April Hatch Along

[Kyanite]

Well, I began to notice a nasty smell coming from the incubator so that warranted a thorough check and candling of all remaining eggs and moving all chicks out. I have 8 chicks hatched including the little hip blister blue marans.

Back to checking the remaining eggs... I found a SFH egg that had pipped and been rolled over on the pip, which had then been resealed with goo. Candling and tapping showed no movement. I used a damp cloth to open the pip back up and no movement.

I finished opening it be sure, everything was absorbed as it should have been, but the chick suffocated when the pip got resealed. Two others I candled were the one that had pipped internally on day 18 but still not externally, and one that had pipped externally but made no progress for about 26 hrs, neither had any movement with tapping. Those chicks were also dead but had not absorbed their yolks. There are two eggs left in the incubator. I don't have a ton of hope for them, but neither had any big red flags, just neither had anything screaming "I'm a goner!" so I'm giving them a chance.

I've learned so much during this process. A huge thanks to everyone who has offered me help. I know there are several things I'll do differently the next time I incubate. I probably won't be adjusting my incuview down for the lower room temperature because I think it ran a bit too warm. I will keep humidity just a bit higher during incubation on account of my elevation and try to be more steady instead of the wild swings that I had a few times. I'll try to hatch just a bit drier, since I did have some sticky chicks. None of the dead ones were shrink wrapped. The only time chicks had issues with being too dry was when they zipped most of the way and then tried to rest too long. Am I on track here? Any suggestions.
Oh, and I'll buy a kitchen sink mat to put in the bator for hatch instead of the slippery plastic one. The chicks had trouble getting footing.

 

[Kyanite]

I may have discovered info on the blister like bubble on my little chick...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/470903/air-bubble-under-skin-of-hatchling#post_10688955
This post says it can be cause by trauma to the air sac. I'm not sure how that would have happened since the eggs were local and we were very careful with them, but I guess these things can just happen. I have that chick in a tall tupperware container with paper towels in the booder with it's hatch mates so that it can hear them and be warm but not get trampled and have the bubble rupture. I did give it a drop of nutri-drench before looking this up hoping that if it was a immune, or health thing that the nutri-drench might give it a kick in the pants. Hopefully the bubble will go down without me having aspirate and get antibiotics. If it comes to that, luckily my normal pet vet specializes in exotics and does a ton of wild animal rehab, specifically birds! So, I'm sure she'll hook me up with knowledge and some meds if needed. Little hip blister just has to wait until Monday.

 

[orrpeople]

So, not a hatch - exactly - but, there were a lot of hatch-related ingredients: tense moments, waiting and wondering, being upset with the Post Office, and finally, three beautiful chickens!!
It all started when Jessimom posted some pictures of her Splash Silverudd's Blues during the March HAL. My hatch of the breed had been pretty terrible, but, I did get two black and one blue. So, I asked whether Jessimom might be willing to part with any of her splashes. This began a long conversation about how to ship birds in the mail. We watched videos and shared ideas with others who had done this before.

Finally, the day came for Jessimom to load them in the box (with lots and lots of apples, strawberries, carrot shavings and bird food) and send them from LA to Redding CA. This is when the frustration began. The Post Office asked them to be brought in at 9AM, but (I hope Jessimom will chime in because some of my numbers might be off) they sat in LA for almost a complete 24 hours before they even began the trip that took them 13 more hours just to get to the Sacramento hub. You can well imagine that Jessimom and I were really starting to get worried by now, especially since this was supposed to be "1 Day Express."

After a lot of contact with anybody we could get a hold of at the PO, and watching the tracking like chicken-obsessed hawks, they finally arrived in Redding!! My DH picked them up (I was on another stressful adventure 3 hours north of us with Mom in hospital) and reported "alive and clucking!" He opened the box (they had eaten every last drop of their food!) and released them in their new coop/run.

Today, after returning home, I finally got to see and spend time with my new adopted sweethearts! A matching pair of beautiful SRBs and one of the most exotic looking roosters I have ever seen - an AC/EE cross!!

So, yeah, maybe they didn't hatch here, but they're now a great and beautiful part of our little farm. And, the process... well, I now think incubation is the "easy way" to get new chickens!

 

[hensareus]

#1 duckling is out!!

It's an active little thing. Bouncing all over the incubator.

 

[WVduckchick]

Well, I began to notice a nasty smell coming from the incubator so that warranted a thorough check and candling of all remaining eggs and moving all chicks out. I have 8 chicks hatched including the little hip blister blue marans. 

Back to checking the remaining eggs... I found a SFH egg that had pipped and been rolled over on the pip, which had then been resealed with goo. Candling and tapping showed no movement. I used a damp cloth to open the pip back up and no movement.  I finished opening it be sure, everything was absorbed as it should have been, but the chick suffocated when the pip got resealed. Two others I candled were the one that had pipped internally on day 18 but still not externally, and one that had pipped externally but made no progress for about 26 hrs, neither had any movement with tapping. Those chicks were also dead but had not absorbed their yolks. There are two eggs left in the incubator. I don't have a ton of hope for them, but neither had any big red flags, just neither had anything screaming "I'm a goner!" so I'm giving them a chance.

I've learned so much during this process. A huge thanks to everyone who has offered me help. I know there are several things I'll do differently the next time I incubate. I probably won't be adjusting my incuview down for the lower room temperature because I think it ran a bit too warm. I will keep humidity just a bit higher during incubation on account of my elevation and try to be more steady instead of the wild swings that I had a few times. I'll try to hatch just a bit drier, since I did have some sticky chicks. None of the dead ones were shrink wrapped. The only time chicks had issues with being too dry was when they zipped most of the way and then tried to rest too long. Am I on track here? Any suggestions.
Oh, and I'll buy a kitchen sink mat to put in the bator for hatch instead of the slippery plastic one. The chicks had trouble getting footing.

100% hatches are super rare. Even experienced hatchers still have losses, so I think you did fantastic! And seeing all the things you learned, I'd consider it a great success!

Only failure -- where's the pics??

So, not a hatch - exactly - but, there were a lot of hatch-related ingredients: tense moments, waiting and wondering, being upset with the Post Office, and finally, three beautiful chickens!!
It all started when Jessimom posted some pictures of her Splash Silverudd's Blues during the March HAL. My hatch of the breed had been pretty terrible, but, I did get two black and one blue. So, I asked whether Jessimom might be willing to part with any of her splashes. This began a long conversation about how to ship birds in the mail. We watched videos and shared ideas with others who had done this before.

Finally, the day came for Jessimom to load them in the box (with lots and lots of apples, strawberries, carrot shavings and bird food) and send them from LA to Redding CA. This is when the frustration began. The Post Office asked them to be brought in at 9AM, but (I hope Jessimom will chime in because some of my numbers might be off) they sat in LA for almost a complete 24 hours before they even began the trip that took them 13 more hours just to get to the Sacramento hub. You can well imagine that Jessimom and I were really starting to get worried by now, especially since this was supposed to be "1 Day Express."

After a lot of contact with anybody we could get a hold of at the PO, and watching the tracking like chicken-obsessed hawks, they finally arrived in Redding!! My DH picked them up (I was on another stressful adventure 3 hours north of us with Mom in hospital) and reported "alive and clucking!" He opened the box (they had eaten every last drop of their food!) and released them in their new coop/run.

Today, after returning home, I finally got to see and spend time with my new adopted sweethearts! A matching pair of beautiful SRBs and one of the most exotic looking roosters I have ever seen - an AC/EE cross!!

So, yeah, maybe they didn't hatch here, but they're now a great and beautiful part of our little farm. And, the process... well, I now think incubation is the "easy way" to get new chickens!

Super stressful! But glad for a happy ending and thanks for sharing. Great pic!

I mailed a couple of 8-month old cockerels from WV to Indiana and they made it in less than 24 hours from the time I dropped them off, and they spent 8 hours of that in my post office! Thank goodness sometimes things work out! Congrats to you and Jessimom. You are both awesome.

#1 duckling is out!!

It's an active little thing. Bouncing all over the incubator.

Woohoo!

 

[MontainBourbons]

Just a quick question. Do you need to turn eggs while you store them or should they be fine. I have never done it but I wonder if that can be the problem with my last few mediocre hatches.

 

[feedman77]

I think it helps to turn them at least a couple times a day.

 

[Jessimom]

So, not a hatch - exactly - but, there were a lot of hatch-related ingredients: tense moments, waiting and wondering, being upset with the Post Office, and finally, three beautiful chickens!!
It all started when Jessimom posted some pictures of her Splash Silverudd's Blues during the March HAL. My hatch of the breed had been pretty terrible, but, I did get two black and one blue. So, I asked whether Jessimom might be willing to part with any of her splashes. This began a long conversation about how to ship birds in the mail. We watched videos and shared ideas with others who had done this before.

Finally, the day came for Jessimom to load them in the box (with lots and lots of apples, strawberries, carrot shavings and bird food) and send them from LA to Redding CA. This is when the frustration began. The Post Office asked them to be brought in at 9AM, but (I hope Jessimom will chime in because some of my numbers might be off) they sat in LA for almost a complete 24 hours before they even began the trip that took them 13 more hours just to get to the Sacramento hub. You can well imagine that Jessimom and I were really starting to get worried by now, especially since this was supposed to be "1 Day Express."

After a lot of contact with anybody we could get a hold of at the PO, and watching the tracking like chicken-obsessed hawks, they finally arrived in Redding!! My DH picked them up (I was on another stressful adventure 3 hours north of us with Mom in hospital) and reported "alive and clucking!" He opened the box (they had eaten every last drop of their food!) and released them in their new coop/run.

Today, after returning home, I finally got to see and spend time with my new adopted sweethearts! A matching pair of beautiful SRBs and one of the most exotic looking roosters I have ever seen - an AC/EE cross!!

So, yeah, maybe they didn't hatch here, but they're now a great and beautiful part of our little farm. And, the process... well, I now think incubation is the "easy way" to get new chickens!

Great photo!!! I'm so glad they arrived safely. I got the rest of the birds from that pen integrated into my flock - at least for the hens. The roos got locked up with their daddy. I need to rehome all of them.

I power washed the coop, and I moved 15 of my bathroom babies in to it. I left all the bantam EE, Sebright and Seramas that hatched earlier this month inside. They are no longer being towered over by the older full size birds.

The silkies from the pen went in with the other silkies. I still can't figure out which ones are roos. And there is someone crowing. I'll just have to keep a close eye on them. They all have beautiful fluffy full heads, no streamers. So, unless I see them crow - they stay....

Again, thank you for taking the 2 roos!!!

 

[WVduckchick]

Just a quick question. Do you need to turn eggs while you store them or should they be fine. I have never done it but I wonder if that can be the problem with my last few mediocre hatches.

I've read that some people store in cartons and just prop up one end of the carton, then the other end, a few times a day.

I don't necessarily turn mine, but I do move eggs around fairly often. I have cartons on my spare bed, separated by breed. So when I add the days eggs, I probably adjust the cartons a little, enough to keep them from sticking, I suppose.

 

[orrpeople]

Great photo!!!    I'm so glad they arrived safely.  I got the rest of the birds from that pen integrated into my flock - at least for the hens.  The roos got locked up with their daddy. I need to rehome all of them.  

I power washed the coop, and I moved 15 of my bathroom babies in to it.  I left all the bantam EE, Sebright and Seramas that hatched  earlier this month inside.  They are no longer being  towered over by the older full size birds.

The silkies from the pen went in with the other silkies.  I still can't figure out which ones are roos.  And there is someone crowing.  I'll just have to keep a close eye on them.  They all have beautiful fluffy full heads, no streamers.  So, unless I see them crow - they stay....

Again, thank you for taking the 2 roos!!!  

Those two roos are great little boys!

I love days when I can get birds out of the house, or integrate groups of them in larger grow out coops or yards - makes me feel like I actually know how to manage the menagerie that is my flock!! I sold a Biele rooster today - a good feeling - since he was related to two of the hens I plan to keep. Chicken math does indeed include subtraction!

I have a small group of eggs: 55 flowerys, a couple Bieles and a couple Cls from Jeff at Papas that I picked up a few weeks ago. They are due to hatch Monday. So more transitions will be necessary!!