Setting eggs today 5-3-12...anyone with me?

[JDchicks]

I have a little giant. Been looking at other models after see\hearing about your guy's incubators.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Mbleily...I am so sorry to hear this...I wonder what the problem is too. I hope they are all just late late late bloomers.

JDChicks, I have the Brinsea Octogon 20 advance Ex and actually, I like it so much I just ordered the 40. My only complaint is that it is small for hatching, However the heating and fan components are protected and they only thing the chicks can touch is the little fold of paper that holds the humidity. I will now use one for incubation and the bigger for hatching, just so there is more room.

I still have one that pipped late last night and is not really showing progress. It has not broken the membrane and only one tiny piece of shell has come off. Should I try to help it a bit? The other two have never pipped and I don't see any movement from them. I am still pleased as my current hatch rate is 14/17. They are all doing well and in the brooder.

So to help or not to help???

 

[Bangarang64]

welp,
Nothing yet and at 4pm it will be day 22.
I have a family 'situation' and have to leave town today and won't be back till Sunday night.
If any hatch, they're on their own all day Saturday. O well, maybe they will take their time till i get back!

 

[JDchicks]

Wyo: After my ordeal this morning. I'm on the "help" side. In my case it wouldn't have made it if I hadn't helped. But I had a major dip in humidity in the middle of the night.

He had one little pip with a triangle white patch membrane showing. He had his beak thru the inner membrane, but the rest was drying out.

He is very local now and both eyes have opened.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Wyo: After my ordeal this morning. I'm on the "help" side. In my case it wouldn't have made it if I hadn't helped. But I had a major dip in humidity in the middle of the night.

He had one little pip with a triangle white patch membrane showing. He had his beak thru the inner membrane, but the rest was drying out.

He is very local now and both eyes have opened.

Okay...wish me luck, I am going to help the little babe.

Edited to add:

Okay..that was super fast...I just got a little hole poked through the outer membrane and it was chirping. Now it can hopefully finish on its own. And in other good news, another one of the eggs has a pip, but on the smaller end...hope it is all good too.

Edited again to add that the other egg, has now also pipped...on the small end. How will this affect their hatching?

 

[JDchicks]

Wyo & Banga: how is it going?

 

[mbleily]

Well the humidity dropped sometime during the night (60%). And I stayed up til 1:30 and was back awake at 6:00 this morning. Grrrrrr

The pipped one hadn't made any more progress and the hatched one were hitting their heads on the heating coil.

So I went in....glad I did.

Removed the hatched. They are doing great.

The pipped one was shrink wrapped and put him in a steaming bathroom. So went ahead and popped a small hole in the other two. One was so not developed enough and the other one was shrink wrapped (too late, lost him).


I went ahead and helped the pipped one start to get out of his shell. WOW...first for me. Talk about nervous.

He is now out of his shell and trying to stand. Finally has one eye open. Cross your fingers ... he is so much weaker than the others were.

I am glad you did what you did. Some times we just have to do what we think is right. Rules don't always work every time. I hope your baby makes it.

 

[mbleily]

welp,
Nothing yet and at 4pm it will be day 22.
I have a family 'situation' and have to leave town today and won't be back till Sunday night.
If any hatch, they're on their own all day Saturday. O well, maybe they will take their time till i get back!

Sorry about your eggs. I know the feeling. I still have 16 and not a pip. Hope everything turns out ok for your family too.

 

[mbleily]

Okay...wish me luck, I am going to help the little babe.

Edited to add:

Okay..that was super fast...I just got a little hole poked through the outer membrane and it was chirping. Now it can hopefully finish on its own. And in other good news, another one of the eggs has a pip, but on the smaller end...hope it is all good too.

Edited again to add that the other egg, has now also pipped...on the small end. How will this affect their hatching?

Both of the ones of mine that hatched were more to the small end. They did just fine. I had two do that the last hatch too. They both made it fine. But I have heard of people having problems with that. I guess you just have to watch and if you have to go in and help a little.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Well I helped it along and it was still struggling, but it finally managed to free itself from the bulk of the shell. Then I noticed that the umbilical cord was still attached to the shell. It just was still on its side for a long time so I just let it be. For probably 40 minutes or so. Then I went to check and it was trying to move around, dragging that shell. The little thing was just flopping around. I debated and debated and finally just snipped it free from the shell. I was worried about it catching that shell on the other eggs and pulling the cord and its bowels from its body. It calmed right down when I did that and again just rested. It was just up running around and fluffing up. But it does seem different from the ones that hatched yesterday. I guess it must be just flat worn out.

As for the other two, not a lot of progress with them. I am not opening that thing back up for a long time. All the others seem to be doing fine out in the brooder. We are having some really bad weather, with temps down in the low 40's with howling wind and pouring rain. It is chilly in the garage, so they are staying under the heater. All of my older hens and teenagers that are outside are not impressed with this weather either, especially after having days of temps up in the 80's. I have been busy working in the Angry Birds cake I have to deliver tomorrow...so sadly, I can just sit in front of the incubator like I did yesterday.