September Hatch-A-Long

[darkbluespace]

Ok, so the one that piped this morning is starting to make a bigger hole and lots of chirping!!! yay!!!! but around 8 pm I noticed another egg had piped but at the wrong end!! it made a good size hole and i have read enough to know to leave it for atleast 12 - 24 hours..... im really nervous, never have had to deal with this with chicken eggs!!

I give my backwards chicks a full 24 hours before I peel any shell beyond a small hole... I think they need that much time to absorb yolk and veins. Don't worry, they are not too hard to help... I have had several in my last few hatches.

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

I will play along here. I have eggs in the incubator on day 14. I candled last night and took out clears and quitters. 18 are guineas so due to hatch in another 2 weeks. The rest are a mix of different purebred breeds. Some big chickens and some banties. My plan is to remove them from my fancy digital incubator and hatch them out in my home made styrofoam box incubator. Any advice?

 

[purplesquirrel]

GET A REALLY GOOD HYDROMETER AND THERMOMETER, INFACT I've learned from personal experience that you need two thermometers, incase one is lying to you!
All the best

 

[purplesquirrel]

I give my backwards chicks a full 24 hours before I peel any shell beyond a small hole... I think they need that much time to absorb yolk and veins.  Don't worry, they are not too hard to help... I have had several in my last few hatches.

You will know when you need to help, don't be too keen, but listen carefully because the chicks I've had to help, go from excited and frustrated NORMAL pipping noises, to real cries and screams, like the noise they make when something's painful or terrifying.
This was about 16 hours after I first noticed a hole at the wrong end that I started to hear the screams. I used a sterilised (in boiled water) pair of tweezers and carefully pulled back a 1mm piece of shell NOT MEMBRANE to check for membrane veins. There were none, I peeled a bit more and noticed all veins had gone. I peeled more, the whole time the chick was crying and crying and wriggling and straining to get a leg out, then POP I leg shot out and the chirping straight away switched back to normal slightly excited chirping, like 'MUM I'M HERE IM HERE!' I let her roll around in my warm hand semi out of the shell before putting her back in the 'bator to kick the rest of the shell off herself.

One thing I don't like is when they've just hatched they seem so frantic and desperate and native and new, and my incubator has an annoying mechanical noise of the fan. I can imagine it doesn't make the first minutes of life very pleasant for them, instead of a soft, quiet nest!

 

[purplesquirrel]

Oops I quoted the wrong person..

 

[purplesquirrel]

Native - sensitive bloomin' spell check!

 

[CharterChick]

GET A REALLY GOOD HYDROMETER AND THERMOMETER, INFACT I've learned from personal experience that you need two thermometers, incase one is lying to you!
All the best

I have 3 and they are all different! Lol I use the average of them to try to keep a steady temp.

 

[AmericanMom]

2 am and i kept waking up, finally decided to go check, 1st chick out, wrong way chick has cleared a bit of shell and i can see it breathing, four more have piped! I started doing dry incubation because I have better hatch rates, never have had an issue until this time, my room humidity went from the normal 45-53 down to 38 for the last several days, at lockdown I added my sponges but I don't think it is enough, 1st chick although is out was partway stuck in the shell ( its butt) I pulled out the humidifier and have it running to het the ambient humidity up but i don't dare open the incubator now..... is there ever a point where you have this incubation thing down and you don't make errors???

 

[ChickyChickens]

2 am and i kept waking up, finally decided to go check, 1st chick out, wrong way chick has cleared a bit of shell and i can see it breathing, four more have piped! I started doing dry incubation because I have better hatch rates, never have had an issue until this time, my room humidity went from the normal 45-53 down to 38 for the last several days, at lockdown I added my sponges but I don't think it is enough, 1st chick although is out was partway stuck in the shell ( its butt) I pulled out the humidifier and have it running to het the ambient humidity up but i don't dare open the incubator now..... is there ever a point where you have this incubation thing down and you don't make errors???

Good luck with the hatching eggs! I hope yo uhave a wonderful hatch!

 

[ChickyChickens]

I just found a hideaway broody in a tire in our neighbours field! She has 19 eggs and they are all pipping! Cant wait to see al the little chickies! I wonder how they will look???? Oh how I love hideaway broodies...