Incubators Anonymous

[gander007]

Just wondering why its so important too not opening the incubator. I mean the obvious point is that the incubator losses heat/humidity when its opened, but if a chicken is hatching eggs she has to get up to eat & drink and while shes doing that her eggs would lose a bit of heat as well. is there any other reasons?

Alright I have only been Incubating for a little over 40 yrs so I still know very little but it might be enough to give you some help in your problems I hope and if you are determined to open your incubator make sure there you haven't any wind blowing even a celling fan as this will give you problems and no you are not a hen and they work much different them a machine and that is what you are using correct .





Yes I incubate in these temperatures and yes it got hotter up here and the school is down at the valley floor so it is cooler down there .






Here is some of the chicks I hatched this summer and I do open my incubator and add eggs so they do not all hatch at the same time now the trick to this is practice also every location is different as our winters are only cold enough for three days to freeze water . Location, Location, Location ,
If you are opening your incubator make sure the room is 92F degrees or better for best results .







Now this momma found an out of the way place to make a nest and yes she has a chick under her

This is the incubator I have been using for the last 20 years









Inside the incubator, if you look at these eggs the marks are on the side reason these are eggs I purchased on e-bay so they did not start of correctly but they did hatch .











gander007

 

[Faraday40]

So here's a situation for those advanced hatchers:
My Thanksgiving chicks hatched Wed-Thurs.
Wed afternoon & eve = 6 early chicks
Thurs morning = 3 chicks on time
Thurs late afternoon = 2 more chicks


Normally by now any eggs left would be quitters. Just now I candled before tossing & the last 2 eggs have movement & loud peeping. (only internal pips, no visible external pip.) Just wondering if the shell is too thick or if the chick too big to move properly. They're now back in the incubator - which smells awful due to hatch debris & the fermented chicks' 1st bowel movements.

Not sure if I should assist or wait. Normally, I always say wait, but knowing that the rest under the same conditions hatched 24-48 hrs ago makes me nervous. Has anyone had a situation like this with no pips? (I've only assisted when a chick gets stuck while zipping. Never tried one like this. Would hate to open it & find out it's just slower maturing.)

 

[KF0002]

So here's a situation for those advanced hatchers:
My Thanksgiving chicks hatched Wed-Thurs.  
Wed afternoon & eve = 6 early chicks
Thurs morning = 3 chicks on time 
Thurs late afternoon = 2 more chicks


Normally by now any eggs left would be quitters.  Just now I candled before tossing & the last 2 eggs have movement & loud peeping. (only internal pips, no visible external pip.)  Just wondering if the shell is too thick or if the chick too big to move properly.  They're now back in the incubator - which smells awful due to hatch debris & the fermented chicks' 1st bowel movements.

Not sure if I should assist or wait.  Normally, I always say wait, but knowing that the rest under the same conditions hatched 24-48 hrs ago makes me nervous. Has anyone had a situation like this with no pips? (I've only assisted when a chick gets stuck while zipping.  Never tried one like this.  Would hate to open it & find out it's just slower maturing.)

I would not assist. If a chick is too weak to pip, it will likely be too weak to survive. I will assist shrink wrapped chicks after pipping and most of the time they are okay and grow normally. But sometimes they just stop making progress hatching for a reason and are too weak or have issues preventing them from hatching normally.

I will give you an example. I had a chick last winter to pip and didnt progress any further. He was a BLRW I really wanted so I intervened after some time of no progress and peeled him out slowly. He had a horrible scissor beak and had to be culled.

As difficult as it can be, sometimes it is best to let nature take its course. Weak chicks will likely grow into weaker, less hardy adult stock. Chickens with genetic deformities like scissor beak can have failure to grow and thrive.

Once they exhaust their air supply in the air cell the carbon dioxide will rise and they will die. I would leave them be for now and check on them tomorrow. They may be late bloomers and pip/hatch on their own just fine. Take care!

 

[Faraday40]

53 hrs after the 1st chick hatched, I decided to peek into the 2 unhatched - but still living - eggs.

1. It had made a small pip which I slowly peeled away shell with foreceps. The shell seemed more dense than the others. I removed the top shell above the air cell line, moistened the membrane, wrapped in a wet paper towel (being careful to avoid the beak), & popped it back into the incubator. About 30 min later I checked on it, and it had wiggled out of the shell. About 45 min after that it was walking around the incubator & looking fluffy. I kept it in the incubator overnight & it's now keeping up with the older chicks in the brooder. (can't tell which it is any longer)

2. This egg had no pip, so I waited a few extra hours before trying anything. (I began to worry that I might wait too long & miss the window for help.) I then candled & used a tiny nail to carefully make an air hole far away from the chick. Next I used the forceps to peel away the shell until I reached the area near the beak. I thought I saw some blood vessels in the inner membrane, so I wrapped it in wet paper towel & put back into incubator. I checked after 30 min, but I wanted to avoid a nicked blood vessel &/or herniated navel, so I let it be. I checked back 30-40 min later & had a cute, wet, lav orp crawling inside the incubator. It too was running around by this morning. I can't figure out why this particular egg/chick was so far behind the others. From what I can tell, these chicks were normal, just delayed. Perhaps I had a cooler spot near the door or a vent hole.

The Great News: Out of the 12 eggs, I got 11 chicks. (One egg developed a blood ring in the 1st few days of incubation.)
I'm a very happy chick mama!

 

[KernH]

53 hrs after the 1st chick hatched, I decided to peek into the 2 unhatched - but still living - eggs.

1. It had made a small pip which I slowly peeled away shell with foreceps. The shell seemed more dense than the others. I removed the top shell above the air cell line, moistened the membrane, wrapped in a wet paper towel (being careful to avoid the beak), & popped it back into the incubator. About 30 min later I checked on it, and it had wiggled out of the shell. About 45 min after that it was walking around the incubator & looking fluffy. I kept it in the incubator overnight & it's now keeping up with the older chicks in the brooder. (can't tell which it is any longer)

2. This egg had no pip, so I waited a few extra hours before trying anything. (I began to worry that I might wait too long & miss the window for help.) I then candled & used a tiny nail to carefully make an air hole far away from the chick. Next I used the forceps to peel away the shell until I reached the area near the beak. I thought I saw some blood vessels in the inner membrane, so I wrapped it in wet paper towel & put back into incubator. I checked after 30 min, but I wanted to avoid a nicked blood vessel &/or herniated navel, so I let it be. I checked back 30-40 min later & had a cute, wet, lav orp crawling inside the incubator. It too was running around by this morning. I can't figure out why this particular egg/chick was so far behind the others. From what I can tell, these chicks were normal, just delayed. Perhaps I had a cooler spot near the door or a vent hole.

The Great News: Out of the 12 eggs, I got 11 chicks. (One egg developed a blood ring in the 1st few days of incubation.)
I'm a very happy chick mama!

What a great success story. Sometimes there are many right ways to do things. Happy for you! Kern

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks. One of these lav orps came from that last egg. Can't tell which one at this point.



The 2nd to last chick is one of these black chicks:


They're all sweet little chicks. I'm happy the last 2 crawled out on their own after I assisted. I'm even more grateful that they didn't need any special care post-hatch.

Other chicks from the hatch:

 

[Arielle]

Started up the LG for a Nov 14 set... the last black copper eggs of the season.... candled today...two going strong!!!

 

[marchick]

Well I fired up my incubator and put in a batch of Ameraucana eggs. BBS/Self Blue/ Wheaten oh and 4 Black/Blue Copper Marans eggs. Anyone else have eggs in or chicks hatching?

 

[Selga]

Me! Fired it up this morning. 80 barnyard mix eggs. In an old homemade incubator, but it has worked well for me.

 

[marchick]

Me! Fired it up this morning. 80 barnyard mix eggs. In an old homemade incubator, but it has worked well for me.

Thats Awsome! You should post pictures when they hatch!

I love the babies! My favorite part is to cuddle them!

I hope you have a good hatch!