September Hatch-A-Long

[ChickenMath101]

Could just be luck of the draw if all the other chicks made it out no problem. Were the failed to hatch eggs near each other? Maybe humidity isn't distributed evenly? But honestly I'd chalk it up to luck.

They were on two different shelves, totally separated. :/ I'm still not sure if the chick I helped actually needed me, but after unwrapping a perfectly formed and dead baby...I don't think I'll hesitate next time.
I knew my odds of having all of them hatch were incredibly low...even the big hatcheries don't get 100% hatches. So I'm pretty happy with my 15.

 

[JacksonPearce]

I've never done it, but you get a glass of water water (not hot) and gently put the egg in it, big end up. The egg will wiggle on its own if it's alive. You won't necessarily SEE movement in a live chick this late in the game, because they are so packed in that there is nowhere to go!

Alright, I've water candled and....perhaps one is still viable? It's so hard to tell! I'll give them another day or so just to be safe!

 

[Sara L]

I've never done it, but you get a glass of water water (not hot) and gently put the egg in it, big end up. The egg will wiggle on its own if it's alive. You won't necessarily SEE movement in a live chick this late in the game, because they are so packed in that there is nowhere to go!

I have water candled all my quail eggs and I think it works pretty well. You need to make sure there aren't any cracks or pips, or you could drown the chick. The water needs to be around 100 degrees so it's not a shock going from the heated incubator into the water. If the egg floats really high its probably a dud/early quitter. If it sinks completely then the air cell is tiny and your humidity was probably too high. The egg should float with the top part of the egg out of the water.
Gently slip the egg into the water and it will bob around a bit as the water is displaced. Then once the water settles watch the egg carefully and if the chick is moving the egg will wiggle in the water. Please note that just because it doesn't wiggle doesn't mean it won't hatch - I had a batch that only a few wiggled but more than that actually did hatch out.

 

[BlueBaby]

Two of the bottom tray's babies are still dragging around eggshells, so I'm not as much in a hurry to get them out.

That has happened to me before too, when a chick is dragging part of it's shell around. Check to see if the reason why could be because it is drying on the chick. You may have to dampen the area where it is sticking with a bit of warm water to help to loosen it.

Edit: I just found this other thread here in BYC that the dragging around of the eggs shell is being discussed.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/membrane-stuck-to-hatched-chick-do-i-assist.1198347/

 

[Sara L]

Ok, so more chicks hatched yesterday but nothing this morning or this evening. I pulled all the remaining eggs to open them. Final results of hatch: 54 eggs set on 8/26/17, 52 made it to lockdown (removed 1 infertile + 1 early quitter). A total of 35 chicks hatched but one passed away. I did have to help three of them out of the shell, and that was just because the membrane dried out, they had absorbed all the blood vessels so no issues there. Two are fine, I can't even tell which ones they were, but one was stuck for a while and his head seems stuck to the side. Has anyone had something like this and will the chick grow out of it? Or will it be like this the rest of its life? I watched it for a while and it seems to be eating and drinking.

34 little fluff balls The one in the middle with the leg stretched out is fine, they just like to nap like that so I have a heart attack because they look dead.

Also, somehow a praying mantis got into the brooder. Not even sure how it got into the room. The brooder has a lid too... darn bugs.

And to make things more fun, I just put my second incubator into lockdown, there are 13 button quail eggs and 11 coturnix quail eggs with a planned hatch date of 9/16/17. I may be a hatch-a-holic.

 

[Cassie29]

Two chicks out last night, today is day 21 (for most of the eggs) so I'm expecting quite a few babies today just realized that I'm going to have quite the time telling apart my black copper marans from my barnyard mix for a while, my rooster is a black austrolorp x RIR cross so most of the chicks are. Probably going to be black with yellow under belly lol hopefully the marans will all get the feathered legs. Here chick # 1

 

[Honora]

Ok, so more chicks hatched yesterday but nothing this morning or this evening. I pulled all the remaining eggs to open them. Final results of hatch: 54 eggs set on 8/26/17, 52 made it to lockdown (removed 1 infertile + 1 early quitter). A total of 35 chicks hatched but one passed away. I did have to help three of them out of the shell, and that was just because the membrane dried out, they had absorbed all the blood vessels so no issues there. Two are fine, I can't even tell which ones they were, but one was stuck for a while and his head seems stuck to the side. Has anyone had something like this and will the chick grow out of it? Or will it be like this the rest of its life? I watched it for a while and it seems to be eating and drinking.
View attachment 1136709
34 little fluff balls The one in the middle with the leg stretched out is fine, they just like to nap like that so I have a heart attack because they look dead.
View attachment 1136711
Also, somehow a praying mantis got into the brooder. Not even sure how it got into the room. The brooder has a lid too... darn bugs.
View attachment 1136715
And to make things more fun, I just put my second incubator into lockdown, there are 13 button quail eggs and 11 coturnix quail eggs with a planned hatch date of 9/16/17. I may be a hatch-a-holic.

Cute chicks! How did they react to the praying mantis? I believe the twisted neck is called wry neck. I have never had it in my chicks but I have heard of it. I believe people you usually cure it by giving extra vitamins to the chick.
Any experience with this, @ronott1?

 

[ronott1]

Cute chicks! How did they react to the praying mantis? I believe the twisted neck is called wry neck. I have never had it in my chicks but I have heard of it. I believe people you usually cure it by giving extra vitamins to the chick.
Any experience with this, @ronott1?

Has anyone had something like this and will the chick grow out of it? Or will it be like this the rest of its life? I watched it for a while and it seems to be eating and drinking.
View attachment 1136709

It looks like a mild case of wry neck. Yes, it should grow out of it but vitamins help.

The important thing is that the chick is eating and drinking. Make sure they are eating good starter.

I have had a couple or so that had wry neck so bad that they could not stand up. I had to feed them by hand and give them water by spoon. I gave them a drop of poli vi sol baby drop vitamins without iron twice a day for a couple of days. They were better in three days.

 

[Sara L]

Cute chicks! How did they react to the praying mantis? I believe the twisted neck is called wry neck. I have never had it in my chicks but I have heard of it. I believe people you usually cure it by giving extra vitamins to the chick.
Any experience with this, @ronott1?

They didn't seem to react to the praying mantis at all, they reacted more to me freaking out it was there and trying to get it out of the brooder.

It looks like a mild case of wry neck. Yes, it should grow out of it but vitamins help.

The important thing is that the chick is eating and drinking. Make sure they are eating good starter.

I have had a couple or so that had wry neck so bad that they could not stand up. I had to feed them by hand and give them water by spoon. I gave them a drop of poli vi sol baby drop vitamins without iron twice a day for a couple of days. They were better in three days.

Thank you so much to both of you!! I will be going by Tractor Supply this evening and will get them some vitamins, I've never had an issue like this before. I am feeding them Dumor Turkey/Gamebird starter crumbles, which is 24% protein. I have been trying to find something with a higher protein but this is the highest I have found so far.

 

[chantels1]

I have not been on the hatch-a-long all month, but today is day 19 for my bantam Cochins in the incubator. I am a medler, so I candled this morning. I candles 3 of 11 eggs. All 3 had internally pipped, so I did not check any more. Humidity did not drop much. About 15 minutes later I found an external pip(small crack) on an egg I had not candle. It was at the wrong end of the egg. As I watched, it pecked a bigger hole, and hit a vein. I fought myself hard, and did not intervene. (Currently in the medlers 12 step program!). I could see the blood, but prayed it stopped I took kids to school, looked in incubator (without opening!). No change. Watched fie goid 20 minutes. Took dogs to park, checked no change.... trying to stay busy, but I am drawn back often. No change all day. I am currently sitting by the incubator, looking inside between sips of wine. Happy to report
1. I still have not opened the incubator
2. Chick is alive and has strong intermittent chirps.

Who else going through medler withdrawal, and winning?