Hatching Seramas

[Cherlyn]

AUUGGGHHHH!

Ok, then, I will try to be patient.

~Cherlyn

 

[darbella]

Quote:
I had 2 hatch out of 24 eggs last night and am hoping the rest or at least some will hatch, I can see that they developed, but fear they died at some point. I have had a hard time raising them and even wioth the humidity at 70-75 the last few days, they need help getting out of the eggs. I am out to perfect my serama hatching skills and am not ready to give up! i wish my older pairs would start laying so they could incubate their own eggs! LOL

 

[smoothmule]

I have 18 Serama eggs in my incubator and today was the day to start hatching and so far 3 have pipped but more are pecking and peeping. They started in early morning today but they aren't making a lot of headway, still just the little hole. They are peeping but it "always" makes me nervous waiting. How long is a safe amount of time for them to progress from the first pipped hole to out of the shell?

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

I give them at least 12 hours.....maybe more if they are progressing.

Best of luck with the broody hen. I sometimes start batches under a broody and then put them in the incubator after 10 days or so and get better hatch rates that way!

 

[smoothmule]

They are still peeping, they just don't seem to be making much progress. I helped them last time. I would prefer they be able to zip themselves out but I don't want to risk losing any of them either. My humidity is over 70% and I don't want to open the incubator unless it's "really" needed. They were pipped at 0800 this morning, should I help?

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Its up to you. Sometimes I help a little bit if they are in there peeping, but then you might lose humidity. I hate losing them too!

Let us know!

 

[smoothmule]

Well, it's been very slow but I decided to help out my little guys.

They seem to be doing better. I don't just peel them out but I help to chip away tiny bits and moisten the membrane with my finger tip dipped in warm water. Then I put it back and leave it alone a half hour or so then assist a little more. I've taken hours to assist them little by little in the past hatches and let their efforts guide in in how much to help and when. I've never lost a chick that I've assisted this way but it always makes me nervous.

So far, 4 well pipped and zipping away and cheeping. There were 18 that I set and I candled them tonight since I was already getting into the incubator and 5 were not fertile so I took them out. The others look good but have not pipped yet but they have plenty of time.

I have to be at work at 7 am so I really want these first 4 to be out of shell before I have to leave. I lay down a little in between helping them but I won't be able to sleep till they're safely zipped and out.

The may be others pipping but I won't worry so much and they'll have time to try on their own before I get home from work tonight then I'm off Thursday. I'll let you know how things progress

 

[walkswithdog]

I have a few of the seramas still going... from the first batch due this weekend. I had some midway quitters.

But Billy gave me 25 more eggs, to play with soooo, here we go again...

Luck with the hatch!

 

[darbella]

Quote:
That is what I do. One had actually drained all his energy and I thought he was dead so whe i took the egg out , I heard a little ppep, not from his beak, but more from it's throat The poor thing was like it had been glued into the egg and had a thick hard crust all over him. So up tot he kitchen sink and I started chipping the shell away, then carefully put him under the water running warm and very slow and managed to get all the hard crappy stuff off. put him bak in the bator and this morning her is eating and running all over the bator! A lot of folks I have talked with about the seramas seem to help them after a while. They are so tiney they must tire easily!

 

[smoothmule]

Well,
I got home from work and the 3 that I helped out are great, the one that was about half helped out before I went to work was dried and stuck to the bottom but alive and I dampened him with some warm tap water and wet him enough to get him mostly out of the shell and he is "much" better. Then there were 2 more that were nearly out when I got home and I examined them closely and gave them that little bit of help that they seemed to need too and they are much more active. I had one that pipped then died in the shell and there are 4 more that have not pipped yet but were candled and were at least fertile so there may be more later.

Whew! So far my best hatch.