Crazy hatch!!

[NCchickentender]

What a wild hatch this has been!! It all started when a friend, Terra, gave me 8 silkie/cochin eggs to hatch. Got them home and let them rest on the table for a day, then got them into the incubator. I candled them on the 4th day and on the 10th, only 2 were viable. Meanwhile, I thought I had lost a hen to a predator a couple weeks ago but there she was so I followed her back to her hidden nest. It was a huge clutch of eggs.

Later that night we moved her to the rooster's coop since it's empty at the moment. I quickly candled the eggs and apparently a couple of the other hens laid eggs there too because the eggs were ALL different ages! I put all of the youngest eggs in the bator and left the hen 10 to hatch. Fast-forward to the hatch...

I go into the rooster's roost and there is a dead wet baby in front of the nest. She's got one dry chick under her, 4 eggs she pooped on and 4 crushed eggs. These eggs were cold. I thought they were dead. I gently cleaned the 4 eggs and put them in the bator. The next day is lock-down for the silkie/cochins. The only thing I know about the new 4 is that that they were cold. That night one of them hatched and I put her in the brooder the next morning, thinking I'd put her with the hen that night.

It's lock-down day so I candle all the eggs. I've got a few quitter, including one of the silkie/cochins. Bummer. That night I put the chick with the hen, she tucked her under her and I thought all was well and two more of the new eggs hatched. The next day, the last of the four cold eggs hatched! Tough lil boogers! So now I have two 2day old chicks in the bator on day 20 and I notice one egg has a crack. Not a pip or a zip. A crack and I can see a lil something has leaked! Got to get that egg out before it explodes! So after I made sure there were no hidden pips, quick as I could, I grabbed the chicks and the dead egg out then made sure the temp stayed up and the humidity close to 65%.

Day 21- I have a pip in the s/c egg!! Some of the eggs I took from the hen are still cooking. I can see the chick is chirping and chewing but no zipping yet. 25 hours later she still has made 0 progress! She's still moving but the pip hadn't changed at all. I truly want this chick to live! I grabbed the Vaseline, a washcloth and the egg and headed outside in the heat. I picked a tiny bit and checked the membrane. No blood vessels. I picked a quarter size hole and zipped the shell a little, then put her back in the bator for her to finish up. Her head seemed to be stuck to the top of the shell but after kicking off the bottom half, she got it off.

Now because this lil chick I named Terra (after my friend) needed a lil help and she's so small I decided to leave her in the bator at least 36hrs to get stronger before I put her with the older chicks, that meant letting to other chicks staying in the brooder longer so they'd all be bonded before I put them with the hen. So monday morning I check on the hen and chicks and one of them is dead! Grrrrr!! The hen is all fluffed up and ready to kick my booty if I get too close to the other chick! No idea why it died. It was just laying in the nest and another chick hatched in the bator. Since the eggs didn't seem to be done yet (I really thought they would be) and the death of the chick, I decided to keep the chicks in the brooder and raise them.

I put the lil silkie/cochin in with the rest. She looks so small but she holds her own and within a few hours they're all together. I'm really glad I kept them in the brooder! Tuesday morning the second chick was dead and another chick hatched. Now I'm thinking this hen is killing them. No proof but that's what I think. So yesterday I have one more hatch and three eggs left. Seems like this has been going on forever so I figure the last 3 are quitters. I'll check them tomorrow after this last chick fluffs up and is moved. Wrong! This morning I found a chick that must have hatched right when I woke up. There was still condensation on the window and she was completely wet and has a blueberry size yoke sac that is filled with blood attached and a day old chick inside the bator. Bad as I hated to do it, I opened the bator and grabbed the older chick and put her in the brooder.

Now this last chick... I've just left her as she is because she's still wet 5 hours later and I've already opened it once. Seems to be a little more than just the cord sticking out but I haven't got a good look yet. Looks like the yucky yoke is being absorbed. I'll just wait and see if she lives or not but anyone got any ideas about why the yolk looks bloody? There's no blood in the bator and the inside of the egg looks mostly normal to me from what I can see.

The moral of my story...? I will never ever ever do this again!!! ...Until I have an extra incubator and extra heat lamps!! lol

 

[chelseachook]

What a wild hatch this has been!! It all started when a friend, Terra, gave me 8 silkie/cochin eggs to hatch. Got them home and let them rest on the table for a day, then got them into the incubator. I candled them on the 4th day and on the 10th, only 2 were viable. Meanwhile, I thought I had lost a hen to a predator a couple weeks ago but there she was so I followed her back to her hidden nest. It was a huge clutch of eggs.

Later that night we moved her to the rooster's coop since it's empty at the moment. I quickly candled the eggs and apparently a couple of the other hens laid eggs there too because the eggs were ALL different ages! I put all of the youngest eggs in the bator and left the hen 10 to hatch. Fast-forward to the hatch...

I go into the rooster's roost and there is a dead wet baby in front of the nest. She's got one dry chick under her, 4 eggs she pooped on and 4 crushed eggs. These eggs were cold. I thought they were dead. I gently cleaned the 4 eggs and put them in the bator. The next day is lock-down for the silkie/cochins. The only thing I know about the new 4 is that that they were cold. That night one of them hatched and I put her in the brooder the next morning, thinking I'd put her with the hen that night.

It's lock-down day so I candle all the eggs. I've got a few quitter, including one of the silkie/cochins. Bummer. That night I put the chick with the hen, she tucked her under her and I thought all was well and two more of the new eggs hatched. The next day, the last of the four cold eggs hatched! Tough lil boogers! So now I have two 2day old chicks in the bator on day 20 and I notice one egg has a crack. Not a pip or a zip. A crack and I can see a lil something has leaked! Got to get that egg out before it explodes! So after I made sure there were no hidden pips, quick as I could, I grabbed the chicks and the dead egg out then made sure the temp stayed up and the humidity close to 65%.

Day 21- I have a pip in the s/c egg!! Some of the eggs I took from the hen are still cooking. I can see the chick is chirping and chewing but no zipping yet. 25 hours later she still has made 0 progress! She's still moving but the pip hadn't changed at all. I truly want this chick to live! I grabbed the Vaseline, a washcloth and the egg and headed outside in the heat. I picked a tiny bit and checked the membrane. No blood vessels. I picked a quarter size hole and zipped the shell a little, then put her back in the bator for her to finish up. Her head seemed to be stuck to the top of the shell but after kicking off the bottom half, she got it off.

Now because this lil chick I named Terra (after my friend) needed a lil help and she's so small I decided to leave her in the bator at least 36hrs to get stronger before I put her with the older chicks, that meant letting to other chicks staying in the brooder longer so they'd all be bonded before I put them with the hen. So monday morning I check on the hen and chicks and one of them is dead! Grrrrr!! The hen is all fluffed up and ready to kick my booty if I get too close to the other chick! No idea why it died. It was just laying in the nest and another chick hatched in the bator. Since the eggs didn't seem to be done yet (I really thought they would be) and the death of the chick, I decided to keep the chicks in the brooder and raise them.

I put the lil silkie/cochin in with the rest. She looks so small but she holds her own and within a few hours they're all together. I'm really glad I kept them in the brooder! Tuesday morning the second chick was dead and another chick hatched. Now I'm thinking this hen is killing them. No proof but that's what I think. So yesterday I have one more hatch and three eggs left. Seems like this has been going on forever so I figure the last 3 are quitters. I'll check them tomorrow after this last chick fluffs up and is moved. Wrong! This morning I found a chick that must have hatched right when I woke up. There was still condensation on the window and she was completely wet and has a blueberry size yoke sac that is filled with blood attached and a day old chick inside the bator. Bad as I hated to do it, I opened the bator and grabbed the older chick and put her in the brooder.

Now this last chick... I've just left her as she is because she's still wet 5 hours later and I've already opened it once. Seems to be a little more than just the cord sticking out but I haven't got a good look yet. Looks like the yucky yoke is being absorbed. I'll just wait and see if she lives or not but anyone got any ideas about why the yolk looks bloody? There's no blood in the bator and the inside of the egg looks mostly normal to me from what I can see.

The moral of my story...? I will never ever ever do this again!!! ...Until I have an extra incubator and extra heat lamps!! lol

Wow! Not sure about the blood in yolk sac, could just be that she is still absorbing the blood vessels. Humidity could be too high if she isn't drying. Keep updating pls

 

[NCchickentender]

Little bitty didn't make it. It looked like she was chewing a little bit when she was resting. I'm thinking all the humidity fluctuation that happened after each chick hatched was the biggest factor here. I did try to keep it around 65% just because I had no idea how old any of the eggs were except the s/c. Lesson learned

On the flipside, all of the other chicks are doing great! The lil silkie/cochin is tiny but mighty! She's loud and seems to be ruling the roost.

 

[chelseachook]

Little bitty didn't make it. It looked like she was chewing a little bit when she was resting. I'm thinking all the humidity fluctuation that happened after each chick hatched was the biggest factor here. I did try to keep it around 65% just because I had no idea how old any of the eggs were except the s/c. Lesson learned

On the flipside, all of the other chicks are doing great! The lil silkie/cochin is tiny but mighty! She's loud and seems to be ruling the roost.

Oh no! Poor thing .
The silkie/ cochin seems like a character! Wishing well for your chicks and have fun raising them. Enjoy them being small ... it is only a matter of time before some of your little darlings start crowing. I have a few roosters called Cecilia, Abigail and Macy. Please update on how they go .