Hands on hatching and help

[Pyxis]

Congrats to Pyxis and WV on your new badges!!! I can't tag from this stupid app, but congrats!!!

Thank you and my congrats to WV as well! And of course Ravyn for her Educator badge.

I actually didn't even realize I got the badge until I saw your post.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I know this is a hatching thread but I wanted to share a couple pics of my babies (well they are pretty much grown now but still act helpless all day long).

This last one is my favorite girl and comes from @RavynFallen's eggs! She is the sweetest thing!

Gorgeous ducks. I've become quite partial to my ducks. They are just so cute.

Thanks. I am going to candle again this morning. REALLY hoping at least one more is salvageable. Out of 7 locally-sourced eggs, I really expected to end up with more than 2 chicks with the Brinsea Mini

Hey, I grew up in the Hudson Valley...beautiful, beautiful place!

I use the brinsea octagon 20 and the brinsea mini advance. Both are great and do so much for me but I've realized no matter how good you are if the parent stock wasn't good their can still be issues. Our ameraucanas had a hard time hatching as well but our olive eggers needed no assistance and almost every one hatched. The biggest problem I've found with the brinsea is problems with humidity. Even my mini has to be refilled everyday and I have to fill the whole water well to keep humidity where it needs to be. During hatch I use warm paper towels to keep humidity up.

I grew up in Cornwall in Orange County. Also lived in Westchester for a bit with my own family! Miss that part of the world his time of year, we're in Atlanta now.

So I candled again this morning and one of the ones that was moving yesterday I realized was actually breathing in the air cell. The other 2 I see no movement now. I cracked a tiny bit of shell off the air cell and the outer membrane was white. I could see it bulging when the chick breathed. Pulled the outer membrane back and the inner membrane was clear. Couldn't tell what part of the chick I was seeing so I tried to pull back the outer membrane a bit more. Saw a tiny bit of blood but it stopped right away. Stuck it back in the incubator and can see breathing.

Use cornstarch to staunch any bleeding and if you remove the outer membrane you need to keep the inside moist. I use vaseline but you can also use antibiotic ointment with no pain reliever in it. Just be careful you don't get it in the nostrils.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I think it must be, because the chick got into the air cell, unless a foot is through there but I doubt I could see the membrane bulging with each breath so well. I didn't take enough shell off to see much, but I think I saw the beak. The internal membrane is still intact.

You can see the breathing in the high end of the air cell before they make an internal pip. Even with some of my malpositioned ones I could see the up and down of the breathing before the pip, or in a couple cases, before they quit because the couldn't pip due to positioning.

If the internal membrane is still intact, then breaking into the shell didn't help.  Now the membrane is exposed and can dry out.  Opening the shell is usually done "after" an internal pip, if the chick hasn't been able to break the shell on its own, and is to let the chick breathe air.  

So now, please watch the membrane and make sure it doesn't dry out.  You can moisten it with a dab of water, Vaseline, antibiotic ointment. (use a q-tip or your finger tip, gently)  And IF you can find the beak, you can pierce the membrane to allow the beak to come out.  Once it can breathe, it can rest like that for quite a while.  Maybe even 24 hours.  But should start squirming on its own. 

If you come close to any veins... just dab them and stop.  Do not break any of them.  You do not want any bleeding.  Look for fat red ones, but hope for very thin to non-existent ones. 

Xs 2. I use the generic neosporin on exposed membrane and it works like a charm.

Thank you and my congrats to WV as well! And of course Ravyn for her Educator badge.

I actually didn't even realize I got the badge until I saw your post.

I didn't even notice the educator badge, maybe I should go back and look more carefully...lol Yes, congrats to Ravyn as well, sorry I missed you. You probably won't believe it, but it was not intentional.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yorkshire got the educator badge too. That is awesome. I don't know how I missed those.

 

[saraem]

So, we lost the chick

It stopped breathing and when I saw that, I opened it up a bit more hoping it just needed air. I chipped away more shell and outer membrane and saw vessels so I stopped. I know I probably should open the whole thing to see what went wrong but I just don't have the heart to right now.

I'm really trying to figure out what happened here. The first pip was 48 hours ago and the other 2 healthy chicks hatched over 36 hours ago. But then this latest one still had blood vessels so it obviously was much less developed, right? Why would it be so very far behind? I did open it enough to see that it's beak was nowhere in sight, so I'm thinking it was malpositioned. I'm not sure why it died as I didn't break the inner membrane and kept it moist...

There are still 2 eggs in the incubator. I saw one "breathing" yesterday (which now I am hearing may not mean it's in the air cell...if not what would it be breathing? Or why would it be moving in a breath-like rhythm?) but did not see movement on either today. We set eggs on a Tuesday at 2, it's now a Wednesday at 4.

Is there still hope?

 

[Ravynscroft]

She is such a sweet girl! She was a sweet duckling and I just love her. The other girl seems to run the show and she is spunky and bratty (I love her too, though) but this one is just nice. She submits to me, not sure why but she lays flat whenever I talk to her and approach her. If I pet her while she's doing this she'll stick her butt up. Mavis does this all the time but I know why. Do any of your ducks do this? Is it just a way to show that I'm dominant??

I will definitely let you know when I get eggs from that pair!!
I finally was able to get rid of two. No interest in buying calls around here, so after 2 months I listed them "free" but strictly to a good home only. So now I have my favorite 5. There's one more boy that is very similar to the boy in the pic. And I'm keeping all 5. I thought they hated me for the longest time!! Now they just LOVE me. They walk from the back door to the front door, over and over till I go outside. I left the back door open yesterday because Mavis was outside and I needed to come in and next thing I knew they were all in my bedroom! They walked through the whole house!!
That's funny! What part? I'm in dutchess. Did you monitor air cells throughout incubation? I can try and help you troubleshoot. I have great results in the mini eco. I use that incubator over the brinsea 20 when I really want the eggs to hatch. Usually every egg I put in will hatch (except for shipped). But also they are my own eggs. So I know the quality and the age of the eggs, how they were stored, etc.

Yep... dominant, first pick as their mate, same thing, lol... I mkstly get the 'Crazy Duck Dance', where they head bob, then flatten their neck out and zoom around me quacking crazily... but occasionally I do get the squatter, usually when they're floating in the pool...
Thanks, I'll be looking forward to hearing about those eggs...

Thank you and my congrats to WV as well! And of course Ravyn for her Educator badge.

I actually didn't even realize I got the badge until I saw your post.

Thanks, Pyxis... congrats to you too!

I had a slew of email notifs and thought it might be about the calendar, lol...

You can see the breathing in the high end of the air cell before they make an internal pip. Even with some of my malpositioned ones I could see the up and down of the breathing before the pip, or in a couple cases, before they quit because the couldn't pip due to positioning.
Xs 2. I use the generic neosporin on exposed membrane and it works like a charm.
I didn't even notice the educator badge, maybe I should go back and look more carefully...lol Yes, congrats to Ravyn as well, sorry I missed you. You probably won't believe it, but it was not intentional.

Uh huh... suuuuuuure...

Just kiddin'... thanks, AmyLynn... was a huge surprise to me...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So, we lost the chick

It stopped breathing and when I saw that, I opened it up a bit more hoping it just needed air. I chipped away more shell and outer membrane and saw vessels so I stopped. I know I probably should open the whole thing to see what went wrong but I just don't have the heart to right now.

I'm really trying to figure out what happened here. The first pip was 48 hours ago and the other 2 healthy chicks hatched over 36 hours ago. But then this latest one still had blood vessels so it obviously was much less developed, right? Why would it be so very far behind? I did open it enough to see that it's beak was nowhere in sight, so I'm thinking it was malpositioned. I'm not sure why it died as I didn't break the inner membrane and kept it moist...

There are still 2 eggs in the incubator. I saw one "breathing" yesterday (which now I am hearing may not mean it's in the air cell...if not what would it be breathing? Or why would it be moving in a breath-like rhythm?) but did not see movement on either today. We set eggs on a Tuesday at 2, it's now a Wednesday at 4.

Is there still hope? 

Sorry to hear you lost it. Good question. When I was searching for the articles for Kathy about co2 prompting the progression of externally pipping I ran across a passage that explains the transformation between breathing stages that, I think would answer that question. If I can find it I will share it so you can read it. My son and his dog broke the screen to my laptop so I've been using the iPad for my internet stuff and it's not as easy to maneuver and find stuff, but I will see if I can.

No movement isn't a good sign, but I hate ruling out hope too soon.

 

[saraem]

Sorry to hear you lost it. Good question. When I was searching for the articles for Kathy about co2 prompting the progression of externally pipping I ran across a passage that explains the transformation between breathing stages that, I think would answer that question. If I can find it I will share it so you can read it. My son and his dog broke the screen to my laptop so I've been using the iPad for my internet stuff and it's not as easy to maneuver and find stuff, but I will see if I can.

No movement isn't a good sign, but I hate ruling out hope too soon.

Thanks. Would love to see it at some point. No rush.

I'm trying to use this somewhat bad experience to help me learn more for next time. I will eggtopsy the remaining 2 eggs once I know they aren't viable in hopes of seeing what went wrong. My only guess is a humidity issue.

 

[RubyNala97]

I grew up in Cornwall in Orange County. Also lived in Westchester for a bit with my own family! Miss that part of the world his time of year, we're in Atlanta now.

So I candled again this morning and one of the ones that was moving yesterday I realized was actually breathing in the air cell. The other 2 I see no movement now. I cracked a tiny bit of shell off the air cell and the outer membrane was white. I could see it bulging when the chick breathed. Pulled the outer membrane back and the inner membrane was clear. Couldn't tell what part of the chick I was seeing so I tried to pull back the outer membrane a bit more. Saw a tiny bit of blood but it stopped right away. Stuck it back in the incubator and can see breathing.

It's pretty here but winter is coming, which means I wish I was in Atlanta!
During lockdown the air cell grows dramatically and forms around the chick. It's called "draw down". At that point you can see the breathing motion of the chick or sometimes it looks like a heartbeat motion (some people refer to it as "waves"). For me, if I see this on eggs that are late they usually don't hatch. That's just my experience. The problem with helping your egg (I read all your posts) is that there wasn't an internal pip, so there's not much you can do unless you plan on breaking the internal membrane and pulling the beak out. That's a risky move (I've tried it and was not successful) because you might rip a vein or not be able to find the beak as quickly as you need to. Next time, look for an internal pip. I can post pics if you like. You'll see a little triangle right under the shell and usually hear peeping. The egg also feels a lot lighter once it's internally pipped. Once you have an internal pip you can wait at least 24 hours before making a tiny hole (the size of a pencil tip) in the shell. And then wait another 24 hours to give the chick a chance to zip on its own. Sometimes after eggtopsy there are no real signs as to why certain chicks don't hatch. Some just don't make it but look totally normal.

Congrats to Pyxis and WV on your new badges!!! I can't tag from this stupid app, but congrats!!!

I never see badges! Can you link the page, please?

Thanks. Would love to see it at some point. No rush.

I'm trying to use this somewhat bad experience to help me learn more for next time. I will eggtopsy the remaining 2 eggs once I know they aren't viable in hopes of seeing what went wrong. My only guess is a humidity issue.

Is this your first hatch? Best thing to do is keep trying! You learn so much from each hatch.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

It's pretty here but winter is coming, which means I wish I was in Atlanta!
During lockdown the air cell grows dramatically and forms around the chick. It's called "draw down". At that point you can see the breathing motion of the chick or sometimes it looks like a heartbeat motion (some people refer to it as "waves"). For me, if I see this on eggs that are late they usually don't hatch. That's just my experience. The problem with helping your egg (I read all your posts) is that there wasn't an internal pip, so there's not much you can do unless you plan on breaking the internal membrane and pulling the beak out. That's a risky move (I've tried it and was not successful) because you might rip a vein or not be able to find the beak as quickly as you need to. Next time, look for an internal pip. I can post pics if you like. You'll see a little triangle right under the shell and usually hear peeping. The egg also feels a lot lighter once it's internally pipped. Once you have an internal pip you can wait at least 24 hours before making a tiny hole (the size of a pencil tip) in the shell. And then wait another 24 hours to give the chick a chance to zip on its own. Sometimes after eggtopsy there are no real signs as to why certain chicks don't hatch. Some just don't make it but look totally normal.
I never see badges! Can you link the page, please?
Is this your first hatch? Best thing to do is keep trying! You learn so much from each hatch.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cator-friend-spirit-greeter/690#post_17607895
Hopefully that works.
I put an ad on CL for my 2 paint boys today.