July Hatch-a-long

[PugBug]

You're not alone, hun! I do almost exactly as you (except I only have the one styro-bator) and I don't wait long before assisting. I sat on my hands a few days ago and didn't listen to my gut. Gut said "help", everything else said "wait"... I lost my CM who had pipped internally but never made it out. When my Silkie pipped internally two days ago, I kept candling her every 2 hours or so... something didn't feel right. The last time I candled her, her breathing was really, REALLY fast, but she wasn't moving - so I pipped for her. It took her a minute but she started chirping, then trying to get out... which I had to help her with as well. She was just exhausted and apparently her shell was super thick and wasn't getting the oxygen she needed. Slowly got her out and today she's fluffed up and starving! LOL! She has already had her first meal and first poop, now she's sleeping in her brooder snug as a bug! And I just realized I was rambling, sorry.

it's ok, ramble away! this is why I like hatching threads- we actually talk to each other LOL!

 

[PugBug]

I have all the ladies I could ask for right now! The last batch ended up with 4 girls and two boys, same story with the one before it. We mostly hatch to eat the cockerels, but lately I've been getting all pullets all the time. Dear Chicken Gods, send me something good to eat.

LOL understandable!

 

[Gen9]

Several reasons actually, fire ants is probably the biggest one. As soon as babies start hatching under my mamas the ants invade and kill the babies before they can even get out of the shell. Also she is in a pen with ducks, goats and papa turkey, probably not the safest place for tiny babies.

Oh that is just awful, poor babies! Such a horrible way to die!! I have fire ants in my yard, they never have invaded the run before except once when I fed some left over spaghetti that had a bit of ground beef in it, and wow the ants invaded quickly and the chickens couldn't enjoy their treat. It's amazing how fast they swarmed, and covered the run. I had to let the chickens out until the ants went away.

 

[Gen9]

I've been having a lot of trouble keeping the humidity steady, I have to add water just about every hour, and it doesn't stabilize. I live near the coast in NC, where it's really humid too. I just don't understand

I probably am posting this in the wrong thread, but I wanted to know if I could introduce my day old chicks to week old turkey poults? I was suppose to get my poults sooner but they mom & pop shop told me that the hatchery kepts pushing the date further & wasn't sure when they were getting them. So I thought I'll hatch some eggs in the mean time and *hopefully* the poults come around the same time and help them find food and water themselves. So with the poults being a little older, are they going to be ok around the chicks? I just won't look forward to cleaning up the remnants of a horror scene & I'd like to keep as many chicks as I can

 

[Heidisgran]

I love the roosters! I know we can't keep too many but they are amazing and so beautiful

 

[Heidisgran]

I would put them together and watch until your comfortable...I put all my fowl babies together and they all hump up together to sleep it's so sweet

 

[nicole63021]

Still only two little chicks.......dang anxiety is setting in now...

 

[Heidisgran]

have you candled to see if they've internally pipped?

 

[Gofygure]

Ugh, guys, I made a stupid. This morning starts day 2, which is when my incubator stops auto turning. During my last hatch, I had two chicks pipping the wrong end, so I wanted to open up the incubator for a moment to tilt the eggs and hopefully encourage proper exiting (they lay horizontal in the Mini.) Problem is, I assumed I wouldn't have a pip on the morning of day 2! The time the brooder lay open was less than 10 seconds before I realized what I was seeing, but now I'm feeling terrible if I've just messed up that chick's hatch.

And the moral of this story is: Don't break lockdown. :/

 

[sharol]

That happened to me, too. I thought the eggs hadn't pipped, and since it was day 23, I wanted to get a look inside them. I am using a styro with windows on the top, and I took out a window to extract the eggs. The third egg I looked at had pipped at the wrong end. (It was outside the incubator in my hands at the time. I moistened the visible membrane and returned it to the incubator. Then I found another one that I thought had pipped. Crap. The first baby had to have help, and by that time another egg had pipped. I had that window open several times getting the first chick out (after 36 hours of struggling, I chipped of a few pieces of shell, and it hatched and is doing fine). The 2nd egg hadn't pipped, it turned out, it just had a hole in it. The third one (again on the wrong end) needed a little help, but hatched fine.

Don't panic. Just be sure the humidity is high enough. You probably didn't do any harm. Let us know how it turns out. I am obsessing over another hatch, now. I had no idea I was so OCD. (The first 2 babies are just over a week old and going great).

Ugh, guys, I made a stupid. This morning starts day 2, which is when my incubator stops auto turning. During my last hatch, I had two chicks pipping the wrong end, so I wanted to open up the incubator for a moment to tilt the eggs and hopefully encourage proper exiting (they lay horizontal in the Mini.) Problem is, I assumed I wouldn't have a pip on the morning of day 2! The time the brooder lay open was less than 10 seconds before I realized what I was seeing, but now I'm feeling terrible if I've just messed up that chick's hatch.

And the moral of this story is: Don't break lockdown. :/