March Hatch-A-Long

[Tatuana]

It's officially past their hatch date by three hours. I know that's not a big deal, but my last batch had signs of life by now. These little guys want to stay in their eggs it seems. Fingers crossed the three I have in there will make it!

 

[Chicksnmind]

It's officially past their hatch date by three hours. I know that's not a big deal, but my last batch had signs of life by now. These little guys want to stay in their eggs it seems. Fingers crossed the three I have in there will make it!

Crossing fingers for you. The waiting is so hard. I have 7 just sitting there due date today and no tapping yet.

 

[Chicksnmind]

Well I guess I’m really bad with the whole lockdown thing.

My other chick that is tapping hasn’t come out. It seemed to me to be in the air cell (could see shadow) and it seemed to be gasping. So I opened it up . Just a little to let in air.

I put it back and a few hours later still no progress...lots of tapping. So I opened it up a bit more. Too see it’s not a head in the air cell at all..it’s a rear.

At this point I opened it up a little more in the air cell to put coconut oil on the membrane. I told my self “ walk away ..walk away” . So I did . I will give it a bit longer but not sure how much air it’s getting but I can’t see where the beak is ( shell is too dark)..

 

[Tatuana]

Well I guess I’m really bad with the whole lockdown thing.

My other chick that is tapping hasn’t come out. It seemed to me to be in the air cell (could see shadow) and it seemed to be gasping. So I opened it up . Just a little to let in air.

I put it back and a few hours later still no progress...lots of tapping. So I opened it up a bit more. Too see it’s not a head in the air cell at all..it’s a rear.

At this point I opened it up a little more in the air cell to put coconut oil on the membrane. I told my self “ walk away ..walk away” . So I did . I will give it a bit longer but not sure how much air it’s getting but I can’t see where the beak is ( shell is too dark)..

Aww, how's the little thing doing? Mine aren't even tapping yet.

 

[Ms Biddy]

@Lins_BE Regarding your baskets. The chicks need at least twice as much space as the eggs take up. Once the chicks hatch, there needs to be room for them to move around as well as room for the empty eggshells.

The warmth and ventilation should be fine. However, the low edges on the baskets will most likely allow the chicks to crawl out. Another option besides baskets is mesh bags. I've made mesh bags out of plastic bath puffs. Once you take the puff apart, it's just a long mesh tube that can be cut into sections and closed up with twine or zip ties. Again, leave plenty of room for the empty shells and room for the chicks to move a little.

 

[Nekopan]

4 weeks old, crest is starting to come in!

 

[Tatuana]

I called it. The eggs weren't moving. They were starting to feel light. No movement inside the egg anywhere. I decided to open one to see what happened. (I know, I know). They all died. All three. They died a while ago.

I feel so, so sad now. I feel like it's my fault because the temp changes, not turning enough because I thought they were due earlier, having humidity problems. This was supposed to be my perfect batch. I went through my first batch and learned all I could, worked out all the kinks, and was ready do a final test. I had other things going on - my cat has cancer - but that's no excuse. If I killed the chicks I'll never forgive myself. I promised to take care of them and didn't.

I feel like I let the lady I bought them from down. Her and her family were excited for chicks. And I have zero to show.


Ugh. Now I'm depressed. I hate that I let her down, hate that I wasn't as invested as I was at the start. I have a therapist appointment Monday, at least. I'd like to try again and get it RIGHT.

 

[Ms Biddy]

@Tatuana, big hugs for you. Please be gentle on yourself and don't beat yourself up. You don't deserve it even if there were mistakes made. With one previous hatch, there are still many things to learn. A perfect hatch wasn't likely even if everything went well. It's very hard to say whether the eggs would have hatched under different conditions. Would mine have if I had turned them differently or rotated them around or candled them less or sanitized them first or kept them in a different room or? I do the best I can each time, and each time is different. For whatever reason, this hatch wasn't meant to be. I know you've learned from it and I wish you better luck next time.

 

[notasilkie]

I called it. The eggs weren't moving. They were starting to feel light. No movement inside the egg anywhere. I decided to open one to see what happened. (I know, I know). They all died. All three. They died a while ago.

I feel so, so sad now. I feel like it's my fault because the temp changes, not turning enough because I thought they were due earlier, having humidity problems.

Its not as easy as it looks on paper is it
Where did you get your eggs from? Unfortunately its hard to know how much was incubation problems and how much it was bad eggs in the first place.

I set way more eggs than I needed chickens because there have always been some problems for me. Of the first 12 eggs NONE hatched, but only a few started developing in the first place. Sounds like you just had a lot of little problems this time around, and chicks are sensitive.

In my last batch I have another 2 dead in shell... not sure why. One even pipped through but didnt make it. Was it the chicks? The incubator? I think I might be running the temps just a liiiittle low.

 

[Chicksnmind]

I called it. The eggs weren't moving. They were starting to feel light. No movement inside the egg anywhere. I decided to open one to see what happened. (I know, I know). They all died. All three. They died a while ago.

I feel so, so sad now. I feel like it's my fault because the temp changes, not turning enough because I thought they were due earlier, having humidity problems. This was supposed to be my perfect batch. I went through my first batch and learned all I could, worked out all the kinks, and was ready do a final test. I had other things going on - my cat has cancer - but that's no excuse. If I killed the chicks I'll never forgive myself. I promised to take care of them and didn't..

I’m so sorry Tatiana

The one that was in the wrong position came out this morning. It had part of the membrane stuck to its neck and wings so I had to carefully soak it it get it unstuck. Finally got it off. Chick seems ok and is drying right now.


I opened up one that I thought was DIS and I was right. It was fully formed died day 18-19 and didn’t finish absorbing the yoke. I wish I could tell what happened.

I think because I didn’t turn days 8-14 it may have caused chicks not to be able to get in hatching position . I have two more in my incubator that are in the wrong position. One looks good just waiting for veins to lessen and the other I’m not as hopeful for. Right it’s half my hatch that have been in the wrong position and needed help. If these two make it that will make over half.

Day 22 and I think I have 1 DIS and 3 eggs in the incubator. One looks to be another that is not in the right position but I’m dealing with two right now that I’m assisting so I will wait until later today before opening.