Setting eggs 6-18 anyone with me

[ChicksinPR]

the chicks are so cute...congratulations everyone for new babies..

 

[Kimbroe1981]

I have one that is that way also. He also has curled toes. I'm trying to decide whether to try to straighten the toes or cull. I don't want to but the last hatch I had a silkie that also had these same symptoms. I tried taping toes and pampering (honey and apple cider vinegar water really helped) but overnight at about 6 days it expired. I checked on them the next morning before work and found it had died and been trampled by the healthier, more active chicks.

If you have enough time to devote you might be able to save it. The honey and apple cider vinegar water have perked up both my lethargic chicks over the two hatches.

Both of mine were the last ones to hatch. I'm not sure if that is an indication of problems or not. Was yours a late hatcher?

Mine weren't late hatches. My 2 were day 20 & 21. My little gimp hatched on his own. The other one I had to peel out of his shell. I'm gonna put a divider in the brooder tonight and separate my 2 and splint his foot. Hopefully that with some vitamins it'll correct itself.

Has anyone had their incubators smell......well, like fishy....closest I can describe it is like a woman's smell after a period (sorry to be so graphic but I don't know how else to describe it)........The eggs don't smell, its the incubator......since I upped the water for lockdown....I am on day 19 but opened it to make sure it wasn't the eggs smelling......I put fresh warm water in and the eggs back in, but an hour later and the smell is back.......any ideas?

*hugs* Heather x

The only thing I could think when the eggs hatch is it smelled like having a baby (it doesn't smell good). That's what i figured it was.

Here he is on far left standing in the food tray with his back to the camera. Notice that he is not that much smaller than others!

I hope your little on is doing well. I went to Walmart today and bought some Poly Visol (without iron) It's an infant vitamin. I put about 2 or 3 drops in a little bit of water today and put that in a dropper and gave my little one with curled toes a drink of the vitamin water. He seemed to perk up a bit and got a rush of energy. I read somewhere on here that curled toes can also be a riboflavin deficiency, so that's what they recommended to do. Might help give your little one a boost.

Kimbroe, how goes your chick with the lump? Is it up and moving? Hope you have good news. We're pulling for you (& chick).

My little gimp is good. Sleeps a lot, the lump is either getting smaller or just can't see it cause he's fluffing up a bit. Gave him a boost of vitamin water and he got a bit of energy. Gonna try doing that for a few days and later this evening we're gonna put a divider up in the brooder and splint the little guys leg. I tried to splint it by myself today, did the best I could, but didn't get it all the way straight, but he was able to stand with it like that, until my other one started pecking at the splint an knocking him over, so i took it off and will separate them tonight and do it again.

Here are my 2 sole survivors out of 12 shipped eggs (which they also did spend an extra day at the post office because my driver forgot them

)

I love the colors of my little ones. Healthy one is dark and little one is very light. I'm hoping for great outcomes. When I had exotic frogs, I had to syringe feed and nurse them back to health a time or two (my vet was amazing)! They were only about an inch big, so hopefully I can nurse this little one back to health.

WOW!! What a stressful hatch for so many! I do have some good news. I have some Swedish Flower Hen eggs coming in the mail tomorrow and friday. Hoping to start breeding them next summer. They are beautiful birds! Hopefully next hatch will be better.

 

[puglady]

So far I've got 7 FBCMs and 2 Lav Orpingtons. There are 4 more eggs with pip holes. I checked before dinner tonight and one had just hatched. I got up to clear my plate and looked again and 2 more had hatched!

Hopefully this is the start to a whole bunch as I put in a total of 42 eggs but they were shipped so....

 

[Kimbroe1981]

We have a compost pile and my left-over eggs went down inside. May I suggest that if you do have eggs that went past day 23 and didn't hatch, save yourself the grief of opening them. Try to think of positives and not "what if's".

Yeah, I decided against opening them. When I was searching for a solution for my little gimps foot, I saw all sorts of pics of chicks that people opened that didn't hatch. Too many deformities for me. Made me sad just looking at pics. They just weren't meant to hatch.

 

[Peeps4me]

My batch is due to hatch tomorrow and I have a couple pips!!! Noticed these at 10 this morning and there has been no change since. One is on the wrong end of the egg so I don't feel good about the outcome for that little chick. On a positive note, I am sure I just heard a peep, so somebody in alive in there. Waiting is sooooo hard.

 

[Phyrst]

This is one of the best things about this thread - reading the posts and looking at pics of chicks!

Kimbroe thanks for the tip on Poly Visol (without iron). Will try that in the morning. I've been putting in the apple cidar vinegar since the chicks first went into the brooder. I've got a packet of that electrolyte stuff also so I might separate the runt and try that with him.
I don't know exactly what order he was hatched. My eggs started real slow and early (day 20). At first there was a tiny pip hole in one. I kept watching and waiting. Seemed to me the more I watched, the less likely they would hatch! Most of the eggs came the 2nd day (which was actually day 21) and those chicks broke out fast.

G9inwonderland, after some chicks hatch in an incubator and then they poo a bit, I believe a lot of bacteria starts growing in there. The temp' s warm, humidity is usually high, there's probably still some broken egg shells, may also be tissue, and it's just right for breeding all kinds of nasty stuff. I've always waited out to day 23 even if I have eggs left but I wonder if these "late bloomers" have a good chance to survive. None of my late eggs did hatch. Chances are any chick that hatches late, even if it's on day 21 or 23, where other chicks have hatched before it and a timely gap has occurred, that late chick may carry all kinds of germs, infection, bacteria. I'm not sure if I'm using the right words here to explain! Darn it, it's like this: My 17 chicks hatched fairly close together, within a 48-hr. time frame. They were put in a brooder and I left the bator on because 9 eggs in there were still a chance. I had heard a faint peep in one of those last 9 eggs so I still thought the egg might hatch open. However, instinct, intellect, that little voice in my mind, seemed to tell me that if the late eggs did hatch, they would likely have some type of health problem, like a respiratory infection, deformity or such. I didn't think it was worth risking the 17 healthy chicks (the birds in the hand) for ones that would be hatching in an unhealthy atmosphere (birds in the bush)!!.
Your chicks are pretty! They look healthy too.

puglady, please please please show me some pics of LO!! I've never even seen an adult LO!

Peeps4me, you're waiting on your SQ Silkies, right? Hang in there. You'll be surprised at how different each and/or every egg will do. Some poke holes, wait a while, zip down the side, rock and roll, and even chirp loudly. Hope it works out good for you.

 

[G9inwonderland]

I have a feeling the temp was off too. I got a thermometer/hydrometor today and it's a big difference compared to the one that came with the incubator.
I'm probably going to put the eggs in the compost tomorrow. Debating opening them first for science/curiosity reasons.

I have 5 healthy chicks. I look forward to trying another hatch soon.
I've learned a lot doing this. I can't wait for my son to enjoy the experience too. =]

 

[sweety13]

Wokw up to a fbcm at 4:45 peeping allover and pips wierd cause i set the silkies 1st!

 

[Beckymca]

Congrats to all on the cute little fuzzy butts!!! Can't wait to see more pics!!!

Fellow Mainah, some breeds are a little slower could be that the FBCM are faster to mature. I'd have to say, Hang in there a bit longer!!!!! My SFs were slower to hatch then any of the others I had in the bator.

I too have read about the Poly Visol, be sure it does NOT contain iron, which I see you did!!!! They say it is great for slow starting chicks or deformities. I personally hate this but I've made my mind up that I do not have time or other resources to nurse sickly chicks, so culling is done. I do have a few Salmon Faverolles (SF) that don't have perfect toes but I would not cull for anything less than a disabling deformity, like crippled feet, serious eye deformities, which I've had 2 so far out of about 100 chicks. No bad feet, yet. I've had to cull 2 out of 100+/- chicks and lost 2 others, they were late to hatch and never perked up ( I too agree there is a lot of nasty stuff it that bator) and also lost 3 that I felt the overwhelming desire to help, grrrrrr...... It is hard not to let mother nature takes it's course but sometimes it is the best.

I buy a $4.00 package of Electrolytes and vitamins. I mix 1 gallon and 1 tsp of mix, I use about 1/2 a qt per watering and change it out at least once a day. When I get to 1/2 a gallon (about 2-2.5 days), I refill the gallon with water to cut the mix back by half. Once that gallon is gone they are on straight up water, unless, it is unreal hot, or I've moved them and stressed the out and even so it is only 1/2 tsp mix per gallon of water. I also give my big birds a 1/2 tsp to a gallon on these really hot days, offer fresh water to your adult birds as well, some will not drink it and will dehydrate without the choice of fresh water. The little chicks don't seem to know the difference, I've never had one that wouldn't drink it but I am still a newbie!!! I feel this is a happy medium, the all get good quality feed appropriate to their age/needs and free choice of it, fresh water, clean roomy housing with good ventilation, a little boost of vitamins and minerals but that is it. I can not nurse the ill or injured as mean as that sounds.

I've not been doing this a long time but I will tell you lining the bator with paper towels makes clean up a heck of a lot easier and if you find the thread where people place paper towels in the wells and fluffy them up to make contact with the ones laid over the screen in your bator you can get humidity up in dry areas, like Maine. The eggs do stay damp on the bottom but so far so good for me. I can't stand the smell of the bator after a hatch, eeewwwwww NASTY but I also agree it is a normal smell for a bator. It is a nasty bacterial growing factory!! I do not hold my eggs passed 22-23 days I've usually broke down and pulled my dry chicks out and will end the hatch when things just seem to peter out, just to dump that thing and clean it and most likely to load it up again, lol...... I have had a few late chicks that did really well and a few that never perked up. I wondered if it was just so nasty and gross in there and that's why they never sparked up.

I've got 9 eggs (all shipped Light Brahmas) in lock down, hatch is tonight/tomorrow. I'm working the overnight 10p-8a plus 1 hr travel each way, so I won't be able to mess with them and I'll miss all the fun, no pips yet........ Maybe I'll see a few before I go to work, I didn't candle so not sure if they are all good anyways, already pulled 3 first candle, never even looked at them afterwards, just too darn busy and was sick as a dog when I pulled the turner and locked them down. I didn't even have the energy to candle, sad.......

And last but not least Dorking #6 is still looking good!!! I was worried for a bit!!! Yippee!!!!!

Be safe all and enjoy your day!!!!!

 

[Beckymca]

OH and I too want to see the LO!!!! My friend hatched some late last week, I'm hoping to see her today and get a peak at her chicks!! They look like beautiful birds!!!!!!

And forgot to say I set 39 LB yesterday!!! Getting some super cool purple, blue, chocolate and cinnamon guinea eggs today, setting for a friend tho, well sort of we haven't decided what to do with them yet, but donated eggs so when not!!!