California - Northern

[BCollie]

You can see the back and head aren't fluffed out, they've dried but feel hard

 

[TheKeeper]

It is still with us and so is it's sibling... went out the next morning and found another one inbetween two ducks that are nesting. Both are now in my incubator, lol.

And you can you neosporin on the beak or any other part of the body.

-Kathy

Yay - glad you were there for them.

 

[TheKeeper]

You can see the back and head aren't fluffed out, they've dried but feel hard

I think that's in the normal range. I would guess it has something to do with humidity in the incubator.
If they were rubbing up against mama, it would wick more of the stuff off while it's drying.
If you take something like a clean mascara brush, you can help them work the dried stuff off the down & they fluff out great. It come off like dandruff.
Even a dry corner of a washcloth had worked for me.
The down needs to be fluffed to keep them properly warm.

 

[EZFarms]

So no one ever answered my question, what could cause fertile eggs to go bad? they grew then died and turned a yelowy brown color

 

[rambob59]

Bacteria could cause it. If the eggs or incubator aren't clean it can cause them to go bad. I've had some eggs develops then go bad and begin to leak brown liquid for no apparent reason. Smells terrible.

 

[EZFarms]

They were unxer my broody phoenix

 

[mozartofsilence]

Hello everyone!, I am so excited to see so many chicken people in my neck of the woods and I can't wait to become part of the community! I've been living in Davis for 4 years and just decided to go native: learning to ride a bike, joined the co-op and added some beautiful orpington ladies to the family. How did everyone hold up in this heat? We sweated it out but the hot wind was pretty brutal

 

[debs_flock]

So my dog is a working line Border Collie...and she herds EVERYTHING, one of her favorite things to herd is baby chicks. For 3 weeks she ignored the incubator, but now that it's chirping it has suddenly become a magical white box worthy of the extremely rare head tilt, and a now undying obsession. She and I are probably thinking the same thing, "Where's the babies? I know they're in there...I can hear them...but I don't see them..."

I can relate. The last batch of chicks is currently brooding in a bin in the den. When I go in there for anything, I have three Border Collies with their heads hanging into the bin and staring down the chicks. So far no one has tried grabbing anyone, but I don't leave them unattended either.

The Great Dane only joins in if she can manage to eat some of the chick food.

Hello everyone!, I am so excited to see so many chicken people in my neck of the woods and I can't wait to become part of the community! I've been living in Davis for 4 years and just decided to go native: learning to ride a bike, joined the co-op and added some beautiful orpington ladies to the family. How did everyone hold up in this heat? We sweated it out but the hot wind was pretty brutal

Welcome to the group. Are they buffs? I love Orps too and have several varieties.

 

[BCollie]

Well good morning! Woke up at 4:45 and of course I could not resist looking in the bator. The BCM that had pipped is out, and another is zipping. I read that once one chick hatches it encourages the others to start hatching because they can hear/feel the other chick out there, is that true? Or is my early hatching more likely due to high heat? So far both chicks look great, look healthy and are very lively. However the BCM that just hatched had a couple pieces of shell stuck on it's butt, along with some dried clear stuff. It looks like it's covering the vent, but the chick was protesting being held so I put it back. I'm not positive that it's covering the vent but I think it is. Should I run it under lukewarm water to get the shell/gooey stuff off?

Here's the chick and the egg that is zipping!

 

[ronott1]

Thanks Ron. The temp may have been a bit high, I kept it at 99.9 like I was told to but maybe I should try putting it at 99.5 next hatch. We'll see how this one goes, maybe this one is just an early bird!

So, question...the chick that hatched this morning is dry but it's not totally fluffy. The feathers on the head and back aren't fluffy, they're hard and dried to the chick. What causes this?

Use a thermometer to check the temperature. The one on the incubator top is likely reading the wrong temperature if the are a day or two early. The temp is likely getting close to 101 at egg level. Setting to 99.5 would be a good idea.

It can take hours for a chick to fluff up and dry depending on the humidity in the incubator. You are supposed to leave them in until they are dry so that they do not get cold from evaporation. evaporation cools which is why we sweat, so the the evaporation of the sweat will cool us off. It sounds like your chicks are hatching fine!