May Hatch-a-Long!

[Farmer Viola]

I'm on day 10 with my eggs and just finished candling for the second time. I threw out two. One looks like an early quitter, the other looks to recently have died. Most of my eggs are polish, and I am loving candling all these white eggs! They are soo easy to see! All 22 of the shipped eggs are alive and well!! Started with 40 in the bator. Threw out the two tonight plus 1 on day 7. I hope things keep going smoothly with this hatch! Got 24 eggs in the mail today and they are a mess! 3 were cracked and every single air cell is a hot mess!

don't you just love white eggs?! I am incubating some white eggs too, they are SOOO FUN to candle! You can see everything. before this I only incubated light and dark brown eggs. If I could go back in time I would have started with white eggs for learning

on the detached air cell shipped eggs - do you want advice? I have had a lot of shipped eggs and when they have detached air cells it is really rough. I tried not turning them for the 1st 2 days of incubation but now I think that causes malposition. my advice to you would be to keep them in an egg carton with holes cut in the bottom, and only barely lean them side to side for turning the first 3ish days. if they don't get turned, they can get stuck/malpositioned. but if they get turned too far (auto turner) the air cell won't re-heal itself. it is super important to keep the eggs upright throughout incubation or else the air cell can detach again, we want it to re-heal to the egg. even during candling keep it upright. it takes 14 days to re-heal.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I need some advice. I don't think I'm going to get anything else to hatch out of this batch. Two chicks out of 20.

This was my first time incubating and it was definitely a learning experience. I know where my problems are now. That said, I have a broody hen that is sitting on nothing but a golf ball or two. Would you load up the incubator again (3-4 week difference between chicks) or place some under the newly broody hen? Or both?

3-4wk difference between chicks is ok, I have combined them at that age difference without a problem. I would probably load up the incubator and put a few eggs under the broody unless you fully trust her to do a large clutch. I would just give her a few.

After a very long night (you can tell it's my first hatch!) I now have 10 little chicks in the brooder, plus one more that pipped a few hours ago and 3 that aren't doing squat (yet). All 5 of my Olive Eggers hatched and so far 5 of the 9 Welsummers. Keeping my fingers crossed for the last 4 welsummers.

congratulations new chick mama!!

I have spent many a sleepless night staring into the incubator so I can completely relate LOL enjoy those babies, it is verrrryyy addicting!!

I'm on day 12 with my eggs. I had 6 runners and 6 miniature silver appleyards to start with. I've got 5 growing appleyards and 4 runners. So 9 out of 12 at the minute. Ever so excited

 

[Mahen100]

Congrats, ShadyHill on those two you hatched!.

WTG Deb! I still have jetlag from last night, when the Orphington hatched.

I am glad the Orphington made it, only two of the possible three made it to hatch. I have one that I set to replace a leaker at day four, and I left that egg in the 'bater. All the rest developed leaks fairly early on..shipped hatchery eggs...and I attempted to patch them with candle wax. None of those made it.

 

[ShadyHillFarm]

More help needed please! This little one has been this way for almost 48 hours now. It's still peeping pretty loudly, but I'm not sure what or if I should do anything. :/ Seems almost like it's in a bad position, but I'm a complete newbie at this so I could be wrong. Thoughts??

 

[Farmer Viola]

More help needed please! This little one has been this way for almost 48 hours now. It's still peeping pretty loudly, but I'm not sure what or if I should do anything. :/ Seems almost like it's in a bad position, but I'm a complete newbie at this so I could be wrong. Thoughts??

are there other eggs with pips exposed? opening the incubator at this time is iffy, a sudden drop in humidity can cause "shink wrap" which is where the chick gets glued to the membrane because it dries out. if you do open it, you can toss in a wet paper towel to get the humidity back up immediately.

48hrs is quite a long time to be stuck in that position, I think I would be assisting it if I were you. make sure to warm up the bathroom first and run the shower to up the humidity, you need incubator-like environment. here is a good link for intervention:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch

 

[ShadyHillFarm]

are there other eggs with pips exposed? opening the incubator at this time is iffy, a sudden drop in humidity can cause "shink wrap" which is where the chick gets glued to the membrane because it dries out. if you do open it, you can toss in a wet paper towel to get the humidity back up immediately.

48hrs is quite a long time to be stuck in that position, I think I would be assisting it if I were you. make sure to warm up the bathroom first and run the shower to up the humidity, you need incubator-like environment. here is a good link for intervention:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch

No other eggs are pipped. I think the rest of the hatch is a bust at this point. Thanks for the link!

 

[BirdyGirl7198]

Okay, finally tally! 24 eggs set, 1 infertile, 1 early quitter, 1 quit right before lockdown. 21 ducklings made it to lockdown, 17 hatched.
My incubator is now cleaned of all that nasty hatch gunk and is ready for my 3 Canada Goose eggs to hatch

 

[ShadyHillFarm]

So I helped finish zipping the egg being careful not to bust any of the membrane. However, I noticed that some of the membrane had already pulled away from the shell and was stuck to the chick in a few places; not all though. There was also what looked like some dried blood at one part of the shell. I put it back in the incubator with everything still intact for it to bust the membrane. Should I have helped further? It had been over 48 hours since it's pip and attempted zipping.

 

[lacychick]

I can't offer anything ShadyHillFarm it's my first hatch, hope he makes it, you may have to peel the membrane off him from reading the assisting thread, I only have 4 in the incubator and finding it stressful and exciting at the same time, I am amazed at what goes on in those eggs, mine are due to hatch on Friday x

 

[Farmer Viola]

So I helped finish zipping the egg being careful not to bust any of the membrane. However, I noticed that some of the membrane had already pulled away from the shell and was stuck to the chick in a few places; not all though. There was also what looked like some dried blood at one part of the shell. I put it back in the incubator with everything still intact for it to bust the membrane. Should I have helped further? It had been over 48 hours since it's pip and attempted zipping.

use warm water or neosporin (off brand antibiotic ointment is fine, NO pain reliever) to moisten the membrane. I suspect the chick is glued to the membrane, and that is why it cannot turn. try to moisten the areas that were exposed to air (the zip location) primarily, but keep the entire membrane moistened.

the final thing that happens before hatch, is that the yolk sucks into the chick's abdomen and the abdomen closes over, forming a navel. the blood vessels that reach out from the chick thru the yolk and onto the membrane also receed during this process. the process begins when the chick first breathes air. this is the internal pip, into the air cell pocket. it breathes air for the first time, and starts sucking in the yolk. only after 12-24hrs does it externally pip. and usually 12-24hrs after that, it begins to zip. during all this time, the absorbing has been happening.

so, since yours started to zip 48hrs ago, I think that all the veins will have receeded by now and that you are ok to proceed. if any membrane is white, moisten it, and you will see the veins. I suspect you wont see any, and will be able to keep assisting. I would zip the shell all the way around, and moisten the exposed membrane. I would use sterile tweezers or another tool to run it underneath the membrane at the initial zip location, to make sure it's feather's aren't still stuck where it was exposed to air. I would unstuck in this way, all around the zip location. then I would put it back and let it get out of the shell on it's own. this could take several more hours, but I think fighting out of the egg is important. keep us posted!!!