Miscellaneous Meeps - Hatching my Dreams

[2ndTink]

Glad you weren't hurt too seriously! Yeah, the knee-high boots are pretty miserable in the heat. My legs are nothing but sweat in them in the summer, so I switch to sandals... even though that kinda leaves my legs and feet vulnerable to curious pecks and mean little fuzzballs

It is pretty funny, a small, round fluff jumping through the air at you Wish he'd stop, though!!




I have no idea what it is that makes them flip. I've heard that some have had success retraining their boys, but I never have, personally, no matter what I try.

That's my least favorite part of hatching, too, dealing with all the cockerels I can't keep. Especially when they're such sweet boys.




Excited to see babies!!

Yeah, my OEGBs were frequently internally pipping at day 18, and my Cochin bantams sometimes are already drawing down at day 18 by the time I'm candling them before moving them to lock down.

I end up wearing crocs a lot in the summer, and of course everyone has to peck at all the little holes in them, and sometimes they catch a toe

I just peaked at the eggies and a lot of Debbie's have big air cells, is this the draw down part, or just that the USPS misread the "Fragile" labels and thought they said "please shake vigorously to avoid settling"?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I end up wearing crocs a lot in the summer, and of course everyone has to peck at all the little holes in them, and sometimes they catch a toe

Haha, mine grab a toe occasionally, but thankfully not very often! My OEGB girls like to stand at my feet and poke-poke-poke forever at my ankles, though.

I just peaked at the eggies and a lot of Debbie's have big air cells, is this the draw down part, or just that the USPS misread thr "Fragile" labels and thought they said "please shake vigorously to avoid settling"?

Were they about the right size the last time you peeked? How long ago was that?

Draw down is a very sudden enlargement of the air cell that happens just before the internal pip. When the air cell goes from normal day 18 air cell size to nearly twice as big in a matter of hours, that's draw down.

 

[2ndTink]

Haha, mine grab a toe occasionally, but thankfully not very often! My OEGB girls like to stand at my feet and poke-poke-poke forever at my ankles, though.




Were they about the right size the last time you peeked? How long ago was that?

Draw down is a very sudden enlargement of the air cell that happens just before the internal pip. When the air cell goes from normal day 18 air cell size to nearly twice as big in a matter of hours, that's draw down.

Hmm, I'm not sure on the air cell, should I put them in lockdown tonight?

 

[2ndTink]

I could leave the others rocking and just set these in the bottom of thr incubator, then get everyone else down tomorrow?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hmm, I'm not sure on the air cell, should I put them in lockdown tonight?

I have some eggs from the same day, I am going to put them in lockdown tomorrow or late tonight.

 

[fluffycrow]

I could leave the others rocking and just set these in the bottom of thr incubator, then get everyone else down tomorrow?

You could, but I'm not experienced enough to advise

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They're all day 16 today? It wouldn't necessarily be detrimental to any of them to lock down that early, especially if there appear to be some that are drawing down. If you're able to lock down some of them and leave the others turning, that would probably be fine, too! Just keep an eye out for early hatchlings in case they get in the way of your turner!

When you peek in the eggs, do you see a clear, even edge of the air cell all the way around, or does it get a bit shadowy in spots / look uneven in shape? Draw down occurs when the chick pushes up into the air cell, pulling the membrane away further down the egg, so it causes basically a bump in the air cell that makes it kind of shadowy and uneven. It's hard to describe and not often discussed so I can't seem to find an actual picture, but using that air cell graph I used before (I think on Fluffy's thread?), this is what a drawn down air cell should roughly look like just before the internal pip occurs, if it helps at all:

 

[2ndTink]

They're all day 16 today? It wouldn't necessarily be detrimental to any of them to lock down that early, especially if there appear to be some that are drawing down. If you're able to lock down some of them and leave the others turning, that would probably be fine, too! Just keep an eye out for early hatchlings in case they get in the way of your turner!

When you peek in the eggs, do you see a clear, even edge of the air cell all the way around, or does it get a bit shadowy in spots / look uneven in shape? Draw down occurs when the chick pushes up into the air cell, pulling the membrane away further down the egg, so it causes basically a bump in the air cell that makes it kind of shadowy and uneven. It's hard to describe and not often discussed so I can't seem to find an actual picture, but using that air cell graph I used before (I think on Fluffy's thread?), this is what a drawn down air cell should roughly look like just before the internal pip occurs, if it helps at all:

View attachment 3775375

Ok, they look like the draw down line but those little chickes don't look anywhere near pipping. There is still a lot of clear in there. I think it's just the USPS handling made the aircells pull away from the shell oddly, I have one of my eggs too that looks saddled, how, I have no clue!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, if there's clear areas in the egg still, then that sounds more like shipping damage. That's pretty odd that one of yours has the same look, though

Almost there. Hang in there, babies!

 

[2ndTink]

Yeah, if there's clear areas in the egg still, then that sounds more like shipping damage. That's pretty odd that one of yours has the same look, though

Almost there. Hang in there, babies!

It did come from my avid egg eater coop, so who knows maybe they were sizing it up to eat and gave it a scramble. Some days I get quite a few eggs from them, and others, nothing but wet gooey hay in the nesting boxes. I have curtains up and it helps, but I've used the roll away box in there before and they will squish their heads down into the collection tray and pull an egg back out to eat. I've seen them leave the nesting box to go out in the run to lay their egg and everyone immediately devours it

They need to start behaving, I'm hatching more purebreds than I need... that coop space is getting pretty valuable

I'm going to put Debbie's eggies into trays to keep them more upright in case that helps them.