Haha, thanks! Like you said the other day, my phone is also full of chick/duck pics. Plenty need deleted because they are usually so hard to get good shots, but these were all so perfect, I couldn't decide which ones to post!
And I'm so proud of that OEGB Momma. For her first time, she is doing so well. Lets me reach in and peek around. My duck, on the other hand, I cannot get within 5 feet of her, and she goes all snake-neck quacking crazy on me! They are due to hatch any time now too.
maybe it's all the fluff that covers their eyes. From your pics I can already see that yours is much more alert and attentive. I can't wait to see baby ducklings!!!
My first keet is out
can't wait to see pics!
I've never hatched guineas but maybe @Pyxis can give some insight. I would just let him rest for now. How long has it been since he hatched?
You know what? On my last hatch I had 1 egg that I thought had pipped into the air cell. It was a thick, darker shell and I saw something in there and heard peeping. The next day nothing still but then I turned the egg over and there was a tiny, tiny crack in the bottom of the shell. I must have been seeing a part of the chick in the air cell, just like you did! It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Lots of people use the wet paper towel method. I am not a fan of it. I think it chills the egg and chick. I just make sure to keep the membrane lubed up. But that's totally a personal choice. And most of my malpositions zip on their own. A few haven't and needed to be fully assisted but you just have to wait for the veins and yolk to absorb. Hang in there, you're doing a good job!so, when i candled almost 2 days ago, what i saw was a big blob in the air cell. not a beak, i realized later. it wasn't a triangle. but the air cell had a dark mass in it on one side and i assumed it was the chick's body entering the air cell. anyway, i had all the eggs set so that the slope of the air cell was on top. both of these pipped on the bottom, a half inch or higher above the air cell line, straight through the membrane and shell. i have about a ballion thoughts running through my head right now, but the primary one is that this is my fault from day 15 on. i had 4 very healthy eggs and one that i was pretty sure was dead, but i very foolishly (man, that hindsight) decided to try to give that one egg one more shot, and i didn't raise the humidity past 50 until day 19 because nobody had pipped and i wanted to be suuuuure that air cell on that dead chick wasn't going to grow. when i made that choice, i already knew that these 2 had enormous air cells and i dramatically underestimated how much more they would grow in an 18 hour period. i think these two were on their way to proper positioning and ran out of room. though honestly, i can't be totally sure. what i know more than anything right now is that i need to give a lot more respect to survival of the fittest and not compromise 4 healthy chicks on behalf of one that i already had assumed was dead. i'm super displeased with myself right now. also, i redid their paper towels so that most of the membrane and opening is covered. everyone is breathing a little easier, though still quickly, beaks are moving around nicely, chirping is still happening. so i figure my job right now is to just keep the membranes from drying out and to wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. they can breathe, they are safe. as much time as i can buy them in the shell without that membrane drying out and sticking to them, the better their odds.
YES. these are blue shells. and that is exactly what happened to me. honestly, i just started crying because i think i needed to hear someone say i wasn't a total screw up. did the one you have zip on its own?
Well he's been out of the egg maybe almost an hour now. He is upright on his own now. Looking around & chirping quite a bit & quite alert.
