Today is Day 18 and our first chick just hatched!!!
I thought we'd probably have late hatches since our homemade 'bator seemed to hold a lower-than-ideal temperature range. There seems to be a second chick attempting to pip already, as well.
My DH and I actually had to do a bit of panicked trouble-shooting this afternoon, because the lightbulb blew out in the "ready-to-hatch" 'bator! The temp had dropped to 88 degrees before I noticed. We quickly moved the eggs to our new, larger 'bator that has 6-day old eggs still in the egg turner. Thank God I was home to keep an eye on the 'bators AND had a second incubator to use in an emergency. The first 'bator is now up and running, but I'm worried to move the eggs a second time to put them back.
I was so worried that the lower temp might have harmed the chicks, but we heard two of the eggs cheeping while we were moving them. I noticed the tiniest, little dent in one of the eggs at about 3 o'clock, and it appeared a tiny bit bigger when I got home at 5:45. I had to go out to pick up my son from band practice at about 8:30 and got home around 9:15pm. The first thing we did was check the eggs to find that the chick had fully pipped. After that, things progressed very quickly!
The chick tried stretching a few times to push the shell apart, succeeded in rolling itself over a bit, and then the top of the shell seemed to just split open. With only a few more pushes, the chick was able to pop right out the top. We were all very amazed how quickly the chick was able to hatch out completely. From start to finish, it went from pipping to out-of-the-shell in only about half an hour!
The chick seems to have some gummy "stuff" stuck to it's belly and underside... Is that the remains of the yolk sac? I'm assuming it's normal, since the chick seems healthy enough from my vantage point outside the 'bator. It's wet and tired, of course; but it cheeps at me whenever I tap on the side of the incubator. Please tell me if there's anything else I need to do, or check on, for our new baby and the others that will soon follow it.
I am SO EXCITED and PROUD!!! You'd think I had laid the darned eggs?!
I thought we'd probably have late hatches since our homemade 'bator seemed to hold a lower-than-ideal temperature range. There seems to be a second chick attempting to pip already, as well.
My DH and I actually had to do a bit of panicked trouble-shooting this afternoon, because the lightbulb blew out in the "ready-to-hatch" 'bator! The temp had dropped to 88 degrees before I noticed. We quickly moved the eggs to our new, larger 'bator that has 6-day old eggs still in the egg turner. Thank God I was home to keep an eye on the 'bators AND had a second incubator to use in an emergency. The first 'bator is now up and running, but I'm worried to move the eggs a second time to put them back.
I was so worried that the lower temp might have harmed the chicks, but we heard two of the eggs cheeping while we were moving them. I noticed the tiniest, little dent in one of the eggs at about 3 o'clock, and it appeared a tiny bit bigger when I got home at 5:45. I had to go out to pick up my son from band practice at about 8:30 and got home around 9:15pm. The first thing we did was check the eggs to find that the chick had fully pipped. After that, things progressed very quickly!
The chick tried stretching a few times to push the shell apart, succeeded in rolling itself over a bit, and then the top of the shell seemed to just split open. With only a few more pushes, the chick was able to pop right out the top. We were all very amazed how quickly the chick was able to hatch out completely. From start to finish, it went from pipping to out-of-the-shell in only about half an hour!
The chick seems to have some gummy "stuff" stuck to it's belly and underside... Is that the remains of the yolk sac? I'm assuming it's normal, since the chick seems healthy enough from my vantage point outside the 'bator. It's wet and tired, of course; but it cheeps at me whenever I tap on the side of the incubator. Please tell me if there's anything else I need to do, or check on, for our new baby and the others that will soon follow it.
I am SO EXCITED and PROUD!!! You'd think I had laid the darned eggs?!
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