May 2023 Hatch-a-long

[Honora]

I guess a bunch of them waited until 3am to hatch.
I am now at 10 hatches with 1 in the middle of zipping.
I can't tell how many pips anymore because they all got knocked around.
It always worries me when an egg goes pip side down

It always worries me, too! I wonder if they have trouble breathing like that, but they always seem to hatch just fine.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I was waiting for this green egg to hatch, since it was the 2nd to the last, it did need help. I didn't help it all the way since I like the chick to kick off the shell. One other behind egg I am still leaving in, it got the safety hole.
Everyone else is doing fine, I have the black one with the butt contents stuck to egg, the contents shrank, and he still has a bit of egg stuck to his butt, I think it protects from the pecking.
I gave everyone a sip of yolk water.

 

[MagnoliaBrahma]

Hatching has slowed dramatically with still a lot of eggs. This is what happened with my last hatch and there were a lot of losses
I went with my gut and started candling (today is day 22) and sure enough 3 were dead, haven't done a full eggtopsy yet.

I discovered this one with a very odd air cell and I just felt like I needed to intervene (I've looked at aaaalllll the stuff on assisted hatches, has a successful one last hatch, so I know to go slow and what to look for)

Anyway I wanted to see what you all thought, I don't feel like it's going to be able to zip. Everything you see with the shell I did. I know it would be too soon to zip now anyway Because all the blood vessels are full.
Opinions?

 

[Canadian Wind]

Hatching has slowed dramatically with still a lot of eggs. This is what happened with my last hatch and there were a lot of losses
I went with my gut and started candling (today is day 22) and sure enough 3 were dead, haven't done a full eggtopsy yet.

I discovered this one with a very odd air cell and I just felt like I needed to intervene (I've looked at aaaalllll the stuff on assisted hatches, has a successful one last hatch, so I know to go slow and what to look for)

Anyway I wanted to see what you all thought, I don't feel like it's going to be able to zip. Everything you see with the shell I did. I know it would be too soon to zip now anyway Because all the blood vessels are full.
Opinions?

At this point, all you can really do is keep the membrane hydrated and hope the chick hatches after absorbing the yolk. If it hatches before, put it in a small container to limit movement, with either paper towel or soft cloth, and wait until the yolk is fully absorbed.

Good luck, let us know how it does!

 

[Waterfaery]

Hatching has slowed dramatically with still a lot of eggs. This is what happened with my last hatch and there were a lot of losses
I went with my gut and started candling (today is day 22) and sure enough 3 were dead, haven't done a full eggtopsy yet.

I discovered this one with a very odd air cell and I just felt like I needed to intervene (I've looked at aaaalllll the stuff on assisted hatches, has a successful one last hatch, so I know to go slow and what to look for)

Anyway I wanted to see what you all thought, I don't feel like it's going to be able to zip. Everything you see with the shell I did. I know it would be too soon to zip now anyway Because all the blood vessels are full.
Opinions?

I agree with Canadian Wind. I would make sure to keep the humidity nice and high and just keep an eye on it. The small container is a good idea to have ready in case it does hatch too soon since it's been opened up a bit. In my very first hatch I had one that I assisted a bit like that and it did end up hatching too soon. Someone advised me to put it back into the bottom half of its own eggshell and then set that upright into a little cup inside the incubator. I did that and the chick did fine.

I don't see why it wouldn't be able to get out of that itself when it's ready so hopefully you won't need to assist further. If not, it sounds like you've researched plenty about assisting if you really need to so that's good. At least you can see its beak so as long as it's chewing, you know it's not ready.

 

[Waterfaery]

Moonsparkle and her four chicks are doing great. She did eventually bring them out yesterday and then a lot more today. She was definitely very weak and pale. I think the extra long time sitting was very hard on her so I will avoid letting a hen do that again.

She's been having electrolytes and multivitamins as well as some high protein treats and is eating and drinking a lot more now. She's already starting to look a lot better and is doing a great job.

Here they are having some scrambled egg.

 

[Nomadicus]

My May hatch is a wrap. 33 chicks out of 41 eggs originally set. 3 were a test that I didn't think were fertile and they were not. 1 chick pipped and died in the shell. 4 quit earlier. I'll take those odds any day but I always want to improve every hatch if possible and it could have been better if I had not tested some hens that I knew were very iffy.

 

[lexi234]

this batch of chicks is doing lovely!
next eggs also set. 8 lavender orpington (going to hand turn) and 10 call duck…

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Day 14!
Done turning, eggs are removed from carton and on their sides. All 8 have nice veins AND movement.

They will be left alone till day 18 when ill check them one more time...

Fingers crossed for all 8 of them!

(My humidity dropped today to 38% on the incubator today... (so 43%) from 55%

This is the second time it's dropped like that during this incubation period...(more operator error than anything...as I didn't put more water in it before being away from the house both times )

Probably won't hurt a thing...

 

[Poodlemum]

5 pips! Possibly a 6th, but it’s at the wrong end and might just be a blip I didn’t notice