June Hatch A Long

[jolenesdad]

You and me both! I wasn't sure what to do with myself this morning without duckies to watch with my coffee, lol!

I candled my 4 goose eggs this morning and they are REALLY filling their eggs!! Tomorrow is lockdown! I don't think I'm going to hand turn them all the way over anymore and just leave the IncuView to do the 1/4 turn until the end of tomorrow. My first time hatching goslings and my first hatch in the IncuView Incubator!

I’m so excited for this!

 

[LilyD]

Holy %#{* I cannot believe I missed this memo I’m so glad I asked these questions and was here for this chat.

So on ones that have internally pipped... but not externally... are they not technically breathing oxygen yet? Is this a 24 hour window you will allow them to stay there before making a safety hole?

Also, does the safety hole and the oxygen then signal to them to start absorbing the yolk?

Thank you so much for taking the time for these explanations. Wow.

Okay so also, super cool, they were probably developing, and continued to even with a pause and transport to you.

After they internally pip they can breath the oxygen that is in the egg but kind of like breathing in an enclosed sealed plastic bag once that is gone your body starts to suffocate. It it is when they start having problems that drives them to externally pip and then zip the egg. I used Pyxis's guide to make the safety holes which said give 24 hours after internal pip before you make a safety hole and then 24 hours after that before you do any other assisting. Previously I was always very hesitant to help because I didn't want to cause more problems than I fixed. This year with the humidity being all wonky already and them having issues already I figured I couldn't do any more damage since they already were having problems.

I'm glad I took it slow but at the same time worry that maybe if I acted faster I might have saved them.

Yes that's my thought. I have heard that you can have eggs cool down and stop growth and then restart again once they are being set on. There must be a point where they go from that to being a quitter though. Not sure when that is.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Holy %#{* I cannot believe I missed this memo I’m so glad I asked these questions and was here for this chat.

So on ones that have internally pipped... but not externally... are they not technically breathing oxygen yet? Is this a 24 hour window you will allow them to stay there before making a safety hole?

Also, does the safety hole and the oxygen then signal to them to start absorbing the yolk?

Thank you so much for taking the time for these explanations. Wow.

Okay so also, super cool, they were probably developing, and continued to even with a pause and transport to you.

They're breathing oxygen once they internally pip but I think the external pips helps more with the change in pressure so they can pull in the yolk sac.
This is just my personal preference but I never do safety holes. I've only ever lost 2 chicks after lockdown (knock on wood). It's one of those things you have to decide if it suites your way of hatching, but a very experienced friend of mine did a comparison with and without safety holes and she had a much higher occurrence of shrink wrapping with the safety hole chicks even though the holes were quite small. With that said, in LilyD's situation I likely would have taken the risk myself because they were internally pipped for so long without an external pip. Just my opinion though!

 

[LilyD]

I'm still learning myself and hoping that I get some broody hens out of the bunch I have growing right now so I can just put babies under them. I would much rather do it that way than try to do it in an incubator.

 

[LilyD]

They're breathing oxygen once they internally pip but I think the external pips helps more with the change in pressure so they can pull in the yolk sac.
This is just my personal preference but I never do safety holes. I've only ever lost 2 chicks after lockdown (knock on wood). It's one of those things you have to decide if it suites your way of hatching, but a very experienced friend of mine did a comparison with and without safety holes and she had a much higher occurrence of shrink wrapping with the safety hole chicks even though the holes were quite small. With that said, in LilyD's situation I likely would have taken the risk myself because they were internally pipped for so long without an external pip. Just my opinion though!

Normally I am not one to interfere either I would rather they get out of the eggs on their own. I think that it definitely contributes to their ability to be able to move around right after hatch and overall to be better able to survive. Ducks are hard to hatch normally at least I think so. I can put a full incubator load in and maybe get 60% and there are many different ideas on how to get the best hatch rates. I find under a Momma duck is the best way personally but I will try off and on because I am still learning and want to be able to hatch as best I can when I do.

Definitely ready for chicken eggs for my next hatching though lol. So much easier.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I'm glad I took it slow but at the same time worry that maybe if I acted faster I might have saved them.

It's hard to make the judgment call! Of the 2 chicks I've lost after lockdown, I believe they were both because I didn't act fast enough. We do our best and just need to love on the babies that we do manage to help successfully!

Yes that's my thought. I have heard that you can have eggs cool down and stop growth and then restart again once they are being set on. There must be a point where they go from that to being a quitter though. Not sure when that is.

This is definitely what happened with my Mallard eggs! The last 2 eggs that were developing officially stopped though so my guess is that the longer the development is delayed in early development embryos the worse off they are. Alternately I've also had more developed eggs under a broody that she abandoned in 40-degree weather that were still ok after several hours of being chilled. In the end, I did try to help those chicks without an incubator and set up a plastic box with a seedling heat pad under it and an office lamp over it for warmth, due to my inexperience at the time being my first batch of eggs I wasn't able to save them but not for lack of trying!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Normally I am not one to interfere either I would rather they get out of the eggs on their own. I think that it definitely contributes to their ability to be able to move around right after hatch and overall to be better able to survive. Ducks are hard to hatch normally at least I think so. I can put a full incubator load in and maybe get 60% and there are many different ideas on how to get the best hatch rates. I find under a Momma duck is the best way personally but I will try off and on because I am still learning and want to be able to hatch as best I can when I do.

Definitely ready for chicken eggs for my next hatching though lol. So much easier.

Please don't misunderstand! I wasn't criticizing at all! Those duckies were definitely in good hands with you and I'm not sure any of them would have made it out of those shells without you helping! It was amazing to watch too!
It's my understanding that geese are hard to hatch too so I'm about to get first hand experience with that very soon!

 

[jolenesdad]

They're breathing oxygen once they internally pip but I think the external pips helps more with the change in pressure so they can pull in the yolk sac.
This is just my personal preference but I never do safety holes. I've only ever lost 2 chicks after lockdown (knock on wood). It's one of those things you have to decide if it suites your way of hatching, but a very experienced friend of mine did a comparison with and without safety holes and she had a much higher occurrence of shrink wrapping with the safety hole chicks even though the holes were quite small. With that said, in LilyD's situation I likely would have taken the risk myself because they were internally pipped for so long without an external pip. Just my opinion though!

Being inexperienced I’ve taken the dont assist approach always. I’ve assisted the last hatching eggs that just needed some help breaking out of the shell probably due to the bator being opened.

I had 40-something eggs make it to lockdown in my first hatch, they were virtually all shaking around and many chirping but I only hatched 25 or so I think. I didn’t open any of them because I didn’t want to feel like “what could have been”....

 

[LilyD]

It's hard to make the judgment call! Of the 2 chicks I've lost after lockdown, I believe they were both because I didn't act fast enough. We do our best and just need to love on the babies that we do manage to help successfully!



This is definitely what happened with my Mallard eggs! The last 2 eggs that were developing officially stopped though so my guess is that the longer the development is delayed in early development embryos the worse off they are. Alternately I've also had more developed eggs under a broody that she abandoned in 40-degree weather that were still ok after several hours of being chilled. In the end, I did try to help those chicks without an incubator and set up a plastic box with a seedling heat pad under it and an office lamp over it for warmth, due to my inexperience at the time being my first batch of eggs I wasn't able to save them but not for lack of trying!

I learn something each and every time I incubate. I have gotten 100% hatch rates with chickens that I raise myself but ducks in general are hard. Shipped eggs are harder too since you have to let them rest for a bit before they go in the incubator because they are jostled in shipping. If they are dirty it all it can cause issues and I know also the health of the hen laying the egg and whether or not they are stressed can affect the condition of the egg that she lays.

So many things can cause problems for these little eggies.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I learn something each and every time I incubate. I have gotten 100% hatch rates with chickens that I raise myself but ducks in general are hard. Shipped eggs are harder too since you have to let them rest for a bit before they go in the incubator because they are jostled in shipping. If they are dirty it all it can cause issues and I know also the health of the hen laying the egg and whether or not they are stressed can affect the condition of the egg that she lays.

So many things can cause problems for these little eggies.

Same! I don't think I'll ever stop learning because they sure love to throw curveballs! lol
You think you're ready for anything and then BAM they "offer" you a new learning experience. lol!