Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[Shellz]

This is part 2 of my staggered hatch. I have a 2nd pip this morning! First one is taking its time. It can take up to 24 hrs for a hatch from this point. Cool your jets folks, this could take hours yet! Don't panic!
tammir, you have your work cut out for you. You have the ultimate challenge! I thought I was having a hard time! At least you have some making noise! Good sign! Heat up a damp cloth & lay it down in there QUICK! That will give them the extra boost of humidity they need to hatch out. Filled wells are sometimes not enough! Good luck!

 

[FeyRaine]

I'll officially be at day 21 in 26mins from now.
Nothing is going on, zero , nada, complete stillness w/ silence (even have turned off the fan & put ear to bator 3x today to listen)

This is the part where I remind myself they are not even "due" until _after_ 8pm E tonight,
and then I remind myself that they are maran & maran x eggs so I *must not worry for 2 more days*
yah, right...

Oh, and last night my self distraction plan -- I found we were out of popcorn, so I used some home-canned peach preserves and made fired turnover things.Tonight I might end up baking oatmeal cookies -- eating for the chicks isn't the best thing, but I figure it isn't the worst either!

Not necessarily. I've had hatches that were totally silent well into day 21. I know it's worrisome though.

I'm freaking out over this one egg nearly threw away this morning. It's been chirping and rocking like crazy for HOURS. I want the little guy to pip so badly.

That is some situation! Do you have the humidity very high? I wonder how the time in the compost bin effected the egg in terms of humidity? You might want to set a time limit at which point you would do an external pip into the air cell and see if you can tell how far along the vein absorption is & also if the membrane is moist or if it got too dry when the egg was out. Sally Sunshine posted a TON of info. she had collected, including videos on assisting. The links are in her sig. and she posted 100x/day on the NYDH thread so you could find the info there really fast. I know they have approx. 24 hrs of air in the air cell, so from peep/internal pip, they have that amt of air-time to make the external pip. On the other hand, if it uses all its energy struggling and is shrink wrapped that isn't good. On the third hand ;O it does have to absorb all the yolk and veins between the internal pip and zipping. You have a tough call situation. I'd say review the hatching info. w/ videos before you decide to take action (or not). Best of luck and good wishes for the chick!

Is that what happens to them??? I didn't know! This is my first time hatching and am still learning TONS! Should I be concerned about the first one to break through but still hasn't made anymore progress almost 12 hours later? The chick is still poking its beak out and moving it from time to time, but not as much as earlier in the day. Thanks for the info & guidance!

tammir -- once they pip they can breath outside air so there is no real hurry and they have to absorb the yolk & veins b/f they can come out so it can take a long long time, like even a whole day 12 hrs from what I understand is totally in the normal range. We are all operating on "egg hatching time" now, which is _completely_ different than ordinary human time...and certainly not like double espresso time ; > (I've had only 1/2 my normal coffee today trying to not worry about my silent eggs)

Fisherlady -- Thanks for the video. Did you notice how Gracie was pecking the food to get some on her beak then touching it to her chick's beak, teaching the chick to eat? , all the while staying on the other chicks and eggs! Gracie gets the gold star for best Broody hen of 2013 : )

 

[CamiLynn]

C

Well........ out of 33 eggs set 7 were either infertile or had blood rings, and 26 were fertilized and doing well!!! And today 3 hatched!!!e

Congrats!! But the party is just starting...still have more babies on their way!

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

That is some situation! Do you have the humidity very high? I wonder how the time in the compost bin effected the egg in terms of humidity? You might want to set a time limit at which point you would do an external pip into the air cell and see if you can tell how far along the vein absorption is & also if the membrane is moist or if it got too dry when the egg was out. Sally Sunshine posted a TON of info. she had collected, including videos on assisting. The links are in her sig. and she posted 100x/day on the NYDH thread so you could find the info there really fast. I know they have approx. 24 hrs of air in the air cell, so from peep/internal pip, they have that amt of air-time to make the external pip. On the other hand, if it uses all its energy struggling and is shrink wrapped that isn't good. On the third hand ;O it does have to absorb all the yolk and veins between the internal pip and zipping. You have a tough call situation. I'd say review the hatching info. w/ videos before you decide to take action (or not). Best of luck and good wishes for the chick!

I was just reading your post, and trying to count the potential hours since the chick started chirping when I heard a noise in the bator and...

IT PIPPED! THE GARBAGE CHICK HAS PIPPED!!!!

 

[fisherlady]

Congrats to everyone who has new peeps, and sending lots of good energy and power of patience to those still waiting. I have a pip in one of my two little Serama eggs! Mine are from a young pair I hatched in July, so these are special...my first "homebred" chicks and the first to make it this far for their parents Go little peep!!!

I can't wait till we are hatching some of our own later this year!! Sending good vibes your way on the Serema babies!

I have one of 6 that's hatched. Two others have pipped (about 10 hours ago) and have done next to nothing since. 3 others are just sitting there staring at me. (sigh)....I hate waiting.

I woke up this morn to 7 babies total and one pip. So not too bad though I do have 19 eggs in the incubator Fingers crossed I get a few more

Glad you are seeing progress!! Hoping more come through for you too!

Well today is officially day 21 for our maran eggs and nothing has happened.. we think we may of had a couple wobbling yesterday but it could just be our eyes playing tricks on us. Really hoping for SOMETHING soon!

Remind me never to set Marans eggs! I thought it was bad having to wait 20 or 21 days to see something! Another 2 or 3 would have ran the bourbon bottle dry!!!

Keep up the good vibes! It will happen!

 

[RosecombRIR]

Just had my first chick hatch, day 22. Seven more are pipped! Hoping for more babies in the morning!

 

[purewellspring]

Well, we are 18 for 18 over here! After eight hours of silence, the last egg pipped and zipped this afternoon. Poor little guy is still moving a little slow and looks like he just wants a nap! But everyone else is moving with lightning speed! Once 18 fluffed up most of the way, we moved the last nine from that stinky dirty incubator to the brooder with the others, and they're all chirping away happy as larks. 18 is in a corner in an old box for checks, just to try and gain him a little time to rest up without everyone climbing all over him.

Thanks for the hatch-a-long, peeps! This was so fun! I can't believe all 18 that went into lockdown actually hatched! And these are active little birds. I can't wait to see what they look like feathered out. Thus far, we have probably 10 fairly different looks amongst the 18...and a handful with feathered legs, even! They were all a random barnyard mix of bantams (2 roos, 5 hens), although in the same coop were some polish hens and a full sized roo, so if polish lay relatively small eggs, they could in theory be a mix of any of the above. But many of them are totally beautiful! We're all in love! And watching them in the brooder is better than any tv. My kids are going to be totally entertained for the next few weeks.

When I get some good daylight pics of the chickies tomorrow, I'll post. Hoping those of you waiting for chickies are rewarded very soon!!!

 

[SarahJaneB]

Oh my goodness, this has been a stressful little process. Right now we have 11 in a temporary brooder box with a light, thermometer, and food and water so they know what it is when we move them to their bigger temporary home that the ducklings are still in. These 11 seem to be doing great. There's a lot of dander or something in the box, maybe from the wet stuff from hatching out of the shells that's drying and getting everywhere? Is that ok for them?

Have 1 still in the shell struggling a bit. It's a bit slow. I gave it a good airhole so it's still breathing but I didn't chip away a whole lot because I could see that the veins were still red and thick. I'm giving it a lot of time to finish up but the membrane seems to have shrunk around it so I might have to help it when it's ready enough. On a positive note the one that pipped at the wrong end of the shell is ok. Had to assist but she's ok aside from having a bit of dried yolk and stuff holding her to the shell that had dried. Snipped the end of that off so she wasn't dragging her shell around anymore but it's still there. Don't want to pull on it. I read that it might dry up and fall off eventually. The last two eggs didn't pip. Candled when I removed the dry chicks and it looks like they haven't pipped the air cell. It's day 22 for them so we'll see but I think they are lost. Still have my fingers crossed for the late egg. She's still breathing so hopefully.

So at the moment, out of 15 fertile eggs we have 12 successful hatched one still hatching so if that one makes it, it'll be 13 out of 15 fertile eggs for my first incubation. Guess I did something right

Pictures!!!












Ohmygosh they're so fluffy!!!!

 

[fisherlady]

Is anyone else planning to set a new batch of eggs?

Ohhh... the unfortunate downside of hatching via broody... they don't care what we plan, they will decide for themselves! Though I really enjoyed the process, and especially getting to share it with all of you... I'm going to say we will be waiting a bit. Besides, we are totally having fun watching Gracie show the chicks all the 'chickeny stuff' they need to learn!

 

[chicken pickin]

Haha! My name is Kristin too. Spelled exactly the same and I too am addicted to chickens and may be buying a silkie rooster this weekend to cross with my Americauna/silkie crosses. Gracie has helped me with my chicken math as well! Oh goodness whatever did I talk about before owning chickens?

LOL I know the feeling my husabnd says all I do is talk about chickens. Its so bad the other day He took our 3 daughters to the grocery store to pick up dinner and had the girls pick me out some flowers my oldest(10) said I think mom would want a chicken instead