Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Wow, theres so much helpful info on here, but i just don't have enough time to read it all... so i have a few questions and if i ask something that was answered on here, i probably just didnt get to it, so bare with me(this is my first hatch, remember, so this is all a learning experiment)... With 5 eggs of my own in the incubator i'm trying to absorb as much info as possible... I remember hearing something about unabsorbed yokes? i don't what that is???

If that happens to won of my eggs/chicks how do i know what to look for? Is it serious? what do i do about it? And if a chick has trouble pipping/hatching how do i know when/how to help it out. (my eggs are all set to hatch Oct. 1st/2nd) And just a personal preference question here: if a chick hatches before the others should i leave it in there or take it out? I have a brooder prepared right next to it but if i take it out it will probably let out all the humidity and "shrink wrap" the others, right? I'm going to be candling tonite soon, any suggestions on that? How long can each egg be out of the bator??? Any help is good help to me so feel free to reply!

The last thing the chick does before it hatches, is to absorb the remainder of the yolk it didn't use while growing. The nutrition from this yolk allows the chick to go up to 3 days after hatch without eating or drinking (if offered food sooner they will eat but they don't have to). In nature this allows the hen to continue sitting on unhatched eggs even after the first eggs have hatched, rather than having the abandon the nest to make sure the first to hatch gets sustenance. Once the hatch is complete, the hen will take all of the chicks and show them where to eat. People have taken advantage of this trait by shipping newly hatched chicks all over the country, since they don't need to eat during that initial time after hatch.

An unabsorbed yolk occurs when the chick hatches sooner than it should and there is still yolk left to absorb. It hangs off the back of it (connected by the umbilical cord) and should not be cut off because bleeding will occur. If it happens, you won't be able to miss it - the yellow yolk sac is very visible.

There are 3 stages of hatching:
1 - internal pip
2 - external pip
3 - zip and hatch

The internal pip is where the chick pips into the air cell and starts to breathe air. At this point you might hear some faint peeping. The external pip is where it punches a little hole in the external shell, that is visible when you peek through the window of the incubator. The important thing to keep in mind is that it can be 24 hours from that external pip until the final stage of hatching - the zipping. During this 24 hours, not much appears to be happening but it is during that time that the chick is absorbing the yolk. You should avoid being tempted to decide it is not progressing and open the incubator to assist. More than likely you will do more harm than good, as you will cause the membrane to dry out and "shrink wrap" the chick, making it very difficult for it to complete hatching. In my hatch yesterday, I woke to find one pipped, and knew it did it sometime between 2:30 and 5:30 am (okay, so I was up checking on them off an on all night, what of it????? Tee hee) By 10pm, it had not progressed any further, yet, when the chick knew it was time, it zipped and hatched and let me know it had arrived in the world by frantic peeping close to midnight. It seemed like a long day to me, waiting and checking frequently for it to progress but in the end I was glad I didn't intervene as it was able to hatch just fine by itself.

Provided your humidity is high enough and you haven't opened the incubator after the pip, the chick *should* be able to hatch without your help. It is hard work for them though, and they will take frequent breaks to take a little nap and recover their strength to continue. Be patient and let it take its time. In the end, it is better if they can hatch themselves.

On your last question....as long as no other egg is pipped, you can open the incubator and take out any hatched chicks. However I prefer to leave them in until all have hatched. They are safe and warm in there, and their peeping encourages unhatched chicks to get on with the job. As mentioned earlier, they don't need to eat or drink right away so there really isn't any hurry to get them moved. With only 5 eggs in the incubator, I would leave them in until the hatch is complete, assuming they were all set at the same time. That way you don't end up with a lonely chick in a big old brooder by itself.

 

[HEChicken]

I'm going to be candling tonite soon, any suggestions on that? How long can each egg be out of the bator??? Any help is good help to me so feel free to reply!

Check out this thread for some great candling pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

What I do is go into a totally dark room (prefer one with no windows) and use a bright little LED flashlight. Make an "O" with your index finger and thumb, place the egg in the O and the flashlight underneath. If your light is bright enough, you'll be able to see right through the shell. At the least you should be able to see the air cell. With a good enough flashlight, you'll be able to make out the chick and see it moving. If you are candling green or marans eggs, they are more difficult to see through but you should still at least be able to see the air cell.

I start with the first egg, candle it, set it on the floor next to me, get out the next egg and so on. By the time I put them back, the first egg has been out up to 10 minutes. The mother hen gets off the nest for a constitutional every day and the eggs cool slightly during this time apparently without ill effect. So I regard this time as being similar - it is not enough time to cool the core temperature of the egg a great deal.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Josie, the male RP will have a longer snood than the hens & will have a much bumpier looking head & neck than the hens. I could tell mine by that age & also the tom will start gobbling too. Mine has been gobbling for awhile when there is excitement or they are alarmed at something. I got so tickled yesterday when Sunflowerparrot & her boyfriend & R came over. We were trying to get him to display like he usually does for company, he likes to show off. He waited until everybody was looking at the chickens & then he started doing his posing to get attention, he is a clown. I just love that breed of turkeys, they are so much calmer I think than other breeds & I like the size of them. They're pretty to look at too.

We will be calling on your expertise next year because I think Stephen is going to want to do turkeys.. he was very impressed with your hoop house! We need to all get together when nobody is busy and has things to do.. ha!

 

[ChicknBaron]

The last thing the chick does before it hatches, is to absorb the remainder of the yolk it didn't use while growing. The nutrition from this yolk allows the chick to go up to 3 days after hatch without eating or drinking (if offered food sooner they will eat but they don't have to). In nature this allows the hen to continue sitting on unhatched eggs even after the first eggs have hatched, rather than having the abandon the nest to make sure the first to hatch gets sustenance. Once the hatch is complete, the hen will take all of the chicks and show them where to eat. People have taken advantage of this trait by shipping newly hatched chicks all over the country, since they don't need to eat during that initial time after hatch.

An unabsorbed yolk occurs when the chick hatches sooner than it should and there is still yolk left to absorb. It hangs off the back of it (connected by the umbilical cord) and should not be cut off because bleeding will occur. If it happens, you won't be able to miss it - the yellow yolk sac is very visible.

There are 3 stages of hatching:
1 - internal pip
2 - external pip
3 - zip and hatch

The internal pip is where the chick pips into the air cell and starts to breathe air. At this point you might hear some faint peeping. The external pip is where it punches a little hole in the external shell, that is visible when you peek through the window of the incubator. The important thing to keep in mind is that it can be 24 hours from that external pip until the final stage of hatching - the zipping. During this 24 hours, not much appears to be happening but it is during that time that the chick is absorbing the yolk. You should avoid being tempted to decide it is not progressing and open the incubator to assist. More than likely you will do more harm than good, as you will cause the membrane to dry out and "shrink wrap" the chick, making it very difficult for it to complete hatching. In my hatch yesterday, I woke to find one pipped, and knew it did it sometime between 2:30 and 5:30 am (okay, so I was up checking on them off an on all night, what of it????? Tee hee) By 10pm, it had not progressed any further, yet, when the chick knew it was time, it zipped and hatched and let me know it had arrived in the world by frantic peeping close to midnight. It seemed like a long day to me, waiting and checking frequently for it to progress but in the end I was glad I didn't intervene as it was able to hatch just fine by itself.

Provided your humidity is high enough and you haven't opened the incubator after the pip, the chick *should* be able to hatch without your help. It is hard work for them though, and they will take frequent breaks to take a little nap and recover their strength to continue. Be patient and let it take its time. In the end, it is better if they can hatch themselves.

On your last question....as long as no other egg is pipped, you can open the incubator and take out any hatched chicks. However I prefer to leave them in until all have hatched. They are safe and warm in there, and their peeping encourages unhatched chicks to get on with the job. As mentioned earlier, they don't need to eat or drink right away so there really isn't any hurry to get them moved. With only 5 eggs in the incubator, I would leave them in until the hatch is complete, assuming they were all set at the same time. That way you don't end up with a lonely chick in a big old brooder by itself.

Thank you SOOO much that cleared up ALOT! I am incubating 2 golden cuckoo marans, 1 australorp, 1 Blue laced red wandottes, and a welsummer! if you have any reviews on any of these breeds Please Share! this whole hatching thing is Very exciting!

 

[ChicknBaron]

Check out this thread for some great candling pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

What I do is go into a totally dark room (prefer one with no windows) and use a bright little LED flashlight. Make an "O" with your index finger and thumb, place the egg in the O and the flashlight underneath. If your light is bright enough, you'll be able to see right through the shell. At the least you should be able to see the air cell. With a good enough flashlight, you'll be able to make out the chick and see it moving. If you are candling green or marans eggs, they are more difficult to see through but you should still at least be able to see the air cell.

I start with the first egg, candle it, set it on the floor next to me, get out the next egg and so on. By the time I put them back, the first egg has been out up to 10 minutes. The mother hen gets off the nest for a constitutional every day and the eggs cool slightly during this time apparently without ill effect. So I regard this time as being similar - it is not enough time to cool the core temperature of the egg a great deal.

Thank you VERY much for the link. Very helpful Can't wait to candle the eggs now! I keep everyone up to date on the whole thing

 

[JosieChick]

Josie, the male RP will have a longer snood than the hens & will have a much bumpier looking head & neck than the hens. I could tell mine by that age & also the tom will start gobbling too. Mine has been gobbling for awhile when there is excitement or they are alarmed at something. I got so tickled yesterday when Sunflowerparrot & her boyfriend & R came over. We were trying to get him to display like he usually does for company, he likes to show off. He waited until everybody was looking at the chickens & then he started doing his posing to get attention, he is a clown. I just love that breed of turkeys, they are so much calmer I think than other breeds & I like the size of them. They're pretty to look at too.

They really all look the same to me so either they are all the same sex or they are just at an awkward stage where it is still hard to tell. I have a female midget white that is over a year old and she displays and makes gobbling noises when she is upset by something so I wouldn't rely just on that to sex them on my own without someone who knows turkeys better. I have read that young turkeys, male or female, will display as well.

Alright, have to get out and feed the horses, they are banging the darn gate. I don't know if that gate is going to make it through the winter!

 

[ChicknBaron]

Just got dont candling the eggs and that was the COOLEST thing ever!!!!

I saw and eye in every one, but the Australorp because it was two thick shelled to see anything but one of them, Blue laced red wyandotte, i think, was SUPERIOR for viewing, I could see Veins and A head and an eye and it was moving!!! ooohhhhh it was AWEsome!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, we had a kind of busy weekend. Our neighbor down the road came over yesterday and brush hogged our upper pasture for us, it looks so much better. Now we just need to spray for weeds and we should be in good shape. It was looking like a jungle up there. I pulled the horses off of it a few weeks ago to let the grass recover much to their chagrin.

I am selling my royal palm turkeys and guineas if anyone is interested. I need to lighten my feed load and concentrate on my birds that I am trying to breed seriously.

I don't have any pens or room right now for RP's or I would be interested. I hope Heather will take them!

Hawkeye, I'm glad I went back and read because you posted the same time I was writing. I had never heard of a civet cat so I had to google it so I'd know what it is if I ever see one. According to the first Wiki entry, civet cats are native to Africa and Asia and it didn't have any reference to them being in North America, so I went to the second Wiki page and it said there are a number of animals that are mistakenly called civet cats, that aren't. The one that seems most likely is what Wiki calls a Ring-tailed cat, and says it is related to a raccoon. Interestingly, it looks quite a bit like what we call possums in Australia (once again, a totally different animal to the opossums we have here), except that our possums do not have that ring-tail. Is this the animal your mother saw?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring-tailed_Cat
Here is what it says about it:

Yeah, I think what we call a civet cat is more like the opossum you were talking about. I looked at a pic-- I'll have to ask my mom if it had rings on it's tail. She said the face was black and had white markings on it and it had a very loooong cat tail. She described it perfectly. She was really surprised. I know these guys live down in Mexico and have worked their way up. I bet there's actually a "real" name for them!

Well here is another puzzling thing. It looked like the head was pulled off, cause the neck bones were still attached, and there was no blood whatsoever any where. At least a possum or coon would leave bones. And the feathers only looked like a small struggle, not enough to indicated the hen being torn apart.
Even if the dogs are out chasing a predator at least one of them stays home. I don't think I've ever seen all three of them leave the yard at once when they were pursuing a predator. Do you think an owl could pull a chickens head off? I'm just not sure.
Karen, my ultimate goal is to get a Highland heifer and eventually have her bred so I could milk her. I love those cattle. I would spend a fortune for fencing but it would be worth it. I'd like a young one I could halter train.
Josie I'm thinking you should sell those RPs to Hawkeye now that she is staying!!!

So odd! I hope you can get those cams borrowed! So neat about wanting a cow, I've thought about it myself, but then I realize I'd really be tied down to the house. And I'm getting to the point where the kids are getting older and more fun and easier to take on trips... (and go to shows!!) LOL I can't have dairy animals. But I wouldn't mind a bucket calf -- but there again, it would be easier to buy someone ELSE'S bucket calf that they raised! LOL I don't really have to worry, my neighbor raises cattle and he's always asking us to buy in when he butchers.

I have recently noticed a hawk hanging around a lot. I've also noticed that my flock spends almost all of their time hanging out underneath low hanging objects. Yesterday, our dog (a chocolate lab) was chasing a baby hawk. After rescuing the poor bird, I noticed a large next at the tops of one of our old pine trees (roughly 40 feet tall). I think we've got a hawk next in one of our trees. It's neat to see but rather disconcerting with my birds.

Not good having that hawk around... BUT so sweet that you rescued the baby hawk and saved him. I love those birds, I just don't want them eating my birds. I'm sure his mama knows where he is and will be feeding him. Maybe they will go hunt else where.

Both pullets and cockerels will do the chest bumping thing to determine pecking order, so don't worry too much about that. I would sure hope that you got what you paid for - all pullets. Unfortunately mistakes do get made and sexing is only about 90% accurate. I know Cherwill has had some bad luck, ending up with about 40% cockerels from the sexed pullets bins.


My hatch is over and it was my first 100% hatch

There was one that I thought had died in shell as it had pipped around 5:30am and by the time I checked on them last at 10pm, it hadn't enlarged the hole and I could see no signs of life. I decided to deal with it in the morning, went to sleep and was woken at 11:50pm by frantic peeping. I ran in to see what was going on, and it was the last chick. It had just hatched and was lying looking worn out, recovering from the effort. I guess once it got started, it zipped in a hurry. By morning, I couldn't even tell which one it was as it was fluffed and dried out, so I transferred them all to the brooder.

True about the chest bumping and flying up and play-sparing. With my silkies especially, they are playful birds. They are always play sparing. The girl do settle down around 5 months, and the boys continue to play. But by that age, you should know who's crowing. YAY on your hatch!!! That is great he made it out on his own. Silkies are sooooo bad about hatching. They take FOREVER!!! They will pip in the afternoon and then by the NEXT night, they will start to hatch. It drives me nuts. They are slow.

One thing is for sure. Living out in the middle of nowhere is nice most of the time, until it comes to finding certain things. Then, it just becomes very frustrating!

I'm sorry about that. I sure hope you find one. But maybe your best bet is to hatch another one and raise it yourself so it will stay friendly.

And just a personal preference question here: if a chick hatches before the others should i leave it in there or take it out? I have a brooder prepared right next to it but if i take it out it will probably let out all the humidity and "shrink wrap" the others, right? I'm going to be candling tonite soon, any suggestions on that? How long can each egg be out of the bator??? Any help is good help to me so feel free to reply!

I leave all of my hatched chicks in the incubator. If they hatch in the late afternoon or evening, I will just leave them in overnight to rest in the incubator and take them all out in the morning. That way, they are nice and warm and secure in there.

Don't have much time.... Am working in our sun porch roost...neighbors can't complain if they roost there! Grrr..... But had to share this pic! The thing isn't even finished and my white Rick HAD to try out the new nest boxes.... I caved and put in some shavings. Voila! Egg laid with sawing and hammering right next to her!!! I think she likes her new digs!!!

That's great!! Look at her!! Those are great nests you made too!

They really all look the same to me so either they are all the same sex or they are just at an awkward stage where it is still hard to tell. I have a female midget white that is over a year old and she displays and makes gobbling noises when she is upset by something so I wouldn't rely just on that to sex them on my own without someone who knows turkeys better. I have read that young turkeys, male or female, will display as well.

Alright, have to get out and feed the horses, they are banging the darn gate. I don't know if that gate is going to make it through the winter!

ha! When it is dinner time, my horses start calling me from the pasture. They put up a ruckus out there yelling at me until I come out and feed them. They know exactly what time of day I feed them and if I'm late, they let me know about it! I was getting silkies put up tonight and they knew it was THEIR dinner time, and they all were up at the fence yelling at me. It's times like that, my place really does sound like a zoo. I'll bet their voices carry a mile over! Funny that yours are going to take your gate down! hehehe Mine will bang their hoof on the gate too to get my attention. They are SMART.

 

[HEChicken]

I don't have any pens or room right now for RP's or I would be interested. I hope Heather will take them!

You are BAD!!! At the most I can take one more hen since originally I was planning on a trio. Trish and Josie are scaring me a bit though. My "pair" both have snoods about the same size. I've heard the male gobble twice but now Lindsey is saying the girls will gobble too so now I'm worried I don't have a pair after all....

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, the female turkeys don't "gobble" they make a gulp gulp sound usually, not gobble gobble. Josie said the female will display, but mine never have. You have seen my male display & he is all male when he does. He gobbles & displays & it's funny because he really likes girls & women best, that is who he likes to show off for. I know that the turkey you got from me is a hen, I had 3 hens left & a tom. Your young male is smaller & younger than your hen, so give him a couple of months & you should see a difference. He should start filling out & get bigger than the hen. When he gets bigger you will see what I mean about the snood. I will try to get some pics of mine tomorrow so I can show you what I mean. The male's head & neck are just a lot bumpier than the female's & eventually when they're mature the male's head will turn blue, it's really strange looking. Mine hasn't gotten old enough for that yet.