I just set 5-21-11 in my home made incubator

[JulieNKC]

Got another pip! My one that pipped last night is working on zipping. Here a whole bunch of cheeping and tapping in there, not too long til I get my first chick I think.

Hope everyone elses is going good. My other silkie is playing with being broody now. She has taken over the other nest box. Just took away all her eggs, it got her to come out yesterday. Hoping it does today, not ready to do this again yet, lol.

 

[LaGeniaLoca]

I have one chickie hatched! It finished hatching midday yesterday, but none of the others had pipped. I gave them until late last night and still nothing, so I candled. Out of the 7 I had left, 4 looked bad, so I put the other 3 back and carefully opened up the bad ones. One looked like it died early, but had a big dark blob of goo that made it look shadowy inside the shell. One looked like it died around 1 week, another at about 2 weeks. When I candled the fourth one, there were 2 definite blood spots, so I opened it up and found a fully formed but dead chick.

This morning, I still had no pips, so I candled the other 3 again. No movement, so I pipped a little hole and removed a small amount of shell on each one. The first one had died somewhere around 2 weeks, but the other 2 are still alive! I put a few drops of water through the holes I made and can still see a little veining, so I wrapped them up in warm, wet paper towels, then put them back inside the bator. I upped the humidity to around 80% to help keep them moist, too. I can still see into the eggs and add water to the membrane if I need to. Let's all cross our fingers!!!

 

[TerryQui]

Quote:
Wow that was brave. It is ok to pop hole? My incubator has a bad smell and I am thinking something is not right. I am not sure what to do.
I can't candle them with a flashlight, it does not show through.
What did you use to candle them?

 

[matlock585]

La genia loca
I had one that seemed to be having problems with zipping so we tried to help it out, but now I'm afraid it's gonna die. It's still in the incubator and you can see half the chick but it isn't trying to get out at all. we chipped away much of the shell and removed the membrane around it's head and part of the body, but it still won't do anything. It's still breathing and moving every now and then, but I'm afraid we killed it. I just have to wait and see.

 

[JulieNKC]

I have a chick!

1 down, 10 to go.

Bad pic, just took it real quick with my phone so I could pop it back under momma. Hear lots more cheeping.

 

[LaGeniaLoca]

TerryQui - 1) My eggs are on day 24, otherwise I wouldn't have pipped them. They need to break their way out in order to build strength to survive. 2) As for candling, I just use a flashlight in a dark room, but I made a cardboard sleeve that I put over the end so only a quarter size hole shows the light. 3) You need to smell each of your eggs individually to try and find the bad one. If it explodes in your bator, it will compromise the hatch of your other eggs. If it smells bad already, you probably don't have a lot of time to get it out.

Matlock585 - The holes I made in the shells are half the size of a dime, just enough to see inside. Now I just keep them moist enough that they don't dry out, and let them get themselves out the rest of the way when they are ready. The veins are already looking smaller, so hopefully it will only take a few hours.

 

[matlock585]

We finally decided ours was shrinkwrapped so we wet a paper towel with warm water and squeezed it out on the membrane away from the chick's face and it got itself most of the way out. We pretty much just took that one out of the egg, but I think we did save it. It bled some because I think the membrane was stuck to it. It bled a little more after it was out of the shell, but I think it seems to be doing fine now. That was really a close call, and I don't think I want to do that again. It seemed like it was just in a bad position and couldn't zip; It's head was all the way turned around. While we had it out of the bator, I did a float test on #5 and it sank so I went on and took everything but the new baby out of the incubator. The 3 that hatched on their own yesterday are doing great, and they are outside in the brooder. The one we messed with looks to be getting stronger, but I'm gonna keep it in the incubator until I get home from work tomorrow evening. With all that bleeding and it being weak, I'm afraid to put it in with the healthy ones. So overall, I'm not disappointed in my results. I am 4/5 on my first hatch. I've already ordered a dozen banty cochin eggs to set next Saturday.
Good luck on the rest of the hatches.
Looking forward to lots of fuzzy butt pics.

 

[TinaCiesla]

I've enjoyed reading these posts as we are venturing into incubating eggs soon. I've only had broody silkies sit on my eggs so far. We've hatched several batches, mostly successful, with the natural way.
I'll hopefully post when our incubation begins. My kids will be using this as a home school science project as well. Thank you to all of you who have shared your experience! It definitely helps others.
Tina

 

[TerryQui]

Ok, I found my smell. Tonight I did a sniff test of all eggs and I floated some too. All appear to be fully formed babies so far. All smell good. BUTTTTT one egg was stuck to another and some shell came off it onto the other egg. Either it pipped like that and stuck or. well I don't have a clue how it got stuck, lol.
BUTTTT egg yoke is in the bottom of the incubator so this means that it broke open and leaked some yoke and that is rotting.
What to do??? I left it all for tonight. I moved the incubator into another room, away from my parrots, so the smell can't make them sick. The one with the hole, I put into a little dish. I moistened the open area a bit, but I did not think the baby was trying to get out. It was really yoke---eeee in there.
I set these on the night of the 21'st. So today is day 22 sort of.
Either all those babies in there are alive and there is 20 more, not counting the opened egg, OR they all died for some reason right at the end.
I don't know if I am doing all this right. I have socks in the bottom that I pour water on to keep the incubator in humidity. I had put dishes of water in there and they did nothing. The thermometer says it is 80 percent.
If I put water in the whole bottom, it leaks out somehow. So I use the socks.
I have two chicks that hatched just fine. I didn't realize this was going to have any issues. Gosh, I feel like a dad pacing the maternity ward. (I am a mom, but Mom's don't do that, lol)
I hope in the morning, they are hatched.

 

[TerryQui]

Here are my two babies that made it so far.