New hatch with twisted foot (upside down)

[affacat]

How's twisted baby foot doing today?

Success with the foot! Definitely repaired her foot, and I think the shoe really helped and helped quickly.

We think he had a splayed leg, but by the time we got his foot fixed he seems to be doing better with that as well? He sometimes stands funny or runs funny, but... He's a chick, so it's not that unusual.

He definitely was a bully but my 5 year old daughter (who is a chicken whisperer, she can walk up to any chicken, even the skittish, pick them up and carry them around for 30 minutes) hung out with them yesterday and separated them if they fought, until they didn't. So now they seem fine together.

None of the other 17 eggs or so have hatched... Our incubator got up to like 80% humidity at one point (back down to 65) so I don't know if we somehow messed up this batch, or if it's just wildly staggered (which it could definitely be, as mentioned, this batch w wasn't planned.)

The eggs under the broody haven't hatched either so we still may be on schedule (we still have 2 broody, but we gave all eggs to one after finding the dead chick just in case)

 

[JennyHeidewald]

So glad the foot is better, looks like it is standing better too in the first photo. They sure are cuties!
I've named a chick Toepicker because it would run around and peck the other chicks toes. I put it in its own pen in the brooder until it calmed down. It was supposed to be a pullet, yeah, that was a roo. He was a really gorgeous and good boy once he got older.
I recall you said it was a staggered hatch, but I don't recall the circumstances. If you put all the eggs into the incubator at the same time they should all hatch within a few days of each other. When collecting eggs you can keep them for a week (not refrigerated) and incubate them all at the same time. The momma hens do this, collect until the switch flips in her brain. Mine go: "1 golf ball, 1 egg. Must sit." *haha*

Did you candle the eggs right before lockdown to make sure they were all still viable?

 

[Shezadandy]

View attachment 3097868View attachment 3097869

Success with the foot! Definitely repaired her foot, and I think the shoe really helped and helped quickly.

We think he had a splayed leg, but by the time we got his foot fixed he seems to be doing better with that as well? He sometimes stands funny or runs funny, but... He's a chick, so it's not that unusual.

He definitely was a bully but my 5 year old daughter (who is a chicken whisperer, she can walk up to any chicken, even the skittish, pick them up and carry them around for 30 minutes) hung out with them yesterday and separated them if they fought, until they didn't. So now they seem fine together.

None of the other 17 eggs or so have hatched... Our incubator got up to like 80% humidity at one point (back down to 65) so I don't know if we somehow messed up this batch, or if it's just wildly staggered (which it could definitely be, as mentioned, this batch w wasn't planned.)

The eggs under the broody haven't hatched either so we still may be on schedule (we still have 2 broody, but we gave all eggs to one after finding the dead chick just in case)

At this point I would candle every last remaining unhatched egg - either something is very wrong or it's possible you've got a staggered hatch, maybe from a broody sitting on eggs in the coop before they went into the incubator.

Your nose can also tell you a lot - once a developing egg quits and has been under a hen or in an incubator the smell is ... yeah. A quick sniff can give you answers. And you don't want one to go pop and get decomposing chick all over the other eggs.

Excellent news on the foot and on getting the bully to settle down- hopefully that part has come to an end.

I like my MagicFly candler (https://www.amazon.com/Magicfly-Can...652074185&sprefix=magicfly+egg,aps,233&sr=8-4) They have a rechargeable version too, I always end up getting the plug in version. The new ones are much brighter than the old ones.

Here's a link to a chick developing in a shell-less environment, it makes interpreting what you see through the shell a little easier. (the chick lives!) This isn't the viral video of the class, it's much more detailed than that. If you're not into the set-up part, just fast forward to 4:35 to get into the day-by-day development.

 

[affacat]

So glad the foot is better, looks like it is standing better too in the first photo. They sure are cuties!
I've named a chick Toepicker because it would run around and peck the other chicks toes. I put it in its own pen in the brooder until it calmed down. It was supposed to be a pullet, yeah, that was a roo. He was a really gorgeous and good boy once he got older.
I recall you said it was a staggered hatch, but I don't recall the circumstances. If you put all the eggs into the incubator at the same time they should all hatch within a few days of each other. When collecting eggs you can keep them for a week (not refrigerated) and incubate them all at the same time. The momma hens do this, collect until the switch flips in her brain. Mine go: "1 golf ball, 1 egg. Must sit." *haha*

Did you candle the eggs right before lockdown to make sure they were all still viable?

We just had a third hatch this morning! So it was truly staggered, we have 16 or so more eggs in the incubator. We didn't candle till about a week ago, and all but 1 seemed to have potential (we aren't experts... some clearly were viable, others with darker shells just had shadows We thought might be something).

This all occurred because my wife was taking all the eggs from the 3 broodies and then one day I said offhandedly 'maybe we should let them hatch some'. And then one of the broodies quit with a ton of eggs under her, and I was like 'where did these come from' and she was like 'you said you wanted to hatch some' so all of a sudden we had egg overload.


I had no idea you could start incubating eggs a week later! So maybe broodie only had 2 eggs with chicken going, and a pile that weren't, which we Kickstarted in the incubator.

 

[affacat]

At this point I would candle every last remaining unhatched egg - either something is very wrong or it's possible you've got a staggered hatch, maybe from a broody sitting on eggs in the coop before they went into the incubator.

Your nose can also tell you a lot - once a developing egg quits and has been under a hen or in an incubator the smell is ... yeah. A quick sniff can give you answers. And you don't want one to go pop and get decomposing chick all over the other eggs.

Excellent news on the foot and on getting the bully to settle down- hopefully that part has come to an end.

I like my MagicFly candler (https://www.amazon.com/Magicfly-Candler-Incubator-Warehouse-Exclusive/dp/B00KCKNYCY/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1RQK7EAK3A1JX&keywords=magicfly+egg+candler&qid=1652074185&sprefix=magicfly+egg,aps,233&sr=8-4) They have a rechargeable version too, I always end up getting the plug in version. The new ones are much brighter than the old ones.

Here's a link to a chick developing in a shell-less environment, it makes interpreting what you see through the shell a little easier. (the chick lives!) This isn't the viral video of the class, it's much more detailed than that. If you're not into the set-up part, just fast forward to 4:35 to get into the day-by-day development.

I only watched the key part, whoa. Will watch all later with the family.

Yep, the curled foot, splayed leg bully is perfectly fine now! Hangs out with the 2nd born just fine now, in a small brooder right next to the incubator.

As mentioned earlier, the eggs are all very staggered due to miscommunication.., I thought my wife was bringing in all the eggs from 3 broodies, but I turned out she had stopped for an unknown time and we suddenly had 18 or so 'maybes', plus more with the 2 remaining broodies when the 3rd broody quit (her pile was massive... people talk about using cold towels to male broodies quit, maybe just put 16 fake eggs under them, lol).

We had our 3rd hatch today. I haven't checked outside yet but I wonder if we have any with the broodies

 

[JennyHeidewald]

We just had a third hatch this morning! So it was truly staggered, we have 16 or so more eggs in the incubator. We didn't candle till about a week ago, and all but 1 seemed to have potential (we aren't experts... some clearly were viable, others with darker shells just had shadows We thought might be something).

This all occurred because my wife was taking all the eggs from the 3 broodies and then one day I said offhandedly 'maybe we should let them hatch some'. And then one of the broodies quit with a ton of eggs under her, and I was like 'where did these come from' and she was like 'you said you wanted to hatch some' so all of a sudden we had egg overload.


I had no idea you could start incubating eggs a week later! So maybe broodie only had 2 eggs with chicken going, and a pile that weren't, which we Kickstarted in the incubator.

Another chickie? Nice! That is a long time between, so other hens must have kept laying eggs in the nest. "You said you wanted to hatch some" So it is YOUR fault there were all those eggs to hatch *LOL*

I couldn't help candling every week up to lock down, and sometimes after to check on a concerning one, just have to be careful not to move the egg too much, chickie might be trying to get into hatch position. It's fascinating to see them growing.
Keep us updated!

 

[Shezadandy]

I only watched the key part, whoa. Will watch all later with the family.

Yep, the curled foot, splayed leg bully is perfectly fine now! Hangs out with the 2nd born just fine now, in a small brooder right next to the incubator.

As mentioned earlier, the eggs are all very staggered due to miscommunication.., I thought my wife was bringing in all the eggs from 3 broodies, but I turned out she had stopped for an unknown time and we suddenly had 18 or so 'maybes', plus more with the 2 remaining broodies when the 3rd broody quit (her pile was massive... people talk about using cold towels to male broodies quit, maybe just put 16 fake eggs under them, lol).

We had our 3rd hatch today. I haven't checked outside yet but I wonder if we have any with the broodies

Oh boy - you're about to have a mess of chicks! Awesome that the first chick is doing great and has a friend instead of a victim now. =)

That is quite the hatching predicament you've got. I strongly recommend candling the eggs, every one of them and MARKING THEM with a permanent marker. I use numbers or letters. If you candle them, you can kind group them by how they look in terms of development- so you'll have some idea that that group will hatch in a relatively short period.

How long has each broody been on the nest? A staggered hatch in an incubator is one thing, but if a hen has eggs hatch under her, within 3 days she's going to leave the nest to start raising them. And of course you want that broody to have been sitting for at least 2 1/2 weeks before she's got anything close to hatching.

Unless the broody hens are completely cut off from the rest of the flock, i.e. in their own area where nobody can disturb their nests - other hens will hop in there with them, they will lay eggs in that box, and the broody will take that egg and voila .... so....
Every day every egg under the broody hens needs to be checked for fresh eggs and those fresh eggs need to be taken away.

Any fertilized egg exposed to heat from a hen will start to develop within that 24hr period.


B

 

[affacat]

Oh boy - you're about to have a mess of chicks! Awesome that the first chick is doing great and has a friend instead of a victim now. =)

That is quite the hatching predicament you've got. I strongly recommend candling the eggs, every one of them and MARKING THEM with a permanent marker. I use numbers or letters. If you candle them, you can kind group them by how they look in terms of development- so you'll have some idea that that group will hatch in a relatively short period.

How long has each broody been on the nest? A staggered hatch in an incubator is one thing, but if a hen has eggs hatch under her, within 3 days she's going to leave the nest to start raising them. And of course you want that broody to have been sitting for at least 2 1/2 weeks before she's got anything close to hatching.

Unless the broody hens are completely cut off from the rest of the flock, i.e. in their own area where nobody can disturb their nests - other hens will hop in there with them, they will lay eggs in that box, and the broody will take that egg and voila .... so....
Every day every egg under the broody hens needs to be checked for fresh eggs and those fresh eggs need to be taken away.

Any fertilized egg exposed to heat from a hen will start to develop within that 24hr period.


B

The incubator has a timer, I think we're almost near the end, maybe 3 to 7 days I'm not sure. No stink, so I'm guessing most are viable? Don't know for sure.

I know to take the eggs and all, i just don't think my wife did. We have had chickens for a long time, just never roosters. Fortunately we've got two sizable coops and another half built. We're set up for breeding as well, a couple horse troughs, some plastic troughs, and I think 5 heat lamps. Still overwhelmed right now though, because we have way more in action than we planned. We just shifted the chickens from one coop to be with the other chickens to make room for our turkeys... If all these chicks hatch and I have another 20 on my hands I'll be ordering some more lumber.

 

[affacat]

Update:

18 of our eggs have hatched! This guy is thriving, considerably bigger than the rest in part because he has a bit of time on them, and he's a likely rooster.

All the eggs ended up being quite staggered, our youngest is only a few days old and we still have three eggs that are viable which were claimed from our last broody to give up (all 3 have). We've been able to introduce the staggered chicks into a single brooder with no problem.

Our only lose so far was an egg cracked in a nesting box accident, and I think 2 eggs which simply weren't fertilized.

We weren't planning on increase our flock this year, especially by so many, but still worth it. We will likely need to harvest some roosters unless we get statistically lucky... We can probably take on 2 or 3 more roosters, but not 9.

 

[Shezadandy]

Update:

18 of our eggs have hatched! This guy is thriving, considerably bigger than the rest in part because he has a bit of time on them, and he's a likely rooster.

All the eggs ended up being quite staggered, our youngest is only a few days old and we still have three eggs that are viable which were claimed from our last broody to give up (all 3 have). We've been able to introduce the staggered chicks into a single brooder with no problem.

Our only lose so far was an egg cracked in a nesting box accident, and I think 2 eggs which simply weren't fertilized.

We weren't planning on increase our flock this year, especially by so many, but still worth it. We will likely need to harvest some roosters unless we get statistically lucky... We can probably take on 2 or 3 more roosters, but not 9.

Awesome, I'm so glad to hear you've had a successful experience. Yep, part of the 'fun' of hatching is all the boys. But, there's nothing like hatching your own eggs.