I love seeing all the pics of hatched babies!
I officially ended our hatch last night. This way my first hatch, so I was in for a big surprise at the mess those little boogers make inside the incubator!
I did almost have a loss. A chick was trying to hatch from it's shell for 48 hours. I decided to step in and help out a little. After opening the egg a bit more I placed it back in the incubator so it could get out on it's own. Hours later he was still pushing and trying to get out, but was not making much progress. I took it out again and this time worked slowly at removing the whole shell. Turns out it was stuck to him pretty good in some spots. Once out I placed him back into the incubator again. He didn't look well at all and had some kind of big mass of green and white mixed stuff on his bottom. His head was also tilted funny and it looked like his wing was not right either.
I was devastated. I couldn't stop checking on him and everytime I did I felt horrible for him. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm 32 weeks pregnant and full of hormones!
I put him in the brooder with the rest of the chicks yesterday and last night I worked on removing the mass. I was afraid to mess with it, but more afraid that if it was removable and I didn't that he would end up dying because of it. I worked at it with warm water and q-tips and within about 20 minutes it all came off!
Other than the fact that he is still a little sticky looking and not very fluffy like the others, he's running around, eating, drinking, and cuddling with all of the other chicks. I could try and wipe him down a bit, but until we find homes for the rest of the buff orpingtons we're not keeping I'd rather be able to tell the difference since he's the only Buff Oprington out of the bunch we will be keeping.
I ended up hatching out 6 French Black Copper Marans, 8 Buff Orpingtons, 4 Blue Orpingtons, and 1 Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. Not too bad for my first time! I just set 6 more Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas and 4 Silkies today. This hatching business is addicting!
