September 2015 Hatch-A-long!!

[generaldsherman]

What? I just had the worst hatch in yrs. ONE baby..out of 5 that went into lock down.

I've not had this bad experience with this gal that I got the eggs from, ever..before. The vaults on these babies heads were soo high. I knew something was up, when no pips by late last night. I stayed up to watch. Finally I candled. Three were already gone, one internally pipped, and one barely moving. I hurried an opened the one barely moving. Holy Cow huge vault! And, it was flattened a fourth of the way. It just couldn't turn. All the yolk was absorbed, most of the blood, but didn't make it. Have to think that smashed head just wasn't right. :/ Well, I wanted a black silkie, I got my black silkie, one baby. It's vault is high too. The very egg that I worried about, because it was the most narrow of them all. I thought, if it has a high vault, it may not make it. It did.

Glad .. got my one baby. Will post photos later.

At least you got one to hatch. I think my first try was a bust. I don't want to use shipped eggs again for a while.

I am not going to give up.. I'm adding an automatic egg turner and (thanks to my genius Dad) computer controlled temperatures. I am hoping, with those two changes and not needing to open the lid to turn 3x per day, to get better luck next time. Thanks to Sill, I'll give some quail eggs a shot to practice/perfect my technique.

 

[Gloryjasmine]

Update: Wilson is showing much progress!!!!! Her eye is open,swelling is about gone and the penicillin is killing the infection in her body. Oh you guys,thank you for the great help. And to my God,thank you for sparing my baby.
The new hen,Brenna,is very sick. I now know she infected Wilson. She's also being treated with penicillin. As well as the rest of the flock,with water antibiotics. Hopefully we'll have this under control in no time!!!

 

[Gloryjasmine]

Oh oh I almost forgot.....I candled 10 banty eggs last night. At least 7 are fertile and growing wonderfully!!! I'm so excited!!! However,I don't think they're hatching on the 13th..... They're not that far along yet. Probably another few days to a week. Due to the fact that Wilson is only setting during the night. And Joey during the day only when she lays on top of them! I've been pulling every hen egg layed in that clutch. For some reason,my hens insist on laying in the same nest as everyone else!!!! Silly girls.

 

[TherryChicken]

 

[bbgranch]

I now have four hatched. And four more pipped. About eight more eggs that looked like they might be good. That's a lot of birdies. We will see what makes it.

 

[GitaBooks]

Oh oh I almost forgot.....I candled 10 banty eggs last night. At least 7 are fertile and growing wonderfully!!! I'm so excited!!! However,I don't think they're hatching on the 13th..... They're not that far along yet. Probably another few days to a week. Due to the fact that Wilson is only setting during the night. And Joey during the day only when she lays on top of them! I've been pulling every hen egg layed in that clutch. For some reason,my hens insist on laying in the same nest as everyone else!!!! Silly girls.

Best of luck with your hatch! I hope all your hens get better soon!

 

[GitaBooks]

I now have four hatched. And four more pipped. About eight more eggs that looked like they might be good. That's a lot of birdies. We will see what makes it.

So awesome! Those little keets are survivors.

 

[Purpletie3]

I now have four hatched. And four more pipped. About eight more eggs that looked like they might be good. That's a lot of birdies. We will see what makes it.

Nice pic. I am happy your hatch was saved!!!

 

[mswendeu]

I was using my ipad app. sometimes i can get to a screen to add the pic and sometimes not. Hmmm..So now i'm on the computer and here is the little one from yesterday. Still living this morning. BUT...tragedy this morning in the coop. After letting the guineas and chickens out, I checked the eggs in the coop. Ants everywhere. One keet had hatched and died. One trying to hatch, but had ants inside the shell! I took out that one and put in my brooder but I don't know if it will survive to finish hatching due to the ants. Terrible to see. Other eggs had pipped, so i took those and made a make shift hatcher under a dish in the brooder with a sponge. Heard lots of cheeping. Don't know if that will work, but my incubator is full with my chicken eggs. And i have more eggs that look good and some are cheeping but no pips. Now I need help in setting up a make shift incubator for those. Currently they are under a heat lamp in a bucket, but need to get some humidity going. So much for my experiment to let them hatch naturally. Once I saw that little fuzzy baby, I knew I couldn't just let it die. Guinea hens are not good mothers. Any advice on a make your own incubator?

So sorry about your keet. Hope the rest of your hatch goes well. Good luck.

 

[Cynthia12]

You should let her know about the eggs. Did you pick them up yourself? I am happy your black silkie made it out okay!

I did write her. She is in another state, so yes, shipped. They have been my miracle in finding great shipped eggs, until this hatch. Always fertile! Air sacs are usually pretty good. Even this time. Didn't do anything different..only thing different this time was that they had extra high vaults, and those are harder to hatch. My baby is crying as I speak, I was just in there spending time with it, it's calling me back. :/ I have someone bringing me a little chick that hatched a few days ago..yaay, so, it won't be alone.