November Hatch-A-Long (2014)

[Fullofstitches]

My egg's Most Watched list:

These are the eggs I'm watching closest. The middle one with the big crack was already removed. Today, I candled again and I decided the one on the right is out. There appeared to be bubbles inside. That combined with the sap on the outside was enough for me to be concerned about it exploding. The other three on the watch list so far (day 3, so not much obvious activity anyway) look okay. I think one looks clear and one has a slight cloud like some of the non-watch list eggs. Might be the forming of chick, might not. On day 7, I should be able to see veining in most of the growing eggs (blue, green and dark brown). I try not to toss any until lockdown, but just didn't like the sinister (and weird/odd) look of the many bubbles in there.

 

[ChickyChickens]

My broodies eggs have started to hatch today!!!

 

[ochochicas]

Why can't you turn off the fan in the incubator? If there's no physical way to turn just it off, you could drape wet washcloths over it. It would work twofold: Block air, and air that does get through is more humid. If like me the problem is uneven temps, you're down to four eggs. Could you place them all in an idea location to get just the right amount of heat?

The fan is hard wired into the heat source. I'd have to either cut the fan wire or take the wiring apart to disconnect it. I can't afford to do either since my babies need to stay in the incubator with the heat!

One more chick seems to have made it out of the egg and was chirping loudly so I moved him/her to the brooder. That leaves three chicks that are half out of the shell and they are tired. I was able to reconfigure the tent. I put them in the lid of an egg carton and then placed the shop towel over the top of the whole thing. I'm very concerned about shrink wrap at this point, so I want to get the humidity up and the fan off them. The towel is sprayed with water as well as the sides of the incubator. The humidity is 80% and the temp is around 95. I took one quick pic of the tent and you can see the three little bumps under the towel. Sort of like a momma's wing but wetter. They will stay in there for tonight and it is up to them from now on. I've done all I can do for them.

 

[thailand]

Hi, I haven't checked in here for a while.

Just to update......

Had 4 chicks hatch under my broody.

She left the nest with these four on the second day, leaving two viable eggs in the nest. After candling them I quickly put these in the incubator with the 5 eggs already there.

One of the broody's eggs had a very misshapen air cell. There was no movement and no sounds. The chick never did hatch and so I did an eggtopsy. The chick's beak was crossed, there was a pink lumpy piece of flesh on the head and there seemed to be something wrong with the eyes. I'm guessing that this chick's face got squashed by the weird air cell?

The 2nd egg (from the broody) I'm happy to say hatched my Brahma/PR chick.

The 5 incubator eggs all hatched. One pipped at the wrong end, so I had to help this one out by making an air hole and then peeling back the shell some. The last one to hatch is tiny...think it must be a bantam. One of the chicks (now 6 days old) still has what I guess is the umbilical cord attached.

Should I continue to leave this attached? How long before it should finally fall off by itself?

This chick and one other have dried bloody navels. They don't seem to be a problem at all...but should I put something on that or just leave it?

Congratulations to everyone who's chick have hatched!

 

[thailand]

The fan is hard wired into the heat source. I'd have to either cut the fan wire or take the wiring apart to disconnect it. I can't afford to do either since my babies need to stay in the incubator with the heat!

One more chick seems to have made it out of the egg and was chirping loudly so I moved him/her to the brooder. That leaves three chicks that are half out of the shell and they are tired. I was able to reconfigure the tent. I put them in the lid of an egg carton and then placed the shop towel over the top of the whole thing. I'm very concerned about shrink wrap at this point, so I want to get the humidity up and the fan off them. The towel is sprayed with water as well as the sides of the incubator. The humidity is 80% and the temp is around 95. I took one quick pic of the tent and you can see the three little bumps under the towel. Sort of like a momma's wing but wetter. They will stay in there for tonight and it is up to them from now on. I've done all I can do for them.

Not saying that what I did was right or not....but, just telling it from my experience. I just could not sit on my hands during the hatch, and there were several times I opened the lid of the incubator. Sometimes to re-adjust my thermometer so that I could read it (cause a hatched chick had moved it), or simply to check a pip on an egg, or to assist a hatch. Never had a problem with my chicks shrink wrapping....BUT.....I was careful to ensure that my humidity levels were crazy high. Humidity ranged from 75-85%, so I felt that it would be ok, and for me in my particular environment with my particular incubator it was no problem. My humidity hardly dropped anything at all each time I opened the lid, or if it did it took only a minute to be right up there again.

Maybe, this might be helpful to someone else.

 

[Fullofstitches]

Hi, I haven't checked in here for a while.

Just to update......

Had 4 chicks hatch under my broody.    She left the nest with these four on the second day, leaving two viable eggs in the nest. After candling them I quickly put these in the incubator with the 5 eggs already there.

One of the broody's eggs had a very misshapen air cell.  There was no movement and no sounds.  The chick never did hatch and so I did an eggtopsy.  The chick's beak was crossed, there was a pink lumpy piece of flesh on the head and there seemed to be something wrong with the eyes.  I'm guessing that this chick's face got squashed by the weird air cell?

The 2nd egg (from the broody) I'm happy to say hatched my Brahma/PR chick.    

The 5 incubator eggs all hatched.  One pipped at the wrong end, so I had to help this one out by making an air hole and then peeling back the shell some.  The last one to hatch is tiny...think it must be a bantam.  One of the chicks (now 6 days old) still has what I guess is the umbilical cord attached. 

Should I continue to leave this attached?  How long before it should finally fall off by itself?  

This chick and one other have dried bloody navels.  They don't seem to be a problem at all...but should I put something on that or just leave it?

Congratulations to everyone who's chick have hatched!  :yiipchick        

I would snip the umbilical. It should be just a dried out thread, so scissors won't bother it. Don't worry about how close, just snip it off no between 1/4- 1/2", so the other chicks can't pull at it. That should give the navel time to heal. You can put antibiotic ointment on the navel if it's looking raw, just in case - just the plain type (no "-caine" in the ingredients). I used regular Neosporin on one of mine and he's healed up fine.

 

[ChickyChickens]

I am getting an incubator soon, and I want to know something!! Can you have two batches of eggs at the same time while the one batch is hatching?? Can you increase the humidity very high while lets say the other batch is on day 12?? Then later on take the humidity down again??

 

[Jucknath]

2 have piped this morning.

 

[Jucknath]

The 16 chicks that have hatched so far. There are still four in the incubator that I don't think will make it. They all pipped but that was it. I should have taken the other chicks out of the incubator sooner. They were hopping all over and the remaining eggs were rolling around all over the place. I don't think the other chicks had much of a chance to zip. One of them seems pretty strong but I think the others have given up. I'm letting them rest now and will revist them in an hour. I wish I could turn off the fan in the incubator since I think it is just drying them out. Happy to have my 16 energetic chicks though!

Sounds like a fan wiring mod before next hatch. I have a few on mine also.

 

[AHenry]

Congrats on the new babies, everyone! Mine aren't due til the 22nd. Seeing yall's babies is making this wait so much more exciting!