Chickenstock fiesta yardsale August 21

[spotsplus]

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Wow!!! Sorry to hear

Is the area you have the bator in really dry? Check the humidity/temp in the room too. We can not put much extra water at hatching at all and if we let the little giant go above 50% they drown and are very sticky. The sportsman is my favorite for everything, but it's a pain if I have to set another batch of eggs and cull out with ones in the hatching tray-lose too much heat/humidity, next year I am just going to invest in the hatcher.

Are they coming through the inner membrane and just not making it through or never get that far? If your aircell is to big at hatching time they may not be able to reach the outer shell without help.

Sorry you are having such a hard time, took us many tries with several bators before we found what worked best for us and the environment here. Than is still sometimes isn't right, this year has been harder than last for us too.

Needed to edit because it's early.....

THe humidity in the living room is allways at about 45-50%, They didnt make it through the membranes and the thing is the membrane was not dry and there was not a lot of moisture in the membrane. Air cells were varied in size. I am wondering if setting them in the egg cartons is the problem??? It just makes it so easy to tip the bator onstead of opening to roll the eggs by hand. I think I will try some eggs on their sides one more time befor I give up. I just feel like I killed them because my biggest fear is not being able to breath for whatever reason and to think of them suffocating really upsets me to the brink of tears.

Sorry to hear about the chicks

I use the carton method but I put a block of wood under one end of the carton and switch ends every day. Every 3rd day or so I rotate the eggs. I've had my best hatches so far since I started using this method.

Tammie

 

[darbella]

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dont feel alone, the same thing happened to someone else,
unfortunately we cant figureout what the heck went wrong?
did everything right also, humidity, temp the whole 9 yards and no hatch, no pip dead chicks, I know its frustrating and heart breaking for both of you.
I do question the strength of the chicks, maybe they were not strong enough to complete the hatch, it could be any number of reasons why the hatch failed, but hearing from both of you I dont think its anything either of you did wrong.
I do have a question though, how were the egg shells were they super hard? more like rock than shell? I heard the other persons shells were litterally rock hard, which could contribute to the failed hatch, if the outer shell is that hard, the inside will be just as hard and impossible for the chicks to pip through.

sorry you lost the hatch, its very frustrsting. dont give up just yet.

The shells were normal, maybe even a little on the thin side??? All I know is that the one chick zipped in a couple of hours and then was hard as a rock when I got hom later in the day and checked. I was wondering why he did not pop out cause he was zipped all the way around so I quickly reached in and grabbed him and it was like he was super glued to that egg! So off to the kitchen sink and under the warm water he went! Gee, my chicks that half hatch are always treated to a spa service! They get the warm water, a little exfoliating with the paintbrush, then another warm bath to get the goop off, then a little paper towel massage to fluff dry....maybe they peep the owrd out to the others and that is what is keeping them from hatching. They must figure the fat lady with black hair is gonna treat us to a chick spa day, but then they dry up.

 

[darbella]

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THe humidity in the living room is allways at about 45-50%, They didnt make it through the membranes and the thing is the membrane was not dry and there was not a lot of moisture in the membrane. Air cells were varied in size. I am wondering if setting them in the egg cartons is the problem??? It just makes it so easy to tip the bator onstead of opening to roll the eggs by hand. I think I will try some eggs on their sides one more time befor I give up. I just feel like I killed them because my biggest fear is not being able to breath for whatever reason and to think of them suffocating really upsets me to the brink of tears.

Sorry to hear about the chicks

I use the carton method but I put a block of wood under one end of the carton and switch ends every day. Every 3rd day or so I rotate the eggs. I've had my best hatches so far since I started using this method.

Tammie

Yes, I put a block under the bator and rotate the block to alternate corners so I dont even have to open the bator to turn/tip....I just dont know, wish I had x-ray vision to see what stage they give up in.

 

[rhaj]

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someone had mentioned the silkies like to cuddle together because they don't roost up on the poles with the others... do you think a silkie and EE bantam would cuddle together, or just silkies? Would the EE bantam roost up with the others?? If it's a size thing, then EE also wouldn't roost, but I suppose if it's just a silkie thing then the EE would roost...

My daughter has asked for an EE... hmmm... well gotta find out the answer to the above... and then, how much $?

oh and can I see a pic too? pretty please?

 

[gypsy2621]

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Sorry to hear about the chicks

I use the carton method but I put a block of wood under one end of the carton and switch ends every day. Every 3rd day or so I rotate the eggs. I've had my best hatches so far since I started using this method.

Tammie

Yes, I put a block under the bator and rotate the block to alternate corners so I dont even have to open the bator to turn/tip....I just dont know, wish I had x-ray vision to see what stage they give up in.

I would give it another try but with out the egg carton, it may be taking too much moisture out of the eggs, and also put in a humidifier near the incubator and see does that help with the next try. and you have to try again to see if its the carton or not.

 

[shay20]

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someone had mentioned the silkies like to cuddle together because they don't roost up on the poles with the others... do you think a silkie and EE bantam would cuddle together, or just silkies? Would the EE bantam roost up with the others?? If it's a size thing, then EE also wouldn't roost, but I suppose if it's just a silkie thing then the EE would roost...

My daughter has asked for an EE... hmmm... well gotta find out the answer to the above... and then, how much $?

oh and can I see a pic too? pretty please?

the ee will end up roosting to when she gets bigger, she would probably start roosting now if she could.
she is $5.00
i need to take a new pic, but the dark one in this pic in the front is the one, this was when she was only 2 weeks old. hmmm or the one in teh way bacl n the wall, lol let me go take a pic of her. lol

 

[darbella]

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Yes, I put a block under the bator and rotate the block to alternate corners so I dont even have to open the bator to turn/tip....I just dont know, wish I had x-ray vision to see what stage they give up in.

I would give it another try but with out the egg carton, it may be taking too much moisture out of the eggs, and also put in a humidifier near the incubator and see does that help with the next try. and you have to try again to see if its the carton or not.

Yes, perhaps I will. I use the styrofoam cartons eggs come in , not hte fiber-y ones because I used them in the past and they did get damp. But i dont think the styro cartons absorb, but maybe they could... knows what happens, just the eggs and they aint talkin".

 

[rhaj]

Do your silkies roost, Shay? Our poles are up pretty high, though we do have a roosting ladder so she could roost lower if she wanted to (and hopefully not get pooped on!)

hmmm so even if I got the EE bantam, silkie would still be alone. Would it be better getting another silkie for her instead? or does it matter? What do you think?

 

[keesmom]

My silkies sleep in a pile even though they have a perch they can reach.

This just means you need at least one other silkie.

 

[rhaj]

My daughter's solution? "So buy another silkie AND an EE"

heh, she is too much like me.

we shall see. We are getting rid of 3 that ended up being roos, so instead of those 3 full size we'd be getting 3 mini-chickens (lol) instead. So, maybe.