Serama Hatch-A-Long!!

[Skink]

My single chick is backwards in the egg. It looks like she has mostly absorbed her yolk though, so I am hopeful!

I just went out to check for eggs and when I lifted the lid there was one of my frizzle hens in the nest box. A moment later she laid an egg.. what timing!

I hope she makes it for you! I'd be an anxious wreck - heck, I was. I stressed over my hatch with the multiple assists so hard that I got sick right afterward. I'm glad your little lone one finally calmed down. My 2 older chickens are super sweet and tame, but I was not a fan of sleeping on the couch to be near the brooder having to wake up every now and then to remind them I'm still there and not dead. I can't say I blame them, being alone is a death sentence in the wild, but the poor things are insatiable when it comes to attention and affection!

I'm starting to think my last hatch was 4 roosters and 1 hen. I really hope I'm wrong. Only 2 are showing redness in the comb (they're about to be 2 weeks so, yikes) but the other two spar and prance around like cockerels. One of those two is top of the pecking order so they might just be rowdy.. I haven't raised a group of chickens before, just 2 single chicks, so here's hoping I'm just assigning too much to action. I'm pretty sure my favorite chick is a hen, at least!

 

[mommaduck2014]

darkbluespace how can you tell when they have absorbed most of the yolk? I have so much to learn I starting to worry that I've bitten off more than I can chew here.

 

[heyheypaula]

So I set my eggs yesterday and managed to squeeze 31 in my incubator. 4 of the silkie eggs cracked pretty badly when i was trying to place them inbetween the bars brinsea gives you to place them upright. I've never had that happen before, their shells must be really weak. It's okay though because I couldn't fit them anyways. I'm having more trouble than anticipated however with my humidity. I can't keep it above 40% for very long. Both wells are full and i wicked a paper towel across half of it. I also placed folded paper towels at the ends of a few of the rows so the eggs would sit snuggly and I dampened them a bit too. Yesterday it started at 46%, then dropped to 38%, 36% and 32% this AM. I'm irritated because I want it to stay at one constant humidity rate. So what do you guys think? Cut up chunks of sponge? Shamwow strips? I ordered a humidifier for our room/house off of Amazon but it won't arrive until Tuesday. Maybe if the outside environment is less dry the incubator won't have such a hard time?

 

[collegegardener]

The only way I could raise my incubators humidity was using a wet washcloth. It is very hard to keep it at a constant humidity for long though.

 

[collegegardener]

I have one egg with an external pip so far!!! Is there anything I need to do? It looks to be in the right area of the egg. The humidity in the incubator is terribly low. It's dropped to about 25%(from 65% in 2 days).

 

[darkbluespace]

I have one egg with an external pip so far!!! Is there anything I need to do? It looks to be in the right area of the egg. The humidity in the incubator is terribly low. It's dropped to about 25%(from 65% in 2 days).

How's that egg doing?? I would add water/sponges to up humidity if it gets that low.

 

[mightymax]

Congrats there collegegardener on the external pip of one of your eggs. I noticed that the time stamp was about 14 hours ago so I was wondering what had happened in that amount of time? And I think that darkbluespace is right about trying to raise the humidity. Just be careful that you don't get it too high or it will literally turn into chicken soup on you and become a baby chicks worst nightmare and a very sticky mess for you. Remember that once those shells break open the baby chick is no longer using the eggs air sac to breath. It's using its own lungs to breath now and the chicks respirations along with their struggling to get themselves completely out of the shell will help to increase the humidity level in you 'bator by a small percentage, usually creating enough moisture that the additional measures you took earlier (the paper towels, sponges, etc) can be removed. Best of luck to you both and let us know how it
As far as my eggs are concerned, I'm beginning to doubt my candling abilities. It seems that each time I candle, they look the same. Knowledge and techniques that used to be second nature to me have me second guessing myself now with these little guys !!!
Anybody know of a good website that offers a sort of 'play by play' on candling eggs, preferably one with a lot of example pictures?
Thanks!
-kim-

 

[darkbluespace]

I have generally found that a chick has pretty nearly absorbed its yolk by 12 hours after an air cell external pip and 24 hours after a wrong end pip. At that point it is generally safe to help a bit if I am concerned they may not hatch on their own.


Hatching assist 101 ***disclaimer*** this is just my way, I encourage you to follow your own intuition about helping. I personally find that many more Seramas survive the incubator with a little assistance.

I chip away the shell around the air cell and remove the air cell end of the shell.

I put ointment on the membrane covering the chick and put the chick back in the incubator.

Once the blood in the veins are absorbed then push away the membrane and help the chick get its wing and then head out of the egg and put chick back in the incubator in a damp paper towel.

The chick will kick itself out of the bottom of the shell when it's ready. I just have to make sure the membranes don't dry onto the chick and keep it from kicking out.

 

[heyheypaula]

Well, I'm off to a rough start. I calibrated my hygrometer last night and it's off by 13%! So that explains a lot. Any tips on where I can get a new good digital one fast? I checked Walmart last night and their selection wasn't ideal.

 

[collegegardener]

I noticed the external pip around 3 yesterday afternoon. It is not 7 am here. I sill hear peeping, but the chick hasn't changed. Do I assist?