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

[sumi]

I am now the proud owner of, a light sussex, easter egger, maran and brown leghorn. Going to farmers market on saturday is dangerous

I have the same problem when I go to the market here. I didn't know ducks could be so charming...

 

[chicknfun]

I am wondering if i even want to try to incubate.....it seems like there is so much that can go wrong

 

[sumi]

Lets recap. I had 38 eggs that were supposed to hatch Thursday. I have a still air incubator. I incubated at 99.5 and not 102. I took them out of the turner on Monday and added water and got the humidity to 75%. ON hatch day. Only three pips and nothing hatched. The next day we had a few hatch with some assistance. I killed a couple in this process. We had 4 die in the hatch process or after the hatch. Today we had four more hatch. One died in the egg with half its body and head out. I thought they were done so I started to open one a little bit ago and it looked bloody. but it looked dead. I opened another and it moved and then I noticed the first one was moving. So I probably killed two more. I left them in the shell. I tried to candle and I couldn't see any movement in most of them. The ones with no movement are the ones I tried to open just now. These are Buff Orpington eggs. The humidity is at 75%. I can hear one chirping now. Today is day 23. I have 13 chicks that I took out and put into the brooder that are doing great. I have 20 eggs left counting the two I just tried to open. I damaged the membrane in the process and it is bleeding a little. I guess I should be more patient. This is my first time to use these Styrofoam incubators. The only one I used in the past was my dads top of the line incubator that was automatic and had great hatches and kept the humidity and heat at exactly what was needed. The hatches were always like clockwork and were usually over in a day. This is the third day of hatching and its still not over. Are any of these chicks that are still in egg going to make it? Should I wait for two more days before assistance. None are pipped. Exercise patience and leave them alone or what? Thanks

Oh crumbs. If it's still alive leave it in the incubator, keep the humidity up and read Sally's article on assisted hatches. There are pics to show you what to look for etc. But in a nutshell: just make sure the chick can breathe and if there's blood, leave it alone for a few hours. Good luck!

 

[chicknfun]

Quote: OH MY, I have avoided ducklings everywhere, for that exact reason. Then my daughter went to the feed store with Dad..........shoulda kept her home.....I now have 2 Cayugas, 5 weeks old....
They are so sweet, fun and cute!!!!! Messy boy are they messy, but OMG

them

 

[Doug Hodges]

Quote: Should I pip them all and add moisture to the inner membrane?
I pipped 5 that are chirping and added moisture. The peeps are strong and loud. I didn't detect any movement or sounds in the other 15.

 

[MissBroodyHen]

Ok fingers crossed i have seemed to have got it within .2c of 102/98c hopefully it wont fluctuate but im not sure i will get any sleep tonight. I'm hoping It will stay like this, am keeping a hawks eye on it.

Decided to get my lappy out next o the bator so going to have a nose around the site!

lol

 

[sumi]

Quote: I haven't incubated an egg with a ruptured air cell. Yet. I think you should wash the dirty ones. An incubator with all that wonderful warmth and humidity is a great place to breed bacteria and problems. Think about it. Here's some info and managing damaged air cells so long:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...t-of-damaged-and-mal-positioned-egg-air-cells

 

[sumi]

Quote: Should I pip them all and add moisture to the inner membrane?
I pipped 5 that are chirping and added moisture. The peeps are strong and loud. I didn't detect any movement or sounds in the other 15.
That sounds good. They can breathe easy and that's all they need at the moment. Now wait for them to finish absorbing the blood in the membrane and the yolk before letting them out. Have you looked at the article?

 

[chicknfun]

Quote: Should I pip them all and add moisture to the inner membrane?
I pipped 5 that are chirping and added moisture. The peeps are strong and loud. I didn't detect any movement or sounds in the other 15.
With the one I assisted, there were several times that i thought it had died, could be resting. proceed slowly, as Sumi said.

 

[Doug Hodges]

That sounds good. They can breathe easy and that's all they need at the moment. Now wait for them to finish absorbing the blood in the membrane and the yolk before letting them out. Have you looked at the article?

Ive read all of 101 and hit a few parts several times again and again. I have all the eggs marked and am going to pip the rest when the heat gets back up. I think most of them are still alive.