Possible hatchlings?? Help! Advice?!

[Chicken poppy]

I’m so glad I found this group! Honestly you, @Weeg @Chicken poppy amd so many others have been incredibly helpful with everything!

I will definitely update y’all in the next couple days when we start pipping!

Keep us updated for sure! Im so excited to see them.

 

[-Flash-]

I’m so glad I found this group! Honestly you, @Weeg @Chicken poppy amd so many others have been incredibly helpful with everything!

I will definitely update y’all in the next couple days when we start pipping!

Good luck!

 

[Weeg]

FYI, two of my Brodie’s eggs hatched in my hands I was s as blue to catch Sunny while her eggs were hatching, and I grabbed two of the eggs while the babies were pushing their way out.
Keep tabs on hatching, you may get a once in a lifetime experience.

 

[Chicken poppy]

FYI, two of my Brodie’s eggs hatched in my hands I was s as blue to catch Sunny while her eggs were hatching, and I grabbed two of the eggs while the babies were pushing their way out.
Keep tabs on hatching, you may get a once in a lifetime experience.

Thats so beautiful! I also recommend a chick called albert!

 

[-Flash-]

FYI, two of my Brodie’s eggs hatched in my hands I was s as blue to catch Sunny while her eggs were hatching, and I grabbed two of the eggs while the babies were pushing their way out.
Keep tabs on hatching, you may get a once in a lifetime experience.

last night i got 2 Silkies, 2 Sussexs and 1 Plymouth rock! Dodo, Paprika, Mango, Peaches, Dandelion. What are your chicks name's?

 

[Sassy-ChikN Mom]

FYI, two of my Brodie’s eggs hatched in my hands I was s as blue to catch Sunny while her eggs were hatching, and I grabbed two of the eggs while the babies were pushing their way out.
Keep tabs on hatching, you may get a once in a lifetime experience.

Amazing!!! I check them in the morning, a few times throughout the day and again in the evening when I do a headcount at bedtime. Can you over check??

 

[Weeg]

Amazing!!! I check them in the morning, a few times throughout the day and again in the evening when I do a headcount at bedtime. Can you over check??

I know you aren’t supposed to open an incubator after eggs star pipping due to the fear of shrink wrapping. I couldn’t keep myself away from my broody though lol! I was probably checking every 10-20 minutes once eggs stared hatching lol! All my chicks hatched fine.
I think less I’d better, just to reduce the risk of shrink wrapping, but once all are actually hatching I believe it’s less of a concern since they’ve already zipped.

 

[Sassy-ChikN Mom]

I know you aren’t supposed to open an incubator after eggs star pipping due to the fear of shrink wrapping. I couldn’t keep myself away from my broody though lol! I was probably checking every 10-20 minutes once eggs stared hatching lol! All my chicks hatched fine.
I think less I’d better, just to reduce the risk of shrink wrapping, but once all are actually hatching I believe it’s less of a concern since they’ve already zipped.

Haha yes, I gotcha. My husband and kids actually bought me an incubator for my birthday last month, but just haven’t had time to sit down and set it up. Then…… I accidentally (cracked an egg for breakfast) and realized my silkies eggs were fertilized! So I just left the newly laid eggs under her & surrogate momma.

I swear every time I’m out back I’m checking. Just waiting and waiting. To clarify, I only lift momma to take a peek… I don’t touch anymore since we are in lockdown. Sometimes I just go out because. I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to catch/see Santa!

So is it okay to ‘help’ them once they’ve poked a hole? At what point is it safe to help them or hold them?

Does doing either of the above (helping/holding newly hatched chicks) run the risk of momma rejecting them?

I’ll keep y’all updated!

 

[Weeg]

Haha yes, I gotcha. My husband and kids actually bought me an incubator for my birthday last month, but just haven’t had time to sit down and set it up. Then…… I accidentally (cracked an egg for breakfast) and realized my silkies eggs were fertilized! So I just left the newly laid eggs under her & surrogate momma.

I swear every time I’m out back I’m checking. Just waiting and waiting. To clarify, I only lift momma to take a peek… I don’t touch anymore since we are in lockdown. Sometimes I just go out because. I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to catch/see Santa!

So is it okay to ‘help’ them once they’ve poked a hole? At what point is it safe to help them or hold them?

Does doing either of the above (helping/holding newly hatched chicks) run the risk of momma rejecting them?

I’ll keep y’all updated!

I feel your pain!
If you go out and see pipping or zipping, leave for a good hour or two and come back later. Don't try to grab any eggs or help at all until they are actually pushing out of the shell, theres an obvious crack all the way around the egg, and much of the baby is visible.
If your unsure, than leave them be.
You do not want to help the chick at all, helping to early can mean breaking blood vessels which will kill the chick. The only time you'd want to help is if an egg didn't make any progress hours, (sometimes up to 24 hours) after a pip, or the start of zipping, or no signs of hatching at all. Than you ask the expert members on here about their opinion.
Every experience is different. I've hatched in an incubator multiple times, so I've had a bit of experience. My broody hen was also very friendly, so trusted me enough to handle her hatching eggs.
Though holding hatching chicks isn't a suggestion, the safest thing to do is peek, notice hatching chicks, and come back later, hours later even. That was just my personal experience, always air on the side of caution, and don't peek or handle eggs if you think there is a chance of risk. Its not worth it.

When I held mine during hatching, I never took the egg out of momma's site. She watched the chick the entire time and allowed me to slip the baby back under her after the hatching was over.

Can't wait for updates! Hatching is exactly like Christmas, even more exciting in my opinion.
Ps. What incubator did you get? Incubating is so much fun, though I find that using local eggs yields much better results than shipped. The best hatch rate I've gotten from shipped eggs was 1 healthy happy living chick. Were my broody ended up hatching 5 eggs from the same batch! Pretty interesting.

 

[NatJ]

So is it okay to ‘help’ them once they’ve poked a hole? At what point is it safe to help them or hold them?

If you try to help too early, the chick will die.

The chick usually pokes a hole and then sits for a while, absorbing the yolk sac, before it finishes coming out.

Here's a big long article with lots of details:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

The article tells when you can or should assist, and how to tell the right time. (Much later than people usually expect.)

Does doing either of the above (helping/holding newly hatched chicks) run the risk of momma rejecting them?

Hens don't seem to care whether babies smell like them, so not a risk the way it would be with many kinds of mammals.

Holding the chicks might get the mother upset, which would be bad for the chicks, but that depends on the individual hen. Your particular hen might be fine, just as Weeg said their hen was fine.