JUNE - JULY HATCH-ALONG!!!!!!!

[CluckNDoodle]

Omg I’ve missed a lot! Hope everyone's hatches are going well.

After the Seramas that hatched on the 7th, I still had 5 other eggs incubating. My hatch was yesterday. The stats..
5 out of 12 shipped eggs lockdown
2 DIS (Isabel Orps )
3 hatched and healthy

Out of this hatch we got 2 double silver laced Barnevelders, and a splash Isbar.

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They're precious!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Omg I’ve missed a lot! Hope everyone's hatches are going well.

After the Seramas that hatched on the 7th, I still had 5 other eggs incubating. My hatch was yesterday. The stats..
5 out of 12 shipped eggs lockdown
2 DIS (Isabel Orps )
3 hatched and healthy

Out of this hatch we got 2 double silver laced Barnevelders, and a splash Isbar.

View attachment 1845397

View attachment 1845400

OMG - they are so cute!

 

[jolenesdad]

@Mixed flock enthusiast just another gigantic round of applause for all you are doing.

I was not pleased with the reduction in smell inside the incubator so I went digging. I removed all 6 eggs that were touching the leaking and oozing egg. I found one more from the same shipment that had a hairline crack and also reeked.

I then felt like all I was shoving every egg in my nose and they all sort of smelled then and I just wanted to shower and I can’t give you enough props for the Guineas. Go, go, go!!!

I’m going to pay close attention to all the eggs from that shipment with those two cracked eggs. They were the closest, and, I think that they sat in the heat somewhere. This is day THREE and I’ve got two Silverudd eggs from that shipment that have heartbeats and look like this. It seems a day along but who k ones I also did test these eggs for 24 hours. What do you all think?

My total elementary guess is that the shipment cracked those two eggs, and what I thought was nest box schmutz or cecal on the egg, was dried heated up schmutz from INSIDE the egg.

I didn’t want to touch the eggs until day 4, but oh well. I’ll sniff test the incubator daily and I’m not going to candle again until day 10 unless I smell another issue. With this issue and I pulled a few early quitters I’m down to 49 eggs so they’re all in the turners.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

@Mixed flock enthusiast just another gigantic round of applause for all you are doing.

I was not pleased with the reduction in smell inside the incubator so I went digging. I removed all 6 eggs that were touching the leaking and oozing egg. I found one more from the same shipment that had a hairline crack and also reeked.

I then felt like all I was shoving every egg in my nose and they all sort of smelled then and I just wanted to shower and I can’t give you enough props for the Guineas. Go, go, go!!!

I’m going to pay close attention to all the eggs from that shipment with those two cracked eggs. They were the closest, and, I think that they sat in the heat somewhere. This is day THREE and I’ve got two Silverudd eggs from that shipment that have heartbeats and look like this. It seems a day along but who k ones I also did test these eggs for 24 hours. What do you all think?

View attachment 1845513

My total elementary guess is that the shipment cracked those two eggs, and what I thought was nest box schmutz or cecal on the egg, was dried heated up schmutz from INSIDE the egg.

I didn’t want to touch the eggs until day 4, but oh well. I’ll sniff test the incubator daily and I’m not going to candle again until day 10 unless I smell another issue. With this issue and I pulled a few early quitters I’m down to 49 eggs so they’re all in the turners.

I feel for you Jolenesdad!!! Also, I’m sorry that some of your shipped eggs broke. Such a bummer to lose any of those hard to find eggs!!! I hope that was it for losses... So is that a day 3 candle? Do you think it looks further along than day 3? I thought it could be a day 3 egg but you have the fantastic candling setup, so...

Regarding the smell of rotten egg yolk - it’s amazingly abhorrent, isn’t it??? I will say that the smell in my incubator has lessened as I’ve removed hatched eggs. Still not a welcoming fragrance though!!! I’m also wondering if my incubator will always smell this way when all is said and done...

 

[jolenesdad]

I feel for you Jolenesdad!!! Also, I’m sorry that some of your shipped eggs broke. Such a bummer to lose any of those hard to find eggs!!! I hope that was it for losses... So is that a day 3 candle? Do you think it looks further along than day 3? I thought it could be a day 3 egg but you have the fantastic candling setup, so...

Regarding the smell of rotten egg yolk - it’s amazingly abhorrent, isn’t it??? I will say that the smell in my incubator has lessened as I’ve removed hatched eggs. Still not a welcoming fragrance though!!! I’m also wondering if my incubator will always smell this way when all is said and done...

I’ve never canceled until day 4, and I sort of felt like all other eggs didn’t look like this last night. I’m going to just pay attention to them progress can look a lot different in the early days, I just really felt like that’s more than should be.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I’ve never canceled until day 4, and I sort of felt like all other eggs didn’t look like this last night. I’m going to just pay attention to them progress can look a lot different in the early days, I just really felt like that’s more than should be.

Well, you do a lot of candling so you are probably right on with your instincts!!! It’s hot here in OK and getting much hotter... I can definitely see the eggs getting warm enough to start developing in transit! Maybe even after laying if it sat in the nest box for awhile...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@Mixed flock enthusiast just another gigantic round of applause for all you are doing.

I was not pleased with the reduction in smell inside the incubator so I went digging. I removed all 6 eggs that were touching the leaking and oozing egg. I found one more from the same shipment that had a hairline crack and also reeked.

I then felt like all I was shoving every egg in my nose and they all sort of smelled then and I just wanted to shower and I can’t give you enough props for the Guineas. Go, go, go!!!

I’m going to pay close attention to all the eggs from that shipment with those two cracked eggs. They were the closest, and, I think that they sat in the heat somewhere. This is day THREE and I’ve got two Silverudd eggs from that shipment that have heartbeats and look like this. It seems a day along but who k ones I also did test these eggs for 24 hours. What do you all think?

View attachment 1845513

My total elementary guess is that the shipment cracked those two eggs, and what I thought was nest box schmutz or cecal on the egg, was dried heated up schmutz from INSIDE the egg.

I didn’t want to touch the eggs until day 4, but oh well. I’ll sniff test the incubator daily and I’m not going to candle again until day 10 unless I smell another issue. With this issue and I pulled a few early quitters I’m down to 49 eggs so they’re all in the turners.

It looks ok to me for day 3, at least no more than a possible day 4? These are a couple of my Day 3 candles.

 

[jolenesdad]

It looks ok to me for day 3, at least no more than a possible day 4? These are a couple of my Day 3 candles.

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Whew. That’s closer to what they looked like. I’m going with them just happening to be forming in a place I havent seen so there’s more detail.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ugh, assist fail! We are continuing in on our prolonged staggered hatch under extremely dirty conditions... I went to bed with 33 keets from the communal nest and woke up with 32, keet found dead. I had seen it off by itself last night but the group is so crazy that seemed like the only sane place to sleep. I should necropsy to see if it’s impacted from pulling apart the puppy pads I have them on but I have to get to work! Guineas keets present a spectacular argument for wire mesh bottom brooders, which is what I understand that the pros do with keets... It could also have succumbed to infection - with the awful egg contamination that also seems very possible...

As far as the assist fail, one of the keets in one of the most contaminated eggs pipped over 24 hours ago and tried to zip but had stopped about 12 hours ago. I decided to assist, which was hard because the shell was so goopy; DD wasn’t touching it. I finished the zip and removed the egg cap and the keet just laid there. I was overeager to get it the rest of the way out of it’s filthy shell so encouraged it... It finally started kicking, which is when I realized that it’s umbilicus was still red with blood vessels. I hope it didn’t tear them... I have it in a Dixie cup in the incubator. Need to still get it out ASAP to separate it from all of those foul bacteria!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Ugh, assist fail! We are continuing in on our prolonged staggered hatch under extremely dirty conditions... I went to bed with 33 keets from the communal nest and woke up with 32, keet found dead. I had seen it off by itself last night but the group is so crazy that seemed like the only sane place to sleep. I should necropsy to see if it’s impacted from pulling apart the puppy pads I have them on but I have to get to work! Guineas keets present a spectacular argument for wire mesh bottom brooders, which is what I understand that the pros do with keets... It could also have succumbed to infection - with the awful egg contamination that also seems very possible...

As far as the assist fail, one of the keets in one of the most contaminated eggs pipped over 24 hours ago and tried to zip but had stopped about 12 hours ago. I decided to assist, which was hard because the shell was so goopy; DD wasn’t touching it. I finished the zip and removed the egg cap and the keet just laid there. I was overeager to get it the rest of the way out of it’s filthy shell so encouraged it... It finally started kicking, which is when I realized that it’s umbilicus was still red with blood vessels. I hope it didn’t tear them... I have it in a Dixie cup in the incubator. Need to still get it out ASAP to separate it from all of those foul bacteria!

I'm so sorry for the trials you're encountering and the loss! I still just have to tell you how incredibly impressed I am with how well you're handling this! It's a very difficult situation and you've already saved so many beautiful little babies!!

I'm not sure this would be helpful because I have zero experience with keets but with every type of chick I've hatched so far with exception of the quail (because they're so tiny I decided plain wee pad until they get bigger) I've used equestrian pine pellets in the brooder on top of wee pads for easy cleanup and because they break apart so tiny in the event that something tries to eat it I've had no issues with impactions. They also significantly cut down on smell and don't create as much dust as pine shavings.