First hatch!: wiggling and scratching!!

[ThaJuicyJuice]

Congratulations to you. Cupcake wrappers... good to catch hatching mess. I use coffee filters.

 

[7isheaven]

Aaaaccckkk!! I should be posting an extatic announcement but 'dunce head' the first hatched chick is wrecking havoc all over the bator! I thought they were suppose to be sleepy? He pretty much rushed sleepy (whose was on the verge of hatching) And he's rolling eggs over! Sleepy still has some yolk and red blob on his bottom- will he be ok? (except when dunce pecks it!!). Wishing I could remvove them now!

Help!!

Deborah

 

[dsqard]

The one with the yolk not fully absorbed should be OK. Keep an eye on the other one pecking at it. If that one keeps pecking at it I would suggest getting that one out of there. What kind of incubator are you using and does it recover temperature and humidity quickly? Do you have any other eggs pipped/zipping right now? If you do, you have to be real careful about shrink wrapping if you want to take that other chick out. If the pecking one is only doing very rarely, I would leave them both in there.

 

[7isheaven]

Thank you for posting some reassurance. 'Dunce cap' didn't peck very much at all and they both seem to be settling down now. After posting, I decided to just take a nap as I couldn't do anything for them and it was stressin' me out!!

Progress report! Okay, now I can post the Happy News!! WE have TWO CHICKS HATCHED!!

"sleepy" took about 20 hours from first pip to hatch. "Dunce Cap" pipped about 30 minutes later but seemed to do less- he waited until the very end [while we were asleep] to zip and then just popped out! I managed to get his hatch on video and you can see it on my blog. I named him 'Dunce Cap' because he managed to get the bottom of the shell stuck on his head! poor guy, it was killing me!

Here's a current photo:

We'll be spending another day on egg watch as we have 14 more, 5 of which pipped late yesterday.

blessings

deborah

 

[latebloomer]

whee. sounds like a fun ride.

 

[iluvsedward]

Oh my gosh I want to set another clutch sooooo bad!!! But I'm already head-over-heals when it comes to different aged chicks fighting, I think I am going to go to a pond and steal some DUCK eggs for my property... Since it couldn't hurt..

 

[snazzyboots]

Congrats on the babies

 

[smchickfarm]

congrats on the babies!!!

love the pic!

 

[7isheaven]

Thanks for the congrats!

It's now 2pm 3/9/11 and we have 4 hatched, 4 pipped, 9 waiting. . .

I'm worried about 2 of the pipped eggs that were rolled over by hatched chicks; I haven't seen any action. . . [but the others took their time too]

I'm tempted to try the steamy bathroom method to remove chicks and place remaining eggs in cut cartons. . .

The video of #1 hatching is now available on my blog [see signature]

blessings,

deborah

 

[Oona chick]

Just looked at the video on your blog and it is sooo exciting! My girls and I have 2 dozen chicks "supposed" to be hatching yesterday/today so very exciting to watch yours! Thanks.