Help! My chicks aren't hatching!

[Vrune]

You people are amazing! Thank you so much for all the advice. When I read the message the other night about the sponge with hot water I figured it was worth a try but really didn't hold out any hope. I went over to school and put a washcloth soaked in hot water into the incubator then sealed it shut to stop anyone interfering with it again. At the end of today (Day 24) we figured that it just wasn't to happen. The Science teacher and I decided we should inspect the eggs and try to figure out what went wrong. We started with the one we knew had definitely died. It was perfectly formed so we're not sure if the turning harmed it or maybe it was too dry in there for it and it got stuck. Three other eggs we opened weren't fertile. Another one had a crack in it since about the first week, it was fertile but hadn't developed very far. We were about to open the fifth one when it started breathing!! We quickly put it and the two others that we hadn't yet opened back in the incubator. We now have a beautiful little chick! What a miracle! I really think the other two aren't fertile either but it's so amazing to have even one little chick! I really feel the extra water made the difference. Thank you all so much for your help and advice!

 

[Bock_Bock]

congrats on your new chick i just hope it is going to a good place where it will have a friend i hat eso see chickens especially chicks be alone, do you have a home set up for this chick?

 

[Vrune]

I had planned to keep at least two of the chickens that hatched myself but since we only got one I'm planning to get another one from the feed store. I agree, I would hate to have a lonely chicken... We have a lovely big backyard with lots of space to explore so all it needs is a friend... I'm still in shock at the fact that we have a chicken at all! We had given up hope!

 

[Bock_Bock]

do you know what breed it is and not to sound mean or anything but you do know about raising chicks right with the whole brooder and temp and water and keeping it warm and all that right?

 

[chickengirl124]

Hi,
I am doing a science project involving hatching chickens, and one hatched on Tuesday, 2/11/09. But when it first cracked it was on monday, 2/10/09. It was a small crack about a cm squared and it stayed the same way for the whole day on 2/10/09. I didn't touch it at all when it was hatching though. On Tuesday morning, the crack hadn't gotten any bigger but I could still see the chicks beek inside and it was making little sounds. When I got home from school it was a there was a big crack but my mom had been watching it about an hour earlier and it hadn't changed, but when we got there, it was about to hatch! when i was watching it i could see it's wing pop out of the shell and it kept on pushing to get out. It didn't matter when it started to move the egg, and it won't matter for your chickens if they were turned. If your principal took tweezers and tried to help it out, it depends on if it touched the chick inside. If she was careful, the chick might be fine but it might not be. If it touched the chicken and popped a blood vessel it will be fine. I made the mistake by turning the eggs wrong and not putting water in the incubator, but we have 1 chick out already and 1 is hatching now. 8 more to go and we will have a set, we started with 12 but had to throw 2 out. It's been about 22 days and i see eggs cracking so I don't think it will matter too much. When we were turning the eggs, i figured out that we were actually turning them the wrong way by turning them facing up and down not turning them on their sides which might have effected the hatching. But 1 is starting to hatch and one is already out so i think we are fine. But on the last 3 days, when we weren't turning them, we turned them with the small end up despite the fact they were turned the wrong way, and when i was searching, about turning the eggs, i found that the small end shouldn't have been up becaues the chick's legs would be up and it's head would be down. that might effect it but it might not.. wish me luck! and i hope your chickens all hatch if not then im sorry, but try again!!!

 

[Vrune]

Hi Bock_bock, yes I've been researching it since before we got the eggs at all. We have the brooder all ready to go with a heat lamp and everything else. I promise I'll take good care of them! I grew up in the countryside and my family had chickens so I'm sure they'll help me out if I need it. As for the breed, the science teacher got the eggs and she didn't think to ask about the breed, he's a beautiful little gray and yellow chick though.

 

[daisychick]

Vrune, I am so happy you at least got one chick. That is so neat for the kids! I am sure they will love seeing how it grows too! I am glad this turned out ok....when I first read the first posts my heart felt for you!

 

[Potatoblocks101]

I could really do with any advice you can give me. I'm a second grade teacher and my class are hatching chickens as part of their science class. We've been really meticulous about turning them regularly and they were due to hatch today. We hadn't touched them for the last three days and thought we should see some movement. This morning one of them pipped and the crack had started to get bigger. But, the principal came in and decided to turn the egg around so that people could watch it hatch! This really bothered me because I figured the chick had got into the position best for it to hatch and turning it would only mess it up. There was no more movement from it all day and I found out this afternoon that the principal came in with a pair of tweezers to "help" the chick out. She removed part of the shell and then replaced it. She didn't rupture the membrane underneath but there has been no movement from the egg for many hours. I'm really really worried. There isn't even sign of pipping on any of the other eggs. Surely there should be some sign of life from them by now? There's no peeping or anything. Do you think our chicks are dead? We have eight eggs. At what stage can you be certain that they're just not going to hatch? Should I do anything to the one that pipped (I'm almost certain I saw a bit of yellow move inside a while ago but it could be wishful thinking..). Any advice you can give me would be really really appreciated! I really don't want to have to tell my second graders that we lost all our little chicks....

I have never incubated eggs before I have always had my chickens sit on them but what I've learned is to let nature do what it does and if twenty four hours after pipping it still hasn't hatched then you should help but your principal really needs to stop "helping" before twenty four hours