...

 

[FarmerJayne]

The humidity was fine when I left yesterday afternoon, holding steady around 70%. Then it was under 50% when I got here this morning. I added water and now it is high. It seems hard to regulate it exactly. I don't hear many peeps either, but have the 2 with external pips.

 

[Sterl18]

The humidity was fine when I left yesterday afternoon, holding steady around 70%. Then it was under 50% when I got here this morning. I added water and now it is high. It seems hard to regulate it exactly. I don't hear many peeps either, but have the 2 with external pips.

Yep, now mine is 81%. Other than that one egg, everyone else looks like my day 15 "action shot".