Well I’m all done with this hatch... of my last three Marans eggs I lost the one I oiled... from now on I think if I have to I will try water instead first... it seemed to be doing ok and even though I couldn’t find the beak, I was hopeful, so I put it in a little cup so it’s two siblings wouldn’t accidentally injure it in the incubator... with the Humidity cranked right up they came out a little soft on the navel, but dried out fine and fluffed up fairly quickly.
I passed out some time between 3-4 am... when I woke with a start at 6 the chick had passed. Those veins were just too large for me to open it up enough when I fell asleep, though they had completely receded and the yolk was fully absorbed when I woke. I pulled it’s head out and eventually found the beak tucked right down towards the belly, not under the wing, and pointing away from the air sack end completely. I think you all were right in the badly mal positioned diagnosis. I’m telling myself that a lot of it was probably due to mama and daddy being just 7 month old.
So I’m going to consider it as two separate hatches really... 34 mature eggs, and the 7 pullet Maran eggs. That puts my hatch rate at 85% on the main batch, and 29% on the eggs I probably shouldn’t have even tried 2 incubate (they were mostly mid stage quitters from the looks of it). Of the five eggs that didn’t make it in the main hatch one was in the first couple days of incubation and I pulled it before lockdown, two were shrink wraps, there was the cup baby that hatched, on its own!, way too soon randomly, and one that was just inexplicably DIS.
My main focus now is that I’ve got 31 lovely new baby chickens to care for. I’m just a tad disappointed that I didn’t break the 100 chicken mark on this hatch, 98 for the next week and a half until I take my broilers in... I suppose I could just go all the way and rescue the 5 remaining chickens from the farm’s coop to get there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take on that many more sick chickens right now.
So on my list of stuff that “absolutely needs” done today I now have: drain the water belly on one rescue, pedicure for another, bum bath for a third. Set up the proper brooder for these little fluff balls, cleaning the barn and organizing my tools at the same time (necessary to move and clean out the brooder due to impending hay!) but first and foremost, the biggest thing by far, is NAP!!! Yeah, I don’t care that it’s almost 9 am... I’m going back to sleep, everyone is fed, watered and fine. My turn now! Still going to follow along with everyone, and maybe I will get some more eggs later this month, July Hatch along too?
they’re my only predators. I use a barn that was for horses previously but I moved them. There’s two 1/4-1/2 acre fields that are fenced with anti climb wire. I lost my sweetest birds about a year ago, and I think it was an inexperienced hawk. They went after my biggest birds and trapped them in the field fencing. They tried to pick up my buff Orpington and dropped her outside the fence on the other side of the field of the attack. She survived!!! She is a trooper.
