Early chicken hatch!

[risingeaglefarm]

I was expecting the ducks to hatch today and not the chickens for another 3 days at least, but today one is pipped and peeping and the other is rocking and rolling!

 

[GitaBooks]

Awesome!

 

[Doctamomma]

That is great! How many are you hatching?

 

[risingeaglefarm]

12, I think

 

[aquagal]

I am hatching for the first time....well my broody hen is at least! I don't have a rooster but got a dozen fertile eggs - supposedly laid that day. It is day 19 if day 1 is the day after I gave her the eggs.

Each day I take away the newly laid eggs so she only has the original dozen. I have some clumsy girls and find a broken egg a couple times per month (in the nesting boxes) and was upset to find a broken egg under my broody this morning. I thought she must have been upset too, she is normally very sweet and happy to move once a day so I can remove some of the 'extra' unfertilized eggs. The broken egg was not from a clumsy hen, I have a baby chick (!!!!!).

I tried to candle the eggs twice, but never saw any movement or anything any of the pictures on line show and have been mentally preparing myself for a zero chick hatch. I can't believe how over the moon excited I am! There is another egg tonight with a hole in it (I had to go see if the chick was still alive... I still can't believe it!)

Is it normal for the eggs to hatch 2 days early? I keep reading about 'lockdown' but other than my 2 attempts at candeling, I haven't messed with any of the eggs the whole time. Too worried I wiould upset momma hen and she would stop sitting on the eggs. Momma hen has been shifting eggs the whole time though... I am guessing she knows what she is doing though and I don't need to do anything different for or to her (??).

One more question - I had NO idea the current chick was hatching, how long should it take for this next one to go from having a hole in the shell to being out of the egg? At what point do I know an egg is bad and won't hatch??

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Idk, this is my first time hatching chicken eggs. Had 1 quail chick hatch a week late a few weeks ago, the rest quit, so I turned the heat up on my incubator thinking it was too low... Maybe I turned it up a little hot? Another thing I was thinking was because its been a little hot the last few days weather-wise. I wonder if that has something to do with it. Cooked em a little faster

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Two chicks this morning!

The ducks are quite late... I think I'll candle them

 

[aquagal]

Congrats on the 2 new babies!!

Two chicks this morning!

The ducks are quite late... I think I'll candle them

 

[risingeaglefarm]

2 more! 2 boys, and 2 girls. I'm very happy
I picked up a duck egg to candle it, and guess what-there was a bill sticking out of the bottom!
Little worried though, because it looks like its been that way for a long time, so I decided to help.... After all I heard peeping from it two nights ago, and the membrane looked dry and tan colored. I peeled away half the shell from the membrane, but left on the membrane because it had a tiny bit of blood when I tried to tear it. What should I do? Never hatched ducks before, just quail, but I assist a lot of those.

 

[GitaBooks]

We've assisted a lot of stuck chicks. They tend to be weak, which could be from genetics (so don't use them for breeding) however, we like to save them anyways.

Pick away at the shell in a ring, where the beak would have, and leave the membrane. After a little while the duckling should absorb the blood and you can carefully remove some of the membrane to help it out.
These babies are often weaker, so make sure it stays warm and has a flooring/bedding it can easily grip. Make sure not to take it out until its yolk sac is completely absorbed.

Best of luck!