August Hatch-A-Long

[CluckNDoodle]

So to finish off the month I hatched my very first shipped eggs and other than rough handling and most of the air cells being saddled and detached I'm pleasantly surprised with my hatch! 7 of the 8 fertilized eggs hatched successfully! I did have a malpositioned chick that was completely upsidedown in the egg but it managed to pip without hitting any blood vessels thank goodness! I included an image of that chick as well in case anyone is curious. I opened the air cell so I was able to monitor progress in case I needed to step in but all went well! The hole on the pointy end is where the chick pipped.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

So that makes for an 88% hatch rate for SHIPPED EGGS! (started with 15, 7 infertile, 1 quitter, 7 live chicks) Version 3 Nurture Right Incubator used.
My experiment was to incubate shipped eggs horizontally and with a slightly elevated humidity from what I typically do 50-55% instead of 45-50% for the first 18 days and then my usual 65% for the hatch. I didn't have have any shrink-wrapped or sticky chicks, all went well other than the one malposition and obviously a low fertility/low development rate that I believe was from rough shipment.

 

[jolenesdad]

So that makes for an 88% hatch rate for SHIPPED EGGS! (started with 15, 7 infertile, 1 quitter, 7 live chicks) Version 3 Nurture Right Incubator used.
My experiment was to incubate shipped eggs horizontally and with a slightly elevated humidity from what I typically do 50-55% instead of 45-50% for the first 18 days and then my usual 65% for the hatch. I didn't have have any shrink-wrapped or sticky chicks, all went well other than the one malposition and obviously a low fertility/low development rate that I believe was from rough shipment.

Wooooohoooooo!!!!!!!

Omgosh they are so adorable congratulations!!!!!! I’m sure your friend is going to be SO happy with them.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Wooooohoooooo!!!!!!!

Omgosh they are so adorable congratulations!!!!!! I’m sure your friend is going to be SO happy with them.

Yep! I'm already meeting her with the driest chicks and I'll be putting the others under my broody tonight! Super fast turn around with these babies, lol.

 

[Noellereagan]

Hi. I had in August, 15 out of 22, on aug 4-6. 4 of which were clears. Of those, 5 serama and the rest Cemani. And the second aug hatch, was 18 out of 22!! Actually, it was 20 but I lost two chicks for the first time ever post hatch. That was a drag. Of those surviving, 6 are from my best show quality serama and the rest Cemani.
Good job everyone!
Let’s kick butt in September! Best wishes, Noelle Reagan and the crew at Native Colors Exotics!

 

[jolenesdad]

Yep! I'm already meeting her with the driest chicks and I'll be putting the others under my broody tonight! Super fast turn around with these babies, lol.

Hope the broody drop went smoothly!!!

 

[john_wrightson2003]

Welp, My leghorn, Maran, and Black Australorp hatch was supposed to start on Friday, but it started yesterday and is still going, we had 20 eggs make it to lockdown, 8 have hatched, 5 leghorns and 3 Black Chicks, cant tell em apart lol. And we have 5 more currently unzipping, 2 wl, and 3 black chicks.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hope the broody drop went smoothly!!!

It was bad, so bad. This was a proven broody but she's only hatched her own and I never tried sneaking babies to her. She seemed fine when I went to bed, she was pushing the chicks under her, but when I got up this morning she was in another box and the chicks were all very cold. Remarkably all 3 are still alive but it's really not looking good right now....I still had my incubator running to dry it out after sterilizing so it was already warm for them at least. They all have some blood on them and they're all laying still but breathing and occasionally peeping. I'm going to give them some time to warm up before trying to clean them and decide what to do. Worst experience yet.
I'm not even sure I can keep that hen anymore, I'm so heartbroken that this happened. I can't imagine what went wrong after I went to bed.

 

[john_wrightson2003]

It was bad, so bad. This was a proven broody but she's only hatched her own and I never tried sneaking babies to her. She seemed fine when I went to bed, she was pushing the chicks under her, but when I got up this morning she was in another box and the chicks were all very cold. Remarkably all 3 are still alive but it's really not looking good right now....I still had my incubator running to dry it out after sterilizing so it was already warm for them at least. They all have some blood on them and they're all laying still but breathing and occasionally peeping. I'm going to give them some time to warm up before trying to clean them and decide what to do. Worst experience yet.
I'm not even sure I can keep that hen anymore, I'm so heartbroken that this happened. I can't imagine what went wrong after I went to bed.

Agh, I hate hearing about when idiot hens do that, I would take that hen, and shoot the darn thing

 

[jolenesdad]

It was bad, so bad. This was a proven broody but she's only hatched her own and I never tried sneaking babies to her. She seemed fine when I went to bed, she was pushing the chicks under her, but when I got up this morning she was in another box and the chicks were all very cold. Remarkably all 3 are still alive but it's really not looking good right now....I still had my incubator running to dry it out after sterilizing so it was already warm for them at least. They all have some blood on them and they're all laying still but breathing and occasionally peeping. I'm going to give them some time to warm up before trying to clean them and decide what to do. Worst experience yet.
I'm not even sure I can keep that hen anymore, I'm so heartbroken that this happened. I can't imagine what went wrong after I went to bed.

Oh no!!!!! Hopefully with them being together they were more traumatized then chilled. I’m so sorry what an awful morning.

How long had she been sitting and did you leave any eggs under her?

Poor mama, poor babies and poor @CluckNDoodle.

I’m a pretty ruthless culler to my personal flock, but as long as she was docile off the nesting situation and hatches babies from eggs she sits on, I’d probably want to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she is smarter than we expect. “Lady, these aren’t my babies...”

I’m super sorry you’ll be left with brooding babies you weren’t planning on, because I’m putting it out there that they’ll be okay.