Nervous! 1st Time Lock-down Questions!

[Wynette]

OC! What's going on w/your hatch? I'm so sorry I haven't been back in here....Nifty-Chicken invited me to become a moderator on Friday, and it's been a whirlwind for me! Hatching, being invited to moderate, all in the same weekend? And, my birthday's tomorrow! Gosh...almost too much good stuff to handle all at once!

One of my pipe, OC, happened at about 10 p.m., and the chick didn't hatch until after 10 p.m. the NEXT night! it was the last to hatch, and it's a cute-cute-cute little black Jersey. She's one of the cutest chicks I've hatched, with much more yellow on her than they usually have. She's even got one black and one yellow nostril! I'l post pics tomorrow - can't do so from home, as my computer is old & slow.

Anyway, hope you have some little new fuzz-butts!!

 

[O.C.Chick]

Hi CuriosityCat.

Happy to hear that all's going well in your incubator!

Well, after waking up several hundred times during the night, I woke up this morning with TWO of the Spitzhaubens out and drying off. (That second one was very sneaky!) No signs of any other pips yet though. We'll see what happens today...

Two more questions:

1. IS IT NORMAL FOR THE CHICKS TO LAY DOWN OFF AND ON, RIGHT AFTER THEY HATCH? Earlier, the two chicks (that look perfectly formed, by the way), were both trying to walk around, but a few minutes ago both were lying down. I freaked out for a second, thinking they had died, but when I shined the flashlight in for a second, they both tried to get up. (The light seems to stress them, so I must stop obsessing!)

2. IF THESE CHICKS START STRESSING AND NEED TO GET OUT OF THE INCUBATOR BEFORE OTHERS HATCH, DO YOU THINK I COULD RAISE THE TEMP AND HUMIDITY IN MY BATHROOM TO MATCH THE TEMP IN THE INCUBATOR AND QUICKLY TRANSFER THEM INTO THE BROODER WITHOUT AFFECTING THE OTHER EGGS? I'm using my indoor/outdoor weather station to monitor heat and humidity, so it would be pretty easy to match the temp/humidity in my small bathroom to what's going on in the incubator.

Thanks for any input you all might have on those two questions!

Alys

 

[O.C.Chick]

Hi Wynette! Wow! You've got a lot going on!!!

 

[thespinningcottage]

Thanks for the welcome! Congratulations to all the success going on out there. I hope to have something to brag about on Saturday. I had 9 out of 12 developing nicely and 3 not fertile. I'm using Sillystunt's used Little Giant to which I added the egg turner and PC fan from Radio Shack following Jessica117's instructions (what would I do without BYC)??? The fan blows UP, not down and my temp has been 99.7 all around the incubator. The humidity has fluctuated from 45% to 52%. The air smells fresh, no stinkers yet... I'm so happy for all of you who know what you're doing! If all goes well with me, I'll have 4 EE, 3 sizzles, and 2 black copper marans. Thanks again for all the good information!

 

[O.C.Chick]

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ALL ARE OUT BBQ-ING AND i'M LEFT ALONE TO OBSESS???

 

[O.C.Chick]

So...I couldn't take it any more and had nobody to talk me down SOOOOO........

The babies were stressing and I couldn't take it any more so I heated up my bathroom temp & humidity so temp matched what was happening in the incubator...Made the humidity slightly higher...Then I got everything set up and ready to go...heated a damp beach towel up in the microwave and draped it over the incubator (to protect from any drafts) while I quickly moved the two babies into the brooder. The incubator temp and humidity didn't flinch, so I think I'm o.k.

Humidity is in the brooder has gradually gone back down to a comfortable 60% over the last few hours. Babies are eating, drinking and pecking, and seem to be gaining strength

One more Spitzhauben egg is pipping in the incubator as we speak. No activity at all from any of the remaining Silkie eggs though Figure I'll give it another 24 - 36 hours to see what happens before I attempt to open it up again.

This is day officially 22...How much longer should I hold out hope for any of the others?

Thanks and hoe you all had a nice weekend (some of you, with YOUR new babies!!!)

Alys

 

[O.C.Chick]

Is anybody still out there? I'm wondering what is the maximum time that a chicken egg can take to hatch, and when I should give up hope

Day 22 in my incubator began at 5:00 last night. How much longer is there a chance for late hatchers?

Day 21: 1 hatched, then 12 hours later, another one....Those two are in the brooder*....12 hours later on Day 22, one more hatched. She's still in the incubator. So I have three that have hatched and 7 that haven't. Don't want to open the incubator and take out the newest baby yet, if there's still a chance that more might hatch....What should I do????

 

[O.C.Chick]

Wow...This is beginning to look like a thread of ONE! Well, here are some more pics with the latest out of the incubator:

 

[Wynette]

CUTE little ones, Alys! Sorry 'bout not popping back in. Here are a few pics from my hatch:

Two of the four blue Jersyes and two of the five Copper Black Marans:

Bator pic (love this one) - he's about to climb out of his shell - see his feet on the edge?

This little one is adorable! It's a black Jersey that has a LOT of yellow on it - I've never hatched one with this much yellow. It has one black and one yellow nostril!

The rest were olive eggers, which typically look like Marans chicks. But, this time, I had a blue one with a reddish head - very interesting! It'll be fun watching how it feathers out:

Wonder how Chooky Tocks did?

 

[O.C.Chick]

WoW Wynette! ADORABLE BABIES!!! Great pics!!!!! What kind of camera do you have?