Incubators Anonymous

[ChickNmamma]

can you tell I am on my phone and I can't see what I type.

nooo...

Sorry about your boy. Sometimes they get the hang of it - sometimes they never do. Do you have a backup roo?

 

[ChickSter99]

You did GREAT!

Thank you. It wasn't easy. I fought with the humidity like crazy. I had to intervene on a couple because they were getting shrink wrapped. The fan in the Havo Bator 1588 just dries them out so quickly. There really needs to be a high and low speed. I was a nervous wreck. Yet, I'm putting myself through it all over again for the next three weeks. I have chicks hatching once a week for the next 3 weeks. I may give my hens one more chance.

 

[ChickSter99]

Ok. Now for my next batch of hatchlings. I need some suggestions. These eggs were shipped and are set to be locked down on Sunday. The air sacs were insanely crazy when I got them. I let them set for 24 hours at room temp only slightly tilting them three times daily. I them put them in the incubator with the turner off for two days. The air sacs seemed to be settled. They never were perfect. As of now, my concern is that the eggs are losing too much moisture. The air sacs are still crazy with some saddle shaped, some dip here but not there, some are curvy, but they are getting bigger. Some are getting bigger to the point that the chick will definitely not survive to hatch or if it does it will have problems. Should I raise the humidity now from 45% to keep them from losing any more weight or to keep the air sac from growing? I can see movement in all of them-even the craziest looking ones have movement. There has been a significant change just since last night in the sizes of the air sacs and the size of the chicks inside. What would be the best solution besides chunking them? Have any of you dealt with this before? If so, what was your outcome?

 

[ki4got]

Ok. Now for my next batch of hatchlings. I need some suggestions. These eggs were shipped and are set to be locked down on Sunday. The air sacs were insanely crazy when I got them. I let them set for 24 hours at room temp only slightly tilting them three times daily. I them put them in the incubator with the turner off for two days. The air sacs seemed to be settled. They never were perfect. As of now, my concern is that the eggs are losing too much moisture. The air sacs are still crazy with some saddle shaped, some dip here but not there, some are curvy, but they are getting bigger. Some are getting bigger to the point that the chick will definitely not survive to hatch or if it does it will have problems. Should I raise the humidity now from 45% to keep them from losing any more weight or to keep the air sac from growing? I can see movement in all of them-even the craziest looking ones have movement. There has been a significant change just since last night in the sizes of the air sacs and the size of the chicks inside. What would be the best solution besides chunking them? Have any of you dealt with this before? If so, what was your outcome?

don't worry about the air cell shapes... the chick is still taking up the same amount of space with fluid, it's just the membrane has separated from the wall of the shell. I would treat them normally and only up the humidity during lockdown. with the membranes separated they may actually lose less moisture until they pip externally... can't prove it, but practice has taught me that even tho I dry incubate, eggs with damaged air cells seem to be wet hatches more often than not. at least that's my experience.

 

[ChickSter99]

don't worry about the air cell shapes...  the chick is still taking up the same amount of space with fluid, it's just the membrane has separated from the wall of the shell. I would treat them normally and only up the humidity during lockdown.  with the membranes separated they may actually lose less moisture until they pip externally...  can't prove it, but practice has taught me that even tho I dry incubate, eggs with damaged air cells seem to be wet hatches more often than not.   at least that's my experience.

So basically what I'm seeing is the membrane pulled away from the shell, right? I just don't see the chicks in those spaces yet (even though it maynot be time to see them that far). Did your chicks hatch healthy? I really concerned about this.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: wet hatches tend to be more problematic than normal, simply because the chick has a harder time turning if he's absorbed all that extra fluid... but not much you can do about it at this point but continue on and cross fingers.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I hope so

If not I have a friend that hatched some too so she might have a back up if I need one. I have one more little one from someone else growing out too surely I have a roo in there somewhere.

 

[Sueg4332]

he lost from the ankle down....really just the foot. I don't know that he can be fixed. he holds that leg off to one side and the other one is off the other way. would not surprised me to find him dead today. I did think about some sort of foot thing. I have seen birds on here that get by with one leg but he is not..

I had a hen get under a moving horse. The horse stepped on her a pop the foot off. Made me sick to see her. She was my favorite little story book looking yellow chicken, nice and plump , I decide to clean it up and taped popicilli stick to the stump (duck tape) about 1/2 inch longer than the stump. We used Cut and heat on the raw part horse medicine) everyday for 2 weeks. She never slowed down a bite. We renamed her peg leg Peggy for short.
When the stump healed we took the stick off. That hen live until she was 12 years old. Just limped around the yard like a pirot.....Until a coyete got her one evening...

 

[Sueg4332]

he lost from the ankle down....really just the foot. I don't know that he can be fixed. he holds that leg off to one side and the other one is off the other way. would not surprised me to find him dead today. I did think about some sort of foot thing. I have seen birds on here that get by with one leg but he is not..

I had a hen get under a moving horse. The horse stepped on her a pop the foot off. Made me sick to see her. She was my favorite little story book looking yellow chicken, nice and plump , I decide to clean it up and taped popicilli stick to the stump (duck tape) about 1/2 inch longer than the stump. We used Cut and heat on the raw part horse medicine) everyday for 2 weeks. She never slowed down a bite. We renamed her peg leg Peggy for short.
When the stump healed we took the stick off. That hen live until she was 12 years old. Just limped around the yard like a pirot.....Until a coyete got her one evening...

 

[sweetmsmisty98]

Well today is day 7 of my first time ever incubating. I candled the eggs. To me it looks like nothing. Crossing my fingers