July 14th - NEWBIE Set 11 eggs at 2PM CST. Anyone wanna join me?

[Islandmom511]

Quote:
Okay, so how do you help a baby out? After 36 hours since the first pip my pekins are struggling to zip and the farmer that I got the eggs from recommended I help them out....but I'm nervous! BYC has scared the living daylights out of me about taking the lid off the incubator and them "shrink wrapping". He recommended I do it under warm water? ANy suggestions?

 

[ContessaKris]

Awwww, first family babies! How exciting! Do we get to see pics? I love seeing pics, seeing as we dont' have any chicks yet. lol

 

[JeffJustJeff]

Quote:
Okay, so how do you help a baby out? After 36 hours since the first pip my pekins are struggling to zip and the farmer that I got the eggs from recommended I help them out....but I'm nervous! BYC has scared the living daylights out of me about taking the lid off the incubator and them "shrink wrapping". He recommended I do it under warm water? ANy suggestions?

I get a bowl of lukewarm water and a pair of blunt tweezers. If the pip is pretty small, I start chipping small pieces of shell away. If the membrane is dry and white, I moisten it with the q-tip. You have to be careful not to get water down the baby's beak. You can then see if it gets out on its own or continue. If you see blood, you should stop. If you see anything inside the shell that looks like the egg yolk, you should stop as well. The little one needs to absorb the yolk before it gets out of the shell. The chick I helped, there were some small veins on the membrane. I just went slow and watched it. You may see a little pink in the membrane. Just use your gut and be careful. All that being said, I've never hatched ducks (yet ;-) )so I don't know if there are any differences. I have heard that the shell is a lot thicker than chickens.

Contessa,
I'll get some pics up in just a bit.

Good luck!

Jeff

 

[Islandmom511]

Quote:
Okay, so how do you help a baby out? After 36 hours since the first pip my pekins are struggling to zip and the farmer that I got the eggs from recommended I help them out....but I'm nervous! BYC has scared the living daylights out of me about taking the lid off the incubator and them "shrink wrapping". He recommended I do it under warm water? ANy suggestions?

I get a bowl of lukewarm water and a pair of blunt tweezers. If the pip is pretty small, I start chipping small pieces of shell away. If the membrane is dry and white, I moisten it with the q-tip. You have to be careful not to get water down the baby's beak. You can then see if it gets out on its own or continue. If you see blood, you should stop. If you see anything inside the shell that looks like the egg yolk, you should stop as well. The little one needs to absorb the yolk before it gets out of the shell. The chick I helped, there were some small veins on the membrane. I just went slow and watched it. You may see a little pink in the membrane. Just use your gut and be careful. All that being said, I've never hatched ducks (yet ;-) )so I don't know if there are any differences. I have heard that the shell is a lot thicker than chickens.

Contessa,
I'll get some pics up in just a bit.

Good luck
Without even seeing your post thats exactly what i did! They are both here and came out mostly on their own! I posted pics of the first one

question- #2 looks like its umbilical cord is still attached. Im assuming to just leave it? Will ut be okay?

Jeff

 

[ContessaKris]

Well, this first round of eggs was a dud. I candled eggs again, only one had full black inside.

So I turned if off to clean it out, and broke open each egg. Only one had a medium black mass. Didn't look like a chicken but it would seem it was one forming. Must have quit forming awhile ago. So yeah, I was bummed.

Cleaned out the incubator and will start a new thread in a bit for a NEW hatching date, since I have almost 3 dozen eggs here to incubate.

 

[GoodLuckCharlie!]

I'm happy to report I had 3 Trader Joe eggs hatch healthy on their 23rd day. They're like little fuzzballs, very cute. The pheonix eggs I had were thrashed through the mail and ended up being clear through to day 18 which was a bummer. That was my first attempt at mail ordering a rare breed. But the more and more I talk to people they've had a tough time with the mail this year and it can either go well or not, plus my mailman tossed the box of eggs at me-clearly marked eggs and fragile. So I wasn't too sure about them from then on anyways. We'll just try again

Happy to see all the hatchlings too! That's exciting!

 

[ContessaKris]

Awwww, baby fuzzy wuzzies! Thanks for sharing pics!