Bantam Assortment from TurtleFeathers-SAD NEWS

[GotChicken?]

Little Giant 9200 still air. The funny thing is since I put the eggs back into it to continue the hatch, the temps have been the most stable they've ever been since I bought the thing two months ago (not that I'm complaining, mind you

)

 

[Settler'sDreamFarm]

well good luck again..
sorry to hear about all the problems your having!

i am glad to hear that the one chick is doing alright

 

[GotChicken?]

The olive egg hatched last night, so I now have two little buggers to pester the Silkies!

The one on the right is the little one I had to rescue. The one on the left is my new arrival. Isn't she/he an adorably chubby itty-bitty!

I'm giving the rest of the eggs 'til the end of the 24th day (Tuesday night). I'll candle them, and if none of them appear to be viable, I'll end the hatch. Even if that's the case, I still have to new additions to the family.

 

[davony's chicks]

GotChicken? :

Had a big scare yesterday. My humidity was at 40%, but the day before, it got down to about 33%. Didn't worry much about it, because I read on posts here about people utilizing dry hatches at 35%. Boy was I wrong.

Candled one of the lighter shelled eggs, and the air cell took up half the egg! Went into emergency mode, and added extra sponges and water to the incubator. I also spritzed the eggs several times with water, paying special attention to the ones with thinner shells. Managed to get the humidity up to 60% for the overnight.

The incubator was at 50% this morning. I candled a couple of eggs, and apparently my efforts paid off. The air cells were back to the size they should be. I plan to diligently keep the humidity at 45% for the rest of the incubation.

Valuable lesson: you can listen to the advice other people give about where they keep their humidity, but the size of the air cell is the real determining factor of what your individual humidity should be. I had success at 44%; I should have stuck with it. As it is, I think I lost one egg (will determine tomorrow if I saw a vein or a blood ring). The other eggs I checked seemed to be returing to normal with their vein branching, but if I didn't kill them I know their hatching will be delayed by at least a day.

Boy, was I stupid. I just hope I caught the problem in time.

Wow. I have no clue how big the air sac should be.
This is my very first incubation and the other day my humidity was waaayyyy down to 36%... Then I realized the water ran dry so I filled it up and plugged all of the air holes up. It climbed to 66% over night so I opened two air holes and have been maintaining about 58% since.
I candled the eggs a few days ago and you can see a very small air sac on the big end.

How big should the air sac be??​

 

[GotChicken?]

If I remember correctly, the diameter of the air cell should be the size of a quarter on the 10th day, and the diameter of a 50 cent piece on the 17/18th day (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong). Some of my air cells took up 1/3 of the egg - way too big.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Awwwww.... GRANDCHICKS!!!! How CUTE!!! I know shipped eggs are a gamble, but I'm so glad you were able to get a couple to hatch!!!

Sorry to hear of all the problems you've been experiencing tho... How are the other eggs doing? Any more pipping going on?

 

[GotChicken?]

Nothing yet, Kathy. I'm trying to be patient, though.

 

[GotChicken?]

I went to check the water levels of the trays in the incubator, and noticed an off smell. Knew that wasn't good at all, so I decided to check the development of the eggs by breaking the shell and checking them throught the membrane. If one was still alive, I would cover the part I broke off with a damp towel and put it back in the 'bator. I didn't have to worry about that.

All four chicks were dead. The last EE egg had quit developing a while ago( couldn't candle it - olive egg), probably when I had my first humidity spike/temp drop during the second week of incubation. That was the one that was starting to stink. Two others, a Silkie and my Polish's chick were fully formed, but the yolk was not absorbed and the embryos were rock hard. They probably died during the second humidity spike/temp drop a couple days before lockdown. The last chick, also a Silkie, was fully formed, but the yolk was not absorbed and the body was soft to the touch. I had seen it moving when I candled during lockdown, so I believe the hatcher meltdown took that one. Very sad; it makes it more amazing to me that I got the two that I did.

I'll try hatching again, but since it's the time of year where people are starting to hatch out and sell chicks, I think I'll wait a while before trying again. At least I now know how to get the most stable temps out of my incubator; I never touched the thermostat dial the last three days and the temps barely budged. And I thank Kathy for the opportunity to add some interesting new babies to my flock.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

GotChicken? :

I went to check the water levels of the trays in the incubator, and noticed an off smell. Knew that wasn't good at all, so I decided to check the development of the eggs by breaking the shell and checking them throught the membrane. If one was still alive, I would cover the part I broke off with a damp towel and put it back in the 'bator. I didn't have to worry about that.

All four chicks were dead. The last EE egg had quit developing a while ago( couldn't candle it - olive egg), probably when I had my first humidity spike/temp drop during the second week of incubation. That was the one that was starting to stink. Two others, a Silkie and my Polish's chick were fully formed, but the yolk was not absorbed and the embryos were rock hard. They probably died during the second humidity spike/temp drop a couple days before lockdown. The last chick, also a Silkie, was fully formed, but the yolk was not absorbed and the body was soft to the touch. I had seen it moving when I candled during lockdown, so I believe the hatcher meltdown took that one. Very sad; it makes it more amazing to me that I got the two that I did.

I'll try hatching again, but since it's the time of year where people are starting to hatch out and sell chicks, I think I'll wait a while before trying again. At least I now know how to get the most stable temps out of my incubator; I never touched the thermostat dial the last three days and the temps barely budged. And I thank Kathy for the opportunity to add some interesting new babies to my flock.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I'm **SO** SORRY!!! You must be so frustrated right now...

Jeesh - I guess the two that DID make it were pretty lucky then. I'd love to see pics of them as they grow!!! And please let me know when you want to try again, would you? I'd be happy to send you some more eggs!​

 

[GotChicken?]

When I'm up for hatching again, I'd be more than happy to try some more eggs from you. However, I have 7 bantam Ameracaunas (not EEs) and 3 bantam Vorwerks coming from John Blehm in three weeks -can't believe they're almost here. I think I'll be busy for a while (in the good way!).