January 2023 Hatch-a-long

[3KillerBs]

At least 6, possibly 7, and more pips.

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

I’ve got one out, two visible pips and five I can’t see anything. My first cutie out is bowling with the other eggs, can’t wait until a she’s dried so I can give them some peace

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Had a red chick hatch.

This guy was definitely fathered by two BCs. Has feathering extending to the middle toe whereas the mixed chicks has feathering that halts at their outer toes. They’re all the same size right now, I assume because they all hatched out of bantam eggs.

 

[3KillerBs]

Somewhere between 7-9 -- they're so hard to count in the incubator! -- with at least one more pip.

 

[3KillerBs]

13 chicks went into the brooder just now. One egg still in the incubator pipped, so there could be one more.

Unfortunately, I have to work, but my family will keep an eye on the babies during the day.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

9 chicks hatched out of 13.
The 2 black
one partridge or deep red-looking chick
and 6 pale red chicks. I’ll update once they finish hatching and when I potentially sell some.

 

[3KillerBs]

A 14th chick has hatched.

It seems to have an extensive, soft umbilical cord so I'm leaving it in the incubator until that dries up and falls off naturally or seems dry enough to clip.

Hoping it's not a serious health problem because I've never had to cull a baby chick and don't want to start.

The other 13 are happy in the brooder on a warm afternoon with just the plate. I'll plug the lamp in tonight since the temperatures are going to drop down into the 40s. They might be fine with just the plate, but at only a day old I think I will give them that bit of insurance.

 

[gimmie birdies]

My avatar has not laid a fertile egg yet, I am still hoping. Today she laid a nice light green egg with brown spots. It is so pretty I think she took her time with this egg. So I hope it is fertile.

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

I have three hatched. This fourth just hatched after more than 24 hrs working on one small hole. He had a big clump of poop on his butt, so I tried real quick to get what I could off it and noticed his toes were curled in. I got everything to make him some little sandals, but when I got him I saw the cord was wrapped around his foot, and he couldn’t extend his leg. I snipped it, THEN noticed what looks like a tail coming out of I think his butt, as he still has cord attached. Any ideas? I’m going to post in emergencies as well.

 

[FunClucks]

So the final count - 20 babies out of 24 set eggs!!!

All 24 set eggs were fertile. (Kudos to my rooster!) One stopped developing after Day 13 or 16, two didn't finish growing after they visibly looked like a chicken, and one had to be culled after a successful (unassisted) hatch due to having a lot of viscera that did not go into its body through the umbilical area when they should have, and I couldn't fix it .
In addition, it was a staggered hatch (newbie mistake!), with one due a day after the main hatch (Egg 22), one due three days after (Egg 23), and one due 8 days after the main hatch (Egg 24).

I couldn't afford to buy another incubator for three eggs, and wanted to give them the best chance of success, so I threw together an incubator from what I had around the house, and created a still air incubator using a pressure canner and my old reptile supplies. Egg 22 stayed one day in the still air incubator, Egg 23 stayed 3 days, and Egg 24 stayed 8 days in the pressure canner still air incubator before I moved them each individually to the Nurture Right 360 for lockdown and hatching. Eggs 23 and 24 hatched on time without incident! (Not sure why Egg 22 died, but upon eggtopsy it wasn't full grown)

I thought it was pretty cool that I was able to successfully create an incubator last-minute and successfully incubate eggs using a pressure canner and my old reptile supplies, especially never having done it before, and in a unique setup, so I wrote an article about it. Check it out!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ubator-for-rescue-of-a-staggered-hatch.78314/

FYI, for anyone who is wondering, prior to setting them I sprayed all my eggs off with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) until they were dripping, and used a microfiber cloth to scrub off any dirt while they were wet, and rinsed with H2O2 as needed. Then I let them air dry on plate on a paper towel (until they were mostly dry) and then put them into the heated up and ready to use incubator. They finished drying there. All 24 of my eggs developed fine. A few stopped developing as I listed in the post above. I've seen no issues with bacteria, mites, etc. Not even any pasty butt, and we're around 2 weeks post-hatch now, brooding in my garage with heat lamps.

I washed and dried my hands prior to hand turning the extra eggs (22 slots in the turner, and 2 more eggs were loaded) several times a day (5+), and halfway through incubation I started rotating those extra eggs with other eggs that were in the normal slots. I think the chick that I had to cull had an egg that was too big for the Nurture right to turn reliably (67g, pushed instead of turned?). Next time I'll use shelf-liner while auto-turning, and not just starting at lockdown.