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

[ozexpat]

No sweat, you got this

you never have it till they hatch.

i got a message from bernie that we have a power outage. we should be ok. I have 12 hrs of battery back up but there are always things that can get you.

 

[familypendragon]

Oh and forgot to say that was a much better hatch with the new set up (local eggs too) - 12 of 12 pipped, 11 hatched, 12th turned and closed her own air hole and suffocated. Another that hatched just fine, laid down and then died in the hatcher (???) So 10 made it to the brooder. One was a major assist and died the next day which was expected, but at least she got a nice day. In the end we have 9 of 12 still, though one is so tiny and doesn't want to eat or drink so may lose her too. A tiny blue orpington that came from a very tiny egg. The breeds are Isbars, Cream Legbars, Swedish Flower Hen, Mille Fleur LEghorn, Spitzhauber and Barthuhner... I don't think I forgot anyone. I had 2 of my own leghorn mixes due today too and they hatched pretty as you please There is one in now that is due that I don't have much hope for... I think I may have accidentally put a double yolker in there and I can see beak in the pointy end :/ And 2 more are due in the next couple days.

 

[familypendragon]

Oh wow, that was maybe the saddest and most disturbing chick hatching death I've ever dealt with

I candled the possible double yolker again trying to understand what i was seeing. It was like there was an air cell in both ends. I could see a beak in what looked like the extra air cell in the pointy end and the air cell was filling with what appeared to be blood while I watched. I didn't know what to do so I tried opening the right end in case there were 2 chicks and the one at the other end was ok. All I could see was yolk and a foot pushing on the membrane - there was already 2 tiny tears in the membrane - 1 leaking blood and one leaking yolk. I doubted anything was going to live through this but figured I'd try. I poked a tiny hole in the pointy end air cell and there was indeed an open chamber. I opened it some more to see what was going on and a chicks whole head had ripped through the membrane in that end and blood was trickling in filling the chamber. I didn't know what to do. I think the other twin had died because there was also rotting liquid yolk - like a dark gray green liquid leaking out of the membrane and the chick was swimming in it and gasping. There was nothing I could do except talk to her and pet her with the end of a q-tip trying to clear her nostrils and mouth of all the rotten fluid and blood. She just gasped a couple more times and died. Poor sweet baby. I will make double sure never to set an egg that big again just in case.

 

[TweetyNPetey]

Two new additions to the family; Buttons and Snowball, baby bunnies! I will get pics tomorrow morning. They're so adorable, brother and sister, Snowball is albino with the most beautiful eyes, blue with a red pupil. Buttons is soft, fluffy, and she's white with brown eyes and a brown mustache with black spots running down her back.

 

[ozexpat]

Oh wow, that was maybe the saddest and most disturbing chick hatching death I've ever dealt with

I candled the possible double yolker again trying to understand what i was seeing. It was like there was an air cell in both ends. I could see a beak in what looked like the extra air cell in the pointy end and the air cell was filling with what appeared to be blood while I watched. I didn't know what to do so I tried opening the right end in case there were 2 chicks and the one at the other end was ok. All I could see was yolk and a foot pushing on the membrane - there was already 2 tiny tears in the membrane - 1 leaking blood and one leaking yolk. I doubted anything was going to live through this but figured I'd try. I poked a tiny hole in the pointy end air cell and there was indeed an open chamber. I opened it some more to see what was going on and a chicks whole head had ripped through the membrane in that end and blood was trickling in filling the chamber. I didn't know what to do. I think the other twin had died because there was also rotting liquid yolk - like a dark gray green liquid leaking out of the membrane and the chick was swimming in it and gasping. There was nothing I could do except talk to her and pet her with the end of a q-tip trying to clear her nostrils and mouth of all the rotten fluid and blood. She just gasped a couple more times and died. Poor sweet baby. I will make double sure never to set an egg that big again just in case.

oh my. you have some dramas.

double yokers are great to eat but buggers to hatch.

sorry you had to go through that.

 

[familypendragon]

oh my. you have some dramas.
 
double yokers are great to eat but buggers to hatch.
 
sorry you had to go through that. 

I wish I could just set and forget. But I figure I am still learning and I want to understand everything. For now I am hatching a bunch of my mutts for the learning experience, but next I have 3 surviving Colloncas and 3 surviving Huastecs (knock on wood) from my (2nd) batch of 20 mostly scrambled shipped eggs. Then I have potentially 10 Bielefelders - though I have been avoiding candling them since they were shipped eggs and I don't want any bad news yet, LOL!

 

[ozexpat]

I wish I could just set and forget. But I figure I am still learning and I want to understand everything. For now I am hatching a bunch of my mutts for the learning experience, but next I have 3 surviving Colloncas and 3 surviving Huastecs (knock on wood) from my (2nd) batch of 20 mostly scrambled shipped eggs. Then I have potentially 10 Bielefelders - though I have been avoiding candling them since they were shipped eggs and I don't want any bad news yet, LOL!

I had some disasters along the way. We all learn from them.

I have had Bernie hatching mutts for 2 months learning. He is now up to the 90% rate. This is why I had a better hatch with the quail and am hoping for a great hatch with the chicken eggs that candled well. I should know in 36 hours.

We had a power outage today. I have 2 massive truck batteries and an inverter so the bators did not miss a beat.

 

[familypendragon]

I had some disasters along the way. We all learn from them.
 
I have had Bernie hatching mutts for 2 months learning. He is now up to the 90% rate. This is why I had a better hatch with the quail and am hoping for a great hatch with the chicken eggs that candled well. I should know in 36 hours.
 
We had a power outage today. I have 2 massive truck batteries and an inverter so the bators did not miss a beat.

Thank goodness for that!

 

[ozexpat]

Thank goodness for that!

6 hrs later power on. 1st battery still had life in it.

time to go into lockdown

 

[sumi]

Oh wow, that was maybe the saddest and most disturbing chick hatching death I've ever dealt with

I candled the possible double yolker again trying to understand what i was seeing. It was like there was an air cell in both ends. I could see a beak in what looked like the extra air cell in the pointy end and the air cell was filling with what appeared to be blood while I watched. I didn't know what to do so I tried opening the right end in case there were 2 chicks and the one at the other end was ok. All I could see was yolk and a foot pushing on the membrane - there was already 2 tiny tears in the membrane - 1 leaking blood and one leaking yolk. I doubted anything was going to live through this but figured I'd try. I poked a tiny hole in the pointy end air cell and there was indeed an open chamber. I opened it some more to see what was going on and a chicks whole head had ripped through the membrane in that end and blood was trickling in filling the chamber. I didn't know what to do. I think the other twin had died because there was also rotting liquid yolk - like a dark gray green liquid leaking out of the membrane and the chick was swimming in it and gasping. There was nothing I could do except talk to her and pet her with the end of a q-tip trying to clear her nostrils and mouth of all the rotten fluid and blood. She just gasped a couple more times and died. Poor sweet baby. I will make double sure never to set an egg that big again just in case.

How awful! I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

But I'm glad to hear you had such a good hatch otherwise! I really enjoyed the chick pics, especially the 3rd one. OMG that face! You guys know how to make me smile first thing in the morning