My 1st time UPDATE: PLEASE READ .. EGG DISCOLORING IN LOCKDOWN

[shesaredroan]

OH OH, I've got a PEEPER!!!! It JUST hatched, about 10 min ago.
Took the eggs out of the turner Friday morn, increased the water to raise the humidity and have been waiting for tomorrow, my expected hatch day.
About 12:30pm I went in to check on them and saw one with just a bit of shell broken away. It was in the middle of the 'bator. Thought it would take a while for anything more to happen.
My computer is very close to my spare bathroom (my 'bator room), I sat down at the 'puter to see what's happening on the BYC forum, especially THIS thread, and as I was reading JulieZ's last post I heard peeping from the 'bator.
This is better than Christmas!!!
The little one has moved to the corner of the bator, is wet and wobbly, and peeping off and on.
My mother instinct wants to pick it up and cuddle, but my chicken knowledge (most gathered from BYC) tells me to 'let it be'. Yes I'm a Beatles fan, was in 3rd grade when I watched them on the Ed Sullivan Show and many of their songs mark periods in my life.
So for now all I can do is wait. I just feel sad that the little one may be lonely.
I did read on BYC a while back about leaving the newbies in the bator for at least 24 hr. for several reasons, the reason that really stuck in my head was; the peeping helps to encourage the others as they work their way out of the shell. ('with a little help from my friends' comes to mind)
I know people have been hatching eggs for eons, BUT TODAY was my first time to hatch out a chicken chick (I have 12 B/B/S Marans and 6 Blk Copper Marans eggs), I'm so excited you'd think I layed the egg instead of just helped it along.
I did hatch out 30 of 35 quail eggs but I wouldn't let myself become emotionally attached to them, I knew all along they would be set free. But these little marans will be a part of my family for a long time. (I hope!!!, lots of things can happen.)
This thread has been like having my hand held as we newbies go through this together. Thank you'l for being out there. Learning together makes me feel more secure.

: ) Christine

 

[JulieZ]

shesaredroan/Christine ... that is such awesome news!! How is the baby doing? Gotta show some photos. Please? I need inspiration that all is going to be okay.

Lock down comes Tuesday for me. Out of the 24 eggs, I have only 7 left. VERY heart breaking BUT from the sounds of it, no one knows what is produced when you cross a Buff Rock Roo with a Dixie Rainbow. I'm very anxious to show him/her off. I put only 1 egg into the incubator knowing it could die but so far, it's very alive.

I think I should have put the eggs straight into the incubator when they arrived from SC here to my place in FL. It was a hot ride & an 8 hour cool down made a bunch of my chicks die within days. On another note, tomorrow starts a new day for expanding my chicken coop. By the time we are done (over the next few months ... little at a time does it.), I should be able to house at least 50-60 chickens. Very excited !!

How did your other eggs do?

 

[NaomiSarah]

Sorry to hear you're down to so few eggs. I have thirteen eggs developing normally in the bator and one set of EE twins. It's not a huge egg for twins though, so I have my doubts about it making it to hatch. It was completely too dark to see through by day 9!!!!

I'm not candling again until day 18 before lockdown, so my fingers are just crossed until then. Wednesday is lockdown for me! :-D

 

[JulieZ]

Disappointment again! Down to 3 BR's & my mystery egg. That's okay. I am sounding like a broken record but I firmly believe the travel played a role. I'm about to begin a new batch tomorrow & they are all from my chickens. I'm hoping for a better hatch rate. Really wanted those BR's ....

 

[shesaredroan]

Hello Ladies, (fellow newbie hatchers)
I'm right there with you JulieZ,

Well shoot!!!
Here's how my hatch went.........
Mon 7/12 = 18 B/B/S & BC marans into bator, (eggs shipped from WA to TX)
Sun 8/1 = 2 pipped & hatched
Mon 8/2 = 2 pipped & 1 hatched
Tue 8/3 = Monday's 'pipped but not hatched' is partly zipped and peeping
Wed 8/4 = Little pipped/partly zipped is peeping but not progressing
Thur 8/5 = Little one made it till about mid day, then lost it's battle, (all other eggs are 'do nothings'........I need to learn how to candle)

After all's said and done, out of 18 eggs I ended up with 3 chicks,..........OUCH!! But hey, that's better than a poke in the eye!!
The 3 bitties that made it are doing just fine.
I've always loved my store bought chicks!!! but I'm learning that hatching your own is even better. : )
I'll keep trying and learning!!!
Good luck to all of us.
Chris : )

 

[JulieZ]

Tomorrow is lock down. I can not believe how quickly this went. I'm still with 4 eggs & very nervous.

I put my eggs in at 4:30pm ... should I wait till the same time for lock down??

 

[JulieZ]

I'm on day 20 & under lock down. One of my BR eggs is starting to turn a VERY LIGHT gray color. At first when I noticed it this morning, it was on the left side. Thinking it was my eyes I let it go. Then I noticed it on another part of the egg hours later. I pulled the egg out, candled it quickly & had it back in the bator within 15 seconds. I did not turn the egg over or disturb it other then a light pick up. I was able to see the bottom of the egg, as if nothing was there. Was not able to tell if there was veins or movement. Again, I moved quickly. Now I go back in & the egg has an even more discolor to it. What is going on with this egg? Is it about to explode?

 

[shesaredroan]

Did you notice any odor with the egg that's turning gray? Please keep us posted JulieZ.
My 3 little ones are doing fine so far, 2 are ten days old and the last to hatch is 9 days now. When I took #3 out of the 'bator to add to the other (1 whole day older) bitties, little #3 stood right up to #1 and did the chest bump. They were so funny. After another day they were all getting along just fine.
I do need to learn more about my digital camera, so I can join in and post some pictures.
Last Thursday (8/5), about 10:30 pm I put 18 ameraucana eggs from SC into the bator, 11 are blue & splash X blue roo and 7 are black X black roo.
Then Friday (8/6), about 4:15 pm I put in 12 eggs from VA........9 1st generation olive eggs and 3 blk copper marans.
August 26-27 seems SO far away.
THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!!
I live in central Texas and all the feed stores around here get their chicks from Ideal Poultry. The chicks are healthy and do well, but over the last 10 years I've noticed the ameraucana chicks now ALL look alike (color wise and fewer and fewer have beards and/or muffs). This was the main reason I got a bator, so I could hatch out some different colors and get back to the beards and muffs.
I'm not sure how I stumbled onto BYC but I am so glad I did. I use to believe computers were only good as word processors, then I started wandering around the web.....THEN I found BYC.
Life is better now!!!