Really excited. Finally we got some to hatch. Day 20

[daryl1987]

So we have tried 6 times to hatch using the cheap yellow dome ones on ebay and had nothing but failure. our last attempt got 1 to pip but it was shrink didnt hatch. i intervened and got it out. He was in a real bad way and didnt get up. It appeared as though he was very thirsty since he was gulping a lot. It drowned during the night when I tried to use a syringe to give it water. Really upsetting night for us..

So we decided one last shot at this. We bought a brinsea maxi eco 2 and WO, what a difference. We started with another 24 eggs and we are now on lockdown day 20 and there is 7 walking about in there. Only 6 eggs were removed during the candling days of 7,14 and 19. So we have 18 left in there that were all showing very good signs.

So of the 7 that have already hatched we have noticed one of them has a large swelling or misshapen head. Here he / she is just relaxing atm.

Heres some more shots of the others wandering around.

Another egg i've noticed has pipped the wrong end, but its still chirping and moving.

We are a little concerned that there is not a lot of room for them all to hatch as well.

Finally what do we do for removing them? since they all started to hatch 10 hours ago and its only day 21, what do we do tomorrow? wait until dinnertime and start to remove the ones that are already sorted or just leave them all in there until tomorrow night?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Mmanist]

I think, if you have a handful of chicks dried/fluffy and moving about, you could quickly pull them out. And just keep watch on your humidity and temps afterwards. As for the mishaped chicken. What kind of chicks are you hatching? Silkie, polish and I'm sure other out there have vaulted skulls.

 

[LynnaePB]

So we have tried 6 times to hatch using the cheap yellow dome ones on ebay and had nothing but failure. our last attempt got 1 to pip but it was shrink didnt hatch. i intervened and got it out. He was in a real bad way and didnt get up. It appeared as though he was very thirsty since he was gulping a lot. It drowned during the night when I tried to use a syringe to give it water. Really upsetting night for us..

So we decided one last shot at this. We bought a brinsea maxi eco 2 and WO, what a difference. We started with another 24 eggs and we are now on lockdown day 20 and there is 7 walking about in there. Only 6 eggs were removed during the candling days of 7,14 and 19. So we have 18 left in there that were all showing very good signs.

So of the 7 that have already hatched we have noticed one of them has a large swelling or misshapen head. Here he / she is just relaxing atm.
View attachment 2306965

Heres some more shots of the others wandering around.

View attachment 2306959View attachment 2306960View attachment 2306961View attachment 2306962View attachment 2306963

Another egg i've noticed has pipped the wrong end, but its still chirping and moving.

We are a little concerned that there is not a lot of room for them all to hatch as well.

Finally what do we do for removing them? since they all started to hatch 10 hours ago and its only day 21, what do we do tomorrow? wait until dinnertime and start to remove the ones that are already sorted or just leave them all in there until tomorrow night?

Thanks for reading.

Congratulations on the ones hatched! A good incubator really does make such a difference!

The little one with the mishappen head looks like it may be a polish to me? Polish have vaults so it is normal for them to have that odd bump on their head (their skulls are shaped differently than a normal chickens). I breed silkies and they often have vaults as well.

I personally remove chicks as they hatch and either let them dry in my lap lightly sandwiched in a heating pad set to low or put them directly in the brooder and just be careful to watch to make sure they don't wander too far from the heat source (unless they are panting under it then they are too hot).

I don't like them playing soccer with the other eggs. Most of the time those other eggs will be alright but sometimes them moving them around can cause problems.

Of course you can let them stay in there (many do), they should be fine for the first couple days after hatching. I would worry about it getting a little cramped though and you'll want to watch to make sure the humidity doesn't get too high and there is good ventilation. My little guys almost always want to eat and drink within the first 24 hours so even though they can go longer I feel better getting them out.

If you do move them to a brooder just be careful with the water. Marbles in the bottom helps to prevent drowning if you'd like to leave it in there from the start. I usually just give mine supervised time with the water until they are all walking well (this usually happens within the first 12-24 hours).

 

[daryl1987]

Congratulations on the ones hatched! A good incubator really does make such a difference!

The little one with the mishappen head looks like it may be a polish to me? Polish have vaults so it is normal for them to have that odd bump on their head (their skulls are shaped differently than a normal chickens). I breed silkies and they often have vaults as well.

I personally remove chicks as they hatch and either let them dry in my lap lightly sandwiched in a heating pad set to low or put them directly in the brooder and just be careful to watch to make sure they don't wander too far from the heat source (unless they are panting under it then they are too hot).

I don't like them playing soccer with the other eggs. Most of the time those other eggs will be alright but sometimes them moving them around can cause problems.

Of course you can let them stay in there (many do), they should be fine for the first couple days after hatching. I would worry about it getting a little cramped though and you'll want to watch to make sure the humidity doesn't get too high and there is good ventilation. My little guys almost always want to eat and drink within the first 24 hours so even though they can go longer I feel better getting them out.

If you do move them to a brooder just be careful with the water. Marbles in the bottom helps to prevent drowning if you'd like to leave it in there from the start. I usually just give mine supervised time with the water until they are all walking well (this usually happens within the first 12-24 hours).

I think, if you have a handful of chicks dried/fluffy and moving about, you could quickly pull them out. And just keep watch on your humidity and temps afterwards. As for the mishaped chicken. What kind of chicks are you hatching? Silkie, polish and I'm sure other out there have vaulted skulls.

12 of the eggs were mixed from these breeds. Orpington, Wydotte, Rhode Island Red, gold line, white star, crested legbar

The 2nd lot of 12 were Pure Polish Chamois so this explains the mishapen head on one of them. The wife did think this but since the other 2 that have already hatched didnt have it we i thought maybe it had something wrong.

The humidity has gone up to 91% now with a lot of the eggs now hatched and the air vent is open to max. There is still 5 of the polish pipped but not zipped yet. one not pipped at all. and 1 mixed cream egg pipped at the wrong end and can see the beak moving inside.

Would it be a big risk leave them all in the incubator as they are over night? ( its 7:45PM here in the UK )

The brooder is setup but dont want to risk the unhatched polish eggs since they were are supposed to be frizzles.

thanks for your replies..

 

[LynnaePB]

12 of the eggs were mixed from these breeds. Orpington, Wydotte, Rhode Island Red, gold line, white star, crested legbar

The 2nd lot of 12 were Pure Polish Chamois so this explains the mishapen head on one of them. The wife did think this but since the other 2 that have already hatched didnt have it we i thought maybe it had something wrong.

The humidity has gone up to 91% now with a lot of the eggs now hatched and the air vent is open to max. There is still 5 of the polish pipped but not zipped yet. one not pipped at all. and 1 mixed cream egg pipped at the wrong end and can see the beak moving inside.

Would it be a big risk leave them all in the incubator as they are over night? ( its 7:45PM here in the UK )

The brooder is setup but dont want to risk the unhatched polish eggs since they were are supposed to be frizzles.

thanks for your replies..

The humidity is pretty high, it's good you have the vent all the way open.

Personally I'd think the other eggs may be at more risk if you leave the chicks in. Shrink wrap doesn't happen as quickly as a lot of people think, and with your humidity that high it's not going to hurt getting the chicks out if you do it quickly.

Shrink wrap occurs more from conditions throughout incubation or from prolonged periods of low humidity after externally pipping. It can happen whether you open the incubator or not but it actually isn't that common (more often then not people just mistake the way the inner membrane naturally looks around a nearly hatched chick as shrink wrap).

That's just my input though, hopefully someone who utilizes the leaving them in longer method will be able to give better advice and give their perspective as well.

 

[Mmanist]

I'm on my first time incubating with an incubator. I've hatched tons with broody hens. So I can't answer that, about the leaving them in there. I read some people pull chicks, some leave them. So I think it is more your call on what to do. If it was me, I'd pull chicks if there was a bunch dried off. But that's me.

 

[daryl1987]

The humidity is pretty high, it's good you have the vent all the way open.

Personally I'd think the other eggs may be at more risk if you leave the chicks in. Shrink wrap doesn't happen as quickly as a lot of people think, and with your humidity that high it's not going to hurt getting the chicks out if you do it quickly.

Shrink wrap occurs more from conditions throughout incubation or from prolonged periods of low humidity after externally pipping. It can happen whether you open the incubator or not but it actually isn't that common (more often then not people just mistake the way the inner membrane naturally looks around a nearly hatched chick as shrink wrap).

That's just my input though, hopefully someone who utilizes the leaving them in longer method will be able to give better advice and give their perspective as well.

I'm on my first time incubating with an incubator. I've hatched tons with broody hens. So I can't answer that, about the leaving them in there. I read some people pull chicks, some leave them. So I think it is more your call on what to do. If it was me, I'd pull chicks if there was a bunch dried off. But that's me.

OK so we have removed the 1st four that hatched as they are all nice and fluffed up. the other 6 are still in there mostly sitting down as they are not fluffed up yet.

They are now n the small glass brooder for the 1st week.

We have put some stones in the drinker to avoid any drownings too.

We have removed all the hatched shells out of the incubator too and the humidity is sitting at 84% after an hour. Temperature is still sitting at 37.7c

The other 6 still dont appear to have fluffed up like the other 4.

3 eggs are still rocking around so maybe they'll hatch overnight.

Ill wait an hour before bed and if they have fluffed up ill take them out.

again thank you for your replies, we really appreciate them alot.

 

[Mmanist]

I think all will be well with your hatch! You got this!

 

[daryl1987]

I think all will be well with your hatch! You got this!

Thank you. Its been a long 5 months trying to hatch chicks to go with our current flock.

I was so pleased when i got the call at work this morning to say they were hatching a day early.

Very funny to watch these 4 wandering around in the brooder. very wobbly feet One of them looks like shes twerking the way she is balancing herself. Ill try get a video..

 

[LynnaePB]

Aww look at those cuties!

I agree with Mmanist, it sounds like you got this!