Hands on hatching and help

[mikeldb]

Oh cute baby!! Love the color..

it's very fluffy and the color is very unique

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Help. OK incubator is overheating again. Humidity is fine. I cracked the lid but it's not cooling down this time.I don't have any marbles. Anything I can do?I have the lid completely off the temp has finally come down but I'm worried the **** thing is going to kill my chicks....

 

[Pyxis]

Help. OK incubator is overheating again. Humidity is fine. I cracked the lid but it's not cooling down this time.I don't have any marbles. Anything I can do?I have the lid completely off the temp has finally come down but I'm worried the **** thing is going to kill my chicks....

Yikes! I wish I could help here, but if it's a case of the external temp causing the spikes I think the only thing you could really do is reduce the external temp by using A/C but I know you said you'd rather not do that. It's not near a window or anything is it? Sometimes sunlight hitting an incubator through a window will cause temp spikes. You could try relocating it to a room with no windows and a steady temperature.

 

[Pyxis]

One of my guinea eggs is pipped! I'm happy about that because the hen that laid the eggs has gone missing, so it will be nice to have some of her genetics still in my flock. Of course the keets will be pearl, which I'm not crazy about, but they'll also be split to lavender so at least there's that. I'll probably keep maybe two of them. I'll be giving them to one of my broodies to raise.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Yikes! I wish I could help here, but if it's a case of the external temp causing the spikes I think the only thing you could really do is reduce the external temp by using A/C but I know you said you'd rather not do that. It's not near a window or anything is it? Sometimes sunlight hitting an incubator through a window will cause temp spikes. You could try relocating it to a room with no windows and a steady temperature.

would it be ok to put a few of these eggs into my other incubator with eggs that are a day behind?

 

[jenniferlamar70]

One of my guinea eggs is pipped! I'm happy about that because the hen that laid the eggs has gone missing, so it will be nice to have some of her genetics still in my flock. Of course the keets will be pearl, which I'm not crazy about, but they'll also be split to lavender so at least there's that. I'll probably keep maybe two of them. I'll be giving them to one of my broodies to raise.

Good luck. Can't wait to see pics!!

 

[Pyxis]

would it be ok to put a few of these eggs into my other incubator with eggs that are a day behind?

That would be fine. You'll just either have to lock down a day late on those eggs, a day early on the other eggs, or move them back into the first incubator for lockdown.

 

[thebulg]

i made what i think in my gut was the right decision. i set eggs at 2pm, meaning i am now into the 20th day. i was expecting an early hatch. anyway. one externally pipped today. i've only got 4 in there. the other 2 had good strong little chick vibrations until today and they've both waned down to nearly nothing.

i know, i know, "the chicks are getting bigger, they are taking up more room, less room to rock". but the other chicks i've hatched always got stronger right before the external pip.

the 2 are from my hen that just started laying about 6 weeks ago, and in the time they've been in the incubator, i have learned that she has, hands down, the strongest shells of any of my chickens. i candled really quickly on the two, and their air cells are half of the egg, it's all black in there, there is an internal pip and limited movement. weak movement. so i made a decision to put a very tiny hole in the center of the shell over the air cell on both. it's my first time ever aiding a hatching chick.

i dont plan to help from there if i can avoid it, but i made the hole and both rocked stronger and i heard chirping for the first time from any of the 3. i'm second guessing myself a little, but i really got the feeling they were trying and couldnt get through the shell and were getting weak. lawdy help me, i just didn't want to lose half right off the bat simply because they couldnt get out! the chirping seems like a really good sign to me?

i guess i will know soon enough if i should trust my gut or not.

 

[RubyNala97]

One of my guinea eggs is pipped! I'm happy about that because the hen that laid the eggs has gone missing, so it will be nice to have some of her genetics still in my flock. Of course the keets will be pearl, which I'm not crazy about, but they'll also be split to lavender so at least there's that. I'll probably keep maybe two of them. I'll be giving them to one of my broodies to raise.

I forgot....guineas too!! I absolutely love quineas. I think they are so cool looking. I'd love to have a pair but they'd have to live with the chickens at night and you're not supposed to do that, right? Can you please post pics of the keet??

i made what i think in my gut was the right decision. i set eggs at 2pm, meaning i am now into the 20th day. i was expecting an early hatch. anyway. one externally pipped today. i've only got 4 in there. the other 2 had good strong little chick vibrations until today and they've both waned down to nearly nothing.

i know, i know, "the chicks are getting bigger, they are taking up more room, less room to rock". but the other chicks i've hatched always got stronger right before the external pip. 

the 2 are from my hen that just started laying about 6 weeks ago, and in the time they've been in the incubator, i have learned that she has, hands down, the strongest shells of any of my chickens. i candled really quickly on the two, and their air cells are half of the egg, it's all black in there, there is an internal pip and limited movement. weak movement. so i made a decision to put a very tiny hole in the center of the shell over the air cell on both. it's my first time ever aiding a hatching chick.

i dont plan to help from there if i can avoid it, but i made the hole and both rocked stronger and i heard chirping for the first time from any of the 3. i'm second guessing myself a little, but i really got the feeling they were trying and couldnt get through the shell and were getting weak. lawdy help me, i just didn't want to lose half right off the bat simply because they couldnt get out! the chirping seems like a really good sign to me?

i guess i will know soon enough if i should trust my gut or not.

Well their is a science to the internal pip. As the chick looses oxygen over about 24 hours it builds up co2 which creates spasms in the neck that create the external pip. So creating safety holes does interfere with that natural process. But sometimes chicks can go longer then 24 hours and runout of oxygen and die. They only time I created a safety hole on a chicken eggs was a shipped egg that went over 24 hours and surprisingly he did all the rest on his own. Do you have any idea how long they were internally pipped for? For now I would just give them time. They might need up to another 24 hours. How small was the safety hole you created? Is any membrane exposed. And thick shells shouldn't be a problem for them.

 

[Pyxis]

I forgot....guineas too!! I absolutely love quineas. I think they are so cool looking. I'd love to have a pair but they'd have to live with the chickens at night and you're not supposed to do that, right? Can you please post pics of the keet??

Mine live with the chickens I'll get some pictures for you when they hatch!