September 2015 Hatch-A-long!!

[tao chick]

Hope everything is going okay and you have a healthy crew soon!

Thanks. I'm nervous. I chipped away some shell to help out the backwards pipper. The two pips still are breathing and trying. The hatched one is lonely. It's chirping loudly every once in a while. This is abit nerve wracking. And I'm tired.

 

[tao chick]

 

[Gloryjasmine]

Oh my God my eyes actually hacked one of them was born and its a few days early what do I do now? I thought that since the baby chick takes in the joke that they don't need to eat or drink for the first 24 hours and just let them sit under the mama hen?

Hey just wanted to respond to your question about eating. As Junebuggena stated,they don't need food or water for at least three days. The yolk sac will sustain them for that long until the rest hatch and then mama will get them up and around. Which I find most fascinating! Think if you have one early hatch on day 19,it will be just fine until the rest hatch by day 21. Well hopefully........it doesn't always work out that way. But I just think God really thought that through when He created the life cycle of the chicken in the egg! Anywho,hope all is going well. God bless!

 

[generaldsherman]

poor lonely tike

 

[Gloryjasmine]

Tip: when my lil Hope was the only OEGB ...... I put in a plush stuffed dog toy. But I put it in her carrier in such a way that she could nestle underneath it. She slept under mama frog every night! As if it was her real ma. Then,I put a light dish towel over the toy. Lightly,just for some extra coziness. And when she was ready to sleep,but I had the lights on,she'd whine and whine. So I remembered that chickens natural instinct is to sleep at dusk and wake at dawn. So I covered her carrier with a blankey nightly. It helped tremendously! She wouldn't tweet one peep until I removed it. I hope your lil guy has a buddy soon. God bless.

 

[csaylorchickens]

Hey just wanted to respond to your question about eating. As Junebuggena stated,they don't need food or water for at least three days. The yolk sac will sustain them for that long until the rest hatch and then mama will get them up and around. Which I find most fascinating! Think if you have one early hatch on day 19,it will be just fine until the rest hatch by day 21. Well hopefully........it doesn't always work out that way. But I just think God really thought that through when He created the life cycle of the chicken in the egg! Anywho,hope all is going well. God bless!

Thank u for your response that is good to know! I ended up taking the chicks into the brooder because my hen wasn't keeping them warm. Plus I have one more egg that could hatch by tomorrow
They are doing great! Eating drinking pooping. Pasty button is an issue though. They are very small. The mama hen was a regular sized cochin but the rooster was a bantam. Their vents are so small! UsING qtip and water to remove poop that sticks and added electrolyte to the water, that seems to help

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Wow! You go away for a weekend and so much is missed. 119 posts to catch up on, LOL!

So, long story short: M-I-L was moving and needed some help. "Hello, I and DH are the help." Just before we left the one and only chick hatched. Yay! The other egg was an early quitter. That is a 50% hatch rate for this set. The little chick was added to the duckling brooder. That same morning I lost one of the quail chicks from the first quail set. It was not growing well, was getting weaker, and was smaller than the other quail from the same set. (I am guessing it is a case of "failure to thrive.") Got back from our trip just in time to add the final set of the month, quail eggs, to the hatcher. They are due to hatch Wednesday. Hoping for a better rate than the first set.

Bonus: Found 14 eggs in the quail pen when we got home. I really wanted to hatch them, but I kept my promise to DH and let him have them. He already has them pickling in a jar in the fridge.
Pictures will come later, I am enjoying a quiet and peaceful house at the moment. Also, it is the middle of the night and I don't want to wake anyone.

 

[junebuggena]

Thank u for your response that is good to know! I ended up taking the chicks into the brooder because my hen wasn't keeping them warm. Plus I have one more egg that could hatch by tomorrow
They are doing great! Eating drinking pooping. Pasty button is an issue though. They are very small. The mama hen was a regular sized cochin but the rooster was a bantam. Their vents are so small! UsING qtip and water to remove poop that sticks and added electrolyte to the water, that seems to help

To help minimize pasty butt, make sure they aren't too warm or too cool. And keep things calm and quiet around them. It's usually caused by some sort of stress. I find keeping them in a dimly lighted room helps keep them more calm.

 

[tao chick]

I assisted the two pippers. I know I'm supposed to let them be, but I ignored that for these two. These are just backyard mixes but I'm still learning from all of this and have three kids looking forward to this. The two chicks are resting in the incubator with a little shell left to kick off. The little guy calls to them from the brooder once in a while but is mostly settled.

 

[csaylorchickens]

Well I'm still waiting on one more again today is day 21 I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing when I can't hold it it had an air sacs face and it did have dark area in it like there could have been at 6 so I think after today I'm gonna keep a close eye on it and if it doesn't pass by Wednesday maybe I should pull it what do you ladies think?