Set eggs 3/5. Looking for others to hatch with!

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I did eggtopsies on the last four Mar 4 eggs; three had started to liquidize and two had fully formed chicks but unabsorbed yolks. I got a couple of rosecomb chicks and one rosecomb-X-sebright. First couple of hatches are always wonky for me! The Mar 7 batch has gone much better. Gratz to everyone with new fuzzy butts!
 
It's officially finished and as soon as I've completed my post I'm going down to turn of the bator. Wow, people were right when they said it reeks inside of there. I can't imagine having to breathe that for a couple of days. So here are the results:
All 11 RIR chicks pipped and ten hatched. The eleventh died after pipping, but upon inspecting the egg there did not appear to be any issue that I could see. All ten babies are fluffed up and doing great.
All four silkie chicks pipped and hatched. The first two came early and are fluffed and doing great. The third I watched hatched at about 3:00 this morning. It was the one I thought was dead and wouldn't hatch and surprised me by pipping a huge pip at the end and it hatched very, very quickly. I thought it might bleed to death at the rate it was going and when it did come out of the shell it was fairly bloody inside. By this point the Reds attacked the membranes like they were a pack of sharks. I was getting very scared for the little chick in there. Sadly, when I got him out this morning he is not able to get his head up and walk correctly. This is what is on my diagnosis list to research and if anyone has any input, please tell me.
1. It was in the shell too long before pipping.
2. It was injured after it was born with all the chicks running around in there.
3. It was just weaker.
We will be putting it down very soon. It is very beautiful, though, a very nice silver color.
The last silkie to hatch came sometime between 3:00 and 9:00 this morning. It had been pipped yesterday and it took its time coming out. This morning when I got up it was still drying off and fluffing up. It appeared to be able to walk so I have transplanted it to a broody that I need to continue sitting as she has her own chick set to hatch in the next few days.
So the total number of chicks ends up being 10 Rhode Island Reds and 3 for sure silkies, possibly 4. I'm not counting in the last one until I see it actually out and moving on its own.
I think there are probably five barn chicks at this point with one hatching in the next few days. Sophie sat on her egg at the end of the week that the girls and I sat our eggs and I think it was a Friday so tomorrow it will hopefully hatch out. I gave Sophie my special incubator egg, "Buttercup", and it was born two night ago. That is why I chose her for the newborn chick so she will continue to sit and give her own chick a chance to make it.
So as soon as I got up, I could see the last silkie had hatched and there appeared to be no progress on the RIR chick and I decided to go ahead and check the progress of the egg. It had clearly died and I began getting the chicks out of the hatcher and moved three to the brooder. They were doing great so I decided to impliment my transplant plan sooner rather than later as I wanted the chicks to imprint on the mommas.
I went out to the barn to check on everyone and Yetta and Buttercup are definitely raising their chicks together. They are shoulder to shoulder and they had one of their chicks nestled between their shoulders keeping it warm. Light Earleen is right in front of them, so there are three hens working together in that area.
I brought out the first RIR chick and put it under LE (light Earleen and DE will be dark Earleen). She took it easily. I gave her two more RIR chicks so she should have four chicks now to raise. I gave Buttercup and LE three RIR chicks apiece and they already had two chicks between them. LE should also have her own chick by now.
Since DE is in the toolbox room by herself and has a small box I gave her one silkie and 2 RIR chicks. Now, there is one more silkie somewhere in the picture, but I really can't remember where I put it. I had a plan originally, but changed it some as I started working. Someone has it. I wanted to keep the last two RIR chicks together so they will have someone who looks like them as they're growing up, but she's in a smaller box and I didn't want to overcrowd them. Sophie just got the one newborn baby. She was not happy about it, but once it settled in and stopped cheeping she was fine. I've already done this with her in the past and she's proven herself to be a good foster mom and that is why she was chosen for the "special" babies.
So if you want to know what the girls thought of my bringing them chicks.......they loved it, especially the three that are together. They knew what I was doing and when they would see me come back with more chicks they lifted up the front of their breasts off the floor so I could put the babies in and then helped nestle them under them. Even DE who has been vicious lately gladly took on more babies. She was much more settled today. She obviously was just protecting her eggs. Her chick should have hatched last evening as it was pipping out yesterday afternoon. She took the babies, but I had a hard time putting more food in for them and had to kind of toss it onto the lid in front of her.
I'm going to keep a good eye on them today, but the last time I was out there the three hens together were teaching the babies that were out how to eat and drink. And they don't seem to care whose baby is under who. The little chicks that were out there yesterday would run around from hen to hen and nobody got upset if it went to the wrong momma. I'm glad at this point I don't have to keep track of who goes to who and which chick came from which momma.
I'm glad the girls are happy. They worked so hard for this. My roo is such a proud pappa. He has been antsing around in the barn for the last several days and attacking us as we try to come in and do chores. It's like a dad being at the hospital pacing the halls.
It was a lot of fun to hatch with the broodies. Won't be doing it again this season, but I am looking forward to the possibility of it next spring!
What did I learn from this hatch?
We need to fix our heat source. The chicks closest to the light bulbs hatched the easiest and I supsect the later chicks would have been here a lot sooner because they took a distinct pattern on pipping and hatching. It went straight down the line from the closest to the heat to the furthest and that may be what did my little silkie in.
Don't jump in and try to help. They really are okay. There was some pacing going on around here and frantic discussions of what should we do and I'm glad I held to it and didn't let anyone open my lid or assist with hatching. Less is so much better.
Loved the egg crates. I would never hatch without them. I think I might have been less successful if I hadn't used them this time. Those chicks are wild in there once they dry off and fluff up.
I won't hatch large fowl with banties again. I would separate them out into two hatchers. While the big chicks did do a lot to assist the newborns and they were a huge help in there, I didn't like it at all how they were running and jumping on my little ones. I thought it was an unsafe environment. And at the end those big chicks were getting restless and hungry and thirsty and they really did start attacking the newborns' eggshells and membranes like a pack of sharks. The little chick that was born that had a lot of blood in the membranes, I watched those big chicks grab up that stuff and start ripping it apart to eat it. It wasn't a pretty sight. Then one of the chicks was choking on part of it and there was bloody stuff on its face and it gagged part of it up and another chick grabbed some of it out of its beak and ate it and the first chick finished swallowing it......yeah, it was getting graphic and horrific in there. I had to go to bed because I was getting to where I really wanted some of those chicks out and I wasn't going to open the lid yet because the last silkie was still gearing up to zip.
I think that's about it.
Sorry my post is so long, but I wanted to share it all.
I had so much fun and I'm really proud of myself for getting the hang of it. And I am sooooo tickled the hens liked the chicks!!!!!!!!!
Just think, I get to do it again in a few weeks and then again a few weeks after that, if all goes well.
 
My hatch day is tomorrow, but:
I HAVE 2 PIPS as of ten minutes ago!
celebrate.gif
 
wholewheatchicken said:
It's officially finished and as soon as I've completed my post I'm going down to turn of the bator. Wow, people were right when they said it reeks inside of there. I can't imagine having to breathe that for a couple of days. So here are the results:
All 11 RIR chicks pipped and ten hatched. The eleventh died after pipping, but upon inspecting the egg there did not appear to be any issue that I could see. All ten babies are fluffed up and doing great.
All four silkie chicks pipped and hatched. The first two came early and are fluffed and doing great. The third I watched hatched at about 3:00 this morning. It was the one I thought was dead and wouldn't hatch and surprised me by pipping a huge pip at the end and it hatched very, very quickly. I thought it might bleed to death at the rate it was going and when it did come out of the shell it was fairly bloody inside. By this point the Reds attacked the membranes like they were a pack of sharks. I was getting very scared for the little chick in there. Sadly, when I got him out this morning he is not able to get his head up and walk correctly. This is what is on my diagnosis list to research and if anyone has any input, please tell me.
1. It was in the shell too long before pipping.
2. It was injured after it was born with all the chicks running around in there.
3. It was just weaker.
We will be putting it down very soon. It is very beautiful, though, a very nice silver color.
The last silkie to hatch came sometime between 3:00 and 9:00 this morning. It had been pipped yesterday and it took its time coming out. This morning when I got up it was still drying off and fluffing up. It appeared to be able to walk so I have transplanted it to a broody that I need to continue sitting as she has her own chick set to hatch in the next few days.
So the total number of chicks ends up being 10 Rhode Island Reds and 3 for sure silkies, possibly 4. I'm not counting in the last one until I see it actually out and moving on its own.
I think there are probably five barn chicks at this point with one hatching in the next few days. Sophie sat on her egg at the end of the week that the girls and I sat our eggs and I think it was a Friday so tomorrow it will hopefully hatch out. I gave Sophie my special incubator egg, "Buttercup", and it was born two night ago. That is why I chose her for the newborn chick so she will continue to sit and give her own chick a chance to make it.
So as soon as I got up, I could see the last silkie had hatched and there appeared to be no progress on the RIR chick and I decided to go ahead and check the progress of the egg. It had clearly died and I began getting the chicks out of the hatcher and moved three to the brooder. They were doing great so I decided to impliment my transplant plan sooner rather than later as I wanted the chicks to imprint on the mommas.
I went out to the barn to check on everyone and Yetta and Buttercup are definitely raising their chicks together. They are shoulder to shoulder and they had one of their chicks nestled between their shoulders keeping it warm. Light Earleen is right in front of them, so there are three hens working together in that area.
I brought out the first RIR chick and put it under LE (light Earleen and DE will be dark Earleen). She took it easily. I gave her two more RIR chicks so she should have four chicks now to raise. I gave Buttercup and LE three RIR chicks apiece and they already had two chicks between them. LE should also have her own chick by now.
Since DE is in the toolbox room by herself and has a small box I gave her one silkie and 2 RIR chicks. Now, there is one more silkie somewhere in the picture, but I really can't remember where I put it. I had a plan originally, but changed it some as I started working. Someone has it. I wanted to keep the last two RIR chicks together so they will have someone who looks like them as they're growing up, but she's in a smaller box and I didn't want to overcrowd them. Sophie just got the one newborn baby. She was not happy about it, but once it settled in and stopped cheeping she was fine. I've already done this with her in the past and she's proven herself to be a good foster mom and that is why she was chosen for the "special" babies.
So if you want to know what the girls thought of my bringing them chicks.......they loved it, especially the three that are together. They knew what I was doing and when they would see me come back with more chicks they lifted up the front of their breasts off the floor so I could put the babies in and then helped nestle them under them. Even DE who has been vicious lately gladly took on more babies. She was much more settled today. She obviously was just protecting her eggs. Her chick should have hatched last evening as it was pipping out yesterday afternoon. She took the babies, but I had a hard time putting more food in for them and had to kind of toss it onto the lid in front of her.
I'm going to keep a good eye on them today, but the last time I was out there the three hens together were teaching the babies that were out how to eat and drink. And they don't seem to care whose baby is under who. The little chicks that were out there yesterday would run around from hen to hen and nobody got upset if it went to the wrong momma. I'm glad at this point I don't have to keep track of who goes to who and which chick came from which momma.
I'm glad the girls are happy. They worked so hard for this. My roo is such a proud pappa. He has been antsing around in the barn for the last several days and attacking us as we try to come in and do chores. It's like a dad being at the hospital pacing the halls.
It was a lot of fun to hatch with the broodies. Won't be doing it again this season, but I am looking forward to the possibility of it next spring!
What did I learn from this hatch?
We need to fix our heat source. The chicks closest to the light bulbs hatched the easiest and I supsect the later chicks would have been here a lot sooner because they took a distinct pattern on pipping and hatching. It went straight down the line from the closest to the heat to the furthest and that may be what did my little silkie in.
Don't jump in and try to help. They really are okay. There was some pacing going on around here and frantic discussions of what should we do and I'm glad I held to it and didn't let anyone open my lid or assist with hatching. Less is so much better.
Loved the egg crates. I would never hatch without them. I think I might have been less successful if I hadn't used them this time. Those chicks are wild in there once they dry off and fluff up.
I won't hatch large fowl with banties again. I would separate them out into two hatchers. While the big chicks did do a lot to assist the newborns and they were a huge help in there, I didn't like it at all how they were running and jumping on my little ones. I thought it was an unsafe environment. And at the end those big chicks were getting restless and hungry and thirsty and they really did start attacking the newborns' eggshells and membranes like a pack of sharks. The little chick that was born that had a lot of blood in the membranes, I watched those big chicks grab up that stuff and start ripping it apart to eat it. It wasn't a pretty sight. Then one of the chicks was choking on part of it and there was bloody stuff on its face and it gagged part of it up and another chick grabbed some of it out of its beak and ate it and the first chick finished swallowing it......yeah, it was getting graphic and horrific in there. I had to go to bed because I was getting to where I really wanted some of those chicks out and I wasn't going to open the lid yet because the last silkie was still gearing up to zip.
I think that's about it.
Sorry my post is so long, but I wanted to share it all.
I had so much fun and I'm really proud of myself for getting the hang of it. And I am sooooo tickled the hens liked the chicks!!!!!!!!!
Just think, I get to do it again in a few weeks and then again a few weeks after that, if all goes well.
Click to expand...

Sometimes when my ducks hatch a bit too early or need help it can take them a few days before they are moving around good. They won't lift their head or move their legs strongly or right. Put him in a tupperware container in the incubator for a day with some shelf liner on the bottom (I've had to leave them in there for 2 before) and give him sav a chick every few hours. He might pop out of it still.
 
I ended up with 6 of 18 EE's. 11 made it to lock down, 5 quit just before pipping. Some if the eggs were in my incubator, some under a broody with same results from both so I'm guessing they just had a rough time with the po. Can't wait until I have my own eggs and don't need shipped eggs anymore. Should be there soon, I have my sizzle quad who just needs to stop being broody long enough to lay some eggs, and if I get a drake out of this batch of calls I'll have them and I will be set. Nest year I should have roman tufted geese, call ducks, turkeys, sizzles, and maybe EE. These little guys are really cute, thinking about keeping them until they grow out then thinning down my flock from there. Would love to have a trio of EE to be able to hatch from too.
 
Well, the sick chick died, it hatched with yolk still attached. I did what I could. So a total of 5 chicks. I reconfigured my incubator and made a rolling turner that holds 36. Batch 2 is in. And temps are holding much better, and humidity is going up.
 
JulieNKC said:
Sometimes when my ducks hatch a bit too early or need help it can take them a few days before they are moving around good. They won't lift their head or move their legs strongly or right. Put him in a tupperware container in the incubator for a day with some shelf liner on the bottom (I've had to leave them in there for 2 before) and give him sav a chick every few hours. He might pop out of it still.
Click to expand...


That one died. The one I gave to Sophie, ummmm, she kicked it out of the nest. It's not walking too good either. We gave it some nutri drench. I wanted to put it down, but my DH fiddled with things while I was in the barn. He said it's doing a lot better and gave it to Maggie, who comes in the house to lay her egg every day.....don't ask......
hide.gif

I checked on them a minute ago and she's sitting with it. We'll see. I guess it's been a few hours since the drench so I will go see about giving him some more. Thanks for the advice.
Oh, and Sophie no longer has the title of trusted hen. She ousted another chick of hers when I was in the barn. I watched her, although she didn't fling it like she did the one I gave her. I'm not sure what her problem was. She had pooped in her box and I was getting ready to clean it when she started turning around and got the chick out from under her...the other chick stood back.....and then when it was out she sat back down with her back to it and tucked her head in her back. I gave it to another hen. I don't know if it is because it stinks some because of the poop or if she didn't like it or what the deal was. It was her chick. LE didn't care much for me putting it under her so I might go out and find it ousted again. Guess I can give it to Maggie and she can take care of the reject chicks
idunno.gif
 

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