"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[topdog24]

Quote: Linda, i will be having ginuine pure bred DOM hatching eggs and chicks starting some time in April, going to rehouse my pullets tomorrow and let them start cleaning up, then when iget back, i will be joining the roo with them pending aa clean fertillity check on a days worth of eggs, then it will be on like donkey kong,

 

[Cody A]

We've been having eggs hatch since just after midnight all day. They are late, but they are coming. Cute little boogers as always. I think they may be into tomorrow until they are finished.

Lemon, I have the one pullet egg that pipped yesterday evening but nothing else yet. Technically today at 4:00 is day 20.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Lemon, I have the one pullet egg that pipped yesterday evening but nothing else yet. Technically today at 4:00 is day 20.

Remember my post don't freak if they don't hatch on your calculations don't panic. It could take that piped egg till tonight or tomorrow. That's totally normal and I would't help it at this time. Pam

 

[Cody A]

I'm not going to touch it. Al least till after the hatch is over I think. From what I've read pullet eggs can be iffy so I figure it if hatches on it's own then great, if not then it will have to wait it out or not make it.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

got the new birds and wormed all the new ones today

Nice looking peas! looks like you got a bit of "sneaux" on the ground, too. Keep it up there!

 

[LemonMeringue]

We ended up with ten new chicks.

Boy we had issues this time for sure since he added the fan. I am working on some ideas for having the humidity be MUCH more STABLE. It would be 35 and then drop like a rock and next time I checked it would be like 19. So next batch I incubate I am going to cut strips of really absorbent material to the size of the size of the water channels down in the bottom under the wire. I'm hoping that will not only hold moisture, but also allow it to evaporate more slowly. We did have sponge in there, but it was not adequate. At least we aren't loosing expensive eggs or anything like that. Another annoyance is that after I put the eggs into lockdown the temperature drops because I no longer have the heat from the turner motor. And after removing the whole turner I also loose all the heat that it was holding and it does take time to get it back up to where I need it. The temperature control knob does not have any marks or indications so we can have, I guess you would say, favorite setting spots. So we are also going to fix up the tiny knob that adjusts the heat. I'm going to do kind of like some of the suggestions I've seen and affix a wider knob onto that tiny little stick of a "knob". We might use a milk jug lid for now and see how we like that. I can have a tiny mark for the main incubation phase and then another mark for just a tich more heat for after that turner motor is off. After that I think we will be re-adjusted well to these new characteristics that the fan has added.

We are pretty tickled though with what we ended up with for chicks. A little of everything hatched, and most of the bantams. So we are at least getting a good idea of what kind of chicks are coming from who.

Cody, just some notes on what I went through when first hatching. I always had heard and read that it could take a chick up to 24 hrs to hatch. But I mistakenly thought that I would see steady progress through the whole time, pip to hatch. So when starting we would have a pip, and then if it didn't make progress in like 6-8 hrs I would assume that it needed help because it still only had that one little triangle and I couldn't see into the egg. So I was thinking that it was just stuck, or dead etc. But what I have found over the last few hatches is that they pip. Internally, then externally. And then they sit there, absorbing the remainder of the yolk and blood. And often that did take up to a day for that to happen. So when I helped before that I was just opening up the shell and allowing it to dry out the membrane. In some cases it was necessary and I was able to deal with the sticky. But if I opened it, I would likely have to finish it for the chick, since it was probably going to get stuck. So far I have not mastered patience. But its improving and I actually kept my hands off much more this time. I didn't help any chicks out of the shell this time. I would of though if I had been able to see that one was pipping at the wrong end. It was at the back of the incubator and had been in the correct position the whole incubation. It drown in the shell. We opened it up and the yolk was in the process of being absorbed and it was a fully formed, nice looking chick. The amazing thing is, that once they are ready, they unzip. And sometimes it only takes them a few minutes to unzip once it is time. And they just pop out.

 

[Cody A]

Is a chicks head positioned wrong when they pip the wrong end. Did it pip the small end? How does a chick do this if the air cell is in the large end?


Yea I'm so glad to have this forum to refer to. The assisted hatch guide has helped me keep my hair and you guys of course. I now understand how the compulsion to want to help can become overwhelming. Seeing the pip is not that bad but when you hear them peeping it makes you just want to help. The pipped egg I have now has not changed all day. The chick is peeping. I know your dilemma you had in the past. I'm glad I somewhat understand the process now. I've gone through it in my head. If I tried to help it now by creating a zip it would/could dry out the membrane. It pipped early so it may kill it and/or it is not through absorbing the yolk. If I wait until tomorrow evening @ 40 hrs from the initial pip i'll have to open the bator and risk dropping the humidity on other eggs that may be pipping or zipping. So playing it by ear. May not be worth the risk on a pullet egg but if the chick stays alive in the shell for three days and can't unzip because the shell is too small then it must be strong enough to make it through the hatch process. Ya'll know I'll ask before I do anything.

Edit a couple hrs later. The pullet egg chick looks like it may be starting to unzip and another is pipping.

 

[Cody A]

Lemon on the chick that died. When you say "correct position" do you mean large end up in the turner and did you place them in a egg carton to hatch and still pipped the wrong end? I'm just trying to understand.

In my cabinet bator I incubated with a smaller tub of water than the one I put in for hatching. When I put the larger tub in and moved the eggs to the bottom the temp started rising so I had to keep lowering it and keep an eye on it until it stabilized. I assume the higher humidity raised the temp. I don't understand or know how humidity and temp work together.

I know it feels a helluva lot hotter when the humidity is high.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Lemon on the chick that died. When you say "correct position" do you mean large end up in the turner and did you place them in a egg carton to hatch and still pipped the wrong end? I'm just trying to understand.

In my cabinet bator I incubated with a smaller tub of water than the one I put in for hatching. When I put the larger tub in and moved the eggs to the bottom the temp started rising so I had to keep lowering it and keep an eye on it until it stabilized. I assume the higher humidity raised the temp. I don't understand or know how humidity and temp work together.  I know it feels a helluva lot hotter when the humidity is high.

It does feel hotter when the humidity is high. And when they starte hatching the humidity will spike even higher. Pam

 

[LemonMeringue]

Lemon on the chick that died. When you say "correct position" do you mean large end up in the turner and did you place them in a egg carton to hatch and still pipped the wrong end? I'm just trying to understand.

In my cabinet bator I incubated with a smaller tub of water than the one I put in for hatching. When I put the larger tub in and moved the eggs to the bottom the temp started rising so I had to keep lowering it and keep an eye on it until it stabilized. I assume the higher humidity raised the temp. I don't understand or know how humidity and temp work together.

I know it feels a helluva lot hotter when the humidity is high.

Yes, the egg was put into the turner air cell end up. At lockdown the egg was placed into the egg carton in the same position. I never turn the eggs upside down to candle or anything like that. Maybe it would have survived if it had been laying on its side during lockdown. I have heard of the same kinds of situations happening to other people. I think its just something weird that happens sometimes. When my daughter opened it the chick was completely upside down.