June Hatch A Long

what I'm concerned about is maintaining temp. I keep turning off the heat source so it won't get too hot. I have a heating pad in there now, on the side, not touching the egg, and with a damp cloth on it. chick is still moving in there, beak pushing on shell, but hasn't made any zipping progress.

Since the chick pipped only a short time ago you may have some hours before it finishes absorbing the yolk sac and starts to unzip. Just keep doing what you're doing to try and keep everything as stable as you can! You got this! Do you maybe have an office lamp on an arm that can be raised and lowered? That may help you to have a bit more control over how close the bulb is and in turn more control over the temp without having to turn it off as much?
 
what I'm concerned about is maintaining temp. I keep turning off the heat source so it won't get too hot. I have a heating pad in there now, on the side, not touching the egg, and with a damp cloth on it. chick is still moving in there, beak pushing on shell, but hasn't made any zipping progress.
What temperature is a towel set on the heating pad at its lowest setting? (Maybe a damp washcloth on top of a towel) This chick was set after the others? How much after? When did the rest of the clutch hatch? She should be able to breathe since you can see her beak. I think that you want to keep things warm and humid for her, but she may need to absorb yolk before she hatches so I’d be careful about doing too much for her. Keep an eye on membranes that they don’t dry out. If this will take awhile, that’s when I’d consider the coconut oil lubrication... Best of luck with your late baby!!! I think that you are doing great with your materials on hand!
 
I got the humidity up to 65% by putting plastic wrap over the top of my box and a teacup of boiling water in one corner....I pulled back a tiny piece of the pipped shell to see if there was membrane to be oiled, but there is a beak...and it's pushing at the shell.....View attachment 1811938
View attachment 1811939
You can see the membrane right above the beak hopefully he or she will finish zipping by itself but if not you would start above the beak where you can see the bit of membrane there. Try to remove the shell but not the membrane if possible so that the membrane protects the chick until they are ready. But definitely give it some time to see if it will go on it's own.
 
What temperature is a towel set on the heating pad at its lowest setting? (Maybe a damp washcloth on top of a towel) This chick was set after the others? How much after? When did the rest of the clutch hatch? She should be able to breathe since you can see her beak. I think that you want to keep things warm and humid for her, but she may need to absorb yolk before she hatches so I’d be careful about doing too much for her. Keep an eye on membranes that they don’t dry out. If this will take awhile, that’s when I’d consider the coconut oil lubrication... Best of luck with your late baby!!! I think that you are doing great with your materials on hand!
This would be day 20 for this egg, it was set early on the Fri 24th of may. The others were set late in the day on the 22nd which was Wed, and one hatched on day 20 (Tues) and the other 2 overnight that night. I will try putting the thermometer on a towel on the heating pad and check temp. This thermometer takes a while to register. As I am typing I hear peeping. 10 ft. away.
 
This would be day 20 for this egg, it was set early on the Fri 24th of may. The others were set late in the day on the 22nd which was Wed, and one hatched on day 20 (Tues) and the other 2 overnight that night. I will try putting the thermometer on a towel on the heating pad and check temp. This thermometer takes a while to register. As I am typing I hear peeping. 10 ft. away.
She’s not late and she’s strong enough to peep. LilyD has some great advice about assisting, but even though they are faster than ducks, chickens need time to absorb you as well... I think that figuring out when to intervene is the toughest part! Some people feel that intervention saves a chick that is not vigorous enough to do well anyway. I had a guinea hatch where they all did so well without assistance, except one that had its head at the wrong end of the egg! I decided to help it and ended up with a keet with a slipped tendon. I had to separate it and treat it and it was so miserable; I had to euthanize it 2 weeks later... Anyway, since my assists have not been so successful, I’ll refer you to LilyD’s advice. It’s likely that it just needs some time since it was set late. In my last broody hatch, I saw at 18 days that one of her eggs had two big dents in it! IT was falling apart as I carried it, but I put it in my incubator figuring it would die, but it hatched right on time with the others, on day 20. I slipped the chick under mom that night after dark and it fit right in! Here’s a pic of mom and all babies 4 weeks later, something encouraging I hope. Best of luck to yours!!!
 

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She’s not late and she’s strong enough to peep. LilyD has some great advice about assisting, but even though they are faster than ducks, chickens need time to absorb you as well... I think that figuring out when to intervene is the toughest part! Some people feel that intervention saves a chick that is not vigorous enough to do well anyway. I had a guinea hatch where they all did so well without assistance, except one that had its head at the wrong end of the egg! I decided to help it and ended up with a keet with a slipped tendon. I had to separate it and treat it and it was so miserable; I had to euthanize it 2 weeks later... Anyway, since my assists have not been so successful, I’ll refer you to LilyD’s advice. It’s likely that it just needs some time since it was set late. In my last broody hatch, I saw at 18 days that one of her eggs had two big dents in it! IT was falling apart as I carried it, but I put it in my incubator figuring it would die, but it hatched right on time with the others, on day 20. I slipped the chick under mom that night after dark and it fit right in! Here’s a pic of mom and all babies 4 weeks later, something encouraging I hope. Best of luck to yours!!!
all great advice! I'll do my best with the temp and let the chick decide when to emerge. Or not. I did get a little coconut oil on the bit of exposed membrane. I'll check in again in the morning..
 
She’s not late and she’s strong enough to peep. LilyD has some great advice about assisting, but even though they are faster than ducks, chickens need time to absorb you as well... I think that figuring out when to intervene is the toughest part! Some people feel that intervention saves a chick that is not vigorous enough to do well anyway. I had a guinea hatch where they all did so well without assistance, except one that had its head at the wrong end of the egg! I decided to help it and ended up with a keet with a slipped tendon. I had to separate it and treat it and it was so miserable; I had to euthanize it 2 weeks later... Anyway, since my assists have not been so successful, I’ll refer you to LilyD’s advice. It’s likely that it just needs some time since it was set late. In my last broody hatch, I saw at 18 days that one of her eggs had two big dents in it! IT was falling apart as I carried it, but I put it in my incubator figuring it would die, but it hatched right on time with the others, on day 20. I slipped the chick under mom that night after dark and it fit right in! Here’s a pic of mom and all babies 4 weeks later, something encouraging I hope. Best of luck to yours!!!

I would always caution giving time. At least 12 hours from when you noticed the external pip before you start helping and then if you do help then do it very slowly like a chick would zip taking one or two very small pieces of shell and then oiling the membrane. If you can get to the point where you can see the veining use that as your guide and wait until the veins go away on the membrane. Then you can start zipping the shell slowly. Keep in mind chicks once they make their mind up want to be out of that egg and so because of this the potential that they will try to get out of the egg if they are opened up too quickly can cause them to rupture their yolk sac and do themselves more harm than good. Go as slow as you can. Good luck
 
Can’t believe how many babies I’ve missed :love
For us we have finally reached
:celebrateLOCKDOWN :celebrate

We started with:
12x mixed pekin bantam (cuckoo lemon, gold partridge, lavender, black)
12x light Sussex
12x rare purebred ixworth
12x cherry valley x Aylesbury

The duck eggs turned out to be infertile :( which we discovered around day 6.

I never candelled again until today just before lock down and we are down to 22 eggs, we had a couple of early/late deaths and a few infertile.

Out of the 22 we have 10 bantams left, 2 white eggs and 10 brown (can’t remember which colour was which for the ixworth and light Sussex but I think the 2 white are the ixworth)

As well as a possible 22 hatchlings over the weekend our cat is due to have kittens, no idea of her due date but I don’t think she has longer than 2 weeks left.

I can see it all happening over the weekend and having one big baby boom when I have the guineapig house/run to finish building so I can get started on creating the duck house ready for when our ducklings can go outside.

Did I also mention I’m a single mother of 5 children aged 7 and under.... busy times :lau
 
Can’t believe how many babies I’ve missed :love
For us we have finally reached
:celebrateLOCKDOWN :celebrate

We started with:
12x mixed pekin bantam (cuckoo lemon, gold partridge, lavender, black)
12x light Sussex
12x rare purebred ixworth
12x cherry valley x Aylesbury

The duck eggs turned out to be infertile :( which we discovered around day 6.

I never candelled again until today just before lock down and we are down to 22 eggs, we had a couple of early/late deaths and a few infertile.

Out of the 22 we have 10 bantams left, 2 white eggs and 10 brown (can’t remember which colour was which for the ixworth and light Sussex but I think the 2 white are the ixworth)

As well as a possible 22 hatchlings over the weekend our cat is due to have kittens, no idea of her due date but I don’t think she has longer than 2 weeks left.

I can see it all happening over the weekend and having one big baby boom when I have the guineapig house/run to finish building so I can get started on creating the duck house ready for when our ducklings can go outside.

Did I also mention I’m a single mother of 5 children aged 7 and under.... busy times :lau
How fun for all of your kids!!! Good luck, mama!!!!

Ixworth?!:drool:fl
 

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