Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[cochins1088]

You've obviously have hatched them yourself. As they are soooo tame! This is why I want to hatch myself. I want to create tame animals and not birds that are just mass produced! It makes it so much nicer for others who want birds as pets. !

I hatched Goosey, but not "Aflack". Goosey was a lone gosling, so when I went to an animal swap, I purchased "Aflack" to be her buddy. "Aflack" was 1 week old and was in a box with nearly 100 other ducklings. He was definitely massed produced, but I purchased him and bonded with him all the same. He's really sweet.

The key to tame birds is lots of contact. I snuggle them up to my neck from day 1.

 

[MissBroodyHen]

23! Awesome!!!  YAY!!!  I love day 7 candles!!  we have a  bunch on day 14 but I don't feel like candling, will do it tomorrow!

I nearly didn't candle. I couldn't find the time. Had to wait till kids were asleep in the end! But I will candle at 14. Trying to learn as much as I can. Like the other day I was worried out stuck the chicks seemed to be when they don't really move when you turn them. So I drew the lines of the veins then turned it. When I went back to turn them again, it was in fact on the other side! So now I know that as they get bigger the liquid and veins slow down and perhaps just slide round in their own time!! Love candling just to learn really! But having to candle every egg is a bit tedious!

 

[sumi]

There was over 100 unread post this morning

I'll try and catch up, but don't mind if I don't! Update from here: had another malpositioned chick. Saddle shaped, huge air sac. The chick managed to pip internally, but couldn't proceed, so I created an artificial pip, opened the shell enough so I can see the situation and left it overnight to finish absorbing etc. Released a thoroughly ticked off chick first thing when I got up

I now have 2 chicks in the brooder, the newbie and my other "problem" chick that I nearly lost. She seems to have a problem with gunky eyes and she's still weak, so I'm keeping an eye on her for now. I moved mom and chicks to the small coop yesterday and gave her 2 more chicks this morning. All I did was open the door and put the chicks down. She growled at me and let the chicks crawl under her. No problems. Current count is 9 chicks. I still have a couple of eggs in the incubator and I discarded 7 or 8 clear ones when I removed the remainder from the broody.

 

[sumi]

Stubborn chick update:

First of Sally you crack me up! I loved seeing your advice as you were catching up! You would have been proud of me!
1.) my teeny pip I made was right on target, not at the top.
2.) of course I reread you article!
3.) I am being a good girl and waiting because I put Bactrian on its membranes and could still see some faint veins.

Not sure why it went to town making that giant zip hole like it did, (guess the teeny hole got it excited?) but I went ahead and checked it out and added the Bactrian. I put it back in its cup and its going to sit there all night.... If I can sleep because I really don't think it's ready. Humidity never dropped below 70 though and it seems to be doing fine. The breathing looks more like gasping or gulping sometimes but I think the poor things just gone hoarse. I learned from my first backward pip assist that waiting is you best friend. I hope this one makes it out as well as that first assist did. I will keep y'all posted the morning!

Thank you everyone! I love this thread even if I will never be able to keep up with it!

You're so right. I started leaving the eggs for hours and hours, even up to 24 hours before I assist. As long as the chick can breathe it's fine. Good luck with your baby!

 

[sumi]

Oh, how I wish I'd joined in earlier. This is my very first hatch, I have 9 black Barnevelder eggs in the incubator and they're on day 15. Here's the rundown so far:

I ordered 8 eggs, the seller sent 10. They were really well cushioned and packaged, but the box looked like the post office had played street hockey with it. One egg had a puncture in the shell and was leaking, so it was discarded immediately. The rest were intact, no cracks when candled, but at least 2 had detached air cells that rolled around the shell. I numbered them for tracking purposes, let them sit in an egg carton for 24 hours with the blunt end up, then set them in the incubator.

I'm using a LG styrofoam still air incubator, but modified. I installed a 120mm PC fan (with blue LEDs, so it lights the incubator a bit. Wasn't my first choice, but it was the only one of the salvaged fans that worked perfectly) and I have a small aquarium pump outside of the incubator pumping in fresh air via a piece of airline tubing.

I'm charting everything, noting temps and humidity at each turning, so I guess my OCD actually comes in handy sometimes. It took me a while to get the hang of candling them because they're pretty dark brown, but eggs #1, 3, 5, and 9 developed exactly like the pictures on this forum said they should. I candled again last night and those are moving around and very active.

Eggie #7 seemed to be developing at first but last night I couldn't see any movement and the dark area isn't nearly as large as the active babies' eggs. I'm fairly certain that it's not viable, but left it in anyway since I'm definitely not a pro and could be wrong. It has no odor at all, so I just segregated it on the other side of the incubator from the active babies. Eggs 2,4,6,and 8 appear to be completely clear, but again I'm no pro so I'll leave them be unless they give off any sort of odor.

It's kinda funny, the closer it gets to day 21, the more nervous I get. I have my brooder all set up and all that has to be done is turning on the heat lamp a bit ahead of the expected hatch date. The coop is 1/2 done and the run will go up quick since I opted to get a used chain link dog kennel for cheap and modify it with a wrapping of hardware cloth and chicken wire, plus screening over the top with the same to keep our resident hawks out. I made a feeder and waterer for the chicks out of clean plastic bottles and food containers, the waterer is a plastic drink bottle (cleaned and bleached first) with a chicken nipple screwed into the lid, then the whole thing stuck into a plastic mesh fruit bag so that I can hang it in the brooder. I've leak-tested it, no drips but I still plan to put a small shallow dish under it to keep it from wetting the bedding.

*whew* That was longer than I planned but I think I've covered everything. Any glaring problems or mistakes, or anything else I need to do or not do? I'd happily accept any pointers or tips!

Welcome to the thread! It sounds like you are quite organised

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[sumi]

ok set the 9 bantam eggs tonight and gonna add ducks eggs before i go to bed just in case of a miracle although it doesnt seem likely it cant hurt to try and ma and frank/fred are the last of my original flock left so i figure it cant hurt ... just wont get my hopes up ...

 

[sumi]

I'm finally uploading pictures. First up is Goosey and "Aflack" Please excuse the mess in the background, the pictures were taken in the old farm house where we store stuff and brood chicks.

Goosey wondering why her house house is beneath her.


"Aflack" standing tall and proud.


Goosey needs to realize that the whole world doesn't revolve around her, haha. If I give "Aflack" attention, she starts yelling at me.


"Aflack"


For some odd reason, I always feel like I'm being followed.

They are adorable

Love the pics!

 

[sumi]

Quote: x2

 

[sumi]

So I went to the old folks home thread - yes there is one - and what was the first post I read?

I thought it was poignant here

 

[MissBroodyHen]

I hatched Goosey, but not "Aflack".  Goosey was a lone gosling, so when I went to an animal swap, I purchased "Aflack" to be her buddy.  "Aflack" was 1 week old and was in a box with nearly 100 other ducklings.  He was definitely massed produced, but I purchased him and bonded with him all the same.  He's really sweet.

The key to tame birds is lots of contact.  I snuggle them up to my neck from day 1.

Wow. Mind you if he was young enough than that would still be fine. It's when they are grownish! And won't come near you. My ducks always came to me for food. And if there were ever a reason for them to be distressed they would often find comfort from me and get back to their usual quacky selves!! I do love ducks. I have two left from 5 that live on a small farm at the minute until I can find a bit of land nearby! They like chickens have awesome personalities for sure!! I would love geese and turkeys and some point. Turkeys are meant to be very good with chicks!