Hands on hatching and help

[sharonp53]

Congrats on a successful assist, and your hatch!

One thing I believe most of us agree about is that while a damp rag/towel/etc seems like a logical thing to do, it really doesn't help the egg retain moisture. Actually the opposite, as the wetness evaporates, it draws more moisture from the egg. Many folks still do it, but I'm just sharing what I have learned. Same with misting the eggs. I don't do it, this late in the game. I only mist when I'm trying to draw more moisture out of the egg.

Other chicks turning eggs over doesn't normally bother the process, but it is possible for a pip to get closed off when its upside down, so I prefer to turn them back over. Or you can quickly pull the active ones and move them to the brooder.

External pip to hatch usually takes less than 24 hours. Some average 12, some 18, etc, but generally 24 hours is when I get worried.

Good luck with the rest, and please keep us updated!

Thank you. Just pipped a few hours ago, but one pip is closed off due to other chicks moving them, so I will move it into better position and head to bed. I was worrying because they were taking a few hours...lol. I do have to go out all day tomorrow, so anxious about that, but I need to let things happen I think, otherwise I could cause more harm than good.

Thank you again

 

[ronott1]

@ronott1 is it hard to bake bread? Goofy question for here, but I keep reading more and more on preservatives and want desperately to find better things to eat!

Bread is very simple actually. It does not have many ingredients. Many think it takes too much time but active time is not very much. It does have to rest so you have to be about for those parts and baking. It is not a good idea to put stuff into the oven and then leave the house!

Bread

7-10 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs salt 2 pck. yeast
3 cup water 1/3 cup olive oil(or peanut)

Heat water to 110°, put salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and pour water over and add oil, stir with wire whip until dissolved.

First Kneed:

Stir in 4 cups of flour until mixed well. Add more flour until you have a stiff dough and then kneed until dough is smooth and elastic (3-8 minutes).

Cover and let rise about one hour.

Punch down and kneed until smooth. Divide dough into thirds, shape into 3 loaves and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour) and then bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. Bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it and internal temperature is 195 to 205 degrees.

Variations:

Replace Sugar with Molasses, Honey, Raw Sugar or etc.

Up to half of the flour can be replaced with other types of flour or nuts and etc. Whole Wheat flour will absorb more water, so let the first kneed be a bit sticky.

Optional: Add 2 tbl. Of potato flour with the flour.

Optional: Add 2 tsp malt powder to the water mixture.

Each cup of water will make one loaf of bread. Adjust the ingredient amounts to match the number of loaves you want.

Simple and delicious!

 

[ronott1]

I know everyone has different thoughts on hatching. I personally would and do move my active chicks to the brooder as I hate to see them play soccer with the eggs. As for the duck I understand they take 28 days? I have yet to hatch ducks but will be in the spring. Best luck with your hatch!

Every time I hatch ducks, it takes less than 28 days. Usually 26. It should be a range for ducks and Turkeys! 25-28 days

 

[rookhomestead]

Thanks for the bread recipe. I'll definately be giving it a try.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks for the bread recipe. I'll definately be giving it a try.

You can adjust the recipe to make more or less loaves too! Instructions are in the recipe.

 

[WVduckchick]

Bread is very simple actually. It does not have many ingredients. Many think it takes too much time but active time is not very much. It does have to rest so you have to be about for those parts and baking. It is not a good idea to put stuff into the oven and then leave the house!

Bread

7-10 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs salt 2 pck. yeast
3 cup water 1/3 cup olive oil(or peanut)

Heat water to 110°, put salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and pour water over and add oil, stir with wire whip until dissolved.

First Kneed:

Stir in 4 cups of flour until mixed well. Add more flour until you have a stiff dough and then kneed until dough is smooth and elastic (3-8 minutes).

Cover and let rise about one hour.

Punch down and kneed until smooth. Divide dough into thirds, shape into 3 loaves and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour) and then bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. Bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it and internal temperature is 195 to 205 degrees.

Variations:

Replace Sugar with Molasses, Honey, Raw Sugar or etc.

Up to half of the flour can be replaced with other types of flour or nuts and etc. Whole Wheat flour will absorb more water, so let the first kneed be a bit sticky.

Optional: Add 2 tbl. Of potato flour with the flour.

Optional: Add 2 tsp malt powder to the water mixture.

Each cup of water will make one loaf of bread. Adjust the ingredient amounts to match the number of loaves you want.

Simple and delicious!

Saved!

 

[ronott1]

Saved!

Thanks!
I have been baking this basic recipe nearly weekly since I was 12. Back then, it was 6 or 7 cups of water which gets you 6 or 7 loaves of bread. There were 6 of us in my family growing up.

I am 57 now and we have never purchased much bread from the store

 

[Amanita]

Thanks!
I have been baking this basic recipe nearly weekly since I was 12. Back then, it was 6 or 7 cups of water which gets you 6 or 7 loaves of bread. There were 6 of us in my family growing up.

I am 57 now and we have never purchased much bread from the store

I miss the days of home made bread! My husband used to make all our bread but since we moved and the house needs so much work we have to buy it in. The industrial bread we buy tastes like a kitchen sponge...

 

[ronott1]

I miss the days of home made bread! My husband used to make all our bread but since we moved and the house needs so much work we have to buy it in. The industrial bread we buy tastes like a kitchen sponge...

You can work around the bread baking. Start it and kneed it. While it rests for an hour work on something else. After the first rise, punch it down and shape into loaves. Go do something else for an hour. Warm up the oven and bake it--you guessed, do something else while it bakes!

I hope you can get him to do this!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Hello Everyone! I just completed my first incubator hatch. I have 6 chicks that hatched (out of 24) and 2 needed assistance.

The first one pipped on Tuesday (day 21), around the same time that the first chick hatched.

By the next morning, this is all the progress the chick had made. I decided to assist because it appeared that there was a bunch of goop that was hardening around the opening in the shell and around the chick's beak.

I'm glad I did. The section of the shell to the left of the opening in the above picture was stuck HARD to the chick's down. And it was starting to shrink wrap from the air cell. I assisted until I saw blood vessels and stopped to let the chick finished hatching on it's own. You can clearly see where the goop was hardening around the chick's beak.

A few minutes later, the chick hatched the rest of the way on its own.

For several hours I was really worried about the chick. It didn't seem to be able to get its feet underneath of it, and its feet looked curled up.

It would flail over on its back any time I laid it town with its feet underneath of it unless I propped it up on an egg like this.

I decided to stop bothering the chick, it would live, or it would die. I came back a couple of hours later and it was looking MUCH better. It had its feet underneath of it, its toes were splayed out like normal, and it was bobbling around on its ankles much like the first chick had right after hatching.

On Thursday I moved this chick, along with the other 3 that had hatched out to the brooder. At first I was worried about this chick because, several times, I had come in to find the chick on its back and struggling to breathe. However, it would perk right up as soon as I righted it. The chick was having balance trouble and didn't quite have the strength to turn back over when it would fall over backwards.

I was fully expecting to find a dead chick on Friday morning. But this chick surprised me by being upright and alert. In the course of fixing things for them. I accidentally knocked this chick over and saw it immediately flip over and get back on its feet. No more turtle-ing. YAY. I took this picture this morning. It is really fluffing out and starting to keep up with the rest of the chicks. I named it Chicken Surprise. The eggs I was supposed to be hatching were New Hampshire/Dominique or Dom Cross black sex links. When I opened the shell and saw yellow down, I realized what happened. I accidentally put one of my main flock eggs in with my hatching eggs. This chick has a Buff Orp Daddy (only choice besides Black Cochin and this chick is obviously not part cochin) and Mom could be Buff Orp, Delaware, or New Hampshire. There is a slight possibility that mom could have been one of my Leghorn crosses, but their eggs don't look like CS's egg did. Only time will tell what this baby is since all those breeds/crosses start off with yellow down.