June Hatch A Long

[LilyD]

The non pipped egg has shown its beak at the top of the air cell. So I intervened too soon? There’s lots of veins, but it’s chirping and trying to pip. I felt for sure it was upside down since so many were, so I have a large hole on the side of the air cell.

It must have needed to wait, but now Ive already intervened. I’ll keep watching it but a little concerned I’ve encouraged and early pip...we will see.

It may have flipped on it's own. Wait until the veins recede where it's beak is located and then make a small pip hole in the the membrane there only once those vessels have backed off though or you risk it externally pipping through the vessels and killing itself. Keep coating the membrane to keep it soft and it may break out on it's own before then too. Fingers crossed he hatches out okay.

 

[LilyD]

Thank you!

The upside-downs are starting to have veins clear up. Here’s the latest successful assist!
View attachment 1824723

Those eyes!! I love ducks.

 

[LilyD]

Guys I think I cooked my incubator eggs. The heat reading part was not in the incubator for some reason and my second thermometer was reading 118!!!! I couldn't see what the second said in my panic to open it and cool it down. I'm really hoping it was wrong

If it was just a quick spike it may be okay keep fingers crossed they are okay.

 

[jolenesdad]

Guys I think I cooked my incubator eggs. The heat reading part was not in the incubator for some reason and my second thermometer was reading 118!!!! I couldn't see what the second said in my panic to open it and cool it down. I'm really hoping it was wrong

Fingers crossed!

@CluckNDoodle and @LilyD ive got the one chick in the bowl. It’s yolk is gone but has a donut shaped abdomen. I’ve got the ointment you recommended and I’m going to try and create a brooder for it and one other chick only to keep it clean for a couple of days?

 

[LilyD]

Fingers crossed!

@CluckNDoodle and @LilyD ive got the one chick in the bowl. It’s yolk is gone but has a donut shaped abdomen. I’ve got the ointment you recommended and I’m going to try and create a brooder for it and one other chick only to keep it clean for a couple of days?

Sounds good yes their abdomen looks weird for a day or two afterwards but then goes down again.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Fingers crossed!

@CluckNDoodle and @LilyD ive got the one chick in the bowl. It’s yolk is gone but has a donut shaped abdomen. I’ve got the ointment you recommended and I’m going to try and create a brooder for it and one other chick only to keep it clean for a couple of days?

In some cases, it may start to look like a black button as it heals in a few days, don't panic if you see that, just be extra vigilant when checking for poo on it and keep it clean. That can happen when the navel doesn't close properly or with small hernias.

 

[jolenesdad]

Just as we are nearing the actual hatch date (today at 9:30pm...) the hatch is winding down. Hope to have a moment to check notes today or tomorrow.

Most of these last babies are hatching with some swollen abdomen holes. I’m going to keep all those babies in a paper towel tub brooder for a couple of days.

I have one baby that just came out and needed a full assist I was concerned he would be absorbing yolk because he would NOT uncurl. There is no yolk left. I left him in a bowl for the time being to slowly get used to being out of the shell.

Two final eggs left. The very first duck that showed me his bill during candling (come ON baby!) that is my last bottom hatch. The other is the egg that I may have assisted too soon. Or not. He still hasn’t been able to pip. So I went digging further and found a spot of no veins and made a pip! He seemed extraordinarily relieved. He has a large amount of veins as you can see so I imagine it will be tomorrow until it hatches.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Just as we are nearing the actual hatch date (today at 9:30pm...) the hatch is winding down. Hope to have a moment to check notes today or tomorrow.

Most of these last babies are hatching with some swollen abdomen holes. I’m going to keep all those babies in a paper towel tub brooder for a couple of days.

I have one baby that just came out and needed a full assist I was concerned he would be absorbing yolk because he would NOT uncurl. There is no yolk left. I left him in a bowl for the time being to slowly get used to being out of the shell.

Two final eggs left. The very first duck that showed me his bill during candling (come ON baby!) that is my last bottom hatch. The other is the egg that I may have assisted too soon. Or not. He still hasn’t been able to pip. So I went digging further and found a spot of no veins and made a pip! He seemed extraordinarily relieved. He has a large amount of veins as you can see so I imagine it will be tomorrow until it hatches.

View attachment 1825077

That is one wild picture! I am amazed at all of those vessels sitting there - good job getting through that!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I definitely think I would test your incubator not only for over all temp but also for hot and cold spots in the incubator. I have noticed that depending on where the temperature gauge is in the incubator there could be a variant of +- a degree or more in a lot of the styrofoam bators more for the ones with still air than the forced air but the forced air ones can have issues as well.

Beak over wing in incubators is said to be caused most often by heat stress or the incubator running too hot which could be corroborated by the fact that your chicks that did hatch did so on day 20. As an experiment you could try putting a calibrated thermometer into the incubator and comparing the temps in different areas to map your temps and see if you have hot zones. You could also based off the evidence you already have run a degree cooler on the next incubation and see if that resolves the issues. It's not unusual for the incubators to have issues with temp regulation after a while.

Thanks for weighing in! I do indeed have a calibrated probe in there that’s a 1x1 inch square, so measures at about the center temp of the egg. I’ve moved the probe around daily and recorded (see attached pic for map). I also moved the eggs around to different slots twice a day in hopes of evening out the temps. This incubator is a 2370 Hovo bator, forced fan, turner, digital control. As you can see from the temperature map, it has some very cool slots, below 99 F. It also has hot spots of over 100 F. The temperature in a particular slot stays pretty constant, no more than 0.5 F change. The other attached pic shows today’s temperatures; drop was when I opened the bator to rotate position of eggs, average was 99 F. Average recorded temp over the course of my bad hatch over rotated slots was 99.7 F.

I’m currently incubating guinea eggs, so I’ve turned the temp down by 0.2 F since my recent poor hatch. I’m afraid to turn it down more when I have temps below 99 F... Go by my recent early hatch and turn it down more anyway? I know some people use rocks to even out temps, but I’m not sure where I’d put them with that turner... Thanks again!

 

[jolenesdad]

I took bowl baby and dropped nutridrench on it with my finger and put it back. Ten minutes later, perking up!!

The other assist hatched, a few drops of blood on the navel. I did nutri drench too and neosporin on the navel.

Those two are in the Brinsea by themselves to dry overnight. This one with the photo above is by itself in icu. 5 in warm, small brooder, 17 in the full brooder already.

I had two, maybe three total sticky chicks. I think they were fluid chicks. Either way, what’s the best way to to clean the tomorrow? They’re pretty bad.