Hands on hatching and help

[JillZ]

The membranes in the hatched eggs? Could be drying out after hatch and the fan blowing on them. 69 isn't bad. Chances are the pipped ones are ok unless the membrane around the pip are looking yellowish/brown and leathery. If they hit 18-24 hours and still no progress, then I would probably check them.

14 little be boppers out of 18 eggs....I'd say doing good! lol

It's very possible he's resting getting ready for his internal pipping. Let's hope so!!!

I broke down and boosted the humidity! Since the two hatched chicks have all of that concretey stuff on them, I was really afraid that my humidity was just too low. So I upped it. And all of a sudden pips started trying to zip! Even number two, the upside down one who we gave up on. Will wait til the morning until intervening. Thank you for helping me.

 

[BlazeInTexas]

Help. I'm desperate during my first batch and, unfortunately, they are mostly endangered eggs. I've corralled several incubators because I was terrified of a minimal hatch and I'm as nervous right now as I was when I found out I was in the midst of a high risk pregnancy. I'm one day I to lockdown and a basketcase. 4 thermometers giving me 4 readings and 2 different humidity readings. All different. I thought I had too many eggs for a comfortable hatch in a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance so on day 18 I placed them in a Farm Innovators Pro Series model 4250. How high humidity is too high at this point??? I've only candled once and marked the air sacs as well as I could since the majority of the eggs are extremely dark Marans....unfortunately a lot of the Coronation Sussex didn't fertilize. I thought about putting them back into the Brinsea but the air vent slide is inop and I can't see myself watching 24+ eggs hatch in that tiny little space and not trying to get them out before the 24hrs are up and they're all dry first. I just feel woefully in over my head and driving myself crazy. Now I just noticed someone must've bumped the incubator cuz the lines of eggs are all akilter and now I don't know which ones may be wrong side up.....

 

[JillZ]

Help. I'm desperate during my first batch and, unfortunately, they are mostly endangered eggs. I've corralled several incubators because I was terrified of a minimal hatch and I'm as nervous right now as I was when I found out I was in the midst of a high risk pregnancy. I'm one day I to lockdown and a basketcase. 4 thermometers giving me 4 readings and 2 different humidity readings. All different. I thought I had too many eggs for a comfortable hatch in a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance so on day 18 I placed them in a Farm Innovators Pro Series model 4250. How high humidity is too high at this point??? I've only candled once and marked the air sacs as well as I could since the majority of the eggs are extremely dark Marans....unfortunately a lot of the Coronation Sussex didn't fertilize. I thought about putting them back into the Brinsea but the air vent slide is inop and I can't see myself watching 24+ eggs hatch in that tiny little space and not trying to get them out before the 24hrs are up and they're all dry first. I just feel woefully in over my head and driving myself crazy. Now I just noticed someone must've bumped the incubator cuz the lines of eggs are all akilter and now I don't know which ones may be wrong side up.....

Hi. Just didn't want you to feel alone. I, too, am hatching with the 4250. I'm glad that you have different therms and hygros in there, because I did the same throughout incubation and even after salt testing 3 hygros and then calibrating them, they all read differently in the incubator. I have been averaging all of them throughout and feel like I can get a pretty good reading from that.
I'm finding that because I have both vents open and there are so many other ventilation holes on the tops and bottoms, that with the fan running, it does seem to dry things out really quickly when they are pipping, so I think increasing the humidity higher than I would think was normal at hatch time is better. Just my thoughts so far. I don't think I've read many that ever get over 80% humidity when hatching on purpose, so I'm kinda thinking over that is high. Also know that when they start actually hatching and get out of the shell, the humidity increases from them. Lots of people also use cut out egg carton cups to hold the eggs more upright when hatching. I'm using little mini paper cupcake liners this time and it seems to be working well. I'm pretty sure you are fine to readjust your eggs right now if you want because you are on day 19 and haven't seen any pips? Good luck. There are so many other people here that are so experienced and have much more of a clue than me! It's a stressful time, though, no doubt about it!

Edit: After the chicks hatch and the humidity rises, it does seem to come back down a bit after an hour or so.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I remember that!! 

Lol, I just looked up call ducks and they are hilarious.  They look so cute and funny with their short lil beaks.  May have to try hatching a few some day but I had better get a few more hatches under my belt before trying them.  They look tougher to hatch, are they?

Absolutely... hatching Calls is commonly called taking the 'Call Duck Challenge'... due to their short bills many have a hard time pipping and zipping externally... assisting is slow and with much patience... each batch is a learning experience for sure...

 

[BigWeenMachine]

O man, I dunno what to do. Just candled my Lyon Incubator and found that almost every one of the eggs inside appears to have big, thick blackish veins inside of them. These are runner ducks and ancona ducks and the eggs are all a lil darker shelled than the first bunch of eggs I candled at this stage. I took out 4 of the very worst looking ones and cracked the first open, only to find a developed chick kicking inside. All the veins looked dark or disappeared in this one and I was sure it was a quitter. I put 2 of the other back inside, even though one had very thick black veins inside at the bottom. Couldn't find movement in many of them, but they are all 21 or 22 days along so they are pretty dark inside and tough to see movement. Will healthy veins look really dark in darker shells?

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Absolutely... hatching Calls is commonly called taking the 'Call Duck Challenge'... due to their short bills many have a hard time pipping and zipping externally... assisting is slow and with much patience... each batch is a learning experience for sure...

I will wait some time to try those then. I am currently freaked out about all my eggs in my Lyon incubator. I think I may have a bacteria outbreak. Could that be from running the humidity too high the last couple days?

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Lol, he's out!!!  No blood.  No yolk sack hanging around.  He pushed out and stood up immediately, only to fall back to his side again, lol.  He looks great and is peeping around like crazy!!!!  Sooo glad I helped him because I think he was just stuck.

Great job!!

I know I joke a lot about hands on vs hands off, but in all seriousness, I have only had one assist that didn't grow into a healthy strong chicken. I do believe that you need to give them time, and I don't go into an unpipped shell. I am not saying that every chick I've assisted wouldn't make it out w/o help, though I know a couple there is no doubt about that. I start an assist at 24 hours after a pip, even if it's just widening the pip whole and they finish. I don't subscribe to the 'if they have to have help, they aren't worthy' mentality. 

I do believe it depends on the reason for assist as to whether they are going to survive. I think if you are assisting a chick at day 24 you have a much higher chance of that chick not making it versus a chick that is stuck or not in a good position to hatch at day 21.

I think that helping gets a bad rep because it is not done at the right time, under the wrong circumstances or without the right knowledge to assist. I believe many people that are against helping because they "always die anyway" are either not helping in the right time frame or are botching the assist, or there is something going on with the chick that can not be seen and yes, would have died either way. I can even understand those that are reluctant to help and then have to cull after, with the attitude that it's easier if they die on their own. I just can't do that. If there's a chance, I have to help. If that means I have to deal with special needs or after death cull, then I will deal with that.

We can't always save them, but in my world I can always try.

I know that there is a big difference between my little raising chickens as a hobby and those that raise for the soul purpose of producing SOP or quality sales and that the business aspect is much harder than the bleeding heart hatcher (why I could never make a business of raising for profit.)

What bothers me is the SOP and breeders belief that everyone should hold the same philosophy of the quality and many condemn the bleeding hearts for not being hardcore.  I can accept that people have different standards, I can't accept that hatchers don't allow others to have their own idea of standards and scare the living crap out of new hatchers by warnings of not helping or not experiencing the hatch.

Well said!

I tried reading the whole thread, but gave up... thought I'd pop in and say Hi!

Your babies are beautiful!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I broke down and boosted the humidity! Since the two hatched chicks have all of that concretey stuff on them, I was really afraid that my humidity was just too low. So I upped it. And all of a sudden pips started trying to zip! Even number two, the upside down one who we gave up on. Will wait til the morning until intervening. Thank you for helping me.

How are they doing this morning?

Help. I'm desperate during my first batch and, unfortunately, they are mostly endangered eggs. I've corralled several incubators because I was terrified of a minimal hatch and I'm as nervous right now as I was when I found out I was in the midst of a high risk pregnancy. I'm one day I to lockdown and a basketcase. 4 thermometers giving me 4 readings and 2 different humidity readings. All different. I thought I had too many eggs for a comfortable hatch in a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance so on day 18 I placed them in a Farm Innovators Pro Series model 4250. How high humidity is too high at this point??? I've only candled once and marked the air sacs as well as I could since the majority of the eggs are extremely dark Marans....unfortunately a lot of the Coronation Sussex didn't fertilize. I thought about putting them back into the Brinsea but the air vent slide is inop and I can't see myself watching 24+ eggs hatch in that tiny little space and not trying to get them out before the 24hrs are up and they're all dry first. I just feel woefully in over my head and driving myself crazy. Now I just noticed someone must've bumped the incubator cuz the lines of eggs are all akilter and now I don't know which ones may be wrong side up.....

Are you still a nervous wreck? Any signs of action yet. It'll be ok. First, you don't have to leave your little babies in the bator for 24 hours. When to remove chicks is a personal decision. Let me give you a hint for your next hatch. If you mark the air cells at lockdown you'll know how to face them up and it'll give you a better idea if they've been rolled. Of course, even a rolled pipper should be ok, but I'm one of those that like mine facing up too....lol I don't worry about "high" humidity at hatch. As long as there's not any condensation in the bator. I aim for 75% and often once they start hatching it will shoot to 85+. Now, it doesn't stay there long because I do open my bator-frequently during hatch.
There's a lot of great people here on the thread that will help you along as you need it so grab your choice of caffein and relax and ask away if you need help.

 

[pipAchick]

Morning guys!
Hope everyone's hatches are going good.

Has anyone said it yet?,,,American idol! Whoop whoop(in case someone DVR'ed I dont wanna spoil it) way excited though. Carrie Underwood looked amazingly toned last night,,uh her skirt must have shrunk a bit though? Sorry it's off topic but was such a good show.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Morning guys!
Hope everyone's hatches are going good.

Has anyone said it yet?,,,American idol! Whoop whoop(in case someone DVR'ed I dont wanna spoil it) way excited though. Carrie Underwood looked amazingly toned last night,,uh her skirt must have shrunk a bit though? Sorry it's off topic but was such a good show.

LOL. I haen't watched Idol since season 5 or 6. I was a huge fan in the begining-like nutso especially season 2, but then when they started changing judges and the best people were kicked off, it bombed for me. But it's hard to believe that it's going to be over. This will be "the LAST AMERICAN IDOL". But I can't spare any tears, they are all being used in the fact that Michael Weatherly is leaving NCIS at the end of the season.