New Incubation Questions

[CluckNDoodle]

My experience with this was my first broody hatch. The girls were nesting in the coop and I decided to just leave them alone. They ended up with something like 150 eggs spread around between 7 different hens. It was insane and they couldn’t step around them well, and so it turned out that they broke eggs in the nest. I didn’t know because I was still hands off. I didn’t intervene until keets started hatching and hens started killing the keets…

At that point, I chased the hens off and that was my first real look at this giant nest. I candled and put developing eggs in my incubator. Unfortunately, all of those broken eggs had rotted on the intact eggs - the stench of rotting eggs was unbelievable! So, clearly there was a ton of bacteria all over the eggs, plus the incubator was absolutely jam packed, with no space between eggs - I had to throw out developing eggs as it was. So, I was very concerned that keets contact these horribly contaminated eggs and get omphalitis. The plan therefore was to monitor eggs, which were seriously staggered in development, and to grab them just as they were hatching. This was to minimize contact with the bacteria coating the eggs and incubator. I wore gloves and had diluted chlorhexadine and a sterile swab ready. I dabbed the chlorhexadine on the navel, and put the keet in a special warm, clean, and protected section of the brooder to recover from the hatch. CluckNDoodle actually helped me come up with this plan. Keets did amazingly well!


Ok so how does this pertain to you? Really I don’t know Sydney. I don’t think that dilute chlorhexadine navel “dip” will harm your keets, and it might prevent omphalitis… I am hoping that you won’t have sticky keets and precautions will be a moot point, because they’ll just be vigorous and strong and healthy. So, if you want to do it, I think it’s kind of a “can’t hurt, might help” thing!

That was still probably one of the most incredible rollercoaster hatches I've ever witnessed! You handled that SO well.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That was still probably one of the most incredible rollercoaster hatches I've ever witnessed! You handled that SO well.

I still can’t believe how many hatched, and that almost all of those lived! We had SO MANY keets!

 

[Sydney65]

My experience with this was my first broody hatch. The girls were nesting in the coop and I decided to just leave them alone. They ended up with something like 150 eggs spread around between 7 different hens. It was insane and they couldn’t step around them well, and so it turned out that they broke eggs in the nest. I didn’t know because I was still hands off. I didn’t intervene until keets started hatching and hens started killing the keets…

At that point, I chased the hens off and that was my first real look at this giant nest. I candled and put developing eggs in my incubator. Unfortunately, all of those broken eggs had rotted on the intact eggs - the stench of rotting eggs was unbelievable! So, clearly there was a ton of bacteria all over the eggs, plus the incubator was absolutely jam packed, with no space between eggs - I had to throw out developing eggs as it was. So, I was very concerned that keets contact these horribly contaminated eggs and get omphalitis. The plan therefore was to monitor eggs, which were seriously staggered in development, and to grab them just as they were hatching. This was to minimize contact with the bacteria coating the eggs and incubator. I wore gloves and had diluted chlorhexadine and a sterile swab ready. I dabbed the chlorhexadine on the navel, and put the keet in a special warm, clean, and protected section of the brooder to recover from the hatch. CluckNDoodle actually helped me come up with this plan. Keets did amazingly well!


Ok so how does this pertain to you? Really I don’t know Sydney. I don’t think that dilute chlorhexadine navel “dip” will harm your keets, and it might prevent omphalitis… I am hoping that you won’t have sticky keets and precautions will be a moot point, because they’ll just be vigorous and strong and healthy. So, if you want to do it, I think it’s kind of a “can’t hurt, might help” thing!

And when you "dipped" eggs, same thing? I like this, I like having a plan. I shuddered at 150 eggs. I know that's the goal when selling, but ..I'd be a basket case.
"Tia" is morphing to "Mia", so from "aunt" to "wanted child". She's 11 weeks old now. She's a gray pearl, her headcap hasn't come on yet. We were commenting this evening how much her head and face look like Bella despite the color difference. But it's her personality that's making evident who the daddy was. She sits in my lap, looks me in the eye, carrying on conversations w/o a care in the world. No clue what she's saying, but she has a lot to say. A very mellow, social bird, just like Blue.

 

[Sydney65]

I still can’t believe how many hatched, and that almost all of those lived! We had SO MANY keets!

How many hatched? Ofcourse they made it, they had you watching out for them.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

How many hatched? Ofcourse they made it, they had you watching out for them.

I made a lot of mistakes so I was just lucky! I had to find the hatchalong post to get the tally:


Hatch 1: 12 eggs taken from periphery of nest. 4 clear, 2 quitters, 6 hatched at 24-26 days of incubation, so 75% hatch rate.
Hatch 2: 129 eggs/ dead keets recovered from nest in pic below. 66 were developing and placed in incubator. 50 hatched. Remaining 16 were dead in shell, malpositioned, or the one that couldn’t cut the dried out egg membrane. So I’ll say that 50/66 hatched, again for 75% hatch rate.

 

[My2butterflies]

Speaking of Guinea Farm, has anyone seen/ heard from my 2 butterflies?

I’m here! Just a lot that’s been going on at home. Thankfully the deaths stopped but only half made it

I hope the hatch goes well! The video to me looks like broken down blood veins. But I’m not nearly as experienced as everyone else. Plus I have no experience with shipped eggs. I’ll keep reading along to take in as much knowledge from you all as I possibly can

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

How are your eggs doing, Sydney?

 

[Sydney65]

How are your eggs doing, Sydney?

Answered this once, came back to update, realized I'd hit the wrong number, started to correct, over erased, gave up and deleted. Lol
Started w/18, 2 were scrambled. It was looking like I might actually go into lockdown with 16 eggs, even though there were several I was concerned by. Either I'd failed to find movement in them 2-3x in a row, or they were the smaller eggs that lost a lot of weight and lost it early, or they were ones that I had questioned the air cells (saddled).
So over the course of the last 2 weeks, they started proving me right. I didn't do eggtopsies at first, but the ones I did, most were under developed, no feathers, head under developed. One either had it's insides on the outside with the yolk, or it was infected. I didn't open sack to confirm, pretty sure it was insides. I would have thought they'd die much sooner.
So my 16 rapidly decreased to 4, (earlier I typed 5). #6 is bouncing all over the place. Two are still resting. One I may have killed. It had absorbed it's yolk, belly looked good, but I had to be proactive and sponge it & #6 w/the solution. #6 was a bit indignant but went on his merry way. #17 started gushing blood. So I put stipick gel on it and cleaned him up, put him back. I still have to go back in.
Not impressive, I'm afraid, but I knew what I was in for with shipped eggs at end of season and my luck. Not sure if the size issue is bc it's the end of the season or if the hens were young.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Answered this once, came back to update, realized I'd hit the wrong number, started to correct, over erased, gave up and deleted. Lol
Started w/18, 2 were scrambled. It was looking like I might actually go into lockdown with 16 eggs, even though there were several I was concerned by. Either I'd failed to find movement in them 2-3x in a row, or they were the smaller eggs that lost a lot of weight and lost it early, or they were ones that I had questioned the air cells (saddled).
So over the course of the last 2 weeks, they started proving me right. I didn't do eggtopsies at first, but the ones I did, most were under developed, no feathers, head under developed. One either had it's insides on the outside with the yolk, or it was infected. I didn't open sack to confirm, pretty sure it was insides. I would have thought they'd die much sooner.
So my 16 rapidly decreased to 4, (earlier I typed 5). #6 is bouncing all over the place. Two are still resting. One I may have killed. It had absorbed it's yolk, belly looked good, but I had to be proactive and sponge it & #6 w/the solution. #6 was a bit indignant but went on his merry way. #17 started gushing blood. So I put stipick gel on it and cleaned him up, put him back. I still have to go back in.
Not impressive, I'm afraid, but I knew what I was in for with shipped eggs at end of season and my luck. Not sure if the size issue is bc it's the end of the season or if the hens were young.

16 down to 4 seems pretty rough! What is the sponging you are talking about for number 6? Are they in the process of hatching now?

 

[Sydney65]

16 down to 4 seems pretty rough! What is the sponging you are talking about for number 6? Are they in the process of hatching now?

The chlorhexadine solution to the belly button. Only did those 2, #6 is fine. #17 died. Oddly enough, I went back and looked, and it too was one I had doubts about, so maybe it was going to happen either way.
The other two are fully hatched now and snoozing. I darkened the room and shut the door so #6 would join them.