From lockdown, 3 chicks made it. Last night's zipper died in the shell and was a large egg and a large chick. It's beak was under it's wing and it filled the shell. Guess I should have gone in late last night instead of waiting for him to finish up.
So today I checked eggs using the water method and one I cracked open that the egg didn't move at all, was alive and a week from hatching. About 1/3 of the egg in size. So now I'm a chicken killer. I feel bad for losing two chicks like this.
I put all eggs in hatch position in the bator and they are all on lockdown again. There were a couple heartbeats, but I'm thinking there are a lot more live chickies in those eggs.
Should have more hatching out in 3 to 7 days.
House ambient humidity is 80%. So I removed the paper towels, etc from the bator. It is supposed to thunderstorm all week and I have hygrometers inside and outside the bator.
Temp setting and egg heights were good enough to hatch out chicks, so I'm not messing with it. Just check with the flashlight in the viewing windows and leaving it all alone.
The GREAT news is that I stole eating eggs out from underneath the broody hens, two hens sitting that nest, and one egg was wrapped in another shell. The back hen has a chirping/peeping under her!! So that would be the 4th Wellie.
Guess I better start putting chick crumbles back in that coop for the chickie to eat when they let it out of the nest!!
This is a first for me. I plan to steal the chicks there and put them in the brooder. That coop isn't as safe as I would like for chickies and I don't want them getting 'lice' from the hens, even though there is DE in the nesting material, wood ashes and DE in the coop. The hens legs look much better now with all the wood ashes and DE. I did a vaseline/tea tree oil treatment on them when I first got them. But I haven't caught anybody and checked their vents. (Didn't want to mess up the broody hens this close to their hatching)
Just wish the hens would lay in a different nest for the eating eggs! Fed the dogs this last batch cause they've been in there for a few days.
Cheers and I will have chick pictures tomorrow when they are fluffy!
