First time EVER - chick just hatched!!!

[mulia24]

congratulation on the hatching.


hope they can be a *change* to your losses.

 

[JestersEye]

Quote:
Thanks, Mulia

Glad to see you're okay, and online, after all the recent troubles in Indonesia and the surrounding areas.

The last chick now looks like it might be a splash, instead of blue. It turns out it only looked dark while it was wet and sticky.

 

[JestersEye]

Quote:
We had an Americauna rooster for a few days, but we found him dead one evening after allowing him to free range in the yard. It was only a day or two after that when Sapphire got killed. It may have been the same predator that got them both. We also have a month-old "mystery" chick that we think is an EE. I think it's a wonderful tribute for you to hatch out some eggs from your roo. I have another 'bator full of Blue 'Laced' Andalusian and Blue Orpington eggs from Gabbard Farms that are on day 9, so we can be "hatch buddies"!

 

[Bluemoon420]

Our Roo, Gandalf, decided he had had enough of one of our dogs, Brody. Brody has his own fenced in yard with a 6 foot fence. Gandalf flew over the fence and went after Brody. We couldn't get to them in time to stop him.

We also were given 4 blue orpington bantam eggs to throw in with what we had. So maybe those will hatch also.

I'm not expecting them all to hatch. I guess I'm being realistic.

If all of them hatch, I'd be very surprised, since some were refrigerated 3 to 5 days.

Bluemoon

 

[JestersEye]

The chicks that we're hatching now are part of my son's science fair project to see how well refrigerated eggs hatch. The second chick hatched came from a "cold" egg, so don't assume those eggs won't hatch!

The colder storage might result in a higher percentage of cockerals, however, so we're gonna watch to see which chicks turn out male.

 

[Bluemoon420]

We'll see if mine do, and what we get from them.

Most were in the fridge no more than 5/6 days. I did leave them out 24 plus hours to get to room temp. The others weren't in the fridge.
I suspect I won't be able to see much when I try to candle. The shells are kind of thick. I'm not really sure what to look for, but there's only one way to learn

I do know if this all doesn't work out well, I will try again until I get it right. I'm not one who gives up easily.

Bluemoon

 

[Bluemoon420]

I just wanted to let ya know I attempted to candle my first time last night. ( day 7/8) I couldn't see much at all in any of the blue, and green eggs. I know they weren't clear.
The 4 blue orp eggs, it looks like 2 may have had blood rings, but I wasn't positive. I marked those with ?'s, and will check those in a couple days.
Out of all the brown eggs, I could see a little bit of veining in the majority. Two brown eggs in particular, I could see an eye, and the other one was moving

So even though I couldn't see much at all in some of them ( Just dark mass ) I think it went well for my first time ever, and hopefully everything remains as good as it can be. I'm trying to be practical, and not get too disappointed.

Bluemoon

 

[JestersEye]

Being my first time also, I wasn't sure early on what I was supposed to see when I candled. It's good that you marked some with ?s and left them in the 'bator. That's what I did also, and it turned out some of them did turn out to be developing. It will be much easier to see signs of progress when you candle again, once the embryos are further along. It's so neat to see movement, huh?!

Well, lo and behold, sometime after I finally went to bed last night (uh, I mean this morning)... Chick #4 got its stuff together!!! It's gone from patiently peering through its little "window" to completely hatched out. YAY!

I'm glad I waited afterall, cause I'm sure it was a more fulfilling experience for it than being "helped" out of its shell like some loser!

That chick appears to be a splash Andy; from a refrigerated egg, btw (just like chick #2).

Chick #5 (the blue? Orp) is now in the "waiting stage" with its beak sticking through a little pip hole. We'll see if it takes as long as the last chick did. 4 more Andy eggs + 1 Orp egg in the 'bator (not counting the pipper). Still hoping for more pips to come...

 

[Bluemoon420]

Congrats on the chicks!

I was kind of bummed on the two blue orps, but I might be wrong about the blood ring on those two. The other two blue orps I didn't see what looked like blood rings. They looked very similar to the blue and green eggs. Just dark mass.

It was really cool seeing movement in one of the brown eggs. At first I thought I was shaking, but quickly realized it wasn't me.

The little black dot I saw on the other one confused me at first, but then I realized it was an eye. I didn't see that one move, but the eye was cool

Bluemoon

 

[JestersEye]

Just to let ya know... I wound up having to wash each chick (to varying degrees) because they were pretty gummy after they hatched. Whenever they dried on their own, their down was all hard and stuck together in spots. This last chick even had a piece of the shell membrane stuck to its wing, which had dried into a very hard chunk! It also had a lot of blood on the top of its head that was difficult to get off.

I used a few drops of Ivory liquid dish washing soap and some lukewarm water, and scrubbed lightly with my fingers until it came off (being extrememly careful NOT to get soapy water over its tiny beak or in its eyes). Maybe a momma hen helps to clean up her chicks when left to brood them herself, or else the humidity issues in my 'bator is wreaking havoc with the process. I just thought I'd share this info in case someone else has similar problems...