This morning I woke to a pip !
(White Arucana)
Very exciting, I waited a few hours before noticing there were actually 3 pips. Two were on the underside of the eggs. (dark Arucana and EE)
After thinking it though for a few minutes and thanks to a friend, I opened the bator with lightning speed turned those two eggs a quarter turn. Temp dropped a degree. Humidity was at 70%
4 eggs in above pic. Top left is Dark Arucana, Top Right EE, bottom Left White Arucana.
The day went on, I paced back and forth and not much happened.... peeping and little bits of movement.
By 4pm the EE was starting to zip..... took until my hubby got home after 5 before:
At that point the dark Arucana was making me worry - the pip was at the pointy end.... - the membrane was darkening... the White Arucana's membrane was white and I could see that it was soft as the little booger was pushing though.
I decided to intervene. The membrane was hard crispy almost..... I took the egg out, on a wet warm towel and picked off some shell - trying to leave the membrane alone. I nicked it and drew a drop of blood, I quickly wrapped it in a wet paper towel - put a drop of water as close to that dry spot as I could and put it back:
(in the pic - the dry yellow at the top is where the original pip was)
I pulled the egg out a total of 4 times, the second time was to pick away more shell. The 3rd time I tackled a piece of membrane - it was like leather, I peeled back a little - and again drew a drop of blood.... wrapped it up with a wet warm papertowel and back in the incubator.... my husband took these:
The shell was half gone at this point, but the membrane remained - the chick was moving still, beak opening and closing.
I went in for the final intervention...... that membrane was TOUGH.... if it wasn't for the little sharp points on my swiss army knife tweezers I never would have gotten it off... again half way through removing the membrane on that half - I drew a drop of blood. My son was my helper - I got him to dip a folded paper towel and hold it - I moved the chick and her shell to his hand, and she KICKED - losing the bottom half of the shell - I could see blood vessels still, I quickly picked her up with her half shell and put her back in the bator....
She lay like that for over an hour - breathing heavy.....
Her two bator mates making a huge noise:
FINALLY - she's UP - she looks FANTASTIC although still wet... she's drying to a dark silvery grey it seems.....
She still has some goop on her, and a piece of shell - but I'm not worried about that at this point... I'm just THRILLED I intervened in time for her to MAKE IT!!!!
Very exciting, I waited a few hours before noticing there were actually 3 pips. Two were on the underside of the eggs. (dark Arucana and EE)
After thinking it though for a few minutes and thanks to a friend, I opened the bator with lightning speed turned those two eggs a quarter turn. Temp dropped a degree. Humidity was at 70%
4 eggs in above pic. Top left is Dark Arucana, Top Right EE, bottom Left White Arucana.
The day went on, I paced back and forth and not much happened.... peeping and little bits of movement.
By 4pm the EE was starting to zip..... took until my hubby got home after 5 before:
At that point the dark Arucana was making me worry - the pip was at the pointy end.... - the membrane was darkening... the White Arucana's membrane was white and I could see that it was soft as the little booger was pushing though.
I decided to intervene. The membrane was hard crispy almost..... I took the egg out, on a wet warm towel and picked off some shell - trying to leave the membrane alone. I nicked it and drew a drop of blood, I quickly wrapped it in a wet paper towel - put a drop of water as close to that dry spot as I could and put it back:
(in the pic - the dry yellow at the top is where the original pip was)
I pulled the egg out a total of 4 times, the second time was to pick away more shell. The 3rd time I tackled a piece of membrane - it was like leather, I peeled back a little - and again drew a drop of blood.... wrapped it up with a wet warm papertowel and back in the incubator.... my husband took these:
The shell was half gone at this point, but the membrane remained - the chick was moving still, beak opening and closing.
I went in for the final intervention...... that membrane was TOUGH.... if it wasn't for the little sharp points on my swiss army knife tweezers I never would have gotten it off... again half way through removing the membrane on that half - I drew a drop of blood. My son was my helper - I got him to dip a folded paper towel and hold it - I moved the chick and her shell to his hand, and she KICKED - losing the bottom half of the shell - I could see blood vessels still, I quickly picked her up with her half shell and put her back in the bator....
She lay like that for over an hour - breathing heavy.....
Her two bator mates making a huge noise:
FINALLY - she's UP - she looks FANTASTIC although still wet... she's drying to a dark silvery grey it seems.....
She still has some goop on her, and a piece of shell - but I'm not worried about that at this point... I'm just THRILLED I intervened in time for her to MAKE IT!!!!
