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

[Rockporters]

OMG - there is still some pulsing motion going on in this keet! Anyone online who knows what I should do for this poor thing????

It doesn’t look like that much blood. I can’t tell by the pic where the beak is either, but it seems to be getting air. You might just leave it be to absorb yolk and rest, see if it’s still alive in the morning. I know it’s frustrating, I’m sorry. Hope the little cutie makes it.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

It doesn’t look like that much blood. I can’t tell by the pic where the beak is either, but it seems to be getting air. You might just leave it be to absorb yolk and rest, see if it’s still alive in the morning. I know it’s frustrating, I’m sorry. Hope the little cutie makes it.

Thanks Rockporters! It does still seem to be breathing. I’ve been reading so many assist posts and still don’t know how to help them!!! I maybe shouldn’t have been helped at all and I’m an idiot for exposing it to all these incubator germs!!! Since I don’t know what to do for it, guess I’ll leave it be and try again to find it’s beak in the morning...

 

[jolenesdad]

Thanks Rockporters! It does still seem to be breathing. I’ve been reading so many assist posts and still don’t know how to help them!!! I maybe shouldn’t have been helped at all and I’m an idiot for exposing it to all these incubator germs!!! Since I don’t know what to do for it, guess I’ll leave it be and try again to find it’s beak in the morning...

Fingers crossed I’m so sorry it’s so stressful but you’re doing an incredible job, and looking back you’ll see it.

 

[jolenesdad]

Well, I candled again and lost quite a few more! Down to 26 eggs. And at day 8, pretty sure it’s too early to see waste in the egg, so odds are three or four are on the way out.

That pillow stuffed shipping wins the game by FAR this go around, with 75% of the eggs viable just 1/3 into incubation. The other shipment percentages so far are 45%, 21% and 8%.

I have one Wheaten marans left. Thank goodness she is a pullet.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ok, so keet is still alive but I’m not sure how to find its beak. Here is an undoctored pic and marked up pic. Egg has been incubated upright for 9 days, meaning it was very contaminated and air cell is at the top of the egg. Cap is taken off aircell. Picture is taken looking down from above, with egg slightly tipped so you can see the side of the egg shell. Green circle is clearly a wing. Right wing? I think that red circle must be neck? Maybe back of head? In between is creamy colored, sparsely feathered structure that moves regularly, I assume with breathing. So, creamy sparsely feathered structure is chest? Where the heck is the beak! Straight down between legs maybe? How do I get to the beak???

 

[jolenesdad]

Ok, so keet is still alive but I’m not sure how to find its beak. Here is an undoctored pic and marked up pic. Egg has been incubated upright for 9 days, meaning it was very contaminated and air cell is at the top of the egg. Cap is taken off aircell. Picture is taken looking down from above, with egg slightly tipped so you can see the side of the egg shell. Green circle is clearly a wing. Right wing? I think that red circle must be neck? Maybe back of head? In between is creamy colored, sparsely feathered structure that moves regularly, I assume with breathing. So, creamy sparsely feathered structure is chest? Where the heck is the beak! Straight down between legs maybe? How do I get to the beak???

I have no idea. :-( sorry. But I would say do you remember where it pipped? It’s got to be around there....

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have no idea. :-( sorry. But I would say do you remember where it pipped? It’s got to be around there....

No external pip. I maybe helped it prematurely or unnecessarily...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Ok, so keet is still alive but I’m not sure how to find its beak. Here is an undoctored pic and marked up pic. Egg has been incubated upright for 9 days, meaning it was very contaminated and air cell is at the top of the egg. Cap is taken off aircell. Picture is taken looking down from above, with egg slightly tipped so you can see the side of the egg shell. Green circle is clearly a wing. Right wing? I think that red circle must be neck? Maybe back of head? In between is creamy colored, sparsely feathered structure that moves regularly, I assume with breathing. So, creamy sparsely feathered structure is chest? Where the heck is the beak! Straight down between legs maybe? How do I get to the beak???

I'm super late in making a comment but whether it was malpositoned or slightly early it doesn't look like it's going to turn so you'll need to pull the head up so it can get the appropriate amount of oxygen. It does appear that the red circle is the back of the neck. That's one of the harder malpositons to assist because you can't easily make a pip somewhere for it to be able to breathe. I have removed significant amounts of outer shell leaving all of the membrane so that I had more wiggle room just to be able to get their little faces out when they're tucked down. Don't feel bad if you can't help it! Malpositons are so hard! They don't make it if we don't help them but I'm pretty sure my success rate has been about 50/50 with being able to save them too. It's hard!

 

[Compost King]

22 chicks moved to brooder when I woke up, 2 being hatched by hand, one is already out of the shell the other is breaking out now after I cracked the shell to make it easier... very humid this morning and that might preventing them from being shrink wrapped... I had noticed a nasty odor in the incubator about the time the first chicks hatched... after getting in there this morning I found the egg it came from. the pores of the egg on the bottom where I could not see were leaking rotten yolk. possibly a double yolker gone bad. I need to train my eyes to look for that when I candle my collected hatching eggs. Mold had started to grow on the non slip mats I lay down. to keep the 2 chicks still hatching from rolling in it I made a fortress of eggshells over it. They won't be in there long enough to justify cleaning it up since I would have to take them out to clean it up. out of 32 that made it to lock down 8 did not hatch, I have 24 chicks and a 20 chick heat plate... good thing the temps today are 95 degrees. and sure it gets cooler at night but the hatching room stays hot so they will be fine. Not all of them will be going under the brooder plate at the same time and this time of year they could survive on their own without a heat source. Come winter time I am either going to need a 2nd brooder plate or hatch less chicks. gotta go busy morning, no pictures because I have a lot of feeders to fill and water bowls to clean out and refresh. Then I have to tend to a brooder. If I wasn't this busy I would be bored and causing trouble so no complaints from me. Busy work makes real men out of trouble makers.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

**Warning! Graphic picture!!!**
Keet was dead when I woke up, so I broke away shell in hopes of learning something. I did not have clear criteria to assist so first am trying to understand whether it was doomed because malpositioned or whether I intervened too early and it would have gotten into position eventually if I had not intervened. I believe it was malpositioned in “head between thighs” with beak positioned facing narrow end of shell. Is this position why chicks pip the narrow end of the shell? I think that chicks are in a similar position before they are ready to hatch (day 19 chick), but with beak turned up towards air cell? There were still unabsorbed vessels around chick, most of yolk was absorbed. So, is this a malposition that couldn’t hatch (thus the panicky vibe I was getting from the rapid, shallow fluttery actions when I candled) or was it too young and would have turned to hatch if I had left it alone? *warning, graphic pic!* This is a pic from the side, beak is towards the narrow end of egg.