June Hatch A Long

[jolenesdad]

I candled a couple last night before I cooled and misted.... and in just one day I’ve lost virtually my ENTIRE view!

Sad to lose the development view and shocked how quickly it happens. But SO EXCITED that I’m entering the final week. These ducks are rough, y’all! If chickies ... I’d be hatching today.

I’ll do a full candle tonight on official day 21 and weigh and judge air cells for a final time. I’m interested to check a few of the shipped eggs that seemed to be developing slower, to see if they are also dark. After three full weeks there’s several displaced or saddled cells that I’ll be handling for the first time since day 1.

Also night before last, I turned off the humidity pump while I was cooling so it didn’t drip on my counter. I forgot to turn it back on! :-/ I was surprised to learn that the incubator held 39% humidity with no pump and no water anywhere in it.

Do duck eggs give off a lot more moisture than chicken eggs, or is time of year or something? When “dry” in a full incubator of chicken eggs, I ran about 28_29%. Only periodic droplets needed to maintain 35%.

With duck eggs, it looks like it is maintaining 39% with only periodic droplets to maintain 45%.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

This is Pip our sole incubator chick. She is a cry baby! Here she is checking out the video baby monitor that is so we can keep an eye on the chicks hatched in the coop. Called a couple local supply places no one has chicks. Also this morning the hens were encouraging the youngest 3 chicks to adventure outside the coop so I am very doubtful/unwilling to try and sneak Pip in to the coop at night. (Last night she wasn't dried and fluffy until after 2 am!
Did message a friend of a friend to see if she could spare a couple from her hatch on fathers day.
View attachment 1817433

Aww! Pip is so cute! I hope you can find her a little friend! You could always try introducing her to your hen during daylight hours and see how she reacts while actively monitoring. If she doesn't take to her you could also bring one of your peeps in from outside to be with her.
Keep us updated on her progress and the hunt for her little friend!

 

[jolenesdad]

This is Pip our sole incubator chick. She is a cry baby! Here she is checking out the video baby monitor that is so we can keep an eye on the chicks hatched in the coop. Called a couple local supply places no one has chicks. Also this morning the hens were encouraging the youngest 3 chicks to adventure outside the coop so I am very doubtful/unwilling to try and sneak Pip in to the coop at night. (Last night she wasn't dried and fluffy until after 2 am!
Did message a friend of a friend to see if she could spare a couple from her hatch on fathers day.
View attachment 1817433

Are you on FB? One of my friends just had this happen and found many solutions immediately. The nearest metro area to you likely has its own backyard chicken Facebook group. I see people posting in mine all the time for a couple same age chicks for similar situations, or even eggs entering lockdown for a broody that’s been sitting for too long. I’m always shocked and delighted to see how many responses of people wanting to help the lonely babies!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I candled a couple last night before I cooled and misted.... and in just one day I’ve lost virtually my ENTIRE view!

Sad to lose the development view and shocked how quickly it happens. But SO EXCITED that I’m entering the final week. These ducks are rough, y’all! If chickies ... I’d be hatching today.

I’ll do a full candle tonight on official day 21 and weigh and judge air cells for a final time. I’m interested to check a few of the shipped eggs that seemed to be developing slower, to see if they are also dark. After three full weeks there’s several displaced or saddled cells that I’ll be handling for the first time since day 1.

Also night before last, I turned off the humidity pump while I was cooling so it didn’t drip on my counter. I forgot to turn it back on! :-/ I was surprised to learn that the incubator held 39% humidity with no pump and no water anywhere in it.

Do duck eggs give off a lot more moisture than chicken eggs, or is time of year or something? When “dry” in a full incubator of chicken eggs, I ran about 28_29%. Only periodic droplets needed to maintain 35%.

With duck eggs, it looks like it is maintaining 39% with only periodic droplets to maintain 45%.

So exciting that they're coming along nicely!! All eggs release moisture, the more pourus the shell the faster the moisture is released so it could be the number of eggs you have or you could have a few pourus ones. If I remember correctly they become more pourus as the chick develops too.
Also if you're incubator is styrofoam it will hold more moisture than a plastic one. When I dry my Incubators after cleaning them it always takes longer for my styrofoam one to dry.
I can't wait for your final candling update!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Are you on FB? One of my friends just had this happen and found many solutions immediately. The nearest metro area to you likely has its own backyard chicken Facebook group. I see people posting in mine all the time for a couple same age chicks for similar situations, or even eggs entering lockdown for a broody that’s been sitting for too long. I’m always shocked and delighted to see how many responses of people wanting to help the lonely babies!

I second this idea! I'm in my local facebook group all the time and I'm one of those people that always has chicks hatching to fill a need. There is sure to be another hatchaholic near you! Lol!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

This is Pip our sole incubator chick. She is a cry baby! Here she is checking out the video baby monitor that is so we can keep an eye on the chicks hatched in the coop. Called a couple local supply places no one has chicks. Also this morning the hens were encouraging the youngest 3 chicks to adventure outside the coop so I am very doubtful/unwilling to try and sneak Pip in to the coop at night. (Last night she wasn't dried and fluffy until after 2 am!
Did message a friend of a friend to see if she could spare a couple from her hatch on fathers day.
View attachment 1817433

Awww, poor little cutie!

 

[Tbjenkins2007]

They are both still a little sticky, one has a minor splay leg that I’m going to try and correct.

But I think I have two female crested cream legbars!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

This is Pip our sole incubator chick. She is a cry baby! Here she is checking out the video baby monitor that is so we can keep an eye on the chicks hatched in the coop. Called a couple local supply places no one has chicks. Also this morning the hens were encouraging the youngest 3 chicks to adventure outside the coop so I am very doubtful/unwilling to try and sneak Pip in to the coop at night. (Last night she wasn't dried and fluffy until after 2 am!
Did message a friend of a friend to see if she could spare a couple from her hatch on fathers day.
View attachment 1817433

I’m not sure I’m keeping everyone’s stories straight, so not sure why your chick was rejected... in our last broody hatch, we had to put one broken egg in the incubator at lockdown. It miraculously hatched! Mama hen had incubated in a dog crate in the coop and we needed to move them to a separate pen. So, my daughter caught up all the chicks and put them in a box that already has the lone incubator chick and I grabbed mom. We marched them to their new home, placed all the chicks in then let mom in the pen. In all of the excitement, no one even noticed the new chick as differnt from the hen-hatched chicks, due to the old “chickens can’t count” thing. Do you think something like that could work for you?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

View attachment 1817462

They are both still a little sticky, one has a minor splay leg that I’m going to try and correct.

But I think I have two female crested cream legbars!

Yeah! Congratulations! If they are purebred, then they look like girls to me!!

 

[SueT]

This is Pip our sole incubator chick. She is a cry baby! Here she is checking out the video baby monitor that is so we can keep an eye on the chicks hatched in the coop. Called a couple local supply places no one has chicks. Also this morning the hens were encouraging the youngest 3 chicks to adventure outside the coop so I am very doubtful/unwilling to try and sneak Pip in to the coop at night. (Last night she wasn't dried and fluffy until after 2 am!

I hope you find a buddy for it! I also was unable to get my mama hen, Moonshine to accept Spitzhauben chick hatched from abandoned egg on Friday. (I'm the one who brought in the egg and hatched it on a heating pad.) Later in the day, I even tried see-no-touch, but Moonshine tried to attack thru the basket.

The chick wouldn't stop crying. So I went to a farm store and got a buddy, this little rust colored bantam--they are best buddies now (anyone know what breed?):

The 3 chicks out with mama are experiencing a very different and adventurous life:

The 3rd chick is there, under mama: