Hands on hatching and help

[teaandyarn]

@dotknott Ok! I will attempt to sleep tonight...

 

[rossfam06]

Well, I had to rescue a chick today. Somehow a broody hen hatched an egg in a storage crate that had holes in the bottom that was sitting over an old rabbit cage. The hen managed to flip up the bottom I ha put in it to cover the holes and the chick hatched, fell through, and then somehow also fell through the grate of the rabbit cage. What's worse is that its yolk wasn't all the way absorbed. When I found it it was cold and I thought dead, but when I picked it up it moved. The yolk was really gross and there was only a tiny bit left so I washed it up and then put the chick in the incubator. It has absorbed the remaining yolk and is still alive so fingers crossed. I'm not going to get too hopeful though because that was a really rough start. If it does survive and seems to be doing good tomorrow I'll likely give it back to the broody.

Dude that's crazy!!!! Hopefully is survives and she can have her baby back.

 

[rossfam06]

@WVduckchick

I still have the sucks but I have to sell them or at least one of them. Sadly it's my prettiest drake. He chases my poor chihuahua all around the yard and pecks her and beats her up. She yelps all the time and runs through the gate to the front yard to get away. He is not afraid and goes after my black lab....who just barks at him. But doesn't do anything else.

I might just sell off my 3 drakes and keep the one hen.

 

[Pyxis]

Oh my word, someone is arguing with me in another thread saying it's fine to keep two roosters with only five hens. And also that if you keep more than one rooster suddenly you're going to be hatching more male chicks because the second rooster somehow causes this to happen. This is after I told them hens determine the gender of the chicks, by the way.

Dude that's crazy!!!! Hopefully is survives and she can have her baby back.

Thank you! So far it's hanging in there. It's a little weak so I'm going to try giving it some Nutri Drench.

 

[ShanandGem]

Oh my word, someone is arguing with me in another thread saying it's fine to keep two roosters with only five hens. And also that if you keep more than one rooster suddenly you're going to be hatching more male chicks because the second rooster somehow causes this to happen. This is after I told them hens determine the gender of the chicks, by the way.
Thank you! So far it's hanging in there. It's a little weak so I'm going to try giving it some Nutri Drench.

Every once in a while you run into someone on a message board that leaves you scratching your head....lol.
I have no faith in humanity so my first assumption is that I'm being trolled. I still sometimes think She Who Shall Not Be Named is an expert level troll and is somehow getting pleasure from our losing our minds over her jibberish.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

You know it!!!     lol


By high side I meant the back (opposite) of the side that's drawn dawn but yes, at the wide end/air cell in.  A hair line crack I wouldn't think would pose much of a risk humidity wise, especially with no membranes showing and higher humidity.

What's there to know? You keep your humidity up and don't drop an egg....lol 

Good luck on that.....lol

I finally broke down and took a quick peek while adding water. Only one has internally pipped but I didn't hear any chirping. The others hadn't yet and weren't moving. Should I be worried about that?

Well, I had to rescue a chick today. Somehow a broody hen hatched an egg in a storage crate that had holes in the bottom that was sitting over an old rabbit cage. The hen managed to flip up the bottom I ha put in it to cover the holes and the chick hatched, fell through, and then somehow also fell through the grate of the rabbit cage. What's worse is that its yolk wasn't all the way absorbed. When I found it it was cold and I thought dead, but when I picked it up it moved. The yolk was really gross and there was only a tiny bit left so I washed it up and then put the chick in the incubator. It has absorbed the remaining yolk and is still alive so fingers crossed. I'm not going to get too hopeful though because that was a really rough start. If it does survive and seems to be doing good tomorrow I'll likely give it back to the broody.

Poor baby. Good thing you found it. Adleast now it has a fighting chance. I sure hope it pulls through.

Oh my word, someone is arguing with me in another thread saying it's fine to keep two roosters with only five hens. And also that if you keep more than one rooster suddenly you're going to be hatching more male chicks because the second rooster somehow causes this to happen. This is after I told them hens determine the gender of the chicks, by the way.
Thank you! So far it's hanging in there. It's a little weak so I'm going to try giving it some Nutri Drench.

I have people that do that all the time. It's so annoying. I'll ask a question and other experienced people will answer then someone else chimes in with nonsense that doesn't really apply in the first place. Just people starting drama. That's the one thing I hate about forums.

Every once in a while you run into someone on a message board that leaves you scratching your head....lol.
I have no faith in humanity so my first assumption is that I'm being trolled.  I still sometimes think She Who Shall Not Be Named is an expert level troll and is somehow getting pleasure from our losing our minds over her jibberish.

Yes the trolls are a serious problem. And that person always leaves me confused as well. Trolls seem to be everywhere these days. I mean this is a chicken forum and yet their are still trolls lol. Wth..

 

[teaandyarn]

We have external pipping! #1 pipped about midnight last night, hubby heard it and woke me up. It hadn't been able to break the shell completely away, just loosen it from the membrane, so I made sure it had a small air hole before going back to sleep. For two hours. And then I was up every two hours about on the dot. *sigh* But one more had pipped by 2 am, and by 5 am when we got up, there was a 3rd that had pipped! I candled this morning and a 4th had attempted to pip (starburst break visible with candling) so I'll monitor it for the rest of the day. I don't think any of the others will pip until later today. And now that I can see in a little, I think they are all positioned correctly so far! (The extra moisture in the photos is because I put a damp paper towel in with #1 overnight since I had it out for a while. I pulled the paper towel out this morning when the membranes looked good.)

Outer membranes look REALLY thick though, and they're tough. I'm guessing this is because the broody hen didn't seem to have humidity control figured out at all. So I'll be keeping a close eye to make sure when progress is attempted, they are able to do what they need.





Sorry if anything's incoherent up there. I'm so tired I tried to put the electric base for the crockpot away in the fridge this morning. It's gonna be a long day...

 

[Pyxis]

Well today has already been exciting. Firstly, when I went out this morning I was greeted by the sight of my very skittish frizzle hen with five chicks I didn't even know she was broody! I have no idea where her nest was, and she won't let me get close to her or the babies before she takes off, but I did manage to count them, at least. If she successfully keeps them alive (I can't catch her to move her and them to a safe place) then they are going to be very skittish.

And then while I was out there doing other things all the birds started running for the coop and my dog perked up and started walking towards something. I thought it was a predator. Nope! Potbelly pig. So I had it in my yard and chicken run for awhile until it wandered away. Wonder if I'll be seeing more of it.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Every once in a while you run into someone on a message board that leaves you scratching your head....lol.
I have no faith in humanity so my first assumption is that I'm being trolled.  I still sometimes think She Who Shall Not Be Named is an expert level troll and is somehow getting pleasure from our losing our minds over her jibberish.

You're not the only one who feels this way.

Well today has already been exciting. Firstly, when I went out this morning I was greeted by the sight of my very skittish frizzle hen with five chicks I didn't even know she was broody! I have no idea where her nest was, and she won't let me get close to her or the babies before she takes off, but I did manage to count them, at least. If she successfully keeps them alive (I can't catch her to move her and them to a safe place) then they are going to be very skittish.

And then while I was out there doing other things all the birds started running for the coop and my dog perked up and started walking towards something. I thought it was a predator. Nope! Potbelly pig. So I had it in my yard and chicken run for awhile until it wandered away. Wonder if I'll be seeing more of it.

Lol

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Well my first silkie has externally pipped. Hopefully the others follow along shortly. Just want these to hatch lol. Anxiety is my new best friend..