Well my second attempt! 8 out of 9 eggs hatched. All hatched a day early. Today is hatch day but all hatched yesterday. Not with some stress and excitement though.
My RIR/EE mix was the first to pip but after 2 eggs hatched I thought there was something wrong. So I took the egg out and sure enough it was almost all shrink wrapped. So I peeled the shell off and wet the lining around it and pulled it off. Happy to report the next day it is the most active chick in the brooder. LOL.
Also had one almost die. Fell asleep last night. Wife woke me up and the chick was on its back under the heat lamp. Think it had a heat stroke. So I put it back in the bator over night and this morning again doing great now.
Last. when 2 hatched I guess they didn't soak up the yoke. So when they dried there feathers are now a crust of harden yoke. Tried wiping them off with wet cloth but didn't work. I'm hoping once a few days older they will clean themselves off. Or when they lose there feathers then they will get read of it. Unless anybody else has an idea.
Next run though I will go down 1 degree to 99. My thermometer only goes up and down by 1 degree. If they all hatched 1 day early temp must be a bit high. Humidity seemed good. Tried the dry method this time. Kept it at 37% until lock down then went to 60%.
Over all 8 out of 13 from the start. That's 61.5%. Not too bad for the second try. 4 with blood rings and 2 just died along the way.Some time after day 12.
Thanks to everybody here for all the help after the first disaster!!
My RIR/EE mix was the first to pip but after 2 eggs hatched I thought there was something wrong. So I took the egg out and sure enough it was almost all shrink wrapped. So I peeled the shell off and wet the lining around it and pulled it off. Happy to report the next day it is the most active chick in the brooder. LOL.
Also had one almost die. Fell asleep last night. Wife woke me up and the chick was on its back under the heat lamp. Think it had a heat stroke. So I put it back in the bator over night and this morning again doing great now.
Last. when 2 hatched I guess they didn't soak up the yoke. So when they dried there feathers are now a crust of harden yoke. Tried wiping them off with wet cloth but didn't work. I'm hoping once a few days older they will clean themselves off. Or when they lose there feathers then they will get read of it. Unless anybody else has an idea.
Next run though I will go down 1 degree to 99. My thermometer only goes up and down by 1 degree. If they all hatched 1 day early temp must be a bit high. Humidity seemed good. Tried the dry method this time. Kept it at 37% until lock down then went to 60%.
Over all 8 out of 13 from the start. That's 61.5%. Not too bad for the second try. 4 with blood rings and 2 just died along the way.Some time after day 12.
Thanks to everybody here for all the help after the first disaster!!
