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

[maryhysong]

Dog attack???? not another one, chad on BYC just lost a ton of his chickens!

and YAYYAYYA!!!! go peepers go!!!

yeah lost 3 5 mo old Muscovy ducks, my 3 banty hens, 2 of my BO pullets; the other 2 BO pullets, the roo and 2 'scovies are in intensive care in the living room....I think they might make it except one of the BO pullets who has deep punctures in the top of her head. ;-(

 

[chicksooner]

yay! a little bright spot today after spending the morning cleaning up after the dog attack yesterday and tending the wounded survivors.

Have at least 3 pips, one bantyX and two BCM! yeay! excited on those! Don't see anything on the EE yet. and of course I have to leave home in a bit for a couple of hours. would be fun to come home to some peepers tho!

Sorry for the dog attack. Go Peepers!

 

[chicksooner]

Just witnessed my guineas ganging up on my pup. It was funny since they were treating her like she treats them when they are pinned. I think they were laughing at her since she was chained up. The big beast is afraid of them when they are roaming the yard.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: awwww

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Just witnessed my guineas ganging up on my pup. It was funny since they were treating her like she treats them when they are pinned. I think they were laughing at her since she was chained up. The big beast is afraid of them when they are roaming the yard.

LOL

 

[maryhysong]

no peepers yet. and not really any noise from the 'bator; last time they were loud! Sign. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Good news! 5 black BCM x Comets and 1 Yellow chirping and getting more energy! resting alot yet!




Do you see the black guy front left (ENLARGE THE PIC BELOW)
he popped out but was sorta weird stuck sideways and his head somehow was back in the shell!

IF you notice how LARGE he is..... his back hardly has feathers, I will assume from reading the notes in the
summary article of this thread that he is a result of HIGH HUMIDITY, which makes sence from being in lockdown with all those others for so many extra days...



so after giving that guy a big of help righting himself, I took out the remaining unpipped egg, dont ask my why, my gut told me to is all I can tell you, no other reason...... I candled and his air cell was the size of a DIME, yes DIME!!!

I assumed he was either dead or going to die because there was NO NO NO Way he could possibly move in that space that big!
So I marked the candle lines on the shell and started zipping real small along that line, then I saw for sure he was HUGE!!! filling the entire egg!!! you can kinda see in the picture. So I new I had to try to find his beak, which I have learned that TYPICALLY the beak will be found at the lower dip of the air cell, so I wet with just a drop of warm water so I could see through the membrane and there it was!! I cleaned the membrane off his beak with a tweezers and he started breathing, I dont expect the poor thing to live, but I at least had to give him a chance. I went down to check on them again and wet some more because he moved and I wanted to make sure his beak stayed clear

I dont want to freak and hang down there and then get upset, its best to let them do their thing and give them time, lotsa time when u help.... he did give me a drop of blood : ( so I stopped after I chipped the top of the shell off a tad more so that he can get out when he is ready, I sure wish I wasnt lazy, I should have ran upstairs for the camera during the candle!

But I honestly thought it was a gonner......

BOY DOES THAT SOUND LIKE I SHOULD HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON OR WHAT?????????




So MAYBE we will see yet ANOTHER MIRACLE Chick!!
And so many people say dont help, I wouldnt have half that I hatched if I didnt help!
But Thank goodness I only had 1 and a half lol to help with allllll these eggs!!!
so yes.... there are 25+ new peeps chirpin down there!

REMEMBER these are Chads, a friend from BYC eggs from the chickens that a neighbors dog killed!
If he wants them he can have them in a few days after I make sure they will make it!

 

[Sparkypatriot15]

Wow that's awesome! 25+ peepers?! AND a huge chick?! Your like the master at this!i hope the huge one makes it

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Wow that's awesome! 25+ peepers?! AND a huge chick?! Your like the master at this!i hope the huge one makes it

Wow that's awesome! 25+ peepers?! AND a huge chick?! Your like the master at this!i hope the huge one makes it

LOL not even close Sparky!!! that got me an early chuckle...... But thanks!

The new cooler bator we made to be as perfect as we (I) studied up on, HOWEVER it still wasnt close to perfect, the water wells are an issue for sure.
YOU MUST be able to get water IN EASILY, AND you also need to be able to REMOVE it EASILY! My styro bator I had rigged with aquarium tubing and a medicine syringe.
That works well in the styro bator! Going to read more on that area and we dont need a egg turner, I like the egg turning : ) personal preference.... but I am going to buy one of those plastic trays with alot of holes for incubating shipped eggs. I will show u what all we changed in regards to that homemade bator, but the hubby and harmony did a wonderful job with it otherwise!

TEMP ~ Try to hold that TEMP 99.5-100 Without variation, (which our cooler bator does BETTER THAN THE STYRO BATOR!) you can open and close and open and close and it still stays within a 1 degree varience! REMEMBER to add rocks, glas jars with warm water to help retain heat! Just in case u loose electric and arent aware. And I noticed with a FULL BATOR it holds everything alot stabiler than NOT! so use more water jars to fill up space to help keep steady.

PLUS ~ MAKE SURE with MANY THERMOMETERS/Hygrom to calibrate and know which thermometers to go by, BUT ALWAYS keep a reg inubator thermometer that is calibrated inside for quick adjustments, SMALL ADJUSTMENTS ONLY!! REMEMBER the digital thermometers take a while to raise and lower, but the reg ones are quicker! I dont use a probe one, dont think I will either with the new bator, but would want one for the styro bator as that temp is a tad harder to control, the one hygro/thermo I have even shows what the max and min temps have been! GREAT for when the power was out and I could see those fluxs and know I was still ok with them!!

Humidity~ I only add warm water if it goes below 30% and add to Smallest well FIRST! Then day 18 I raise to the lower 60's but once they start hatching its out of control from their wet selves and goes into the 70's which has been ok....

After all this batch went through, I think perhaps SET IT AND FORGET works! I also think I have gone candle happy on my other batches, this time they only had it on day 8 and day 18! look but DO NOT TOUCH....

Another NOTE: I want to get a different candler, the one I have gets HOT! it plugs in. Gonna try the flashlight route

SPARKEY do you have a turner in the new bator?

 

[patrickschick]

yeah lost 3 5 mo old Muscovy ducks, my 3 banty hens, 2 of my BO pullets; the other 2 BO pullets, the roo and 2 'scovies are in intensive care in the living room....I think they might make it except one of the BO pullets who has deep punctures in the top of her head. ;-(

HI! I'm sorry about the dog attack. That's a wicked thing that I wouldn't wish on anyone! I lost 4/5 roos and the rest hens. 15 of 29 taken out before I got the dog. Triedd to save the BCM roo and he didn't make it.

Completely understand where your at with that. My PA BYC family all reached out and have been helping me get my flock back up. Why? Cuz they are AWSOME!