California - Northern

[ronott1]

This is a long hatch drama post so feel free to skip it!

Okay, this was a frustrating hatch and I do not want a repeat. I was determined to keep my hands off and not intervene in hatching but I broke my rule last night. I set 8 Pita Pinta eggs, 7 Pita Pinta/Cream Legbar mix eggs, and 10 black Langshan eggs from my new trio. 6 of the PP mix eggs and 6 of the PP eggs hatched on days 20 and 21. Finally, a few of the Langshan eggs had pips on day 22. I quickly took out the hatched chicks that had been in there for around 24 hours climbing all over all the other eggs. I added warm, wet paper towels when I took them out in order to keep the humidity up. By yesterday morning, some of the Langshan eggs had started zipping. I was gone all day so that kept me from intervening. When I came home 8 hours later, they had not made any progress and the membranes around the pips/zips was turning brown. Two of them happened to be under the vent hole on the top of my Genesis. I was able to use a skewer with a Q-tip taped to the end to put some moisture on the membranes and also to break the shell a little around the opening. Five hours later, there was still no progress. I made the opening a little bigger and made sure that they were still breathing and went to bed. This morning, a different chick had zipped and hatched. Also, one more mix chick pipped last night and hatched this morning. One at a time, I took the ones out who were shrink wrapped, broke the shell a little more, wrapped them in warm, wet paper towels and laid them back in the incubator on their sides. 6 Langshan chicks have now hatched and are running around the incubator but I don't know if they will end up having problems because I assisted them. How stressful! I still have one that pipped yesterday but has made no progress (still breathing) and 3 that have not pipped at all.

I have two more sets of eggs incubating that are a mix of chicks including more Langshans. Ron, would you hatch the Langshan eggs in a separate incubator or just leave all the chicks in there for 48 hours while the Langshans are hopefully hatching? I'm also wondering if I need to supplement my Langshans diet at the farm. They are in a breeding pen and are eating King Freedom feed with access to oyster shell. Their egg shells are nice and hard and the membranes seem very strong. My birds here in town free range my backyard, are fed sprouted grain daily, and I supplement their morning Freedom mash with cayenne pepper, kelp powder, alfalfa powder, and milk thistle powder.

One more question. I am getting 3 doz eggs for the Easter Hatch Along. 1 doz each BBS Langshan, FBCM, and Cream Legbars. I'm starting to worry about hatching those 3 breeds together. What happened to my stress free hatching?!!!

Hatches like that are very stressful! This was my third UofA blue hatch and it started late and they hatched over a two day period. I did get the last one pipped out because it was well into day 24! The little guy must have been from a very old egg. @juststruttin posted that each day of collection can add an hour to hatch time for the egg. I had 8 eggs hatch more than 36 hours after the first egg hatched.

Marans and Cream Legbars have not been the easiest to hatch for me. If the Langshans are the same you will need a lot of support for the Easter Hatch!

Luckily there are hundreds of participants to help you!

 

[casportpony]

Question... Have any of you ever had an egg develop that didn't have an air cell? I ask because I just candled some Muscovy eggs and one of them does not seem to have one, yet it has and embryo.

-Kathy

ETA:
Also have a dud that has the air cell in the middle of the egg.

 

[PetRock]

Hatches like that are very stressful! This was my third UofA blue hatch and it started late and they hatched over a two day period. I did get the last one pipped out because it was well into day 24! The little guy must have been from a very old egg. @juststruttin posted that each day of collection can add an hour to hatch time for the egg. I had 8 eggs hatch more than 36 hours after the first egg hatched.

Marans and Cream Legbars have not been the easiest to hatch for me. If the Langshans are the same you will need a lot of support for the Easter Hatch!

Luckily there are hundreds of participants to help you!

Oh, good! I thought that I had my hatching all worked out and then this happened. Sigh... I'm loving my Pita Pintas even more after this!

 

[PetRock]

I know NOTHING! So keep that in mind but it seems to me that if the Langshans are appearing to hatch later and you have the ability to do so you may want to hatch them separately just so you can eliminate the variables of rowdy early hatching chicks and their removal from the bator. I am sorry you were frustrated this go around but kudos to you for getting the results you are getting.

Thank you for reading my long rambling post! I have two more hatches going in my cabinet. I think that I will try it both ways and see which one works the best.

 

[tommysgirl]

@chiqita ...yes that is her. I laughed. Instead of saying "Oh...she must be Ellie, the basketball player's, mom." we say "Oh yes I think I know her. She has a silkie named Asparagus."

She wants 40.00 for the pair and I would have to drive 6 hours round trip. I think it's steep. She thinks they are hatchery and they are close to 3 years old. I think I will wait. I have a Houdan contact in AZ and I can get eggs from her for about the same...probably less if you count drive time.

I need to quell my instant gratification instincts and develop my "good things come to those who wait." ones.

 

[ronott1]

Oh, good! I thought that I had my hatching all worked out and then this happened. Sigh... I'm loving my Pita Pintas even more after this!

So far, the New Heritage Dels have bee very Textbook. They hatched on time and all of them were out in 24 hours.

Healthy little buggers too!

We need a report from @capayvalleychick

 

[casportpony]

Answered my question, lol. It does have an air cell, but it's in the wrong place!



-Kathy

 

[EZFarms]

Its cold in the winter fpr seramas up here but thats where heat lights come in

 

[ronott1]

Answered my question, lol. It does have an air cell, but it's in the wrong place!



-Kathy

That is the number 1 reason to candle before setting eggs. The end with the air sell is not always obvious depending on the shape of the egg.

Air cell needs to be up!

 

[casportpony]

That is the number 1 reason to candle before setting eggs. The end with the air sell is not always obvious depending on the shape of the egg.

Air cell needs to be up!

Normally I would, but these egg are under a duck. What causes this to happen and what are the chances that this will hatch?

-Kathy