OH, My Goodness!!! Experienced Hatchers Please Help!!

[hikerchick]

In my defense let me say I know nothing about hatching eggs. On a whim I ordered a used LG still air (no turner) on ebay. So of course I decided to order eggs on eggbid at the same time. One batch of eggs got here before the incubator. The other batch seemed to be taking forever- I finally found them in my daughter's car. It hadn't been running for weeks and I guess the postal person thought it was a good place to stow my package. I have no idea how long those eggs sat in the hot car. Finally I got both batches in the incubator and started diligently turning them. Then we had a power failure; and I thought, who am I kidding. I couldn 't find the right kind of set up to candle the eggs and I had no idea what to look for. So I gave up. But...I forgot to turn the bator off. It is in a spare room that I don't use. So today I happened to see a thread about eggs that were set on the same day I set mine, and they were all talking about hatches. So I remembered about my eggs and figured I should go dispose of them.

Well, the bator was cheeping. Without thinking I ripped the top off and saw one baby chick and one egg cheeping through a little hole. A little beak was pecking at the shell, trying to get out. Then I remembered something about how you aren't supposed to open the bator, and I closed it up. The egg has stopped pecking and the little chick looks very sleepy. Did I kill the survivors? I feel awful about all of this.

And...when can I take any living chicks from the bator?

Thanks for your help!

 

[dan924]

They have to take lots of rests it take a lot of effort, as long as the lid wasn't off to long shouldn't be to bad, chicks arn't as delicate as sometimes made out

I've had them out almost from hatch maybe an hour and hand dried them with cloth just must be kept warm for a few days under a heat lamp

 

[miss_jayne]

no! you're probably just fine. take two deep in and outs and let it be!

you think every momma hen is perfect? i think not! you'll be alright. whatever is, is.

 

[hikerchick]

Oh thank you so much! I thought I didn't care about these eggs but now that they might have a chance I care very much.


These are supposed to be olive eggers, whatever those are.

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
oooooh! olive egger = green egg layer + brown egg layer! i have some australorps crossed with ameraucanas that lay olive! bearded aussies!

you care! it was just an impulse. it's like when you slam on your brakes and through your arm across a passenger in the car. it's actually dangerous, but it's our impulse to 'save' them.

we learn as we go. did we all know how to raise our kids the minute they were born? yeah, right! snort! (well, except me, because i'm perfect!!!!

) anyway, you'll figure your way and find your comfort levels.

you can do this. shoot, you woke up alive this morning, right? well, then, you must be doing something right. so get to hatching some olive eggers! the worst, absolute WORST that can happen is that they don't hatch. SO WHAT. even real hens have that happen. order some more and try again dang it!

shoot, i'll send you some EE eggs if these don't work out and then you can try again, deal? okay. see, it's all gonna be okay! now, everyone saw this post, right? let's all run around and high five and remember MJ is gonna send hikerchick EE eggs if her hatch doesn't work. WAIT...better still. MJ is gonna send hikerchick EE eggs no matter what if she wants 'em just so she can try hatching some dang eggs out again!

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

It could take up to 24 hrs from pip to zip!

PIP= THE FIRST HOLE THEY MAKE IN THE SHELL
ZIP= THE LINE THEY CUT IN THE SHELL ALL THE WAY AROUND, TO POP OFF THE END OF THE EGG.
If they continue to try to get out with out succeeding you may need to help. Olive eggers are real hardy chickens, they should be fine.
Do you know what to do after they hatch?

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
oooooh! olive egger = green egg layer + brown egg layer! i have some australorps crossed with ameraucanas that lay olive! bearded aussies!

you care! it was just an impulse. it's like when you slam on your brakes and through your arm across a passenger in the car. it's actually dangerous, but it's our impulse to 'save' them.

we learn as we go. did we all know how to raise our kids the minute they were born? yeah, right! snort! (well, except me, because i'm perfect!!!!

) anyway, you'll figure your way and find your comfort levels.

you can do this. shoot, you woke up alive this morning, right? well, then, you must be doing something right. so get to hatching some olive eggers! the worst, absolute WORST that can happen is that they don't hatch. SO WHAT. even real hens have that happen. order some more and try again dang it!

shoot, i'll send you some EE eggs if these don't work out and then you can try again, deal? okay. see, it's all gonna be okay! now, everyone saw this post, right? let's all run around and high five and remember MJ is gonna send hikerchick EE eggs if her hatch doesn't work. WAIT...better still. MJ is gonna send hikerchick EE eggs no matter what if she wants 'em just so she can try hatching some dang eggs out again!

Miss Jayne you are seriously nice. I will have to send you some home baked crunchy millet bread in return.

Hatch #1 is sleepy but lifts his head up when I touch the bator. #2 now has an entire wing out of the shell and is making a RACKET. This guy must be a survivor. I have 40 odd eggs in there and I would be THRILLED to get these two babies out alive. These are my miracle chicks.

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

Oh I forgot to mention how much miss_jayne is a sweetheart!!!!!! She is such a doll face.
Good luck with your olive eggers!!!

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
Is it like when you get chicks in the mail?

 

[hikerchick]

#2 is out except for one foot still stuck to the egg.