Hands on hatching and help

[Blooie]

@RubyNala97 , who are you kidding? I got some of your eggs to hatch.....how can you say you mark air cells when your eggs are so fresh they don't HAVE air cells?? Took a few days before they started becoming visible. And yep, every loss must have been a girl. I can't believe the total difference in stamina, appearance and the way they carry themselves between the chicks I hatched out of your eggs and the chicks Ken ordered from the hatchery. Night and day, even though they were raised the exact same way - Mama Heating Pad and outdoors as soon as possible. Your chicks are "stately" cute....these hatchery chicks are "ugly" cute.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

OK so my last one has had its back pushed out of it's shell long enough to be fluffy.. should I help?

ETA: it has a wing out and is still breathing

 

[ChcknNurse]

Oh, for heaven's sake! I did read that in your post and still blew it, telling you something you already knew and do. Only excuse I have is I'm hungry. Will that work? Sorry!

 

[ChcknNurse]

I just came home from work and I can see at least 5 pips/start zips.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

How do you make the decision when you need to cull a chick? And how do you do it? I also try to save the lives but... There does come a point when you know they aren't gonna make it. Actually where I got my silkies, he had some hatch with club feet (from shipped eggs) and didn't cull but you could tell they weren't going to live too much longer, once the real competion among the flock started. Gosh it seems calouse to cull right away on one hand but on the other hand, watching them eventually fail (assuming your not running a long term rehab home) or even worse be pecked to death by the flock has got to be even harder. I saw one of my chicks get stuck in bird netting that I have and as soon as it started screaming bunches gathered around to start pecking! Pretty sure it would have seen its' demise were I not there to intervene.

I think you said it well.. not guilty, just sorry I can't save them all. Maybe disappointed for some to.

I started using the gas method. I've only had to cull 2 so far. I can not cut off heads. Just can't. Lighter fluid soaked rags in a closed container. The first one was last year,I had a hen come up missing. She had gotten in the landlord's shed and decided to hatch out 18 babies under his crap. As I pulled them out the one on the very bottom was not good. His legs went completely straight out each side worse then most spraddle leg and his back angled in. Looked like broken spine. There was no question, no other option but to cull.

My second was my first silkie hatch this year. One had leg problems couldn't stand. Couldn't push itself up. Even though the legs didn't appear spraddled, I braced, I did the cup, for 5 days I tried to "fix" it to no avail. I made the decisions.

If a chick/chicken can not have a decent quality of life, be pain free, be mobile, then I feel it's a need to cull. I don't cull for imperfections, defects if I feel the bird can have a decent life, but I can't watch a sick/deformed bird struggle through life on a daily basis.

I just came home from work and I can see at least 5 pips/start zips.

Good luck!

 

[Pyxis]

Hey!! How's it going?? I'm sure busy with spring, right?!

Yep, pretty busy! Building coops, just got into rabbits so I'm building hutches and stuff for them, and I'm still hatching. I just have guineas left in the incubator but if the ACs start laying again then I will be doing their eggs too.

 

[ChcknNurse]

Anyone have a good little chick cheering audiofile that I can play to encourage hatching chicks? I do it until the first one in the bator hatches. Then there is usually enough chirping to keep them going.

 

[RubyNala97]

@RubyNala97 , who are you kidding? I got some of your eggs to hatch.....how can you say you mark air cells when your eggs are so fresh they don't HAVE air cells?? Took a few days before they started becoming visible. And yep, every loss must have been a girl. I can't believe the total difference in stamina, appearance and the way they carry themselves between the chicks I hatched out of your eggs and the chicks Ken ordered from the hatchery. Night and day, even though they were raised the exact same way - Mama Heating Pad and outdoors as soon as possible. Your chicks are "stately" cute....these hatchery chicks are "ugly" cute.

Thank you! I'm very pleased to know there is a big difference. Lol. If you ever want more eggs....just let me know!

OK so my last one has had its back pushed out of it's shell long enough to be fluffy.. should I help?

ETA: it has a wing out and is still breathing

Is this chick out?

Yep, pretty busy! Building coops, just got into rabbits so I'm building hutches and stuff for them, and I'm still hatching. I just have guineas left in the incubator but if the ACs start laying again then I will be doing their eggs too.

I love bunnies! Long before chickens I bred Netherlands dwarfs. It was very fun. Happy to hear everything is going good.

Anyone have a good little chick cheering audiofile that I can play to encourage hatching chicks? I do it until the first one in the bator hatches. Then there is usually enough chirping to keep them going.

Try typing into YouTube "day old chicks peeping". We had a really good one to use but it got taken down.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I use YouTube videos.

 

[Blooie]

@Annjee Um, standing at the incubator saying "cheep cheep cheep" just doesn't work. Ask me how I know - or better yet, don't ask. <sigh>

I happened to have taken an iPhone video of some brand new chicks I had gotten and was raising in the house. So I found that and played it. They couldn't see how much fun the chicks were having, but they sure could hear them!! So yep, check YouTube.