EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[OneMountainAcres]

Help please! I put 23 eggs into lockdown (of which I think only 20 were definitely alive), and one pipped yesterday morning (day 20) and hatched at 1 this morning (teeeeechnically day 21, as I set at night). I just went to check on the little guy, 5 hours later, and he appears not to be drying fully. Nothing else has even pipped. How long can I safely leave the lone chick if it’s not drying off? I know they can exist without food for three days, but will the fact that it’s not drying off adversely affect it?

And - is it normal for one chick to be so ahead of the others? With no new pips almost 24 hours after the first, I’m worried they’re all gonna be dead in the shell.

Thanks for your help...

Having an early hatcher is totally normal. It could be in a hurry or just was in a warmer spot in the bator. As far as drying off, what is your humidity at right now? It may be too high if the baby isn't dying off.

 

[mlm Mike]

Or x-ray vision
Lockdown tomorrow; don't know what to think. Could have nothing; only candled the one time, & that was nothing spectacular.

Good luck!

 

[mlm Mike]

View attachment 1350817 Every time Yoda candles dark eggs, he has no problem seeing inside. He uses the Force..

I have a hatch Monday. I refilled the water and secured the lid..

Good luck!

 

[mlm Mike]

Didn’t get much chicken stuff done here this weekend. Worked in garden getting drip irrigation set back up. Plants are growing. Neighbors needed an emergency care taker which involves two houses and about 50 chickens couple cats and a dog. And some seedlings they forgot about that desperately needed water. 80 plus here today. Worked on firebreak as well.

I didn't get much done over the weekend. The nieces came down to visit Saturday, I wish they would come down more often.

 

[mlm Mike]

Help please! I put 23 eggs into lockdown (of which I think only 20 were definitely alive), and one pipped yesterday morning (day 20) and hatched at 1 this morning (teeeeechnically day 21, as I set at night). I just went to check on the little guy, 5 hours later, and he appears not to be drying fully. Nothing else has even pipped. How long can I safely leave the lone chick if it’s not drying off? I know they can exist without food for three days, but will the fact that it’s not drying off adversely affect it?

And - is it normal for one chick to be so ahead of the others? With no new pips almost 24 hours after the first, I’m worried they’re all gonna be dead in the shell.

Thanks for your help...

If you have a brooder setup at about 95*F you can pull him and let him dry off in the less humid environment.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

On this marvelous rainy day!
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If you have a brooder setup at about 95*F you can pull him and let him dry off in the less humid environment.

We do this regardless of air/moisture probs.
It's a good idea to have 2 brooders set up and ready.
Brooder #1: The "Dry Box". As they come out, they are weak and disorientated. Stumble around. Sit/stand/plop about. Our dry box let's the newbies dry and catch up in a lesser crowded environment. They don't get trampled from the first ones out as well.
Brooder #2: The "Graduation Box". The second box contains chicks whom are able to rapidly show signs of normality of developmental success. Only the strong survive is not a cliche'- it's a fact of life. If any of the chicks show signs of arrested development in the dry box, they stay in the dry box to protect them from the general population.
Eventually the Dry Box turns into the Hospital Box, after all the healthy chicks graduate to second brooder. The ones who remain will stay for rehabilitation and further evaluation.
That's what we do anyway. You can never be too prepared. What can happen, probably will happen-when not prepared.

I didn't get much done over the weekend. The nieces came down to visit Saturday, I wish they would come down more often.

Sounds like you got a lot done.. Quality family time. That takes precedence and is a very admiral character trait as well.

Good luck!

I wish you wished me a good night's sleep instead but I'll take the luck wishes!
The dry box:
Roxanne, you have to put on the red lite..

All day 20 birds. Most before midnight. This morning is day 21.

X2!

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Every time we pump the sludge out of the clay bed pig paddock, it rains the next day!
Pumped nasty fertilizer water for 3 hours last eve. It has been raining since 9pm last night.
Mother Nature has a nasty axe to grind with us.
Also, the deck on the tractor mower broke a week ago. Have to get it welded.. again.
We have been letting the goat herds over to our residence side to enjoy the obnoxiously tall grass but they attack the hedges and short trees instead. Hubby spends about an hour a day with a hand sprayer on the end of a 300' garden hose herding the ever moving herds that are like children in a candy store. They run in organized packs from area to area, going after the roses/lime trees/jasmine vines/Drake elms, leaving the grass to grow and grow. It is the funnest thing to watch.
DH-Bo-Peep.. hydro herding. Any goat owner knows they hate water. So spraying 30' away from them sends them off in the opposite direction. They are made of sugar! They run from water to avoid melting..

I hope everybody is doing good on this rainy gloomy morning!

 

[Phage]

Help please! I put 23 eggs into lockdown (of which I think only 20 were definitely alive), and one pipped yesterday morning (day 20) and hatched at 1 this morning (teeeeechnically day 21, as I set at night). I just went to check on the little guy, 5 hours later, and he appears not to be drying fully. Nothing else has even pipped. How long can I safely leave the lone chick if it’s not drying off? I know they can exist without food for three days, but will the fact that it’s not drying off adversely affect it?

And - is it normal for one chick to be so ahead of the others? With no new pips almost 24 hours after the first, I’m worried they’re all gonna be dead in the shell.

Thanks for your help...

This all sounds perfectly normal so far.
I prefer to leave the incubator undisturbed so as not to jeopardize the unhatched chicks. The early hatcher will dry off in time. It is humid in there. It is also body temp so being wet is no problem.
I know the temptation to interfere is great.
I keep humidity at 70 percent for hatching.
Messing with the incubator just now will only result is less not more successful hatches. It is what it is at this point.

Good luck!!

 

[Phage]

Hi MC
Miss you

 

[BullChick]

Whyyyyyy?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Whyyyyyy?

Why not?