Bad houseguest :( Lost an entire hatch.

[BeardedChick]

I expect silkie pictures, dagnamit!

 

[AilsVonHelson]

I would have been FUMING. Of course... A teenage boy losing some chooks wouldn't be a good thing. But i must admit, your patience is inspiring.

If it were me, that tre would have been firewood and she would be back home within 24 hours. Hopefully your babies will survive, i
ve heard of miracles happening. If the make it, you need to name them special. And goodluck finding snoogly silkies. Get one extra for meeeee.

P.S: Thank you for posting tidbits of quail advice here and there, it really works. Hopefuly i'll have some baby cortunix within a year.

 

[KellyHM]

I think you still have a shot. My power (in the whole house) went off one night when it was below freezing and the hatcher and bator both got down to 68 for about 5 or 6 hours. The babies in the hatcher were BC Marans so you can imagine how upset I way....they were due 2 days later and hatched the day after that...just a little delayed. All the ones in the bator did ok too. I also had some newborn Buttons that almost died since they didn't have a light...I had to "sandwich" them between some hot hands and start a fire to put them in front of. Everyone came out of it ok though, so don't lose hope!

 

[Frosty]

I am holding out hope for your hatch... I had a duck abandon a nest when it was 48F out. I noticed it when I was cleaning out pens, and just left the eggs there. About 6 hours later, I picked up the eggs (which felt stone cold, temp was down to 40F outside) and decided to candle to see if any even tried to develop. 3 of the eggs candled clear, but the other 6 actually had movement. I rushed them to the bator, lost 2 but the other 4 hatched. Sometimes they can be tougher than you expect! Feathers crossed...

 

[Chickndaddy]

Don't completely give up on the eggs yet. Here is an inspirational story.

Now, the Ancona broody hen story! This may sound like the biggest fabrication you ever heard, but I swear it is true. As I live and breathe this happened just this way, and is another testament to the viability of the Java. On April 12, 2001, I set 16 Java eggs under an Ancona hen that had been broody for several days and resisted all attempts to break her up. (The Ancona is a breed that is supposed to be a non-sitter, but I have had two of twelve Ancona hens become broody this spring). This particular Ancona hen was meaner than 7 yards of Hell and wouldn't let me near the coop to feed and water without taking her pound of flesh from my hand and arm. She sat solid for three weeks on the 16 Java eggs. Never once did I observe her leave her nest. The morning she was to hatch I found the hen sitting in the middle of the coop, still mean when I reached in, but just lounging with not one chick beneath her. I looked in the nest box and discovered one fully hatched chick, dead no doubt from the cold night, and a partially hatched chick, also dead. Fourteen eggs remained, none pipped. I figured that the eggs started hatching during the night, the hen felt movement, became frightened and abandoned the nest. Between cussing that hen and feeling deprived of 16 Java chicks, I removed the nest box from the coop and placed it outdoors, figuring to bury the entire mess when it quit raining. Four hours later (still raining) I went out, got a shovel, dug a hole, picked up the nest box, looked over the eggs one last time, and to my amazement, saw an egg had pipped! I anxiously listened to the other eggs and heard two faint, sorrowful peeps. I rushed the three eggs into the house and put them in an incubator (seems like there's always one going around here). I buried the remaining eggs and dead chicks. I returned to the house, made a cup of tea, sat down and pondered that miserable hen and those unfortunate eggs. As I drank I reasoned that if three of those eggs were still alive, maybe others were, too. So I raced out (still in the rain) and disinterred those eggs. In the house again, I wiped off the worst of the mud and slipped the eggs into the incubator. After burying, un-burying, cleaning up, and cussing the hen, I hatched six of those eggs! Of the six, two had crooked legs that never straightened and were disposed, but I still had four lively, healthy chicks in a brooder from the "Ancona Escapade" that seemed doomed from the start. Six hatchlings from fourteen buried eggs, a 42% hatch rate. All this proves that YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD JAVA DOWN! Not even with a foot of dirt! One sure thing, I will never set another Ancona hen. The one in the hen house gets tossed off her nest every time I see her. She can just get over herself and go back to laying eggs.

This is the link to the whole article:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGD/Java/JavaExp2.html

 

[spookyevilone]

Thanks, guys. They're still in the hatcher in a little area segregated off with cardboard. I put 25 more eggs in there last night and wanted to be able to tell which were which. I just don't have the heart to give up on them completely yet. Even with the one dead in the shell, I'm still kind of hoping that maybe, somehow, now that they're warm again, they just went into some sort of torpor and will hatch late. I don't have the heart to open them up, just in case. Opening them would remove any hope, if they weren't alive, and right now I'd rather have the tiny bit of hope than none.

It snowed last night, so no silkie yet. Probably not til Friday. And yes, I will post pictures

My camera's working now, so I'll get pictures of my other two Button babies that hatched last week. They're already starting to get feathers!

-Spooky

 

[spookyevilone]

Quote:
The one I opened was fully formed, yolk mostly absorbed, and she saw that. I think part of the problem is that chicks don't look fluffy and cute until they're about a day old. They're small, slimy, almost reptilian looking balls of awkwardness until they fluff up.

What gets me is that if this was a $7500 Hyacinth Macaw, it wouldn't be "just eggs", whether my birds laid them or not, but because they're quail, somehow they're less pets. And maybe, if they were in a battery cage and used just for egg production and I was hatching for that reason - maybe, MAYBE I could understand. But mine aren't. They live in very large parrot and finch cages, with toys for enrichment and nice boxes to dust in, they're all played with every day, they know who I am and come running to the door to be scritched or given treats when they see me. (Well, the Coturnix do. The Buttons run around like crazed apes until I catch them, and then they chill out in my hands.)

It can't even be the "can't pick it up and cuddle it" factor some people have with most birds, because I pick up and cuddle all of mine, even the skittish ones. I go over my birds every day to check for health issues, check their nails and beaks, feathers, check crop and keel to make sure they're eating right, etc. I handle my birds more than I handle my cats, but like I said, if it had been a litter of kittens, the guest would have been wailing to beat the band.

I'm trying not to be bitter. It wasn't deliberate, it was an honest mistake and there's not much to do now but wait and see. Om mani padme hum. I have more eggs in the hatcher.

Quote:
Ugh. I have a doormat that says, "Pets are welcome in my home. Children must be leashed." I like children, but I find that generally I don't like the way their parents behave. When my friends started having babies, it really annoyed me that it was just kind of taken for granted that if the friend was coming over, the baby would be too and the house would be turned into a magical child-proof bubble.. and no.

-Spooky

 

[monarc23]

Awh you need to get those silkies soon!!!


I too am hoping that some still hatch for ya, i've heard it happen before

!

I'm getting atleast a trio of cochins, and a pair of blue silkies (and a dozen white silkie hatching eggs) after Jan 5th and I am estatic! I can't wait to see your newbie silkie(s) you're darned right you better post pics!!!!

 

[mr.majestik]

Give the lady a break it's dangerous to leave the tree plugged in all the time. You should have had your bator on a differnet power strip anyway. She thought turing it off was in your best interest. Blame yourself.

 

[spookyevilone]

mr.majestik :

Give the lady a break it's dangerous to leave the tree plugged in all the time. You should have had your bator on a differnet power strip anyway. She thought turing it off was in your best interest. Blame yourself.

Actually, as they're LED lights, there is no danger. Since the lady in question turned out to be a thief as well, I think I'll go right ahead and blame her. Though I'm blaming myself for allowing her into my house.

Thanks for your opinion. Have a nice day.
-Spooky​