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

[Sparkypatriot15]

Hey I'm having some problems with my egg. I only have one egg in lockdown, and I've been having horrible luck with humidity. It's day 20 for my egg, an I see no attempts to hatch whatsoever. No wiggling, no pipping, nothin. And I don't know if I'm supposed to candle or not, this late into incubation. Any help? Would it be ok I I just pippe the air sac and candled tomorrow afternoon to see if its even still alive? If so then I would put it back in the bator for another day so it could absorb. It's my only egg left and I'm really hoping it'll hatch! Any help would be great!!

 

[KYTinpusher]

We hatched runner ducks. Here they are at 1 or 2 days old:

Here they are at 2 months old in the bathtub:

We used a 110 gallon recycled rubber stock tank for the brooder. We used a 2x2 across the top with cup hooks in it to suspend the food and water containers at one end of the brooder. They also needed a deep bowl of water that they could stick their whole beak into after eating. To try to keep the mess to a minimum, we used a large cottage cheese container (the size sold at warehouse clubs) with a hole cut out of the lid for them to stick their head through. This created a lip to catch some of the mess as they will fling their beak around in it. We placed that container into a larger bowl (think large dog bowl) to catch some more of the water. That water needed to be changed 2-3 times a day and it becomes very greasy. All of the food and water should be kept away from the bedding area. I covered the bottom of the brooder with the shredded paper and wood shavings, and then added a large, low-sided rubbermaid container with the same inside the brooder so they had a dry place to sleep. I had to have a ramp for them to climb into it.

If you can get them to imprint on you when they hatch, that might make things easier. Our did not and are quite shy. Catching them is a chore and we only do it when we have to.

They are really adorable, but all ducklings will now be raised by a duck outside!

 

[KYTinpusher]

Hey I'm having some problems with my egg. I only have one egg in lockdown, and I've been having horrible luck with humidity. It's day 20 for my egg, an I see no attempts to hatch whatsoever. No wiggling, no pipping, nothin. And I don't know if I'm supposed to candle or not, this late into incubation. Any help? Would it be ok I I just pippe the air sac and candled tomorrow afternoon to see if its even still alive? If so then I would put it back in the bator for another day so it could absorb. It's my only egg left and I'm really hoping it'll hatch! Any help would be great!!

I would give it at least 2 more days before you open the incubator - that is why it is called lockdown. Opening it now to candle will do more harm than good. I know it is hard, but have patience. You can try to listen really, really closely to see if you hear peeping from inside the egg - with the incubator closed, of course. Some eggs hatch at 22, 23, or even 24 days incubation. DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR! Sending good hatching vibes!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Don't forget to place a cloth, crinoline is best, on the screen floor of the incubator. This protects the navel, the place where the abdomen closes after surrounding the remains of the yolk, from injury. It also makes cleaning the incubator easier. The longer eggs are held before setting, the lower the fertility will be. Try to set eggs before they are ten days old. At three weeks, the fertility will drop to zero.http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res21-poorhatches.html

I did not have this, or paper towels.... I wonder if this is why the chick bled today, it stopped immediately after I patted corn starch on his butt. And cant even tell anything was wrong now!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Have you had high or low humidity? and at what stages? I suggest not opening the bator as well, at least until you explain your process .. Have you been doing dry incubation? There are sooooo many factors involved!

IF you KNOW your humidity was low and air sacks larger (did you track by sight or weight?) then you may possibly have to assist, like I had to this entire last batch! I screwed up thinking that since the humidity was high during a lockdown of staggered hatch that I would need to keep my humidity real low and WAIT until I saw first pip.... to raise it...

WRONG I should have raised it for lockdown and it would have made a difference. the last one only made it because I did the teeny tiny tiny hole on the very top of the egg, air cell end ONLY AFTER I SAW his internal pip with the candler did I make the hole. I looked into that little hole with my candler (wasnt easy) only to find a weak barely breathing chick with his little beak barely open from the white very inner membrane! So I did the assist, a Looooongggg process it was a days process until he was stumbling in the bator and out of shell.

Hey I'm having some problems with my egg. I only have one egg in lockdown, and I've been having horrible luck with humidity. It's day 20 for my egg, an I see no attempts to hatch whatsoever. No wiggling, no pipping, nothin. And I don't know if I'm supposed to candle or not, this late into incubation. Any help? Would it be ok I I just pippe the air sac and candled tomorrow afternoon to see if its even still alive? If so then I would put it back in the bator for another day so it could absorb.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

We hatched runner ducks. Here they are at 1 or 2 days old:

Here they are at 2 months old in the bathtub:

We used a 110 gallon recycled rubber stock tank for the brooder. We used a 2x2 across the top with cup hooks in it to suspend the food and water containers at one end of the brooder. They also needed a deep bowl of water that they could stick their whole beak into after eating. To try to keep the mess to a minimum, we used a large cottage cheese container (the size sold at warehouse clubs) with a hole cut out of the lid for them to stick their head through. This created a lip to catch some of the mess as they will fling their beak around in it. We placed that container into a larger bowl (think large dog bowl) to catch some more of the water. That water needed to be changed 2-3 times a day and it becomes very greasy. All of the food and water should be kept away from the bedding area. I covered the bottom of the brooder with the shredded paper and wood shavings, and then added a large, low-sided rubbermaid container with the same inside the brooder so they had a dry place to sleep. I had to have a ramp for them to climb into it.

If you can get them to imprint on you when they hatch, that might make things easier. Our did not and are quite shy. Catching them is a chore and we only do it when we have to.

They are really adorable, but all ducklings will now be raised by a duck outside!

OMG is all I can say!!! I will wait for spring when they can be outdoors !! Holy PepperPOTS and SOME!!!

 

[Wulfandwyn]

Well I candled the SFH eggs in the bator and 6 were no good. One had a blood ring, one had two little black spots with no movement, and the other four did not look like there was any development. I didn't do an eggtopsy though. So that leaves me with 6 hopeful eggs

with about two weeks to go. These are the same eggs that had the egg explosion in the bator with them.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Well I candled the SFH eggs in the bator and 6 were no good. One had a blood ring, one had two little black spots with no movement, and the other four did not look like there was any development. I didn't do an eggtopsy though. So that leaves me with 6 hopeful eggs

with about two weeks to go. These are the same eggs that had the egg explosion in the bator with them.

that stinks!!!!!!!!!!! those that remain better behave!!!!!!!!

do u remember was there anything wrong at all with the shell of the one that exploded? thin or porous.

 

[sumi]

How's Jack Black doing now?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

How's Jack Black doing now?

gonna go check them all!