Sept Silkie hatches (Great Hatches)

[silkworm76]

Thank you! I have two more starting to zip now. I have been a little...obsessed over them today.

 

[RubyNala97]

I wrote that whole update about the baby quail and a few hours later he died!!! He was doing so good but declined very quick. I'm thinking he was dehydrated. I dipped his beak in the water several times but I never saw him drink on his own. I spent a few hours giving him drops of sav-a-chick from a small syringe but it was too late. My first live loss! The kids were the most upset since he was "theirs" they made a headstone and cried the whole time we buried him.

Cute babies! I love all the spots! I really like having a hatcher... one still air and and one with a fan for eggs that need higher humidity than the rest or eggs that haven't hatched yet! I don't know WHAT I was thinking but I set some duck eggs today. I realized that I can get blue ducklings from my Lilac duck so I mostly set her eggs.

Does brinsea make a still air hatcher? I've read good things about having one. Duck eggs!! I didn't know you had ducks! I'll be hatching my first ducks this spring. I've already ordered call duck hatching eggs!! Now you get to hatch with us again!!

Little Dude drying off Little Dude with his younger sibling, Santos, a Silver Duckwing with feathered feet The two are dry now They are still in a starter brooder at the time, a laundry basket with a towel, our snake's heat-light hung from a door knob with a plate to hide under. They adore having something to hide under and use this "cave" all the time. It makes them feel safer, like they are hiding under their mother. Its also to let them cool off when they over heat, as they tend to stay under the heat light until they are panting.

Absolutely adorable!! Have you read the thread for the "mama heating pad" cave? It's an alternative heat source for the brooder. I've got mine setup for the first time. It was great the last two days. Let me know if you want the link.

I'm so excited! My first hatch started last night (day 21) with four pips, and one chick was out this morning! I have three as of right now, with six more expected. These are eggs I bought on eBay from Kathy Leininger and the very first fertile eggs to make it through. (I bought a dozen eggs that never developed-they were supposed to be my "practice" hatch). I was so worried, since I threw this incubator together and it has consistently varied by two degrees, and the day that was supposed to be lockdown decided to drop a few degrees, and given the timing I did not want to mess with the (bad) thermostat. So I was afraid the chicks would be weak and/or compromised in some way. I did "help" those that had pipped internally and were cheeping away by opening the shells, I was afraid about the weirdness with the temps that they wouldn't have the strength to break the shells on their own. Probably overkill and now I'm watching them like a hawk to make sure the humidity stays nice and high. The hatchlings are not in any way weak though. The last to hatch was climbing on the thermometer/hygrometer an hour after it emerged completely from the egg. They seem very healthy so far! ~~aside-I've been lurking so much I thought I had joined BYC but hadn't-I had to set up an account to make this post!

congratulations!!

 

[silkienrescues]

Hi Silkworm, Wonderful to see that despite the bad temps they are doing great. Hopefully you have lots of little ones out soon.

Ruby, that quail must be so small, cant believe the size of its egg next to the silkies. Love her booties. Do hope the other one gets going soon. We had a tv commercial with 3 sumo wrestlers trying to get into a small truck cab the punch line was 'ohhh nos so squeezy" thats what I think of when i see your incubators!
Your sons will surely love hatching when they grow up too.

Not so sure the death was from the bag now, it and the other small white egg both weren't showing great movement yesterday, this morning the other one has also stopped moving and all its blood vessels have receded. to boot another egg has started slowing down and there is a lot of free space between it and the aircell. Do hope its not a bacterial thing, the incubator was cleaned but this is the third hatch in a row.

 

[silkienrescues]

I wrote that whole update about the baby quail and a few hours later he died!!! He was doing so good but declined very quick. I'm thinking he was dehydrated. I dipped his beak in the water several times but I never saw him drink on his own. I spent a few hours giving him drops of sav-a-chick from a small syringe but it was too late. My first live loss! The kids were the most upset since he was "theirs" they made a headstone and cried the whole time we buried him.

Does brinsea make a still air hatcher? I've read good things about having one. Duck eggs!! I didn't know you had ducks! I'll be hatching my first ducks this spring. I've already ordered call duck hatching eggs!!
Now you get to hatch with us again!!

Absolutely adorable!! Have you read the thread for the "mama heating pad" cave? It's an alternative heat source for the brooder. I've got mine setup for the first time. It was great the last two days. Let me know if you want the link.

congratulations!!

oh no SO SAD to hear, and your poor sons, nature is hard.

 

[silkienrescues]

gitabooks I love your improvised mother hen.
Darkbluespace you have the disease!!!

 

[GitaBooks]

I wrote that whole update about the baby quail and a few hours later he died!!! He was doing so good but declined very quick. I'm thinking he was dehydrated. I dipped his beak in the water several times but I never saw him drink on his own. I spent a few hours giving him drops of sav-a-chick from a small syringe but it was too late. My first live loss! The kids were the most upset since he was "theirs" they made a headstone and cried the whole time we buried him.


Absolutely adorable!! Have you read the thread for the "mama heating pad" cave? It's an alternative heat source for the brooder. I've got mine setup for the first time. It was great the last two days. Let me know if you want the link.

I'm really sorry to hear about your baby quail. The same thing has happened to us, where you give them everything you can but they just aren't strong enough. The important thing is to know that we tried our best.

As for the "heating pad cave" I have read it and think its a wonderful idea! However, I don't know if our heat pads would be ideal for it. I will certainly consider giving it a try some time in the future though.

 

[darkbluespace]

I wrote that whole update about the baby quail and a few hours later he died!!! He was doing so good but declined very quick. I'm thinking he was dehydrated. I dipped his beak in the water several times but I never saw him drink on his own. I spent a few hours giving him drops of sav-a-chick from a small syringe but it was too late. My first live loss! The kids were the most upset since he was "theirs" they made a headstone and cried the whole time we buried him.

Does brinsea make a still air hatcher? I've read good things about having one. Duck eggs!! I didn't know you had ducks! I'll be hatching my first ducks this spring. I've already ordered call duck hatching eggs!!
Now you get to hatch with us again!!

Absolutely adorable!! Have you read the thread for the "mama heating pad" cave? It's an alternative heat source for the brooder. I've got mine setup for the first time. It was great the last two days. Let me know if you want the link.

congratulations!!

Sorry you lost your little quail! That is hard, especially for the kids : ( Quail seem delicate when they are tiny and can die for no apparent reason sometimes.

I do have ducks, Ancona ducks, too may in fact which is why I shouldn't be hatching more. I will sell them unless I get some blue ducklings to keep. I hatched and sold ducklings all Spring and Summer but I am trying to hatch more colors so my flock can hatch a wider variety of colors next year. Maybe I just feel lost without any eggs in the bator.

I don't know that much about Brinseas, I made all my incubators. I think still air is best for hatching. My still air is my smallest so I may rectify that next year!

 

[RubyNala97]

Hi Silkworm, Wonderful to see that despite the bad temps they are doing great. Hopefully you have lots of little ones out soon.

Ruby, that quail must be so small, cant believe the size of its egg next to the silkies. Love her booties. Do hope the other one gets going soon. We had a tv commercial with 3 sumo wrestlers trying to get into a small truck cab the punch line was 'ohhh nos so squeezy" thats what I think of when i see your incubators!
Your sons will surely love hatching when they grow up too.

Not so sure the death was from the bag now, it and the other small white egg both weren't showing great movement yesterday, this morning the other one has also stopped moving and all its blood vessels have receded. to boot another egg has started slowing down and there is a lot of free space between it and the aircell. Do hope its not a bacterial thing, the incubator was cleaned but this is the third hatch in a row.

Oh no. Sorry to hear about the eggs. I peeked quick on the eggs I set first. Only day 3 but only a few were showing development. I'm really hoping it was just too soon. What do you clean the incubator with? This just came up on another thread. I just use bleach.

Sorry you lost your little quail!  That is hard, especially for the kids : (   Quail seem delicate when they are tiny and can die for no apparent reason sometimes.

I do have ducks, Ancona ducks, too may in fact which is why I shouldn't be hatching more.  I will sell them unless I get some blue ducklings to keep.  I hatched and sold ducklings all Spring and Summer but I am trying to hatch more colors so my flock can hatch a wider variety of colors next year.   Maybe I just feel lost without any eggs in the bator.

I don't know that much about Brinseas,  I made all my incubators.  I think still air is best for hatching.  My still air is my smallest so I may rectify that next year!

I'm wanting to do the same with my flock. I'm dying to see what I will hatch out from them. I'm already thinking of just giving into the addiction and setting a batch a month!! I should get my first egg in a month or two but it won't be fertile because I haven't seen them mate yet. When do they start? The boy and girl are both 16 weeks. Oh, and I love ducks!! Can't wait to hatch them in the spring. Did you ever hatch calls?

 

[silkienrescues]

oh dear this isn't living up to the thread name, lost another one today. moving yesterday nothing and receded blood vessels today??? Confusing thing is this one had lost exactly the correct amount of moisture everyday. Al the ones that stopped recently were white eggs? the others are beige? they were all from the partridge parents. The eggs were 4 days or less old.
cleaned my incubator with hot soapy water and bleach. Think I'll replace the wire rack and everything that can be, then re-calibrate the gauges. Though temps have been more stable in this hatch.
Gitabooks how are your little ones going?
Silkworm, hope your doing well.

 

[RubyNala97]

oh dear this isn't living up to the thread name, lost another one today. moving yesterday nothing and receded blood vessels today??? Confusing thing is this one had lost exactly the correct amount of moisture everyday. Al the ones that stopped recently were white eggs? the others are beige? they were all from the partridge parents. The eggs were 4 days or less old.
cleaned my incubator with hot soapy water and bleach. Think I'll replace the wire rack and everything that can be, then re-calibrate the gauges. Though temps have been more stable in this hatch.
Gitabooks how are your little ones going?
Silkworm, hope your doing well.

A couple thoughts...
These were local eggs right?
I talked to Sally Sunshine the other day, the women who wrote "Hatching 101" & "guide to assisted hatch" here on BYC. I started weighing my eggs and she gave me some food for thought. The only way weighing eggs is beneficial is if they are your own eggs from your backyard that you can weigh the day they were laid. Otherwise if you get eggs that are 3 or 4 days old, there is no way to know how much moisture the eggs have lost between the moment they were laid and when you got them. You could guess but then you might as well just follow air cell size and guess that way. I thought this was interesting and just wanted to pass it on. I never thought about how much the egg would loose before it was in my possession. Just something to think about.
Also if all the same eggs are dying then it could be something genetic with those particular eggs. I once had a mixed batch of black and buff eggs. All the black died and all the buff hatched, even though they were all incubated the same way.
So how many eggs do you have left and what day are you on? I'm really pulling for the rest of them!!!