March Hatching Madness

[mlowarren]

Two of my bantys are broody for the first time...My Silver Phoenix has 4 eggs under her, and my white Silkie has 8 under her!

This is my first experience with hatching, so I'm really pulling for my girls!!!

 

[madornato]

Hey, all! Can someone give me some advice on what I need to do or what I may have done wrong (other than what I am describing below)? I am using a LG incubator with turner but without a fan kit. The chicks developed well. On day 18 when I put the eggs directly on the screen and out of the turner, I upped the humidity with wet sponges, but I did not get a hygrometer until day 19. I placed the probe of my thermometer on one side of the incubator and had to readjust the temps since the eggs had been moved and humidity increased. Unfortunately, I unknowingly placed the thermometer on the cold side of the incubator because when my husband came home the next day with a thermometer/hygrometer combination, I put it on the other side of the incubator and discovered that my temperature on that side was about 6 degrees too high. I thought, oh crap, I killed most or all of my chicks! Anyway, they did start to hatch on day 21--now its day 23--12 out of 22 chicks have hatched. How long should I leave the other eggs in there to see if they'll hatch? Also, 2 of my chicks have leg problems, one more severe than the other. One of my RIR chicks can't stand. It just scoots around the brooder--it has exposed (no skin like it has been worn away) leg joints. My BSL that hatched yesterday does not have any obvious leg problem, but it is not standing either. What can I do for them, and could these leg problems be from the 30 hour temp. spike or something else I could have done wrong? This is my first hatch, so it is exciting to see those little chicks running around but so sad to see the other 2 struggling and the 10 that have not yet hatched. Thanks.

 

[lisal124]

Quote:
Using three thermometers/hygrometers will make you crazy. Decide which one you think is right (probably the middle one) and take out the others, and then quit adjusting things. I KNOW it's hard! Do you have a fan in your bator? That makes a HUGE difference. As far as the eggs go, just leave them all in there. Like you said, marans eggs are so hard to see through, don't toss anything yet. Good luck!!

Thank you for the advice and words of encouragement! I don't want to open the bator but I am going to ignore the 2 thermometers on the edges and go with the middle one. I have a LG with a forced air kit. My husband came home from work and we went to town to run a few errands...it helped to get away for a little bit!

When I returned the middle thermometer read 99.6/65%

I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will just stay there!! Thanks again! I really appreciate the help!

 

[Noncentzter]

Three out of 12 pipped and the last one to pip hatched yesterday (a buttercup). Today we pulled the other two pipped eggs out and the first one had already died. The second one, an EE, was still alive and is doing well. We had a lot of problems with low temp early on and the eggs were late hatching. Today is Day 24, so tonight I plan on pulling the rest of the eggs...or should I wait one more day?

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

Well, it's day 23 and 5/13 eggs I had left at lockdown have hatched. No pips, peeps or rocking coming from the rest.

If no more hatch then this will have been around a 12% hatch rate, terrible compared to the last hatch. I didn't do anything different either... On the brighter side, there are 5 teeny, bouncy chickies in the other room! I hope I get some more surprises...

Silver Sebright

Self Blue d'Uccle

Black Mottled d'Uccle

Porcelain d'Uccle

Another Self Blue d'Uccle

 

[Shannon's Chix]

Quote:
Oh I hope so too

...but those are some great babies! I need black and blue mottled and porcelain d'uccles! Well, I need them later...right now I just hatched out 8 LF favorelles and got 7 more today to be set in the am! Talk about madness!

 

[amberglas]

Hi all,

Madornato
Hope your babies are doing better. I'm new to this too. I had my first hatch is now about 10 day old. Have you moved the babies to a brooder yet? At day 23 I opened all of my un-hatched eggs to see what was going on. My cochins had 11 hatched, 1 clear egg, 1 set of twins (dead), 2 deformed chicks and 1 quitter. My silkies had 2 hatched, 7 clear, and 3 quitters which was not so good. I remember seeing a couple of posts about chicks with leg problems so you should find someone to help. I would guess you would have to make sure they can get to the food and water if they can't walk well. Good luck with them.

My eggs arrived from chicken stalker this morning so here I go again. When I was in 4H many many years ago (showing rabbits) I saw my first green eggs and have wanted them ever since. Last year I came close but at the last minute I found out that I couldn't get them. Recently my friends bought a small farm a mile from my home and asked if I would do chickens for them. "Oh no don't throw me into the brier patch! Of course I said yes so here I am with 12 green eggs.

I might just be a little excited.

Amberglas

 

[cook_kaka_ook]

Day 22 update (03/07 hatch date). I finally gave up on the 4 remaining Ameraucanas that did not pipped. I cracked 1 out of curiosity and found out that it never developed (clear withe blood ring) the same with the other three. These were difficult to candle in the first place like the blue and black CM's. I have better success with the CM's 10 out of 10 100% hatch compared to 3 out of 7 Ameraucanas. Did 100% on my very own set of eggs from my flock as well 10/10 .
I have to help out two of my CM's hatch out. (one of them has given up pipping because of the awkward position inside the egg (its right foot is over his head almost touching its left ear). The last one to hatch was upside down in the carton egg tray I have as a setup for lockdown. It was more like perfect oval egg, the pointy end was difficult to identify. Anyway out of the 27 eggs I have at lockdown, 23 hatched. Here are the pics:

 

[Laurieks]

5 Mottled Javas have hatched, starting before 5 this morning! Day 21 is tomorrow, silly birds.

2 BCM's but they are silver, so I'm hoping they're lavender Marans

We'll see when they dry out. One is a big fat Baby Huey and it's killing me not to open the bator & help him stand up. Keeping it dark so the Javas leave him alone; they've been out longer and he looks tasty to them.
Grats on all the babies!

 

[BBK]

I hear tapping, but don't see anything... it must be an egg that's not in view....so, i'm getting my brooder ready.

melinda