March Hatch-Along Thread- Come Hatch With Us!!!!!

[hokankai]

I know several people who stop turning early, but not earlier than day 16. Eggs technically don't need to be turned past day 14 though. How were you turning them all during incubation?

 

[Maah]

Quote:
Oh no Pug, not again! Sorry dear friend.

How to describe this hatch...semi-disasterous. On day 23 (with 17 eggs at lockdown) I finally had a pip around 2pm...then 2 more before I went to bed at 2am but no progress on any of them. I set up my camcorder positive that the little buggers would hatch while I was sleeping. No such luck. No progress at 10am day 24. Started to get a little nervous because they weren't turning at all. Just continuing to make the original pip a tiny bit wider. At 24 hrs post pip I opened the bator and used a flashlight to see inside the pip hole...the inner membrane was pretty dry despite 70% humidity and it couldn't turn so I opened the pip a little more and wet the membrane with some warm distilled water and then put them back in the bator and they ended up hatching on their own. While I was in there I candled the other eggs and found 6 dead. Eggotopsy showed that they were ALL SIX malpositions. Heads tucked firmly between their legs against their tummies. UGH...I could have intervened after all! Being day 24 and having those six malpositions I decided to pip the air cells of the remaining eggs and see what was up. Figured at 24 days it wasn't too awful early and just pipping the air cell shouldn't hurt. All remaining 8 eggs were malpositions too!!! I couldn't freakin' believe it. The odds of that are...I don't even know how ridiculous! The inner membranes were tight to the chicks too so I wet them to see the veins (which were tiny and drying up) and no beaks to be seen at all so I tore a tiny hole where there were no veins so that at the very least the rest wouldn't suffocate then I put them back in the bator for 4 hrs and rechecked. Four were dead and upon eggotopsy three were ready to have hatched but just couldn't due to heads between their legs and one had it's yolk sac wrapped around it's neck and it's head between it's legs so it couldn't absorb it. I decided I had been patient enough. I did assisted hatching on the remaining four and as of right now they are all still alive (one had a tiny bit of yolk left and is resting in a cup in the bator with a little bacitration ointment and is absorbing steadily), one was going strong and is in the brooder with the other three that hatched earlier and the other two are still in the bator resting and fluffing. One of them had its leg THROUGH the yolk sac yet had absorbed it all and the leftover junk was cinched around it's thigh...hoping when it is good and dry that it won't be deformed but it wasn't looking good. When I checked on the ones in the brooder later, one of the ones that hatched on it's own had a leg broken at the lowest joint and I could see bone (No clue how that happened to the poor baby-guessing "dog pile") so I had to cull and all remaining three have spraddle leg too despite having non-slip shelf liner in the bator and brooder. I have used vet wrap to bind the legs closer and they are getting around fine despite that. I am seriously having a WHAT THE CRAP hatch. The only thing I can guess is that when I stopped turing at day 15 per a couple BYC'ers advice, I jacked up the whole hatch. I stopped turning a couple of days early so that I could add some shipped CCL eggs that had terrible detached air cells and couldn't be turned. I moved the CCL's to my hatcher-bator when it was time for lockdown since it was finally free and then on day 18 cranked up the humidity in the Brinsea and lockdown was on. I was told it wouldn't hurt anything to stop turning a little early, especially since these were shipped eggs too. It's the only thing that makes any sense. My humidity and temp were spot on the whole time. The only variable was the turning. I am so mad at myself but I didn't know any better and it sounded like sound advice. I didn't want to risk giving valuable shipped eggs with detached air cells to a broody so I went with it. I am sharing all of this not only to vent my sorrow and frustration, but also so that nobody makes my same mistake. At this point, I have a paint silkie, paint split silkie (don't know if that is the name but a black with a little white on it that hatched out of a paint egg), a black silkie chick, two splash silkie chicks all from shipped eggs and also a splash silkie chick from my girls that I threw in at the start as a test egg. The three in the brooder have their legs bound to treat for spraddle leg and the other three are in the bator drying. Hoping and praying they all make it...

Not so good news for you too. Wow... so many not in position. I hope your other chickies heal and do just fine.

......................................................................................................................

So, my last barred rock cross egg in the incubator pipped last night. This morning... it is still in there cheeping and seems to be doing fine. Today is day 21. The other eggs hatched early, so I'm not too worried about this kiddo. YET. We'll see.

Come on chickie!

 

[animaladdictions]

How to describe this hatch...semi-disasterous. On day 23 (with 17 eggs at lockdown) I finally had a pip around 2pm...then 2 more before I went to bed at 2am but no progress on any of them. I set up my camcorder positive that the little buggers would hatch while I was sleeping. No such luck. No progress at 10am day 24. Started to get a little nervous because they weren't turning at all. Just continuing to make the original pip a tiny bit wider. At 24 hrs post pip I opened the bator and used a flashlight to see inside the pip hole...the inner membrane was pretty dry despite 70% humidity and it couldn't turn so I opened the pip a little more and wet the membrane with some warm distilled water and then put them back in the bator and they ended up hatching on their own. While I was in there I candled the other eggs and found 6 dead. Eggotopsy showed that they were ALL SIX malpositions. Heads tucked firmly between their legs against their tummies. UGH...I could have intervened after all! Being day 24 and having those six malpositions I decided to pip the air cells of the remaining eggs and see what was up. Figured at 24 days it wasn't too awful early and just pipping the air cell shouldn't hurt. All remaining 8 eggs were malpositions too!!! I couldn't freakin' believe it. The odds of that are...I don't even know how ridiculous! The inner membranes were tight to the chicks too so I wet them to see the veins (which were tiny and drying up) and no beaks to be seen at all so I tore a tiny hole where there were no veins so that at the very least the rest wouldn't suffocate then I put them back in the bator for 4 hrs and rechecked. Four were dead and upon eggotopsy three were ready to have hatched but just couldn't due to heads between their legs and one had it's yolk sac wrapped around it's neck and it's head between it's legs so it couldn't absorb it. I decided I had been patient enough. I did assisted hatching on the remaining four and as of right now they are all still alive (one had a tiny bit of yolk left and is resting in a cup in the bator with a little bacitration ointment and is absorbing steadily), one was going strong and is in the brooder with the other three that hatched earlier and the other two are still in the bator resting and fluffing. One of them had its leg THROUGH the yolk sac yet had absorbed it all and the leftover junk was cinched around it's thigh...hoping when it is good and dry that it won't be deformed but it wasn't looking good. When I checked on the ones in the brooder later, one of the ones that hatched on it's own had a leg broken at the lowest joint and I could see bone (No clue how that happened to the poor baby-guessing "dog pile") so I had to cull and all remaining three have spraddle leg too despite having non-slip shelf liner in the bator and brooder. I have used vet wrap to bind the legs closer and they are getting around fine despite that. I am seriously having a WHAT THE CRAP hatch. The only thing I can guess is that when I stopped turing at day 15 per a couple BYC'ers advice, I jacked up the whole hatch. I stopped turning a couple of days early so that I could add some shipped CCL eggs that had terrible detached air cells and couldn't be turned. I moved the CCL's to my hatcher-bator when it was time for lockdown since it was finally free and then on day 18 cranked up the humidity in the Brinsea and lockdown was on. I was told it wouldn't hurt anything to stop turning a little early, especially since these were shipped eggs too. It's the only thing that makes any sense. My humidity and temp were spot on the whole time. The only variable was the turning. I am so mad at myself but I didn't know any better and it sounded like sound advice. I didn't want to risk giving valuable shipped eggs with detached air cells to a broody so I went with it. I am sharing all of this not only to vent my sorrow and frustration, but also so that nobody makes my same mistake. At this point, I have a paint silkie, paint split silkie (don't know if that is the name but a black with a little white on it that hatched out of a paint egg), a black silkie chick, two splash silkie chicks all from shipped eggs and also a splash silkie chick from my girls that I threw in at the start as a test egg. The three in the brooder have their legs bound to treat for spraddle leg and the other three are in the bator drying. Hoping and praying they all make it...

I'm so sorry you had such a bad time at hatching this round...sometimes these things happen and there are several factors that can be the downfall of a successful hatch.. Temp, humidity, poor flock management, dirty eggs, young hens, old hens...the list goes on and on. I will say this however, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that your chicks died because you stopped turning a little early. I ALWAYS stop turning my eggs five days before they're due to hatch and I've been hatching for many years. I used to do the traditional three days and would end up having several backwards or upside-down chicks at hatch..now, I rarely have a chick in the wrong position. It is very important to turn your eggs AT LEAST three times a day for the first 14-16 days because lack of turning will cause the chick to attach to one side of the shell and they usually don't make it..after the first two weeks the chick starts working on getting into hatch position..The extra few days allows it more time to get to where it needs to be. According to your post, you were on day 23 (late hatch) which can happen sometimes, but is usually an indication of low temps. If it was day 23, how long were they in "lockdown" for? Did you put them in lockdown on day 18 or did you wait for internal pipping and then put them in lockdown? My point is, if you put them in lockdown and raised humidity on day 18 but didn't see a pip until day 23, then they most likely suffered from too high humidity for their last few days of development. I'm just asking because it kinda sounds like there may have been other factors that caused the problems you had. The fact that you stopped turning a few days early is unlikely to be the cause.

As for giving "sound advice". Any advice that I've given on this thread or any other has been given with the knowledge that these are MY techniques and what works for ME. I simply share my experience with others in hopes that it will help them with a successful hatch. I would NEVER advise someone do something that might risk them losing their chicks and only ever suggest methods that I myself have been successful in using. If you feel positive that you lost your chicks because you stopped turning early, then by all means, do what you feel is right. It's good to go with your gut on these things and find which method works best for you. My only point is, I've hatched many many chicks using the "stop a little early" method and my hatches have been better as a result, not worse. I hope your next hatch goes much more smoothly than this one did. It really stinks to lose them, but it happens to even the most experienced chicken farmers out there. Matter of fact, I just lost two call duck babies out of eight eggs and I've been hatching for years. They were in proper position and fully developed but just didn't have it in them to break free from their eggs. My little goose that I hatched a couple days ago died a day after hatch. This is the first time I've ever lost a baby goose after hatch and it was HARD on me. I fall in love with every single baby I hatch! Don't get too discouraged, these things unfortunately happen to all of us.

 

[Arkansas81]

I bought 8 new babies yesterday! 2 black silkies, 3crele polish, 3 blue polish. They are all pure, show quality -I'm so excited in being able to expand ky business in the fall. I will post pics of them asap...

My heart breaks that some of you are having some struggles in hatching but my heart also soars in rejoicing in everyones successes e!!

I'm off to check on everyone...

 

[jhfamily5]

I'm so sorry you had such a bad time at hatching this round...sometimes these things happen and there are several factors that can be the downfall of a successful hatch.. Temp, humidity, poor flock management, dirty eggs, young hens, old hens...the list goes on and on. I will say this however, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that your chicks died because you stopped turning a little early. I ALWAYS stop turning my eggs five days before they're due to hatch and I've been hatching for many years. I used to do the traditional three days and would end up having several backwards or upside-down chicks at hatch..now, I rarely have a chick in the wrong position. It is very important to turn your eggs AT LEAST three times a day for the first 14-16 days because lack of turning will cause the chick to attach to one side of the shell and they usually don't make it..after the first two weeks the chick starts working on getting into hatch position..The extra few days allows it more time to get to where it needs to be. According to your post, you were on day 23 (late hatch) which can happen sometimes, but is usually an indication of low temps. If it was day 23, how long were they in "lockdown" for? Did you put them in lockdown on day 18 or did you wait for internal pipping and then put them in lockdown? My point is, if you put them in lockdown and raised humidity on day 18 but didn't see a pip until day 23, then they most likely suffered from too high humidity for their last few days of development. I'm just asking because it kinda sounds like there may have been other factors that caused the problems you had. The fact that you stopped turning a few days early is unlikely to be the cause.

As for giving "sound advice". Any advice that I've given on this thread or any other has been given with the knowledge that these are MY techniques and what works for ME. I simply share my experience with others in hopes that it will help them with a successful hatch. I would NEVER advise someone do something that might risk them losing their chicks and only ever suggest methods that I myself have been successful in using. If you feel positive that you lost your chicks because you stopped turning early, then by all means, do what you feel is right. It's good to go with your gut on these things and find which method works best for you. My only point is, I've hatched many many chicks using the "stop a little early" method and my hatches have been better as a result, not worse. I hope your next hatch goes much more smoothly than this one did. It really stinks to lose them, but it happens to even the most experienced chicken farmers out there. Matter of fact, I just lost two call duck babies out of eight eggs and I've been hatching for years. They were in proper position and fully developed but just didn't have it in them to break free from their eggs. My little goose that I hatched a couple days ago died a day after hatch. This is the first time I've ever lost a baby goose after hatch and it was HARD on me. I fall in love with every single baby I hatch! Don't get too discouraged, these things unfortunately happen to all of us.

I know several people who stop turning early, but not earlier than day 16. Eggs technically don't need to be turned past day 14 though. How were you turning them all during incubation?

I have a Brinsea with an autoturner so they are turned all day long and my temp was a solid 99.6 the whole time. I will never know for sure what happened or if it was something I did. I just assume that must have been the turning because everything else was so spot on. That was the only variable and I have one of the best incubators out there. The eggs were shipped but arrived in perfect condition and had perfect aircells and they came from SQ stock from a reputable breeder. I didn't up the humidity until day 18 and they were all doing great up until that point. It is just so frustrating. I wish I knew the reason just so that it never happened again. My husband insisted it had to be something I had done and said if it wasn't, I shouldn't buy anymore shipped eggs. That pretty much made me feel worse. I in NO way meant to blame anyone for what happened. I just meant that others had said it should be fine, and it sounded like sound advice so I followed it. If that is what was wrong, it was nobody's fault but my own because it was my choice to follow it. I guarantee I could run a search and find just as many people who would say it wouldn't work and I knew that when I asked. The choice was totally mine and I truly do appreciate the advice of others everytime it is given. Apologies if I offended anyone at all or made them feel I blamed them. It wasn't worded that way on purpose I promise. I was tired, distraught and confused. I figured I would put my story out there just in case anyone else runs into the same situation they would know that it doesn't always work for everyone and they are informed. In the end we all have to make tough calls, cross our fingers and know that whether it works or fails, we tried our best. The one chick that was still absorbing the yolk had almost completely finished when it suddenly died. The three that I bandaged for spraddle leg are doing awesome this morning and the two from the bator are now in the brooder. One had to be wrapped for its legs too and it isn't doing so well. The other was from my test egg and is weak but formed correctly. Time will tell.

 

[jhfamily5]

I'm so sorry you had such a bad time at hatching this round...sometimes these things happen and there are several factors that can be the downfall of a successful hatch.. Temp, humidity, poor flock management, dirty eggs, young hens, old hens...the list goes on and on. I will say this however, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that your chicks died because you stopped turning a little early. I ALWAYS stop turning my eggs five days before they're due to hatch and I've been hatching for many years. I used to do the traditional three days and would end up having several backwards or upside-down chicks at hatch..now, I rarely have a chick in the wrong position. It is very important to turn your eggs AT LEAST three times a day for the first 14-16 days because lack of turning will cause the chick to attach to one side of the shell and they usually don't make it..after the first two weeks the chick starts working on getting into hatch position..The extra few days allows it more time to get to where it needs to be. According to your post, you were on day 23 (late hatch) which can happen sometimes, but is usually an indication of low temps. If it was day 23, how long were they in "lockdown" for? Did you put them in lockdown on day 18 or did you wait for internal pipping and then put them in lockdown? My point is, if you put them in lockdown and raised humidity on day 18 but didn't see a pip until day 23, then they most likely suffered from too high humidity for their last few days of development. I'm just asking because it kinda sounds like there may have been other factors that caused the problems you had. The fact that you stopped turning a few days early is unlikely to be the cause.

As for giving "sound advice". Any advice that I've given on this thread or any other has been given with the knowledge that these are MY techniques and what works for ME. I simply share my experience with others in hopes that it will help them with a successful hatch. I would NEVER advise someone do something that might risk them losing their chicks and only ever suggest methods that I myself have been successful in using. If you feel positive that you lost your chicks because you stopped turning early, then by all means, do what you feel is right. It's good to go with your gut on these things and find which method works best for you. My only point is, I've hatched many many chicks using the "stop a little early" method and my hatches have been better as a result, not worse. I hope your next hatch goes much more smoothly than this one did. It really stinks to lose them, but it happens to even the most experienced chicken farmers out there. Matter of fact, I just lost two call duck babies out of eight eggs and I've been hatching for years. They were in proper position and fully developed but just didn't have it in them to break free from their eggs. My little goose that I hatched a couple days ago died a day after hatch. This is the first time I've ever lost a baby goose after hatch and it was HARD on me. I fall in love with every single baby I hatch! Don't get too discouraged, these things unfortunately happen to all of us.

I also meant to add that I am so sorry for your losses too. I too fall in love with them all and shed a great many tears last night and this morning. I didn't even go back to see who advised me what because I truly don't blame anyone for sharing what works best for them and do appreciate advice. If you happened to be someone who advised me about the stopping early, thank you for giving me your advice and you are right, it could have been so many other things too. The biggest problem I have with trial and error is that the poor little chicks pay the price when I mess up but I know that it is part of it. You can't have a bleeding heart and hatch chicks. I'm working on it.

 

[TweetyNPetey]

I have a Brinsea with an autoturner so they are turned all day long and my temp was a solid 99.6 the whole time. I will never know for sure what happened or if it was something I did. I just assume that must have been the turning because everything else was so spot on. That was the only variable and I have one of the best incubators out there. The eggs were shipped but arrived in perfect condition and had perfect aircells and they came from SQ stock from a reputable breeder. I didn't up the humidity until day 18 and they were all doing great up until that point. It is just so frustrating. I wish I knew the reason just so that it never happened again. My husband insisted it had to be something I had done and said if it wasn't, I shouldn't buy anymore shipped eggs. That pretty much made me feel worse. I in NO way meant to blame anyone for what happened. I just meant that others had said it should be fine, and it sounded like sound advice so I followed it. If that is what was wrong, it was nobody's fault but my own because it was my choice to follow it. I guarantee I could run a search and find just as many people who would say it wouldn't work and I knew that when I asked. The choice was totally mine and I truly do appreciate the advice of others everytime it is given. Apologies if I offended anyone at all or made them feel I blamed them. It wasn't worded that way on purpose I promise. I was tired, distraught and confused. I figured I would put my story out there just in case anyone else runs into the same situation they would know that it doesn't always work for everyone and they are informed. In the end we all have to make tough calls, cross our fingers and know that whether it works or fails, we tried our best. The one chick that was still absorbing the yolk had almost completely finished when it suddenly died. The three that I bandaged for spraddle leg are doing awesome this morning and the two from the bator are now in the brooder. One had to be wrapped for its legs too and it isn't doing so well. The other was from my test egg and is weak but formed correctly. Time will tell.

 

[Arkansas81]

my new blue polish

my new crele polish

i am in love

 

[chickydee64]

jhfamily 5:
Sounds like to high humidity to me.Did you have a hydrometer?????????

 

[StarlinaStan]

Those are so cute.