NEED ADVICE NOW 5 hatched....5 left & 1 needs help!!

[r1forb]

I have 5 BCM's left out of 10. Today was "officially" day 21 for them but the 1st one arrived happy healthy and kicked right on out at 3:20am Wed night. The next 2 came within 15 mins of each other yesterday afternoon about 5. The next 2 were last night about 12:30 am & 2:30 am (that one needed a lot of help ...more on that later)

My problem is, I had no incubator problems the entire time, heat or humidity. So I was surprised that they arrived so early but maybe this happens?? This is my 1st hatch. I have read so much crap now I don't know what to do. My #6 egg was rocking like crazy Wed night when all the ones that have hatched did and then all day yesterday NOTHING! I was patient and kept telling myself that Fri is day 21 but it really started to scare me that there was no movement, no pip, no noise, nothing. Then there is the fact that I had to open the incubator so many times because of the way they hatched. #4 hatched so early and was making such a fuss in there and actually started pecking the eggs so I had to make a little mini inc/brooder beside the incubator to move him into just to keep him from ruining the other eggs while he finished drying etc. Then of course it was opened again for the next 2 and then it was opened several times because #2 the one hatched at 2:30 am last night had a lot of complications, but she is super happy healthy and running like a nutball now

So I don't know if any of that could have caused more problems for egg #6 but most of that happened after it had stopped all movement anyway. Today I decided I should pop a hole just in case ...I read so many things about this. I figured at this point it can't hurt. I probably should have done it earlier if I was going to do it but I gotta try. 1st I candled it to see if I could see anything (which is almost ridiculous to ask with these BCM's) I actually could see the air cell ....well the lightest area of the egg and it was strange, but looked like the entire inside was moving.So I very gently poked a tiny hole in the end where I saw the air cell, then 1 more just to be certain. I smelled it to see if it smelled rotten. It didn't smell great but I don't know what they smell like right before they hatch!? Nothing happened. I waited a bit. I don't want to open the incubator anymore in case the other 4 eggs have a chance even though there has been no movement out of any of them. So I have #6 in the same little styrofoam cooler that I used for the other hatched chicks, with a heat lamp on it, a thermometer and it's @ 100 and I have a humidifier running in there. Then I thought, well what if the chick is in there wrong. So I poked 1 more tiny hole at the other end. Then I thought I saw movement but it was so slight I thought I was just wishing it. I read another thread about someone saying you had to really stare at the egg to tell it was moving. Well I stared so hard I thought "It's just me breathing on it!" ...so I finally took a piece of hay and laid it across the egg and backed up and watched ....sure enough the egg is now moving again. Very slightly. Every once in awhile it's a little larger movement but I just did this about 90 min ago.

So what should I do now? Has anyone else had to do this? Should I leave it where I have it or should I go ahead and put it back in the incubator? I know all these threads say bump the humidity for hatch but BCM's seem to have a lot of problems with that. I tried to keep my humidity as low as possible through the entire process but once they start hatching of course it jumps way up for a while and honestly I think that was the problem with the last 2 that hatched. They had a lot of membrane/fluid stuck to them.I left them in the incubator over night and went to bed about 3am when I came to check on them at 7 they looked exactly the same and I realized it was all goop .... took a while to clean them up
Here is a pic of the holes I poked and where #6 is now & of course the 5 hatched...they are all passed out at the moment but 5 min before the pic they were jumping all over each other!

 

[bargain]

I'm exhausted after reading all of this

.... you have been very actively involved with your hatch....! first congrats on the babies that were hatched.

When the "goop" is like saran wrap on them the humidity is too high.

When they start arriving early, the temp has been too high as well.

Before next hatch you may want to calibrate your hygrometer and thermometer. There are guides for this or message me and I'll send to you as well.

The opening and shutting of the incubator, will generally negatively affect your hatch. With healthy babies you could easily leave them in the incubator 2 days. I find that having them in there actually encourages the others to hatch.

I would put that egg back in the incubator, where it has humidity and steady temp. unless your area is extremely humid, it's too dry out of an incubator and it risks being chilled.

I know there is a lot of dialogue on wet vs dry hatch, but for us the last 3 days with BCM's are generally 60% humidity and they hatch well.

Good luck and hope this was helpful.

 

[donnaboydjones]

I too just went through my hatching and things went great on day 21, I also opened each time the chick would be fluffy and put in the broody, I found out on here from all the experienced chicken owners, that every time I did that I messed with the humidity and heat and further increased the odds against the other eggs. Day 22 resulted in one hatching on its own and one that I had to assist because it got stuck in the shell, due to me opening the incubator. That little one required me for a day to help massage it's neck and help support it's head because it couldn't keep it up. Thankfully, its fine a day later. Day 23 resulted in one more hatched little one and it hatched all on it's own, but it had problems with its feet and legs. I had to have a vet friend help the wee little one because there wasn't any quality of life for it. Bottom line= don't open the incubator until they are all done hatching.=) That's what I've learned on here. Also, Sally Sunshine is the BOMB and she pretty much knows all about hatching eggs and can help you if you have any questions. As for that one egg, I'd too put it back in the incubator.
Good luck!!! These things are stressful and nerve wracking ...but oh so rewarding when successful.

 

[r1forb]

Thanks for the response! I wasn't super keen on opening the incubator BUT I thought from everything I've read and what everyone constantly says, the "MAIN" reason you aren't supposed to open it is due to the humidity. Well the few breeders I talked to about BCM's say they have much better luck hatching them dry and I live in FL where it's 80 and humid right now. Matter of fact it got so humid for about a week I had to actually run a de-humidifier in the room where the incubator is. But by the last week things were back to normal and I actually had a humidifier running in there "just in case" and to help me keep it at a steady % without adding water to the incubator. With that said ....I thought with a humidifier running in the tiny little room it was better to open the incubator and get "spazzo chicken" out rather than let him keep beating up all the other eggs and pecking on them lol ....but live and learn I guess

And honestly I'm not going to beat myself up TOO bad about the other 5 eggs. These eggs were shipped to me and unfortunately when I received them the USPS had not been so kind to the box. It was fairly beat up and even had a big hole in one side! So I'm probably luck I have 5 out of 10 right now.

 

[donnaboydjones]

Spazzo chick- LOL
I read that the chicks in the incubator actually help the ones in the eggs, like encouraging them to come out.
I too am from Florida( Fernandina Beach) so I know all about humidity and boy do I miss it!!! But I can honestly say I don't know how all that effects the hatching process and what you have to do to compensate for it. I bet Sally Sunshine would.=)
I've also read that getting shipped eggs is a hard thing because of them being mailed and the roughness and conditions they go through. Yes, I'd say you are pretty lucky you hatched what you did. Do you candle them at different stages to see their development? That should've given you a idea of the possibility of a good egg.
I'm lucky, I took my eggs from my hens to incubate.