little giant 9300

[TheGeekySheep]

Lots of rocking but no pipping yet!

Woah I missed this, good luck!!

 

[only1bgirl]

@TheGeekySheep Thank you! One pipped towards pointy end arghh! Been here done this before Liberty did the same thing, I had to assist. I just made a larger hole so the chick could breath and now waiting. I think their knobby heads get stuck under the wing. I'll update soon.

 

[only1bgirl]

Still waiting here, I've got one in the assisted hatch mode, wrapped up in wet paper towels. Eggs are not wobbling like they were yesterday this evening will mark the end of day twenty. I have noticed with hovering over incubator lately that the temperature fluctuates an entire degree between heat cycles. This incubator seems to run amuck when it comes to temperatures with adjustments having to be made everyday.

 

[only1bgirl]

I think I've seen it all when it comes to hatching gone wrong. No pipping no rocking anymore and the one chick that pipped wrong end is very weak, stuck in half shell and feels like it has been hair sprayed. The incubator has gone from 97.3 to 103.7 without temperature in room changing and without changing thermostat settings. Long story short would not recommend this to anyone, I'm going to contact the company. I either have a defective thermostat or the technology just isn't there yet.

 

[only1bgirl]

Two hatched tonight at midnight all by themselves, relieved to know they're all not malpositioned. Five more eggs to go and the pointy pipper is still hanging on, weak but still breathing and occasionally cheeping.

 

[TheGeekySheep]

Maybe the initial rocking was just everyone getting into position to hatch and now is the actual hatching part after resting? Sorry to hear about the temp fluctuations, I never noticed mine fluctuating that much, it must be frustrating! Fingers crossed for you!

 

[only1bgirl]

Here's hoping more hatch today, barely slept last night worried about the chicks cooking, it was 102.5 this morning when I checked, they seem to be ok though. The wrong end pipper died, we tried though. I'll rest easier when I get these two in the brooder box.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Two hatched tonight at midnight all by themselves, relieved to know they're all not malpositioned. Five more eggs to go and the pointy pipper is still hanging on, weak but still breathing and occasionally cheeping.

As a newbie, I'm just wondering why we can't just crack that baby open and set him free.

 

[TheGeekySheep]

Opening up an egg too soon can be fatal for a chick that isn't ready to hatch yet. In the last few hours before hatching, a chick needs to absorb the rest of its yolk sack and the blood vessels that attach the chick to the membrane. Cracking the shell too soon can tear one of these blood vessels and cause the chick to bleed out. And removing a chick from a egg that still has un-absorbed yolk is an infection risk as the skin on its belly will be open.

Sadly, in many cases if a chick is too weak to hatch on its own, it's often too weak to simply survive/breathe/etc. But if a hatch is way overdue or a chick looks like its struggling, many people believe its worth the risk to help out.

This is a must-read post if you're starting out, lots of good info:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

 

[only1bgirl]

That article is good [@]TheGeekySheep and very helpful. The pointy pipped chicks yoke was absorbed, found this after the chick died. The slight bleeding which started when I pulled a small bit of the membrane away to clear airway could of caused its death, it's hard to tell really. It also was very sticky like it had a bath in glue. I followed that article, except for intervening sooner with Liberty on day 19, her sister had hatched already and her peeps were so panicky, she survived. Another in her clutch I held off longer because the assisting was so traumatic to me. That chick fully formed yoke absorbed died in the shell. So it's really a gamble with timing, the chick gets weak from fighting to hatch or bleeds to death from assisting, or it wasn't meant to be. I've got another now pipped close to tip of pointy end again. A lady on another thread suggested putting pip highest up resting on a cut down TP tube, so trying that now. Just not up for another assisted hatch. The two chicks are doing good almost dry, still fighting the incubator fluctuations.