June Hatch-A-Long

[LadiesAndJane]

So the Foodland egg and the first silver laced Orpington have hatched! All of a sudden they just decided to do their thing! I did take a sterile needle at one point and gently poke a hole in the membrane that was exposed. After they hatched, I put them in the dryer and took the opportunity to do a quick candle on the remaining eggs. The other two silver laced Orpingtons definitely have internally pipped fully just waiting to see if I need to make a starter hole for them or not. The other Foodland egg and the Marans egg look like they are DIS but I will give them some time to be sure.
Photo of the Foodland chick which is a yellow chick with pink beak and pink legs. No idea what kind of chicken this is.
Egg was medium brown.
DD named the chick Frankie, so hopefully that is short for Francesca and not a nickname for Frank!❤

 

[Oldhallchicks]

Ok...so I’m driving to pick up 12 buff Orpington eggs tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I ruined this hatch by messing with things too much, or having other eggs in while they were hatching etc. I’m going to try again and try to be more hands off this time hoping for a better hatch rate!!

 

[FortCluck]

Ok...so I’m driving to pick up 12 buff Orpington eggs tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I ruined this hatch by messing with things too much, or having other eggs in while they were hatching etc. I’m going to try again and try to be more hands off this time hoping for a better hatch rate!!

Just make sure you have a thermometer and hygrometer that’s is calibrated. Don’t worry too much about numbers, focus on the air cells. Too many people think they NEED to be at a specific humidity... that’s false. You look at the air cells to decide not a number.

Relax because tinkering can get the best of us. Being hands off is so much better than being hands on. Hands can do a lot of things that can change a hatches future.

 

[jolenesdad]

Very slow hatch day today. I have two external PIPS from early this morning (Hawaii time), making very little progress. Beaks are visible and they are opening and closing as they should be, but not much else. I can also hear them peep. I will give them 24 hours before stepping in (it's been 15 and 13 hours so far) which I am comfortable with, monitoring them for any signs of distress. Long night ahead!
Question I have for you lovely, knowledgeable people is, what about the internal PIPS? When do you all step in and make a starter hole? The internal PIPS on the other 3 eggs (the lone Marans egg I can not tell well enough) have been there since at least 3:00 AM when I saw them anyway, could have been longer. Reading on the forum, varies from 24 to 48 hours, when others say they will make a starter hole.
Advice?
Thanks!

I personally don’t do safety holes. I have a few times, but I’m not convinced they help. Some people wait to make starter holes until all other eggs have hatched. The general rule, I think, is about 24 hours after internal pip.

 

[Vantic]

I would suggest an x-ray at a traditional medical clinic. (Not being snooty--I went to chiropractors for my first 20 years. There are things they can help with, but not all things.) You may be dealing with something not treatable by chiropractic methods.

Or an acupuncturist. Don't laugh, when I was recovering from my first surgery. I tried everyone to get me to move around faster. It was the acupuncturist that helped the most.

 

[FortCluck]

I personally don’t do safety holes. I have a few times, but I’m not convinced they help. Some people wait to make starter holes until all other eggs have hatched. The general rule, I think, is about 24 hours after internal pip.

The shell itself is breathable. The chick won’t lost air that’s why a shell is porous. Chickens don’t make safety holes either. I never do safety holes because if the chick can’t get out in time, usually it wasn’t meant to be

 

[SnapdragonQ]

I finally did it! I hatched and grew marans to laying age that actually lay as dark as the eggs they hatched from....Woohoo! All of my pullets from this year are now laying.
View attachment 2215871

Love the little chocolate cadbury eggs!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Absolutely devastated. I decided to opt for “assisting” the last 4 eggs (even though they looked gone after candling and float test).

None of them had gotten through the internal membrane. they looked fully developed and I didn’t break the membrane open on all of them, but the Brahma looked like it must have died recently. It was in a perfect position, and the blood supply was still in tact in the membrane. But just no movement breathing or anything.

Is there a picture of what a shrink wrapped chick looks like? Could they have shrink wrapped before internal pipping?

going to go cuddle the baby brahmas that did hatch, and also make a trip down to the guy I got them from for some more eggs

Im all set up for lots of chicks. Lol

I'm so sorry

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I personally don’t do safety holes. I have a few times, but I’m not convinced they help. Some people wait to make starter holes until all other eggs have hatched. The general rule, I think, is about 24 hours after internal pip.

The shell itself is breathable. The chick won’t lost air that’s why a shell is porous. Chickens don’t make safety holes either. I never do safety holes because if the chick can’t get out in time, usually it wasn’t meant to be

OK. so consensus is wait it out. I have no idea what I am doing, the whole hands off/hands on argument at play here. It has been 24 hours since the internal PIP, 3:00 AM here. No sign of any external PIP, I can hear the chicks and see movement, so they are doing OK in there.
Waiting it out!
Thanks @FortCluck and @jolenesdad !

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Absolutely devastated. I decided to opt for “assisting” the last 4 eggs (even though they looked gone after candling and float test).

None of them had gotten through the internal membrane. they looked fully developed and I didn’t break the membrane open on all of them, but the Brahma looked like it must have died recently. It was in a perfect position, and the blood supply was still in tact in the membrane. But just no movement breathing or anything.

Is there a picture of what a shrink wrapped chick looks like? Could they have shrink wrapped before internal pipping?

going to go cuddle the baby brahmas that did hatch, and also make a trip down to the guy I got them from for some more eggs

Im all set up for lots of chicks. Lol

I'm so sorry they didn't make it! I would definitely make sure to calibrate a secondary thermometer for your next hatch in case any of the issues were related to temperature.

With shrink wrapping the membrane usually feels tough or is stuck to the chick. It can also be discolored a yellowish brown color and no longer white. Shrink wrapping doesn't usually happen until after there is an external pip though unless it was extremely dry during early incubation and yours was not from the sounds of it. Some incubators actually do better with low humidity in early incubation. That's why I always ask what incubator people are using. Styrofoam does better with lower humidity than plastic incubators in most cases. The exceptions to the rule are the chinabators which can be really tough to get the sweet spot with humidity.