Day 23-update

[77horses]

aww I'm sorry that the others didn't make it.

Trust me, you aren't the only one who has attempted hatching out some eggs and then it didn't work.

I tried hatching out 4 eggs, two from our red star hens and two from mystery chickens at a farm stand. 2 weren't fertile(the farm stand ones) and one from our hens WAS fertile, but never started developing. That left me with 1, from our hen(who is the rooster's fav.). It developed nicely, I could see veins and the chick moving around in it, until on about day 26, no signs. I cracked it open and found a formed baby chick, with feathers, beak, etc. Didn't absorb the yolk. I think it quit around day 12.

I was disappointed, but I knew that it was nearly impossible for it to have hatched. First of all, I had no idea what I was doing barely at all from the start, and I had made a poor bator for it(made from plastic box and cardboard box.

) and the chick was gonna be alone if it ever had hatched, so it may not have made it at all if it did hatch.

So out of 4 eggs, none hatched. But of course, I'm gonna try again with my new and improved styro-bator in the Spring!!!!

I hope things work out for you, no matter what decision you make.

Just because you have had problems and bad hatches from the start, it doesn't mean that it isn't for you exactly. :aww You just need practice. Everyone has bad hatches, and no one ever has perfect ones.
But congrats on the new chickies!!!!

I'm so glad that some of the Faverolles hatched out for you! And I'm glad that the EE is doing OK, too!

Good luck with the other EE eggs! Hurray for the new pip!

Good luck with the eggs that are left and the new fuzzy butts!

And those new chickies are sooo cute!!!!

 

[walkswithdog]

lol

you just spent 18 days constantly turning the wee boogers onto their backs. They're dizzy!!! how do they know they aren't supposed to be upside down?

And congrats on the babies. Tomorrow is day 14 here...

Chere

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[SunAngel]

lol thanks Chere, good luck with your hatch!!!

Thank you 77horses, I am happy to have what I have. I think I must have gotten my hopes up, despite telling myself I wasn't and now I am just very discouraged.

I've watched the videos of what hatcheries put the chicks through even before shipping. They get here after 3 days of being tossed around and yet they are perky and full of life (usually).

I baby the eggs (well, after their postal torture), handle them with care, watch over them day and night, make sure their temps are as perfect as possible and only get a few babies.

After 2 days are my chicks running around all lively and perfect like the ones from the hatcheries....noooo. They are huddled in front of the light in a pile refusing to look for food or even open their eyes for more than a split second. Wobbling all over the place and mostly just wanting to sleep. Give them water and a drop of poly-vi-sol, check for pasty butt, bandaid the spraddle legged one, nothing helps. I just don't get it!

Even with my very first ever shipment of chicks, I only lost 2 the first day they were shipped and those arrived looking bad.

Thank goodness there is somewhere for me to get chicks and chickens cause hatching is definitely not something I am good at.

 

[walkswithdog]

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First the hatchery videos would be horrid if they showed you whole batches of dead and dying chicks. i'm also sure they don't show the GARBAGE BINS, where they toss the weak and dying. That is a sorting process, whether they show it or not, they produce many more chicks than make it into boxes.

The first batch i ever bought were pathetic. they made it but they weren't thriving or dynamic or very good representations and all male. i didn't keep a one.

Then i ordered twice more , once from one hatchery - hatch failed they eventually cancelled, after they charged my card, hassle... i picked another hatchery great service, great communication, but yep, their first hatch of my order all died, cancelled, rescheduled, third hatch failed. The batch i have now is from them, lively, friendly and doing well.

Even the pro's get horrid results at times. Don't be discouraged. if you're hatching and getting repetitive poor results, be sure you're sterilizing that bator. Recheck your thermometers/thermostats.

And check your water source for bacteria, or other contamination. you add water. if the water is off, that can be a problem. might not bother grown people or even children but that incubator is a very intense environment.

i tried to get show partridge rocks this year from several places all had poor fertility or poor hatches. That's nature.

Hang in there. Double check things. Be determined, you'll get there. you can do it. you're already a member of the asylum, you don't get away that easy...

 

[ginbart]

I know how you are feeling. I did 3 hatchs and never got more then maybe 30% on my first 2. The last time was better 50% so maybe if you keep trying it will bet better. The last time I used gloves when I candled, never touched an egg. I had a hose going into the bator so I didn't open it to add water. And like you watched it day and night. So heres a hug

And lets try it again in the spring.

 

[SunAngel]

Thank you for the encouragement

I know you are both right. I have read lots of other bad hatch threads on here as well as the good ones, so I don't feel like I am the only one...I'm just bummed.

Although its not like I don't currently have 30 chicks in the brooder and 12 six week olds in the juvie pen, so I can satisfy my chick addiction whenever needed lol.

I just wish these 4 that hatched would perk up some, so I can relax and know they will make it. I don't dare name them yet.

If I try incubating again, I will have to find eggs closer and cheaper to experiment with. I don't think my DH would want me to spend as much as I did on these until I can get better results. Plus I hate taking rare breed eggs away from others that probably could have done a better job than me.