Lockdown! Cross your fingers...Newest pictures, page 18

[Buttercup Chillin]

I just noticed that she marked little girls on the eggs. Anyone think that will work?

If it does, there is going to be a rush on markers. Poor school kids won't have any colors to choose from. We'll need them to mark all our eggs.

I have to change kittle to little - still need more coffee.

 

[mhwc56]

Quote:
i do have one , it's homemade and is holding temps/humidity wonderfully NOW. I just couldn't get it adjusted at first and THEN the weather turned so COLD that i decided to hold off till spring to try to hatch any eggs ...BUT ...then i saved a few eggs from my birds and these are what are NOT hatching.....
STILL NO CHICKPEAS!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Do you have lights on your quail? I'm in southern KY, and mine haven't been breeding or laying for well over a month. It could just be that the eggs are not fertile.

 

[mhwc56]

definitely a possibility. i'm going to give them a day or 2 more then maybe float test them...

 

[beckyschicks]

Well just got home and nothing.

I noticed another pipped, but have lost faith that they will hatch. Buttercup-Yeah I have a stillair. The humitiy has been 55 to 60 the whole time, only went up to 63 during lockdown. So that's ok. The one that cracked a piece out last night hasn't moved, so I'm thinking it didn't make it. The one that pipped yesterday has done nothing since 5 last night. The two others, one last night and one during today, have done nothing. All together I have 11 eggs in there. As last minute I put a couple of the big girl eggs in to see if I would get anything from them. But they are a jumbo and a A&M and my boy is a english. He needs a step ladder to cover those girls. I'm with mhwc56 with waiting a couple of days and then doing a float test. This is driving me crazy though. I wish they had a smilie that paces. Wonder if Rozzie has any more out?

 

[mhwc56]

okay, so i broke down (b/c i need to learn patience but haven't yet i guess)and did a quick float test..all except 1 egg tested as GOOD!
NEXT CONCERN...how long can a hatch take without harming the chick inside? Today is only day 18( i set them at 7 a.m. on Nov. 1

 

[Rozzie]

Yup! Rozzie has 9!

It was a stressful hatch for some of the babies, but they are doing okay.

The first four babies did pretty well. Pipping (but not removing a chunk of shell) started at 8 yesterday morning. Baby 1 hatched before 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I moved him / her to the brooder late last night. Baby 2& 3 hatched overnight between midnight and 5 am. I moved them at about 5:30 AM. Baby 4 hatched sometime between 7:30 and 9:30 AM. (Long enough that he was mostly dry then.) Moved it by 10.

The worry with this hatch was that beginning with the first one that I moved I was smelling a foul stench when opening the incubator. However, I didn't know WHAT it was coming from. I couldn't narrow it down. It only got worse with each of the next two removals to the brooder. The off gassing of whatever egg was rotting was starting to effect the other chicks. They had over 26 hours before and were now stopping chirruping and didn't seem to be trying to get out of their eggs anymore. I'll admit to having helped some of the remainder of the eggs pip. They were in danger and these eggs weren't being left to die at this point. (I know. Personal decision, though. I was willing to risk the curled toes and other problems.)

So, I did assist VERY carefully (I have a very light touch). I ended up only providing minimal assistance for two of the remaining five, a larger bit of assistance to one more (a bigger pip), and major help to two others. One of the ones I provided only a tiny help to has a couple of curled toes but gets around okay. The last one to hatch was shrink wrapped. I actually suspect this started with him from early in the hatch. It appeared that one of the other chicks had knocked a piece of outer shell off -- it was not broken inside of it. This was on the back of the egg, so I hadn't seen it to keep it moist. He had a hard hatch and horribly curled feet. I had to choose to cull or to bandage the feet. I've got old Pokemon bandages on his feet now. He couldn't walk AT ALL but is now getting around pretty good.

Oh, and the last egg I picked up was the bad one. What I thought was a pip wasn't a pip. It was a near eggsplosion. When I went to help it pip...well, let's say it wasn't pretty. No wonder the incubator reeked.

So, I started by keeping the early, strong hatchers separate. Next, I added the 3 stronger of the remaining five. One of the others was smaller and weaker than the rest. I kept him (Tiny) and Boots separate until a bit later. I have moved them from the hospital brooder to the main brooder and all seems well. I'm watching that they don't peck at Boots feet since he is wearing bandaids.

Pictures to follow...

Ended up with 9 babies from an initial set of 20 eggs.
15 were shipped eggs - of those, 9 made it to lockdown, and 8 hatched. I'm very happy with that rate. (Thanks Alexandra!!! Your eggs did great.)
5 were my eggs. Mr. Roo hasn't been very busy lately, and I figured I wouldn't have good luck with those. 1 made it to lockdown and 1 hatched. Pretty sure its the weaker one I'm calling "Tiny" but not positive...

 

[Rozzie]

Here are the first four, all together:

Here are the next four. Remember, these were subjected to an increasingly bad REEKING / off-gassing from the other egg. They were actually several hours old in this picture but didn't fluff out as fast as the first babies.

Here are Tiny & Boots.

This is the whole bunch, except Tiny & Boots. They were still in the hospital.

And, here is everyone all together. Tiny was VERY glad to move in with everyone. He needs the extra body heat and comfort. I'm watching closely to make sure they don't pick on Boots because of his ... boots.

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
I bet they'll wait and hatch at night tonight. You actually set yours 7 hours later than me.

 

[mhwc56]

hope you're right.
CONGRATS on the sweet little babies !
what exactly did you do with the bandaids for "Boots" feet?