EEEEE!!! They're starting, they're starting!!!

[AK_Button_Mama]

Quote:
well I understand what your saying I just think that there is a window for them to hatch and 16-18 is what I have experienced with buttons.... or 18-20 with coturnix and 21- 23 with chicken eggs.

as for humans that wasnt a very good comparison cause in my oppinion there are ALLOT of humans who whould not be allowed to reproduce... and gestation time isnt one of the reasons why they shouldnt be allowed to not reproduce.... they are just DUMB.... but I digress.... sorry..

 

[CrimsonRose]

Hatching time doesn't necessarily mean the chick is unhealthy... The hatch date is effected by the temp... if you have a cold spot in your bator (even only 1 degree lower than another area) then the eggs in that section will take longer to hatch... The temp is the main factor that determines when they hatch... Now if it has trouble getting out of the shell and is weak (if this is the reason it takes longer to hatch) then yes I wouldn't breed a weak bird... But if it zips pops out and is healthy then how long it took to hatch shouldn't matter...

My quail always hatch on day 17 or 18 I've even had them hatch on day 19 and they were quite healthy...

I've even had weak and fragile chicks hatch earlier than the rest...

 

[Bettacreek]

Meh, it's a forced air. Either way, I only plan to keep a very limited number of them, and I will have a surplus, so I can be as picky as I want with the breeders, lol.

 

[Bettacreek]

The little cinnamon with the thing hanging from its butt is dead.

I wasn't going to hold my breath on him, because of the thing on it, but still.

 

[citalk2much]

Poor baby sorry!

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm just sick right now. My one brooder doesn't have a top, this is the brooder that I've BEEN using without any issues. I woke up several times during the night and the cat had been sleeping beside it or watching them, but never touched anything. She had done the same thing for all of the rest of the batches. Just now, I walk in and hear screechy-peeps, and she's eating one. There are three babies in there now. She's locked in the bathroom until I can get hubby to help me clean up the other 20 long fish tank that has a reptile lid. I'm just beyond sick. I can't believe she did that, she's such a great cat, never mussing or fussing with anything.
As for the other eggs, nobody else hatched. With a whole whopping three babies left, I'd take late hatchers, but I don't think anyone else will hatch anyways. *Sigh* I still can't believe that she did that, after watching baby birds in there for this long. Maybe the change of tone from 2 weekers to day olds was just too much for her. darn.

 

[Bettacreek]

Well, I found another one, alive, but chilled. Could have been out of the brooder for up to two hours, not to mention any damage the cat may have done when helping herself to the "popcorn".

I could just shoot myself in the foot right now.

 

[Catalina]

Sorry about your peeps

My cat ate 3 of my baby pheasants once. It sucks! Hugs to you

 

[Bettacreek]

Well, hubby is ticked. He wants the cat gone.

I closed her in the bathroom door, put a lid over top of the brooder, and then had to pick hubby up. I was gone for ten minutes, and in that ten minutes, the cat somehow managed to get out of the bathroom, tore apart the brooder and killed all but one, and I think it is the weak one that she had previously pulled out. Just lovely. This is exactly the way the bettas were going, it seemed like EVERYTHING went wrong, and it's just going that way now with the buttons.
Now, I'm not sure what to do, I'll have to find clamps or something for the lid of the brooders, and make new cages for the adults. I was using the cheap sterilite containers that had pop on/off lids, but I'm going to have to get the more expensive ones with the latches and make cages out of them to prevent her from getting the taste for adults yet too.

 

[Bettacreek]

I did the nasty, opened the incubator and pulled an egg out at a time until I found one that should have hatched (I pulled three, two were either infertile and nasty, or the chicks died way early on). The third egg was a full term chick, just dead, and the membrane seemed a little dry. My humidity was around 63% when I opened it. I may try to get it closer to 70% for future hatches (darn it, I'm NOT going to give up yet). Unfortunately, I think anything that is left is dead as well. I haven't had any action for almost an entire 24 hours now. With just one peeper left, I ended up putting him with the rest of them. He wouldn't stop trying to get to them (the brooders were side-by-side) and wouldn't shut up and didn't even notice when I went in after him, he was just too busy trying to get to his cousins.

I watched for awhile, and I did notice some toe-picking from the older buttons, but the chickies were really good with him. Is there anything I can do to get the other buttons to leave his toes alone?