Set Jan 29, Hatch Feb 19/20 Join Me!

[BirdBrain]

Nuts, I am so very sorry this has happened. You know, we have all made mistakes of some sort or other. Please don't beat yourself. I hope you will hatch again soon...kinda like getting back on the horse after you fall off.

 

[fivestring]

nuts4chickens, I feel so bad for you. I did the same thing by putting water in the styrofoam carton and I almost had my first chick fall asleep with it's head in the water. It is certainly a learning curve. Don't stop trying though. We'll all do some things different next time. Live and learn. Rejoice in the chicks that are still thriving.

Speaking of doing things differently, yes the eggs that sat on the styrofoam for the first 2 days of lockdown are the last of them all to hatch. No more styro cartons in the incubator for me!

But much to my surprise, after removing the first 23 chicks and the incubator dipping to 33% humidity one night, I still have eggs hatching! Seven more have hatched and I have one more that pipped overnight. If that one comes out and one of yesterday's hatches manages to get a huge chunk of shell unstuck from it's head and survives, I will have 31 out of 36. Oops. I think I just counted my chicken before it hatched.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Oh, wow. I'm so sorry about your chickens. I'm so afraid I'm going to do something that I should have known about but so far, so good. I think! I have a peanut butter jar top with marbles in it for water. Is that good? It's so hard to think of every little thing when it's all new! I had one with spraddle leg yesterday but thanks to this site, I think I fixed it. I hope they rest perk up and you end up with some chicks.

I have three eggs that have been pipped for over 24 hours and haven't hatched. One had a huge zip all the way around but then I saw that the incubator was dripping water on it. I'm not sure I have the hose where it's supposed to be. That chick might be a goner. Doesn't seem like anything is happening with it and the water was right on the crack. We tipped the incubator so we could move it out of the way but I'm afraid that one is gone.

Hope to see more chicks later today for everyone!

 

[Penturner]

Nuts, I am so sorry about your chicks.

 

[milleryardchx]

Two delawares are zipping but no one new completely out since my one blue wheaten last night.

 

[nuts4chickens]

Congratulations to everyone on their new babies! I managed to save the 10 last night. That in itself is a miracle. 4 were nearly dead popcicles and just laying and twitching. It was HORRIBLE! Sadly, Humpty- the cracked egg that hatched was one of the casualties. How 13 chicks managed to try to drown themselves in a PINT sized waterer is unthinkable. It was very shallow and they all just piled in and layed in the water. Future note to self... It doesn't matter how shallow it is... They are drawn to water the first few days. I should have used marbles or rocks, bottom line. WON'T do that again! They all seem to be doing ok this morning. They were shocked pretty hard, so I will be hovering over them. I now have 14. The other 9 eggs in the bator are not going to hatch. Especially since I had to take the temp down to 95 to warm up my chicks through the night. Guess I will candle for movement and shut this bator down. Very thankful for my 14 babies, especially my 5 remaining dutch and my sole little black mottled duccle. Next time I think I may just let a hen go broody. This has been rather traumatizing and sorry for being such a buzz kill on what should be a very happy thread. But hopefully through my mistake, someone new may read this and learn before they have the same experience I did. So on a positive note- 14 beautiful babies and I learned a lot. This is a good thing.

 

[fivestring]

Great to hear the good news, nuts. If you get a chance, post a pic or two.

I just had one more hatch and now the remaining 5 eggs show no sign of pips on this 23rd day. I will probably pull the plug(s) on the incubator as soon as the last one dries off well and move all 8 to the brooder with their siblings. I will try to get some photos of them all together.

So here's what I will do differently next time:

1. put a little weight on the lid of my Little Giant incubator to help seal it up. That seemed to do more for stabilizing temps than trying to readjust the thermostat so much.
2. have at least 2 verified correct thermometers in there.
3. candle better. I tossed possibly 5 good eggs because I wasn't sure.
4. lay eggs on paper towels, not cartons, during lockdown. At least not styrofoam. I am certain it insulated either heat, humidity or possibly carbon dioxide from the eggs that are placed on it. 16 of my eggs NOT on the carton hatched before 1 egg hatched on the styrofoam carton. That's some pretty long odds on it not being because of the carton.

What a ride it has been, huh? Amazing creatures, these chickens.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

So glad to hear that some of them made it! Yea!

I had two different shipments of eggs, 8 in each. Out of the first shipment, 4 made it to lockdown and all 4 hatched. Out the 8 in the second shipment, two we weren't sure about at the last candling but since they didn't smell, I kept them. I have three that have hatched and all the rest are pipped. Unfortunately my humidity tube was dripping water on one that had fully zipped and I'm afraid it might be dead. Nothing else has happened and it's been 24 hours. We kind of tilted the incubator to roll it out of the way but it was probably too late. I might not have that part installed correctly. I don't think it's supposed to be dripping into the bator. Oh, well. I should count that set as a 100% hatch if the rest hatch successfully. The second set are frizzled cochins. The first one was all yellow, but the two that have hatched and are still in the bator are beautiful! Black and white and just have the prettiest faces. I think one of them is my favorite which is saying a lot since I also hatched silkies and I love them!

I'm fortunate that I have an easy incubator. Otherwise I'm sure I would have messed just about everything up! Just waiting on the rest to hatch so I can close down the bator and figure out where to put all of these chicks! I have 13 3-week old chicks in the garage and I can't move them out to the coop yet. I guess that's a good problem to have!

Continued luck to everyone!

 

[SpeckledPullet]

Nuts, I am very sorry. I almost had the same thing happen to me. I happened to see the first hatched chick right before he fell into the water. I have a half wall in between the eggs and the water dish, but had no clue the little guys could climb at such a young age. I had to reach my hand in through my "egg turning flap" and grab the baby before he/she managed to drown. Now, I will have to wait up in fear of the other babies doing this, too.

I have 1 hatched, 1 pip, and the other 12 are quiet as can be.

Here is my "suicidal" chick, a BLRW.

Still in the egg:

Out of the egg:

Rescued and placed into the brooder:

 

[nuts4chickens]

Speckled pullet- oh my goodness I am so glad you were there to save him! It is so weird how they are so drawn to water. It must feel natural to them being fresh out of a wet egg? If you can imagine how small a pint sized waterer is and how shallow the well is... And then have 13 chicks jam packed into it. They were literally standing on top of one another. It wasn't that they fell in and couldn't get out. The ones that drowned were sat on top of by the other ones. It is so shallow that's the only way they COULD drown. The ones that couldn't fit were jockying for "king of the mountain". This is my 4th batch of chicks and I guess we have been lucky up until now without using rocks or marbles in the water. Lesson learned.

I did go ahead and open up my remaining eggs. It was what I suspected. They were all dead, all full term and ready to pip except one that was upside down and looked more like an 18 dayer. When I put my chicks back in the bator last night I HAD to turn the temp down to 95 because they were all so shocked I was afraid 100 degrees would have put the nail in the coffin. I let them stay overnight because they were in BAD shape. The sacrifice was worth it, though. I really didn't have a choice. All my babies are doing very well now. It is amazing how resilient and hardy these little guys are. My dh can't believe they are alive. They truly are some extra special chicks and I have really enjoyed watching them today pecking at little bits, and scurrying around the brooder. You would never be able to tell they had a near death experience 12 hours prior. Thank God for these beautiful little creations. They make my heart smile!