July Hatch-a-Long

[MichelleBelle]

When my first chick hatched, I left it in the incubator to stay warm and dry off for a while. However, it knocked around the other eggs quite a bit, causing some to crack. I'm worried that these cracks may have given some not yet ready chicks the green light to hatch, as the last two that emerged hadn't fully absorbed their yolk sacs yet. One was almost ready, and I left him without intervention and the situation resolved. However, the second to suffer this issue was clearly in need of another day before hatching. The remaining yolk sac is fairly large (we're on Day 20) and the intestines haven't fully retracted within the abdominal cavity. I think from now on I'll remove the little rambunctious hatchlings so that their siblings can continue incubation as long as needed. :/
Chick count thus far- 6 chicks hatched under broody hen, and 3 healthy chicks from the incubator, with an additional doing poorly at present.

 

[dancechick915]

Still no progress on my four eggs :/ At 10 pm tonight they will all be over 24 hours since external pip. I’m starting to think I may need to begin looking up assisting but am so hoping they will all just zip and hatch by then. No zipping has really happened. One has made a decent hole and has just been sitting with it’s beak sticking out and is chirping a lot but it won’t go back inside and zip. Is it normal for them to be at about 20 hours since pipping with no zipping? Luckily I’m not home so I can’t intervene at all yet (my husband set up a live stream so I can watch them until I get back home ). Actually I’ll post the live stream link below if anyone wants to take a look and has any advice.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10156661010363319

 

[dancechick915]

One has hatched!!!! The one that had a bloody spot on the membrane hatched! I’m such a proud chickymama!

 

[PortlandHen]

When my first chick hatched, I left it in the incubator to stay warm and dry off for a while. However, it knocked around the other eggs quite a bit, causing some to crack. I'm worried that these cracks may have given some not yet ready chicks the green light to hatch, as the last two that emerged hadn't fully absorbed their yolk sacs yet. One was almost ready, and I left him without intervention and the situation resolved. However, the second to suffer this issue was clearly in need of another day before hatching. The remaining yolk sac is fairly large (we're on Day 20) and the intestines haven't fully retracted within the abdominal cavity. I think from now on I'll remove the little rambunctious hatchlings so that their siblings can continue incubation as long as needed. :/
Chick count thus far- 6 chicks hatched under broody hen, and 3 healthy chicks from the incubator, with an additional doing poorly at present.

Poor little chicky!

 

[dancechick915]

So two are out (the first two that pipped) and this has really been a lesson on being patient! Now just two more
Here’s the second part of the live stream happening now...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10156661675438319

 

[dancechick915]

My temperature is dropping to 97.9 (maybe because of high humidity from them hatching?). Is this too low? I know some people hatch a bit lower but I’m not sure if I should raise it. Any thoughts?

 

[Trinitydraco]

So I have had a VERY rough hatch. On day 14 or so the power went out and all my eggs got cold. Then on day 17 my cat smacked the bator and 2 eggs cracked so I went into early lock down. 2 chicks hatched late last night and more were hatching when somehow the incubator got unplugged and I almost lost the newly hatched wet chick and thought for sure that the 2 pipped ones would not make it. I gave cpr to the cold unresponsive chick and it began to breath again so I put it in my bra (yes my BRA!) to get warm and dry as fast as possible. To make matters worse that chick was from one of the cracked eggs and very small. But right now it's in the brooder with it's 2 siblings and doing great! One chick JUST hatched and another will soon follow. The one that just hatched had pipped when the bator got cold so I VERY CARFULLY zipped the egg for it making sure not to tear any membrane and made a rescue hole in the air cell of the other egg that had internally pipped. Ordinarily I would not have helped but this was human/tech error and I am glad I did it as both chicks have survived. So even with the worst conditions I am looking at least 5 out of 9 eggs! The stress has been crazy but I am so proud of my little chicks!

 

[Trinitydraco]

Okay so you want to see crazy? My hours old chicks are HUNTING! Yes I said hunting! They are in the new brooder I made for pallet wood on the porch and the heat lamp is attracting moths. These little dino's are hunting! I never would have believed it if I had not gotten it on video! Also I just had chick number 4 hatch! Don't mind the dirty bator. The other three made a mess of it before I popped them in the brooder

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10211733935401725

 

[dancechick915]

My third has almost fully zipped so it should be here soon! The 4th hasn’t really made any progress and I haven’t seen it move or heard it chirp. It is almost 24 hours so once the third chick hatched I’m going to take a closer look

 

[Trinitydraco]

Has anyone else had their incubator get too humid? My chicks couldn't dry off because of it so I had to remove the flannel I had in there as it was soaked from the first 5 chicks hatching on it. I have 2 eggs still hatching and I don't want to dry them out too much but my chicks need to be able to fluff up so I can get them in the brooder with their siblings. I had partially hand dried a chick and had to pop it back in and when I came back a half hour later it was soaked again!